Book to be published about Islamic oppression of women -- fear of Muslim outrage

There is no Muslim outrage about this book yet, but the fear of it is palpable enough for the Sunday Times to write an article about it. And if that outrage does indeed materialize, this will be yet another case, as here and here and here, of Muslims becoming outraged over accurate representations of Islamic texts and teachings. "Fears of Muslim anger over religious book," by Christine Toomey in The Sunday Times,

An academic book about religious attitudes to women is to be published this week despite concerns it could cause a backlash among Muslims because it criticises the prophet Muhammad for taking a nine-year-old girl as his third wife.

Why is there no Muslim backlash against the Bukhari hadith collection (the collection of Islamic tradition that Muslims consider most reliable), which reports the same thing in no less than five places? Find it at 5.58.234; 5.58.236; 7.62.64; 7.62.65; and 7.62.88.

The book, entitled Does God Hate Women?, suggests that Muhammad's marriage to a child called Aisha is "not entirely compatible with the idea that he had the best interests of women at heart".

Not entirely, indeed. And the response Muslim women deserve is not outrage at the book, but reform where child marriage is rampant, and reform of other elements of Islam that oppress women. But nothing seems much less likely.

It also says that Cherie Blair, wife of the former prime minister, was "incorrect" when she defended Islam in a lecture by claiming "it is not laid down in the Koran that women can be beaten by their husbands and their evidence should be devalued as it is in some Islamic courts"....

Indeed, she was wrong. Wife-beating is in Qur'an 4:34 and the devaluing of testimony is in Qur'an 2:282. So now there will be a "backlash" because truth rather than falsehood is revealed?

Continuum's book may cause a backlash because it sets out to be a factual examination of religious attitudes to women. British writer Jeremy Stangroom and his American co-author Ophelia Benson, whose previous books on philosophy and science have received favourable reviews, cite ancient Islamic scholars to support their case. They roundly attack previous attempts to "soft-soap" the controversial episode in Muhammad's life. In the aftermath of 9/11, the authors argue, a wave of political correctness aimed at building bridges with the Muslim world has meant accusations of "Islamophobia" have been used to silence debate about the morality of social conduct, past and present....

Quite so. Read it all.