Islam’s Treatment of Women – The Odor of Antichrist Abounds
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Daniel 11:36-37 (NASB) 36 ”Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. 37 ”He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above themall.
The “king” of Daniel 11:36 is not a literal “king.” He is what most prophecy interpreters refer to as an “antichrist type.” That is, the characteristics described are those that the last false prophet, i.e, the Antichrist, will possess. There is one characteristic given by the prophecy that is pertinent to this post: “He will show no regard…for the desire of women.” In an earlier post, I examined the original Hebrew behind the phrase used in Daniel 11:37 NASB. I concluded that the phrase does not refer to the absence of sexual desire of the “king” for women; but rather the absence of the “king’s” regard for what a woman considers precious or desirable. To quote my earlier post:2) The “king” will show no regard … for “all the things which are desired” by women – based on the use of the word in Haggai 2:7 NIV. (Read more)
In a recent article, Crina Boros of Reuters, summarizes the result of a Thomas Reuters Foundation survey of 22 Arab states and the burden of oppression that women experienced in each state. The results were drawn from answers from 336 gender experts invited to participate in an online survey by the Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the news and information company, Thomson Reuters, in August and September of 2013. Questions were based on key provisions of the U.N. Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which 19 Arab states have signed or ratified.
Here is the opening paragraph of the article:
LONDON, Nov 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sexual harassment, high rates of female genital cutting and a surge in violence and Islamist feeling after the Arab Spring uprisings have made Egypt the worst country in the Arab world to be a woman, a poll of gender experts showed on Tuesday.
The essential facts surveyed that resulted in Egypt’s claiming 1st place included the following:
* 99.3 percent of women and girls are subjected to sexual harassment.* 27.2 million women and girls – or 91 percent of the female population – are victims of female genital mutilation.* 63 percent of adult women are literate.(Sources: U.N. Women, UNICEF, World Bank) For full survey facts, Read more here
Egypt has distinguished itself in world news in various ways in recent days. What was once considered the most progressive of Arab states seems to have fallen to new lows. Arab Spring and its promise of democracy, freedom, and the lifting of the veil of oppression upon humanity has somehow failed, particularly for Egypt. That should not surprise us actually. The Muslim Brotherhood came into power in Egypt in July 2013, and even though the military recently removed them from office, their impact was quickly experienced by Muslims all over Egypt, particularly women and minorities, e.g., Christians. The MB are Islamists. Their rule is the Quran. Sharia law. Sharia law does not bring an expansion of human rights — certainly not an expansion of rights for women. Here is what the Quran has to say about the rights of women (Qur’an 24:31 (Haleem translation)):
And tell believing women that they should lower their glances, guard their private parts, and not display their charms beyond what [it is acceptable] to reveal … they should not let their head-scarves fail to cover their necklines and not reveal their charms except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their sisters’ sons, their womenfolk, their slaves, such men as attend them who have no sexual desire, or children who are not yet aware of women’s nakedness; they should not stamp their feet so as to draw attention to any hidden charms. Believers, all of you, turn to God so that you may prosper.
“Tell believing women that they should lower their glances…” To understand the plight of women in Islam, you don’t need to read beyond that opening phrase in 24:31. That phrase tells it all. Have you ever known someone who would never look you in the eye? That is, they always looked at the floor, never raising their eyes to meet yours? Something wrong when someone won’t look you in the eye. Someonetaught them they were not worthy. They were ”lower” than everyone else, of less value; and, the “learned lesson” was in their lowered glances. Muslim women have been taught this same lesson. Their learning can be seen in their ”lowered glances,” that is, the covering they are required to wear — not just their inability to look a man in the eye, but their dress, their garments, so dark that the garments themselves communicate messages that go far beyond the spoken word. This is an oppression, a spiritual bondage; and women in Islam are in spiritual bondage. The Thomson Reuters Foundation survey is the evidence of this oppression. Muslim men, particularly in sharia states, find ingenious ways to make sure their women have “lowered glances.” Count the female drivers in Saudi Arabia, for example. You won’t find any. The “religious police” of Saudi Arabia take care of that, the “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” they make sure that Muslim women in the Peninsula comply with strict rules on how they dress and where they sit in an automobile (never in the driver’s seat).
If you wonder when the “lowered glances” first began you can go all the way back to the Garden of Eden when the serpent deceived a woman named Eve. Genesis 3:4-5 NASB (and her husband Adam, standing beside her. Genesis 3:6 NASB). Since that encounter, the serpent has consistently and persistently been at war with woman. It is quite logical that the religion under which satan cloaks in the modern day will continue the war satan began in his first encounter with woman. After all, satan is still eating Eve’s “dust” as the consequence of his own part in that encounter. Genesis 3:14-15 NASB; and he will forever eat her dust, even in the Millennium. Isaiah 65:25 NASB.
For women in Muslim states, darkness will never allow equality, security, or the “precious or desirable” things. In Islam, the Qur’an itself defines the absence of such rights as proper, appropriate, and right. It is in the definition that we see the presence of satan. I liken it to his “odor,” his “perfume,” a smell so striking that even if he is invisible you know his presence by his stench, the stench of human oppression and sin that results in it and through it. Everywhere he goes, he takes his stench with him. Woman has a keen sense of smell. She has experienced his odor since the first days. He is particularly pungent to an oppressed woman. One day, the King of Kings will take away his odor, will bind him up, and remove him to his cell where his stench will no longer oppress, and woman will no longer need lower her glance. Revelation 20:1-2. She and all of humanity will have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and they will no longer hurt or wound or oppress in all His holy mountain. Isaiah 65:17 NASB.
Jesus come quickly.
Blessings.
Jack
