I am a Muslim (27F) and have been fasting during Ramadan. I’ve been reading Quran everyday with the translation of each and every verse. I feel rather disconnected with the Quran and it feels like it’s been written only for men.
I am not very religious and truly believe that every religion is human made. But I want to have faith in something but not at the cost of logic. So women created life and yet men are greater?
Any insights are appreciated
Comments
Welcome to r/TrueAskReddit. Remember that this subreddit is aimed at high quality discussion, so please elaborate on your answer as much as you can and avoid off-topic or jokey answers as per subreddit rules.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
Cause men are biologically stronger so patriarchy has been the dominant culture since the beginning of civilization. Men can and have literally imposed their will to get what they want. Religion is just another vehicle to control people to get what they want.
I think this is because Abrahamic religions were started by very patriarchal societies looking to cement existing power structures. And the objective of religious leadership ever since has been to make sure they stay in power and have the maximum influence possible, which is why religions are in general very conservative and resistant to change. It is also difficult to admit that your all-knowing god gave out bad instructions in the beginning without triggering a bit of a crisis of faith, either in the god himself or in the texts that are supposed to accurately transmit his word, so they are forced into continuously proclaiming that yes god wants men to be in charge.
This is one of a myriad of reasons why people turn their backs on religion. It can be difficult "to have faith in something but not at the cost of logic", when fundamentally faith is the belief in something without much/any logic backing it up, or when you don’t subscribe to the same views on the relative worth of people as iron age shepherds. But of course it’s not impossible, many people manage it.
It has been written entirely for men, same for the bible and almost every other book that has been written before the 20th century.
You do you but if I was a woman I certainly wouldn’t follow any belief system that treats me as a second class person (this applies to Christianity and Judaism too).
Islam might also be the most direct example of this, and the religion is heavily skewed in favour of men, but to whatever degree most Abrahamic religions are. I think Catholicism places a much heavier emphasis on Mary as a central figure.
Have you looked into Buddhism as a point of comparison? Or any other religions? Only asking this because your title mentions ‘religion’ but you only mention the Quran and Muslim religion, without drawing comparatives.
Islam was fashioned for the men to dominate and control women… Honestly good luck questioning it and not getting your head cut off like so many before you.
Because it was created by men for the benefit of themselves and specific other men in an attempt to control the masses, economy and social order. Not to say there aren’t good lessons within , but generally religion relies heavily on invisible or blind faith that what you’re being told by another human is the truth. So if you can get people past that you can usually get them to believe or do anything.
Now what if you could get them to “other” any religion that wasn’t the one taught? That means other people are wrong. But what if you call them sinners, and tell them sins are evil? Cleansing evil can’t be wrong… can it?
I haven’t seen this tackled before, so if it’s a repeated message, please ignore it. I’m not gonna go to the androcentric nature of religion, as it has been thoroughly tackled (with various degrees of illiteracy and stupidity).
I’m gonna go with the second part of your message: logic and faith. And I think that your issue is at the hypothesis level. Logic and faith cannot be reconciled. This has been thoroughly tackled by Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine of Hippo. They can help each other, but faith, ultimately, is what you have when reason fails. When you don’t know something, when your logic doesn’t make sense, that’s when you use faith to abridge the gap. At the end, faith is blind trust in something bigger that you know (or hope) knows better than you.
All religions across history, from mysticism to modern ones are based on that premise. Explaining the unknown. As science has been able to explain further and further, religion loses its ground from trying to explain the natural (e.g.: is that lightening God?) to explaining the metaphysical (e.g.: what happens when we die?), the ethical (e.g.: is abortion good or wrong?) and the aesthetic parts (e.g.: is the world beautiful?)
Ultimately, (and this is my opinion mostly) none of these books stands the pass of time. The message shouldn’t be taken literally nor whole. You have to take the underlying message, the good one, and ditch everything that doesn’t make sense. Keep the rites and make you a better person (e.g.: Ramadan) and let those that don’t help you out.
Hopefully this makes sense.
If you believe it’s human-made, why are you following any Abrahamic religion? And why do you need to have faith in something? Just live your life and believe in your morals.
Because believing in God and religion have nothing to do with each other. Belief is what is between you and God. You believe when you’re immensely happy and thankful, when you truly love, like the love you might have for a pet, when you’re incredibly hurt by injustice.
Religion on the other hand is man made and as since it’s made by man it’s got nothing to do with God. Hence you will find injustice, rape, torture, murder to a higher or lesser degree. Men might claim they’re interpreting God’s will. But think about that: puny little mankind interpreting the word of God! It’s illogical, it’s weird.
Men are physically stronger and larger in general, so, as animals, they have taken that as permission to subjugate women in many ways. It’s not right. It’s not fair. Religions are created by mankind, and it just reflects this fact. Religions try to legitimize this subjugation by saying it is the way god wants it to be. "Hey, maybe it’s unfair, but god wants it this way, so what can I do? Go get me a cup of coffee." [I’m male, but have no religious beliefs]
You don’t have to be part of a religious faith to be a good person. No one who loves you will hold it against you, it is your body and mind and it owes men nothing. Be respectful of others relationship with religion, always, but you can go your own way.
Because religions were created by men and perpetuated by men for the interests of men. Primarily, not exclusively, but this is why religions are primarily, not exclusively, about men.
I’ve always had a long held conspiracy that men placed themselves at the center of religion because they felt biologically relevant and were jealous of women’s ability to create life so they invented a reason to be relevant.
In general abrahamic religions have always made sense to me on the basis of population control. A king has some power but it only takes a few years before citizens start to realize there are more of them than him, but if the king convinced you that not falling in line with their religious teachings (aka over throwing him) you’ll spend all of eternity being tortured (and likewise if you follow rules you get eternal bliss) then you fall in line. I mean, who would risk doing what they want in this life for eternal struggle? gender and gender perception are all apart of politics. So if I’m a ruler that wants to have complete dominion over my wife then I’ll just talk to the clergy about how much we’d benefit from having dominion over 50% of the population (they’ll agree this is a sweet deal), the clergy write this gender power imbalance into the scripture, and boom I’ve manufactured power and status for myself.
Years ago I read Erich Fromm’s “The Art of Loving” and he had a way of viewing this that I liked.
He argues that religious evolution parallels human psychological development. Early religions (like earth-based, Wiccan, and fertility cults) reflect the unconditional love of the mother – nurturing, ever-giving, and non-judgmental. Then, as societies evolved, religions shifted to a patriarchal model, reflecting the father – where love and approval must be earned through obedience and moral behavior (think Christianity & Islam).
The final stage of development, according to Fromm, is when individuals internalize divine qualities and live them, rather than worshipping an external deity. More of a Buddhist type.
To Fromm, we are stuck in a kind of arrested development, and that’s why many dominant religions today are patriarchal. We’re ideally supposed to grow beyond the father-figure authority.
It’s a really short book, less than 100 pages. I always recommend it to people.
> But I want to have faith in something but not at the cost of logic.
Logic state that your religion is no more likely to be correct than the thousands of other religions you reject.
Logic states that there is no real evidence that your faith is actually correct.
Logic states that multiple tenants of your religion are contradictory.
Logic states that "faith" in a religion in the absence of any evidence, is illogical, and counterproductive to modern society.
If you want to be living your life "not at the cost of logic", then make the logical choice here.
I intentionally did not specify a religion in this comment. It applies to all of them (apart from possibly point 3).
They just have the advantage because we have to build the human, and then we have to nurse the human and raise the human we don’t have time to manipulate and control like men do.
Men were the center of everything large-scale until birth control was invented.
Obviously there are exceptions, but men had a huge biological advantage when building careers: they could stay focused on it long-term.
Menstrual products were mostly crap through most of history, so there was both a monthly “time of confinement” and a far longer interruption to any long-term goals after giving birth.
We like to shit on religion for being sexist, but politics, education, business, basically most of history seemed to center around men because it takes years to achieve world-changing skill and influence.
Men are the center of Abrahamic religion – I think you might be on to.something with women creating life and men co-opting the role of creator through myths though, as a wider phenomenon in global faith traditions.
A religion that does not propagate descendants does not survive.
Patriarchal religions are (historically) much more effective at creating stable societies that provide men with a higher chance of creating a family. Single men without families are historically prone to unrest, using violence and force to get these things. Look at Boko Haram or the robber barons in medieval Europe as an example of the damage "extra men" can do to a society.
Higher stability means more governmental control and more people willing to fight and die to protect what they own rather than take from their neighbors, and between that and divine right, patriarchal religions had a symbiotic relationship with secular government. Is it morally wrong that these religions treated women like chattel?
Absolutely.
But that’s why you don’t see any matriarchal religions outside of polytheistic cults — if men are the stronger and primary gender for war for all history, then the religions that motivate men and give them more hope for social achievement/advancement will simply have more (motivated) men to fight for them.
Society can repopulate with men fighting and dying in war, but a society that loses its women fighting in war will lose the next war by simple math.
That’s part of why Christianity and Islam have been so successful in spreading through the world — the world of religion is just as prone to natural selection as anything else is — it’s easy to tell the poor men of society to go out and colonize/proselytize/join a conquistador to spread their faith by force and take other countries women, and patriarchal religions not giving women a choice whether they have kids means more children, which in pure numerical terms means more believers and propagation of the faith.
If you are feeling the way then maybe it is time to seriously consider leaving. I realize this won’t be easy but in the long run you will discover freedom away from a male dominated religion that ultimately sees woman as second class citizens.
It’s about controlling access to women.
Nature is not kind to men, and they realized that long ago.
In the natural world, males have to compete, resulting in only alphas gaining access to females. The males at the bottom don’t get to pass their genes along, and so they die off.
In order to give “every male a female”, Abrahamic religions centered males, created/romanticized marriage, and hoarded resources so women “needed” them to survive. In a nutshell, these religions created the patriarchy.
Women are natural protectors, closer to the divine, and are true stewards of the earth and resources. That’s scared men, so religions were created to invert the natural power structure.
I don’t want to be sexist, but I’m a man, so I can say this – men are more aggressive and domineering. It is not enough for them to believe something, they feel the need to force others to believe the same thing – either through physical force (holy wars, killing infidels, etc.) or through controlling the conversation (holy writings, preaching in front of crowds, etc.) For some reason, there is a certain percentage of the male population that cannot tolerate being disagreed with. They want authority, even if they might be wrong. Women seem to be less likely to force themselves onto others.
IMO, as a man, men are very limited in what we offer. We are also shallow, egotistical, misogynistic and competitive. We need to have power and control to justify our existence. Religion is one area to do this. It helps that other men, and some women, need a singular power figure to direct them. It also helps that we’ve conditioned people to believe that men are strong and powerful.
because religions that get popular tend to have a reciprocal relationship with power. Influencing and being influenced by those who seek to control and dominate. Women in this view tend to be seen as resources not people. It’s worth saying that not every spiritual practice sees women this way. There are some that have the opposite opinion but colonialism did it’s best to murder more egalitarian approaches in order to sow division and ultimately subjugate.
Because religion is a human construct used largely to subjugate and control other humans, which has historically been something men had a disproportionate interest in doing.
[deleted]
I am not Muslim, I was raised Christian and no longer am.
The Bible was written, carried, interpreted and reinterpreted, translated and retranslated by men. We even have evidence of kings changing the words in the bible to suit their needs.
I imagine the same is true for the Quran and other religious texts, which is why we cannot take these things literally.
You can have spirituality purely because you believe in something greater. Your spirituality lives within yourself, and you can express that however you like (including Muslim customs, if that feels right to you).
Personally, I believe that if god exists, they are not as petty and rigid as humans are. I don’t believe they would judge or condemn me for arbitrary moral failings. I think if you do your best and try to live in harmony with the other life on this planet, that’s probably pretty good in gods eyes
I have a running theory, and it isn’t ‘maybe it was bunnies’. (+10 geek points if you know where that is from, by the way)
When it comes to genetics and the continuation of the species, let’s be honest here, the male of the species is expendable compared to the female. One woman can only have one pregnancy at a time. One man can impregnate many women. So when it comes to survival, you need far fewer men. And survival is what we run on, whether we like it or not. If we were computers, this would be the high-mem boot sequence which doesn’t run the computer… but it does tell it -how- to run. And in humans that primal lizard-brain root system has not changed in the last several thousand years.
Men fight with men because they want women, and they want the resources to keep those women. Men restrict women because if women fight and_or die, that will end an entire genetic line that man could propagate. If another man takes that woman, then someone else is stealing your genetic line- a double hit as they weaken you and strengthen themselves.
And so on.
Basically, at the primordial level, men are geared towards competition and control. Compete with other ‘men’, control whatever is ‘not-men’. Which is why almost every aspect of core human behavior can be related to competition in some way. From war, religion, and sports (friendly war) to countries and their resources, businesses, and the people who climb all over eachother trying to beat eachother to the next rung in the corporate ladder.
Often I think that a good chunk of the suppression of women, and the many excuses that get used in society as well as faith, is keyed to an unconscious knowing of this expandability as well. Ego is -all about- feeling important and valuable. And our own subconscious minds refuse to believe we ever are (or have) enough because in the grand scheme, as a male, if any of us were to vanish, we are easy to replace. We are rendered less important by the very mechanic we are built from.
So we ‘compensate’ to fill a hole that is bottomless, rather than just walking around it and moving on.
I grew up Muslim and I always felt temped to become an atheist because of things like this. It all seemed so man-made. Then I started learning about things like gnosticism and esotericism and I came to the realization that God is not tied to a religion and that religions are largely man-made with only some truth in them. Now my faith in God is a lot stronger.
Just the patriarchy doing patriarchy things (i.e. decentering and co-opting ideas/inventions/innovation/work from women, enslaving everyone it can, structuring systems of abuse, rewriting history to focus on men, etc etc)
Because it is written only for men. It’s centered around a warlord that kept slaves and sexually abused young girls(Aisha was 9 when he first raped her). A woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man’s in court. Hijab/burqa/niqab exist purely to put the blame of being raped onto women, rather than having men simply control themselves like civilized people.
Every religion hates women, especially the ones that claim to respect us.
Not all religions are centered on men. There are examples throughout history of religions with a female as the head, or both sexes were treated as equal. These religions tend to be in the minority, and were often slaughtered by the male dominated religions, because religions can’t play nicely with each other. There’s, literally, millennia of religious barbarism to members of other faiths, holy wars, the crusades, beheadings, the jihad, burning people alive, feeding people to the lions, seeking out the holy leaders of other religions to erase their teachings, the inquisition, and on and on that wheel turns.
I like to think about Inanna, the oldest named deity I can find. Her powers included being able to change males into females, and females into males. Her priests(priestesses) were often what we would consider transgender people today.
Look around a little bit, and you’ll find that the sausage fest the Abrahamic religions push on people aren’t all there is, even in modern times.
Because these man made constructs were originally designed to control kingdoms and minions. Therefore it was logical at the time of their invention that men would be in control.
[removed]
A religion founded by a man with multiple wives is male centered? Wow, really? Interesting, I never would have guessed.
Islam was designed to justify the Prophet’s eternal wet dream, as far as I’m concerned. I think you should question the verses that say women are less intelligent than men. And those that say less women will be in paradise. And teachings that do not allow women to pray with men. And teachings that say women are responsible for male lust. And teachings that allow men to marry and divorce at a whim until death, but women who aren’t virgins are less valuable.
Some religion’s only purpose is to benefit the deepest desires of a man. That’s why they are male centered.
I was taught that God made all living things in order up to the best. Women were made last, so….
That being said, this was just the men patronizing the women so they could maintain control. It continues to this day. There’s no reason a learned woman could not lead a spiritual community, other than man made "tradition’.
Because when everyone was a hunter gatherer and desperately hoping they would luck out, they had earth goddesses.
Eventually they figured out farming and how to keep track of annual calendars and who owns what land and who the dad is of what kid gets what land, kings, wheels, cycles, and we get a lot of stories about Marduk killing Tiamat and whatnot.
Hi Sister, Happy Ramadan, i was raised jewish and questioned the same things. Why was i considered defiled and dirty and never allowed to go to congregation on my period? Why is my period considered sinful when i never asked for it? The entire world functions because we exist, why are we treated like servants and slaves, never allowed to truly live or express ourselves, destined to always bend the knee to man? Was i really born just to serve man and be a baby maker?
You and I come both from the same Abrahamic source. I believe this is the issue. Look at Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Dont you see all the same themes, just slightly different? Both christianity and islam lead wars against others in the past, now judaism is joining in too against Palestine. The abrahamic religion is that of greed, power, control, dominance and evil. And of hating women.
How did I manage? Before I turned 18, i thought i was having a gender identity crisis. I thought i was non binary or a trans masculine leaning person. But, that was a lie imprinted on me by our Abrahamic programming, that women are less than, sinful and just no good. Soon after, when I became an adult I ran away from home. Abandoned my childhood religion. Went to therapy and got some help. I realized that i wasn’t non binary or transgender, i just hated myself because I was a woman, i had been brainwashed to hate women so hard, even though I was one myself. Now, i manage by not engaging in Judaism or christianity anymore, because it doesn’t align with who I am. I don’t know what religion the true god is, but I know god made me female and that is wonderful. We are very portals to create and bring new human beings and souls into this world. I accept the Divine Femininity God blessed me with and I refuse to even let men crush my spirit with their lies about what they think women are and should be doing. I refuse to be treated as an item, a plaything, something to be owned.
Yes, you are on the right path, religions are likely human made. Therefore religion can be a system used to brainwash and control others- just like hypnotism was made and used to manipulate the psyche/mind. That means we can actively step outside of this “system” (religion/religious trauma), silence the “noise” (the lies and programming about how men are greater than women), and live our truths (accepting that we are equal if not greater than men). Live your life as a woman and do not allow any man to influence or control your thoughts and actions. Our very thoughts shape our reality. That is where the managing happens.
Read Human Reproductive Behaviors by Steven Hedlesky, MD. It explains the links between religion and sexuality. Basically, women were in charge of everything up to about 8 thousand years ago, and all the gods were female. With the domestication of large animals and the invention of large scale agriculture, women lost all their human rights and became property of men, and male gods replaced female gods. The Abrahamic religions are based on the premise that women are deceitful and treacherous and the source of all the evil that befalls man. That is the essence of the story of the Garden of Eden.
Hinduism and Buddhism are much egalitarian.
Man + woman = baby, to consolidate land and resources the baby inherits, women frequently die in childbirth, therefore men assume role of resource guardian to pass abundance to the next generation to increase their odds of survival
Feeling disconnected or questioning certain aspects of faith is a natural part of spiritual growth and Islam encourages seeking knowledge and understanding.
First, regarding the perception that the Quran is ‘only for men’, there are actually many verses that address both men and women equally. For example:
Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women
(33:35)
This verse explicitly acknowledge the equal spiritual worth of men and women.
As for the idea that « men are greater » Islam does not say that men are inherently superior to women, it rather acknowledges biological and societal differences while ensuring equal spiritual worth and responsibilities.
Perhaps men are mentioned more frequently in the Qur’an because they are assigned greater responsibilities in certain aspects of life, such as financial provision, leadership in the family, and communal duties. However, this does not mean they are superior, only that they are accountable for fulfilling these obligations.
Muhammad PBUH said :
« Indeed, women are the twin halves of men » or « Yes. Woman are counterpart of men » depending on the translated version (Sunan Abi Dawood 236)
Finally about the role of women in creating life :
Islam actually honors motherhood more than any other religion. Im sure that you’ve heard about the following hadith : The Prophet PBUH a man asked who deserves the most kindness, respect and he replied:
“Your mother.” “Then who?” “Your mother.” “Then who?” “Your mother. Then your father.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari, 5971)
If faith and logic seem at odds, I’d encourage looking deeper into the context of verses and Islamic history. Islam is actually not about blind faith it invites questioning and seeking knowledge (17:36). Maybe exploring different scholarly perspectives and tafsir (interpretations) could help provide clarity.
Apologies for any mistakes, English is not my first language.
The closest I’ve come is a belief in an intelligence far beyond my total comprehension but available for discourse via discovery. Our journeys are personal and require internal and external reflection to find peace and purpose. Balance in complexity.
They all started with an oral tradition. Reciting the stories , sometimes for centuries before they were written. Nobody knows what was changed or lost before Who printed the early books? Men. King James famously “edited” the bible. It’s been translated how many times? And from a dead language. It’s all just kinda🤞🏼
Idk if I can help but I am an omnist. I believe in all religions. My primary thoughts center on Episcopalian but I will go with other religions for certain things and I can follow other religious ceremonies. God is Allah, is Kalika, is Zeus, is Yahweh, is Hecate, etc. They are all right and all wrong at the same time. I believe that the divine being presented themselves to each culture in a way that would be acceptable to them at that time and location. Those cultures then wrote their own rules etc based on what suited them most and (more importantly) what would bring the people doing the writing more POWER for themselves.
Men are the center of most religions because they are the ones doing most of the writing and obviously they want to keep as much power for themselves as possible. Religious texts were not written by a supreme being. None of them. The closest we have is the 10 commandments and even that is a just another written account by a man. We do not actually HAVE the tablets with the 10 commandments on it.
Imo the rules and restrictions are in there to oppress others, give power to certain people, and impose their opinions and mental morality onto other people.
I mostly try to follow the Wiccan creed: “If it harm none, do what ye will.”
I highly recommend you watch the movie Dogma. I was shocked that my belief system was an actual thing that other people believed and they even made a movie on the concept.
You hit the nail on the head, "Religion is man-made."
If religion was real, do you think an all-powerful god would have the same faults and biases that we have as humans and have it written into their sacred texts?
Also funny how God (in all religions I know of, but perhaps not in every single one) is gendered, and typically, as a male. Wouldn’t an all-powerful creator be beyond such things as gender?
The ironic thing is, if you read the teachings of Jesus (whether you believe Him to be a prophet or the Son of God), you’ll find that he was very much opposed to the hypocrisy of organized religion. He was very much in favour of people having a close relationship with God without needing to go through any intermediaries, hence why the veil in the Temple of Solomon was torn when Jesus died, removing the separation between God and man (man here being the collective noun for humanity, not just one gender. This is a holdover from when male humans were referred to as ‘wereman’ and female humans as ‘wifman’. ‘Were’ was eventually dropped from ‘wereman’ and ‘wifman’ eventually evolved into ‘wife’ and ‘woman’. Isn’t the English language just fantastic! /s).
A lot of the power structures of the early church were continuations of the power structures found in Judaism, and were (rightly or wrongly) continued by the Apostle Paul in his various letters to churches throughout the Mediterranean region.
The Prophet Muhammad – Peace be upon him – originally came from a very patriarchal society, and this had a strong influence on his beliefs and values, which eventually made their way into Islam as it grew into an organized religion.
Hence why the Abrehamic faiths are all very patriarchal in nature.
You are 100 percent correct in that all religions are human-made. Many of the stupid rules, like females of reproductive age have to hide their hair, were created by men as a way of justifying treating women like their possessions. The good news is that if you live in a free country in the USA, you don’t have to practice if you don’t want to. You can have faith in whatever is meaningful to you and ignore the parts of organized religion that don’t make sense to you.
You need to understand the statement man was made in god’s image. The whole Bible was translated from Aramaic to English, words don’t have direct analogues. Also it really means humankind, shortened to mankind, shortened to man, which has been standard shorthand for a very long time.
So no man was made in god’s image does not imply maleness to God. The Holy Trinity – the father the son and the Holy Ghost breaks down as so. God the father, is one facet of the being. The Holy Spirit is the comforter ( the female facet) and the Son ( literally Jesus is the word of God made flesh). So the male, the female, and the word.
Eve was made from Adam’s Rib. Meaning that Adam had to contain the female in him as well or it could not be created from a part of him.
Biologically both sexes have testosterone and Estrogen, and fetuses are female first, until the Y chromosome kicks in during development, the vaginal opening closes, the clitoris grows into a penis and the labia become the scrotum.
We are all created in God’s image, containing the multiple facets.
The woman is seen as powerful, giver of life, we are also seen as valuable property because of this, the organized religions have man made laws, some stay close to elemental rules. Those rules see us as property, it has nothing to do with God. All abundant all merciful all Universal. I Am. Men seek power and use God as a reason. She laughs at this.
I think it’s because they are physically stronger than women. Somewhere down the line, men learned they could manipulate their kind with the impression that men are the center of the universe. Boy, are they wrong!
Religions are male-centered because men invented them. If women’s religions had endured through the ages, god would be female and all the characters would be women.
If religion were true, do you really think that half the population would be absent? I doubt it.
The times we live is are more peaceful and safe than any other time. It’s an anomaly. What’s typical for humanity is roaming bandits, barbarians invading, and jealous neighboring rulers coming to take what they think is their’s is much more typical for our species.
Between men and women, men are more more fit to be the attacker and defender, and as such will be significantly more likely to dictate the terms of the society/culture/religion they belong to. You can see how accepting of women a society is by how much freedoms they allow women.
Can I say something without people losing their minds?
It’s bc Women create life, and Men create structures around life, in order to guide and protect it, and unfortunately at times, subjugate it, as a will to power.
The best balance is a little of both, but it takes a civilized people to perform this, over time and generation.
At a basic level the reason why men end up dominating most systems throughout history is that they have an extreme edge in violence.
Also, you’re thinking that being the sex that carries the life is an advantage, it isn’t at all. Women died A LOT from childbirth for millennia. In addition, the best way to secure long lasting power is through inheritance, which means any smart family would have many children, this means that head woman of the family is out of commission basically for anything particularly straining for potentially years of life.
Why is there such a push to have so many children in the past? Well, one particularly haunting reason for this is consider that at least in English, I am unsure of other languages, there is no word for being the parent of a dead child, or the sibling of a dead sibling. But, there is words for being an Orphan etc etc. This was absolutely the norm for most of history to not only have a gigantic family, but to have many dead family members too, even people who are the same age as yourself.
Now, this does not mean that women were powerless. Women, in a particularly equal structure have a MASSIVE impact on the culture and beliefs of the next generation, considering a huge portion of the men will be traveling or at war. What is the solution to this system to make it so few men can exert disproportionate influence on many women? Religion. Make it so the person that is being oppressed believes that their oppression is necessary, righteous and just.
The obvious end conclusion of this chain of events is that Religion is man-made, and very importantly literally designed to control women. It’s not an accident, or a quirk of the system. It is the very purpose it’s created for.
If you’d like to read further into what religion looks like when it isn’t patriarchal and highly controlled by women, I’d suggest reading into very early Christianity. At the time the religion did the best with the oppressed in society, it took hold rapidly in Rome because of how brutally culturally patriarchal they were. Early Christianity was much more focused on equality, even had stuff like Gay Marriage and allowed women to hold positions such as Priest. Quite a different beast when it morphed into Catholicism, and later offshoots. Obviously, like many other religions it ended up leaning on it’s more patriarchy focused portions, instead of sticking to the equality portion.
That’s the whole racket, honestly. You summed it up. There’s also usually something that makes it so that a smaller group of the men gets a higher status and that’s when you see men have multiple wives, drive out young men from the community, etc.
If you aren’t familiar with research on authoritarians and authoritarian follower personalities, that’s a good place to start (theauthoritarians.org). It’s my personal view that religion is appealing primarily to these types of person. They feel that hierarchies are natural and necessary and so they create artificial ones – with a “god” figure in the highest spot, but with themselves conveniently just below and over everyone else – to give them a higher perceived spot on the ladder. Conveniently, the edicts of this “god” figure also usually coincide almost exactly with their existing views and prejudices.
It doesn’t make any logical sense that men are “better” than women or should have a higher status in society. So they created their own artificial system with its own circular logic to make it so.
This reminds me of a post on tumblr i saw a whiiile back, and i can’t post the picture but ill copy and paste it:
Men invented religion and the worst part about it is they didn’t even attempt cover their tracks AT ALL.
“Oh yea God said I need to have multiple wives and should have access to the bodies of young girls, whether acquired through foreign wars or in my homeland. ;)”
“Oh yea God said the wife should service the husband whenever he likes, the angels will curse her if she doesn’t, creatures made of light with thousands of wings definitely care about my libido.;”
“Oh yea a good Muslim gets rewarded with very beautiful women waiting for him in paradise 😉 Oh what do the women get? Any long porny descriptions about their men? Ugh idk why does that even matter! Let’s just talk about my reward ;)”
“Oh yea God is a male patriarchal figure who somehow creates life, and Eve was created out of the rib of Adam. I’m definitely not jealous that women create life and haven’t invented this bullshit to cope;) “
I can’t speak much towards Islam. But many of the first Christians were women. The Romans called it a religion for the women, crippled, and slaves. They mocked a ‘God’ who died on the cross. Many of the earliest accounts of Jesus not from the Bible were making fun of the worshippers. Even today I go into church on Sunday it’s mostly women children the disabled and the elderly. Yet I hear everyone say it’s something to oppress women – that didn’t come from religion but from men.
I feel if ‘any’ god wants you to be truly happy with throughout your life, just be kind and ‘live’ your life! You only get one!!! If all the mumbo jumbo is real and I’m sent to a ‘hell of sorts’ by being a good person , helping when i can and doing my best, because I didn’t donate money to your cult that hides pedo’s and, dodges taxes on one of the most intricate scams in the existence of mankind. "I’d rather spend my afterlife life in your hell!", rather than be associated with rhe 99% of your followers are dirtbags in real life and hide behind your religion.
Not greater, different.
Maybe you don’t think he was the messiah, but Jesus consistently treated women with respect and dignity, challenging the prevailing cultural norms of his time by valuing their fellowship, prayers, service, and witness, and recognizing their intrinsic equality.
Perhaps check out some of his stories and see if they hold more truth for you.
I am surprised that as a Muslim you state that for you all religions are man-made because as far as I know this would be considered a blasphemy. The vast majority of Muslim scholarship/theology consider de holy writings god-made, even if they were compiled by men.
But if this post is in good-faith I would like to offer you an answer. I was a Christian and this male-centred always bothered me. When I went to anthropology and history studies, I read a book about the origins of the Garden of Eden, Eve/Adam story. Basically, most of the symbolism (garden, sacred trees, fruit, snake…) were symbols common to goddesses and goddess worship in the region. The genesis story would basically make the goddess human, and under a man, and guilty of the state of the world and under a male god’s punishment. It was created by men worshipping male gods and male storm deities to crush goddesses worship. The result is further control over women. Women do not participate in religion and attend worship events that would be morally dubious for patriarchal societies. Men further control women’s reproduction and offspring. As paternity was not a given, only maternity had proof, men wanted to ensure that they controlled the paternity of the children
Also, why do you WANT to believe in SOMETHING?
How do you define this SOMETHING? GOD? a creator? Life after death? Divine Justice even after death?
Your not alone. I think Islam is a violent religion that degrade women’s rights. I fought 2 wars against Muslim countries. I don’t have any complaints against the women. The men on the other hand are usually scum. Leave the religion. I’m navajo our culture is matriarch. We are born for the women not the men.
Religions are very, very old, and women had few rights and were considered below men in most societies until very recently. In many cases, they were considered property of their father and then their husband once they married.
Religions don’t really update much with the times, they stick with tradition for the most part.
Women weren’t allowed to vote in the US until 1920. Saudi Arabia only allowed women to drive in 2018. In some ultra-Orthodox Hasidic communities, women still aren’t allowed to drive.
religions are fairy tales, stop clinging to whatever you have been brainwashed into believing. I have been an atheist probably since I was 6 years old. luckily when I asked my parents is god real my mom said some people think it is and some do not. I said what do you think she responded it is for you to decide on your own, ask me when you are an adult what i think until than whatever you think is your belief to have.
Religion is just a tool for the powerful to exploit the masses. How do you get the masses to do your bidding and ignore the fact that they are being fleeced and exploited? Give half of them the idea that they are somehow superior to the other half. Allow them to think they are masters of their own domains while you use and exploit them. Set up impossibly unfair gender role norms so that the men are busy policing the women and too distracted to notice the grift.
It’s exactly what a certain politician is doing right now in the US. Tale as old as time.
As someone who loves studying languages, I know that translations can sometimes be deeply incorrect or influenced by the translator’s own interpretations, professional experience, and skill level. I’m not saying this is necessarily the case with your specific texts, but it’s possible that what you’re reading feels a certain way due to flaws or biases in translation. If you’re interested in exploring this further, there are several subreddits where people discuss different translations, authors, and versions of Islamic texts. Posting there might give you a chance to hear from others who have read the same translated texts and compare their experiences.
Here are a few subreddits that might be relevant to your concerns:**
r/TranslationStudies – This subreddit discusses how translation choices can impact meaning. It might help you determine whether certain Quranic verses contain unintentional biases or male-centric wording that don’t fully reflect the original Arabic. If you’re wondering how much of what you’re reading is shaped by the translator rather than the source text, this could be a valuable space.
r/Arabic – Since Arabic is a gendered language, some translations may not fully capture the inclusivity or neutrality of certain Quranic terms. If the text feels male-centered to you, discussing it here could help clarify whether Arabic’s grammatical structures naturally default to masculine forms—even when referring to both men and women. Members might also recommend more precise or gender-neutral translations that align better with your concerns.
r/AcademicQuran – If you’re looking for a scholarly perspective on Quranic translations, this subreddit is an excellent place to ask. Discussions often focus on the accuracy of different translations, historical context, and whether male-centric interpretations come from the text itself or the way scholars have traditionally translated and explained it.
r/IslamicStudies – This subreddit examines Islam through an academic lens, often exploring how historical, cultural, and linguistic contexts shape religious texts. If you’re questioning whether the male-centered tone is inherent to Islam or a result of later interpretations, people here might compare different translations and explain how religious texts evolve over time.
r/translator – If you’re curious about how different translators approach religious texts, this general translation subreddit might be helpful. You could ask about specific phrases or verses that feel male-centered and get insights from professional translators on how linguistic choices affect interpretation.
By engaging with these communities, you might gain a better understanding of how translation impacts meaning and whether the aspects of the Quran that feel male-centered to you are due to linguistic structure, translator bias, or traditional interpretation. It could also help you find alternative translations that resonate more with you.