The Baha'i Studies Listserv Yes The Bahai faith is very different in the sense the equality of men and women has become manifest. Ie the spiritual truth of their equality is now shown forth in the material life. What I was talking about is talking more philisofically true equality is a utopean unreachable idea because its the same as true perfection within a man. It is a state that is always striven for but never obtained. And since perfection in two unequal parts comes through relative strengths in their most suitable roles then true equality comes through apparent inequality or distribution of roles.
On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 5:00 AM, Gilberto Simpson <[email protected] > wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 4:33 PM, Susan Maneck <[email protected]> wrote: > > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > >> And the Bahai faith affirms a belief in the equality of men and women > >> in the same breath that it prohibits women from serving on its highest > >> body, prohibits women as the "givers of life" from serving in combat, > >> has different rules for women around menstruation and prayer, > >> pilgrimage, dowry, inheritance, and other matters. > >> The Bahai faith actually isn't all that different. > > > > These are what the House of Justice refers to as negligible > > differences. What is not negligible is that unlike Christianity or > > Islam women are not expected to be submissive unto men. The Baha'i > > scriptures explicitly state that there should be "no difference in the > > education of male and female in order that womankind may develop equal > > capacity and importance with man in the social and economic equation." > > They further assert that "women will enter all the department of > > politics." > > > > The Qur'an on the other hand says: > >> (The Qur'an (Rodwell tr), Sura 4 - Women) > > Of course Rodwell was non-Muslim and has translation hasn't held up > well. Yusuf Ali renders the passage: > > "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has > given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support > them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly > obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have > them guard." > > And I've also seen the explanation that "devoutly obedient" is NOT to > the husband but obedient to God. > > And again, this is really not radically different. In the Bahai faith > men are treated differently interms of economics (they have to pay > dowry to the wife, they get more money in the default inheritence) and > any soldiers in a Bahai society would have to be male (a kind of > protection). I'm not saying the rules are the same. Islam and the > Bahai faith are obviously different religions. But it is not the case > that one is egalitarian and the other is not. > > __________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto: > leave-537340-2222932.41cdf54d4f0ecb51bfad2c42bd979...@list.jccc.edu > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to > [email protected] > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:[email protected] > Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st > News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-537380-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
