I just read a book on Islam, The Islamic Threat : Myth or Reality by John L. Esposito. The author urges Western culture toward a more balanced view of Islam. He makes the point that on many issues, most of the negatives attributed to Islam were also characteristic of Christianity and Judaism until relatively recently, when "reinterpretations" allowed those religions to be compatible with modern ideas and values, like capitalism and democracy. (If I go into the pros and cons of capitalism and democracy in pracice, I'll do it elsewhere....)
Modernist interpretations of the Quran include these ideas: "the Quranic ideal (Quran 4:3 and 4:129) was in fact monogamy, since the Quran's permission for more than one wife was contingent upon equal justice and impartiality, both of which were a practical impossibility. [This] interpretation was adopted by most [19th- and 20th-century] Islamic reformers."
"Qasim Amin (1863 - 1908) ... denounced the subjugation of Muslim women as un-Islamic and a major cause for the deterioration of the family and society. ... He argued the equality of the sexes in in Islam, denounced vieiling and social seclusion as un-Islamic, criticized the ills of arranged marriages, and a male's unfettered right to divorce and a wife's inability to do so."
All of that said, it would appear that even liberal Islam currently tends to lag behind the West in terms of according "equality of the sexes."
Like the Bible, the Quran includes a strict code of sexual morality, to which literalists feel required to adhere.
I think/feel that it is very important to strive for a balanced understanding of Islam, esp. since our culture currently tends to embrace and propagate a negatively-biased and distorted perception. If you want a good overall understanding, read this book - preferably more than once. I don't think I've quite gotten the full picture, after reading it once. The short version of its conclusion is that Muslim culture is very diverse and complex, and no stereotype can possibly do it justice.
George
