Religion and Theology





Religion and Theology

Introduction

There are many different perceptions about the way gender has somewhat influenced the way religion has been portrayed. Similarly, religion has also put some sort of stigma or to be more precise stereotypes as far as the way individuals are supposed to behave on certain matters. It all depends on the society that how well it has adapted to the religion. In some societies religion has been indulged in such a manner that it has become somewhat the defining ground for the way it has been perceived. We will be looking at how Islam in particular has different attitudes when it comes to making a code of conduct which a female has to follow.

Discussion

Political Participation and Religion

One of the better ways to judge any religion as far as how it has changed the perception of people towards certain things is that you have to find how much gender biasness exists in the mainstream politics. Though primarily, the religious devotion is a separate thing, but we have to bring in into consideration when we discuss Islam to have a better perspective of some things.

Even though, it is not the case today, but if we look at the early history of Islam, there was a bit of hostile female participation of females in the politics. Many personalities in that era played a very important role in the creation of the viewpoint about the perception of the females. The earliest example has to be the first wife of Mohammed, Khadija, was one of the most influential figures in the city of Makah before the culmination of Islam began. She was also the first female to embrace Islam as a religion. But the most important thing is that she was the cornerstone of the early struggles of Muhammad and stood by his side in the early day of hardships of Islam. It also stress a point that how gender perception was meant to be in Islam at the case of Khadija provides us with example of how independent working women who were taking her own decisions was not a rarity in the early society. She is one of the most admired figures among the Muslim women and thus her role, albeit slight one in the early politics paved way for some of the other women. But being the first believer of the faith shows that there exist a somewhat still prevailing trend in the Muslim society that females has to give away to the demands of their spouses. It created a distinct societal mark in all the Muslim countries as now it had become a norm is Muslim countries to be submit to their male counterparts, the trend that still prevails even after 1400 years. Another lady who had a great impact on the history of that era should be Ayesha, the youngest spouse of Mohammed, as after Mohammed, she came as a major political force in that period. She was one the more aggressive political figures of ...