Reason on Faith

commenting on faith and religion through the eyes of reason

Men’s Superior Mental Faculties over Women

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Recently, this post of mine, and the ensuing conversation thread on Twitter garnered a lot of inarticulate speech and weak rhetoric that I had somehow insulted Ahmadi Muslim women, and that I was some kind of misogynist, when it was the misogyny within Islam (yes, Ahmadiyyat too) that was one of several factors for which I left the religion.

To this, one Ahmadi claimed that Ahmadi women knew about this passage, and if they were offended by it, they would have left the Jama’at in “droves”:

You can see here that first, the Ahmadi user Bureau Francophone made a generalization about Ahmadi women understanding the passage. I responded that most probably have not read it.

Re-read my tweet. “Most” does not mean “all”. And if you think it does, you need to go back to English class. In short 140 character tweets, especially ones responded to quickly, we’re not writing legal documents.

If any of the Ahmadis cared to ask me, “Do you think only women haven’t read such passages, or do you think men in the Jama’at are similarly disinclined to be that well read about our theology?” I would have responded with: both genders!

And even when my words and intent are misunderstood, I CLARIFY that I believe both genders are not very well read on their own theology, that clarification is not accepted by Ahmadis chiming in and retweeting the mis-characterization by other Ahmadis even after I have already clarified my intent.

Is this the kind of humility Ahmadis are learning in the tarbiyati programs? At their ijtemas? At juma’ah? It’s disgraceful.

The Ahmadi Muslims I know in person are far more polite than this lot who’ve been quick to try to misrepresent my words on Twitter. The truly mature and knowledgeable Ahmadis, of which I have met some on Twitter, don’t behave this way. They are wise to understand the difference between disrespecting people and challenging theological ideas. They welcome dialog and debate.

We then have a Sadr Lajna, Ismat Mahmood jump into the fray with more mis-characterization:

Clearly, someone in her position (local Jama’at president of a women’s chapter) didn’t understand that you can be a religiously observant Ahmadi woman and yet disinterested in the details of the theology. And this disinterest; this lack of digging into the details is true in my observation of both the men and the women in the Jama’at. I didn’t explicitly exclude men in my tweet when I was responding to an accusation regarding women leaving in “droves”.

Remember, this all started because instead of addressing the actual provocative Ahmadi Muslim Qur’anic commentary, Ahmadis were just itching to find some way to cry wolf, to cry foul and say anything to deflect from the misogynistic commentary text, and onto me personally.

So here’s a thought exercise for Ahmadi Muslims to consider:

If I ask the first 10 Lajna (adult women) I meet in the USA who consider themselves religious, what % would have read the passage I cited here and actually remember pondering it (the commentary that men have “superior mental faculties”)?

What % would I get if I asked the next 10 Khuddam (young adult men) the same question?

In fact, you can do this exercise yourself with people who’ve not heard of this Twitter exchange or this blog post.

My assertion is that BOTH numbers would be quite low. Less than 50% is my guess.

For honest Ahmadis reading this, you know in your hearts that I have a point, especially if you’re one of the rare few among your peers who bothers to read and take an interest at this level. Do this exercise. You don’t have to report back on Twitter. Just know in your own heart my generalization about people’s theological interest and reading has merit in the real world, because it is what I have grown up observing. Perhaps you have a different experience, but I do feel that my experience here is likely very reflective. And I’m entitled to state my general observations about a Community I had been active in for decades.

For those haters: When there are hadith explaining the “deficiency” in women’s intelligence, isn’t it convenient that you deflect onto me instead of looking at the misogyny in your own commentaries that seem to be inspired by them?

I speak from observing Ahmadi Muslim communities in multiple Western cities, over decades. Just because people are religiously observant doesn’t mean that everyone explores their theology. People are interested in different things.

I did a similar exercise years ago in a Shia online forum discussing religion, when I was active in defending Ahmadiyyat. I showed that forum Hazrat Ali’s Nahjul Balagha Sermon 78. At first, the Shia Muslim women shouted the loudest, “That’s a fake! That’s not a Shia book!” Then, some of the moderators on the forum came forward to correct the protests, “Yes, actually, Nahjul Balagha is a well recorded compendium of Hazrat Ali’s speeches.”, etc. Then the men and women who were protesting, went mostly quiet; some expressed disappointment.

I believe that when most people study their religions carefully and objectively, they will find much that is incredulous which they have just accepted on faith. No single argument will win people over to any side. But after you consider the volume of the arguments on both sides, eventually you’ll see what I did—that Islam, including Ahmadiyyat—requires many acts of theological and scriptural gymnastics to reconcile with modern notions of fairness and scientific truth.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Leaders on Women

Most people go to religion for the structure, the community and having some system of connecting with the numinous. Just like some people are interested in math, others in physics, not everyone is interested enough to read their theology and challenge it.

That’s my point.