Islam honors and respects women

Hi and thanks for responding. I will begin with verse 4:34. Here is a response I co-authored (slightly modified): The thing is, the Western Society we live in is very sensitive to family violence. Due to the fact many wives are battered by their husbands, rights orginizations have become so influenced that they object any physical motions towards women, whether it's in real life or on paper. They've also got support from the media and citizens like us. So hearing the allegations, opinions and thoughts that Muslim men can beat their wives is understandable, from their point of view. Though what Islam says about this and what Westerners intepret are completely different. You cannot compare the 2. The Quran is not meant to be understood by reading one verse. It is a book which needs to be fully read to know what is happening and what's going on. The same goes for everything in life. Islam has given Muslim women a voice, to be heard. It has given her freedom's, rights, and obligations. As a matter of fact, Muslim women have MORE freedom than Muslim men. Men have been put in charge in terms of protection, finances, shelter and so on. Women have not and they're still placed on a higher level. Throughout the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him), we see women have to be treated kindly and equily. So if Islamic Scriptures give women all this, why is this included out of nowhere? Well lets think. First there is no reason for a Muslim woman to rebel (the definition of "rebel" is explained further on), if she already has more freedoms and a higher status in an Islamic Society than men. Second what do women possess that men do not? What do they have that can give severe consequences? Can you guess why women have been told to dress modestly? (which by the way just means wearing confortable clothing that isn't too tight, doesn't reveal any body parts and plainly loving for who you are not how you look. Only God judges) Verse 4:34 has 3 steps for a man to take. They all are no joke, serious approaches for serious situations. So we can see these are for the RARE issues, directed towards the MINORITY of Muslim women. God is being clear how he wants his worshipping women to behave and be like. Questions about this verse has been asked by Muslims before. If you go to Islamonline, Reading Islam or basically any scholarly source, they use the term "behaviour" in regards to women. It's because they expect you to already know what that means in this context, which is why they don't go heavily into detail and analyze from the begining to the end. But for this one time we'll do a full analysis to educate non-believers and Muslims. And it should be noted, that after reading this section on "wife beating", that this verse applies more to UN-islamic societies. Unfortunataly many Muslim Nations are Westernized today (clothing wise, gambling, prostitution etc). It may also apply to Christian/Jewish wives since Islam allows Muslim men to marry CHASTE women of the book. Below, after I've done refuting this alleged claim, I'll explain about this and how it can't be used today and why this verse was put in the Quran. Anyways let's begin analyzing An-Nisa 4:34. Have a stroll at night during downtown. Go to nightclubs, watch music videos. What's so common about the women in these? Lets look at it line by line: "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...." As I said before this is a COMMAND by God to protect and maintain women. This means men give women their FULL 12 basic (same as men) rights, they provde housing, food and medical care (in islam a man's wealth is to support his wife and family FIRST while a wife's wealth (however she gets it) is for herself ONLY). A wife should respect her husband for serving her (like a man or a woman who has servants would respect them working for him/her). In a relationship, it's known that men and women behave different. Women need love and men need respect. We see in verses and hadiths women get what they need. Next line: "Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard....." So again the line talks about women needing to respect her husband's efforts to serve and please her and keep her happy. Also it says the Muslim women are obedient (not in the case of listening to her husband. Ephesians 5:22, 5:24 don't exist in the Quran) to islam. Here we see the man's need which is, as I said above, respect. And since the husband is the "Man of the house", he need's to know eveything. Everything/everyone that enters or leaves the house has to be known by the husband, for various reasons (like security and again respect). He is the head of the household which means all decisions are by him, BUT the Quran clearly says men HAVE to discuss and take advice FROM THEIR WIVES before making those choices (like in a democratic government, state leaders must have approval from the congress and parliament. This is how Islam works as well. This forbids a husband to be a dictator. Again this goes back towards the "men needing respect" thing). Islam expects women to be righteous (like above in the verse), which means being mature and follow rules. Go look in a school classroom. Girl's are the ones who listen and don't misbehave. They abide by all rules. So why should they misbehave when they're older? When they're more vulnerable to rapes, assaults, harassments and so on? Women don't like any unwanted attention, especially by creepy men. It annoys and pisses them off. Am I right or wrong? It's common sense for her not to put herself in these types of situations. Next line: "As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct...." Again as islam respects and honours women, it has no respect to women who dont respect themselves. Lets see the last part of 24:31-"They shall not strike their feet when they walk in order to shake and reveal certain details of their bodies." The verse literally speaks for itself. Muslim women should not/cannot be sluts and whores (basically the haraam women). They should not/cannnot expose themselves everywhere-tv's, computers, boards, public places etc. They shouldn't make themselves objects so they can sell products, like how many businesses do. These can have negative influences on young boys and especially girls (i.e they need the "perfect body", they need to show their beauty and not hide it, they need to lose weight to look good etc). Men do not like their women being like this (you don't even have to use religion to see this, it's a man's nature). This is one of the few soft spots in males (yes guys have feelings too). So is this fair to a man, when he's told to serve women? In islam, as it is the husband's duty to provide and protect for the family, it is a wife's duty to raise children (since children learn from, and are more attracted to their mother's and vice versa). The first role for women is motherhood. Obligations should always come before what we want. Women in islam cannot go astray, as they hold important positions according to islamic values. The "naughty" and "bad" girls do not exist in islam. For example I was recently in Las Vegas. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Girl's pole dancing in public, nude women portrayed on hotel buildings, the skimpy outfits. I was really concerned about my little sister who was being exposed to all of this. Every few minutes I had to distract her, every few moments I had to get infront of her to block off her view.