Bearing Witness?

From: Muslim  adam3@netcom.com

Why are you not just as offended that in the Qur'an the word of a woman
in court (as a witness) is only worth half the word of a man? Is this not 
equally degrading to the female half of the population?
Both is a "half value statement" IF it is a statement about value at all.

  Bearing witness
   
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QURAN, 2:282:
	O Beleivers, when you contract a debt for a fixed term,
	you should put it in writing....

	.....And let two men from among you bear witness to all
	such documents.  But if two men are  not available,
	there should be one man and two women to bear
	witness so that if one of the women forgets (anything),
	the other may remind her   ......

First of all, this applies ONLY to  FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS where a
debt contract is being put together in writing.
Two men are required as the witnesses.  But if they're not
available then one man and two women, so that
if one woman FORGETS something, the OTHER may REMIND HER,
not because  she's inferior, or her witness is less wrothy
of a man.    

Enemies of Islam abuse the meaning of  this verse to try to
harrass Muslims and defame Islam by saying, "This means
one man, is equal to two women."  Or they say, " In all
Islamic courts, women's witnesses are worth half of a man's."

Both of the above allegations are false.   If the woman
as a witness was worth half that of a man, the verse
would have STATED so clearly.   But obviously that is
not the case.   Instead, the reason for 2 women and 1 man
as witnesses is that if one woman FORGETS, the other may
remind her.

Bearing a witness in an Islamic society is a burden.
No Muslim desires to be a witness AGAINST another Muslim,
unless it becomes incumbent upon him/her, if required by
law.   By having two females, as opposed to one female,
further protection and encouragement for women is given,
to bear witness.   Women in an Islamic society are usually
not invovled in employment, business  transactions, 
and other such out-of-the-house positions.   However,
if they desire, they can do so,  but most Muslim women
prefer to stay inside thier homes.  In such a society,
a woman is not an expert in business transactions,
and is thus prone to forgetfullness.   Thus this verse protects
the parties in FINANCIAL contracts.   And at the same time,
gives women another peer to make them more comfortable
in bearing and giving witness against a party. 
Counter-intuitively, this verse actually protects the women
and the parties involved in FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS.

[Below is comparative religion discussion between Bible, and Quran]

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from ISLAMIC DAWA NET

Women in Islam VS Judeo-Christian Tradition

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Bearing witness
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
      Another issue in which the Quran and the Bible disagree is the issue
 of women bearing witness. It is true that the Quran has instructed the
 believers dealing in financial transactions to get two male witnesses or
 one male and two females (2:282). However, it is also true that the Quran
 in other situations accepts the testimony of a woman as equal to that of a
 man. In fact in some cases the woman's testimony can even 
 invalidate the man's.  If a  man  accuses  his wife of
 unchastity, he is required by the law (in Quran) to
 solemnly swear five times as evidence of the wife's guilt. If the wife
 denies and swears similarly five times, she isn't considered guilty and in
 either case the marriage is dissolved (24:6-11).
 
      On the other hand, women were not allowed to bear witness in early
 Jewish society . Women in Today's Israel are not allowed to give evidence
 in Rabbinical courts because the Talmud says: "Women are temperamentally
 light-headed" . The Rabbis, also, justify why women can't bear witness
 by citing Genesis 18:9-16, where it is stated that Sara, Abraham's wife had
 lied. The rabbis use this incident as evidence that women are unqualified
 to bear witness. It should be noted here that this story narrated in
 Genesis 18:9-16 has been mentioned more than once in the Quran without any
 hint of any lies by Sara (11:69-74, 51:24-30).
 
      If a man accuses his wife of unchastity, her testimony will not be
 considered at all according to the Bible. The accused wife has to be
 subjected to a trial by ordeal (Numbers 5:11-31). In this trial, the wife
 faces a complex and humiliating ritual which was supposed to prove her
 guilt or innocence. If she is found guilty after this ordeal, she will be
 sentenced to death. Also, if a man takes a woman as a wife and then
 accuses her of not being a virgin, her own testimony will not count. Her
 parents had to bring evidence of her virginity before the elders of the
 town. If the parents couldn't prove the innocence of their daughter, she
 would be stoned to death on her father's doorsteps. If the parents were
 able to prove her innocence, the husband will only be fined one hundred
 shekels of silver and he must not divorce his wife as long as he lives
 (Deuteronomy 22:13-21).  Why should the poor woman live with the man who
 slandered her in public for the rest of his life?

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