UDL: MARIAM Atlanta Conference "What Men Want" (Women Only Session)

MAN AND WOMAN IN SOCIETY
We see women and men in their social roles in society, but we also see woman and man in the symbolic language of scripture.
Scripture, as I see it, uses woman and man just as a symbol through which to speak or express a certain knowledge. When I read about "woman" being made from a rib of man in the Bible, that is not woman as we understand woman, but it's society.
I see the Quran, our Holy Book, in some of its verses depicting society in the image of women also. We have on one side the concern for our life—for the form of life that we will take; how it will be influenced by elements and factors in the environment. On the other side we have the need to express our human form—our human nature. We see that urge to express being depicted in male form. The need to defend ourselves against bad influences—things that will influence us out of form—we see as being a mother's role or a woman's role. Imam W. D. Mohamed (ra)