Woman Between Islam and Western Society
1. A Survey
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on myths. It was not until the 7th century
A.D.
that
there was any change in this pattern of thinking.
Now importance was attached to facts instead of
superstitions. A revolution indeed, and it was
brought about by the advent of Islam.
Myths were developed to account for the cosmos.
How did the gods bring heavens, earth, plants, beasts
and men into existence? What is the divine origin of
human institutions and of the
ecumene?
What divine
process is responsible for prosperity or failure? To
explain such basic questions etiological (origin or
causal) myths were developed. For example, the
attraction between man and woman (and the
consequent institution of marriage) is explained by
the myth that primeval man was one creature,
subsequently divided into two parts, male and
female, which are attracted to one another to regain
their pristine unity. Aristophanes expresses this
theory of sexual attraction in
Plato’s Symposium.
Genesis has the same theory in the familiar myth that
a rib, taken out of Adam, was fashioned into Eve; and
precisely because woman was taken out of man, man
forsakes his father and mother to “cleave unto his
wife” so that they become “one flesh” (Gen. 2:23-24).
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