For thousands of generations before Adam and Eve all the religions on Planet Earth were human made and polytheistic. From Adam and Eve onwards, all prophets sent by the one and only God to guide humans, were opposed to the worship of idols and submitted only to this one God.

However, in the thousands of years between Prophet Adam and Prophet Abraham, Allah sent thousands of prophets to thousands of tribes and nations on the earth, and not one of them were able to establish an ongoing, imageless, monotheistic community.

“The people of Noah denied before them, and the companions of the well and Thamūd; and ʿAad and Pharaoh and the brothers [neighbors] of Lot; and the companions of the forest, and the people of Tubbaʿ. All denied the messengers [Allah sent] so My threat was justly fulfilled.” [50:12-14] 

Since there are over 7.000 languages now spoken in the world, and another 10-20,000 that were spoken over the  previous 10,000 years and then died out, all human societies have have been taught the way God wants each of them to conduct their Divine worship (Qur’an 21:25), and the moral behavioral rules they should observe (Qur’an 16:90-92)

So Allah decided to do things in a different way; and Allah decided to make a covenant with a small tribe, and send hundreds of his prophets to this small tribe and worked continually for centuries with the people of this tribe until they were able to establish an ongoing community that would always have a core of righteous and loyal believers. 

It is narrated from Abu Dharr that once he asked the Messenger of Allah: How many prophets are there in all? He replied: One hundred and twenty four thousand. He then asked: How many of them were messenger prophets (with a new written text)? He replied: Three hundred thirteen from the above group. He asked: Who was the first of them? He replied: Adam…The first prophet among Bani Israel was Musa and the last of them was Isa and they were in all six hundred (Jewish) prophets.” (Biharul Anwar, Vol. 11, Pg. 32)

Allah selected Abraham the Hebrew (Genesis 14:13) and the descendants of Prophets Ishmael, Issac, and Jacob to be the first, but not the last monotheistic community. “There is for you an excellent example (to follow) in Abraham and those with him.” [Qur’an 60:4] and “Indeed Ibrahim was (the father of a small tribal) nation obedient to Allah, a Hanif, he was not one of the polytheists.” [Qur’an 16:120]. And: “Who is better in religion than one who submits himself to Allah while being a doer of good, and follows the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth? And Allah took Abraham as an intimate friend.” (4:125)

For many centuries Jewish, Christian and Muslim women have been victims of a fourth century BCE Greek philosopher named Aristotle. 

As opposed to the Hebrew Bible, Aristotle taught in a book called Politics: “as regards the sexes, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject. This must necessarily apply to all mankind.” 

Aristotle’s view of women is that they were good incubators but not capable of doing anything other than household chores. They had to be ruled by men to be kept in line, for it was their nature to be subordinate. Their souls were formed by their sex, and this in turn made them psychologically deficient.

Aristotle’s writings would eventually become the secular Bible of all those who sought to find universal, philosophical and metaphysical truths, by using the science of reason and logic. 

Aristotle’s views were directly opposite the teachings of the book of Genesis where “The Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper (partner) beside him.” (2:18)

Genesis 2:18 says God made for Adam an ezer k’negdo  (an phrase which means a helpmate opposite or against him); but the word ezer connotes strength and is usually used in reference to God’s power to help, (Psalms 33:20, 70:6, 115:9 and 146:5) so a better understanding of the term is that woman was created to be a strength equal to man. The Syriac translation is “a helper similar to him”.

 The rabbis taught: women were created from man’s side to underscore that she was not meant to walk ahead of him in mastery, nor was she meant to walk behind in a subservient manner. She was meant to walk at his side as his equal. 

The rabbis further taught that the term ezer k’negdo was used to teach that when her husband was right, his wife would be there to support him with her strength…. and when her husband was wrong she would be there with her strength to oppose or restrain him.

So the Lord God caused the man to fall deeply asleep; and while asleep, God extracted from one of his sides, and then closed that place with flesh.” (2:21) 

“Then the Lord God made a woman from the side taken out of man, and God brought her to the man. Then man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;” (2:22-3)

The Hebrew word Tsela that appears twice in these verses is often translated as rib, but in the 40 other places where Tsela appears in the Hebrew Bible, it is translated as side, sides or corners (where sides intersect). and that is how it should be translated here. 

Woman is not made from a man’s rib. She is made from his side: so she can stand beside him and   they can stand side by side. 

This is the meaning of  God’s statement: “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper (partner) beside him.”. Woman is not a part or an appendage of her husband. A woman is an equal partner standing side by side with her husband.  

This is why the first chapter of Genesis clearly states: “God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female God created them. and blessed them”… (1:27-28).

Thus when husband and wife respectfully stand side by side next to each other; they are holy life partners, and they receive God’s blessing. 

Of course, if a husband does not treat his wife with respect, she may still be  his helpmate but she will not be his blessing.  The Rabbis were cognizant that many husbands disrespect their wives and expounded: “I will make a fitting helper (beside or restraining) him”: if he merits her, she is a helper; and if not, she should restrain him.”

This is still excellent advice for Jewish, Christian and Muslim marital partners today, when we are finally getting rid of Aristotle’s distorted views.   

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