"Among my followers the best of men are those who are best to their wives, and the best of women are those who are best to their husbands."
This quote clearly illustrates what Muhammad taught about equality in both marriage and everyday life. He wanted women and men to treat themselves equally without any of the two being considered as more or less. But during the same time he has been quoted to be referring to women as "property" or "commodity":
"The world, the whole of it, is a commodity and the best of the commodities of the world is a virtuous wife."
Although what Muhammad wanted to say was not to treat women as commodities, if someone misinterpreted this they may believe that even though women are the best commodity, they still are just property. It is this misinterpretation between the teachings of Muhammad that may have led to men thinking that it was right for them to mistreat women and oppress them.
In the times before the writing of the Qur'an Arabs practiced female infanticide, the killing of female newborns by smothering them to death or by burying them while still alive. Families practiced infanticide because a female was less helpful in creating and sustaining a family than were men. This atrocity was condemned by Muhammad and written in the Qur'an:
"He hideth himself from the folk because of the evil of that whereof he hath had tidings, (asking himself): Shall he keep it in contempt, or bury it beneath the dust. Verily evil is their judgment."
The killing of female children is comparable to that in other eastern cultures such as China were the governments regulations is what has led to it. In Islamic culture, it is tradition and just the need for male children that had led to female infanticide. Although in modern days infanticide is rare and the Qur'an forbids it, modern methods of abortion has led to a way around the words of Allah.
Other types of female oppression has been interpreted even here in the United States. Non-Muslims can sometimes see a Muslim woman walking through the street or shopping at a supermarket while wearing the hijab, an article of clothing that covers a woman's head, hair, and neck. People believe that Muslim women are made to cover themselves, but this claim is said to be untrue. Muslim women argue that they cover themselves not because men tell them to do so, but because they want to be seen for who they truly are and not be judged upon their looks. They also say that they cover themselves because their husbands are the only ones who can see their beauty.
Muslim women may have freedoms here in the United States, but in other countries predominantly Muslim, such as Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Middle East, they are at time subject to fundamentalism. Some Muslim men follow the Qur'an to every word which sometimes has led to the beating of women in the streets if they are too revealing or not doing what they are supposed to do according to the Qur'an.
"Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them..."
Some Muslim men have acted upon this excerpt and have taken it to the extreme of punishing women in the street whom they don't even know. This is where those stories of women being stoned or beaten by strangers in public for not wearing their hijab correctly or speaking to strangers develop.
Polygamy was widely practiced during the time when Islam began. It is stated in the Qur'an that polygamy is acceptable but only when the husband treats all his wives and children fairly, otherwise he will only be allowed to have one. Polygamy is seen as a good practice because it allows men to become committed to women which he would otherwise sleep with and then not take responsibility upon his actions. Polygamy allows for a man to completely support all his wives and children. This also leads to less divorces because it allows for variation. Westerners see polygamy as a uncivilized practice based on their customs of having only one wife. Since a man is allowed to have more than one wife, people can often confuse this and see it as if though women are treated unfairly and without respect. This is untrue. Muhammad, in an attempt to regulate the amount of wives a man had, suggested that a man have a maximum of three to four wives to ensure that he pays attention to all of them equally. Polygamy in Islam is still allowed but is not as common as before.
I believe what I have stated and argued above. Although I see the treatment of women a fault at which Islamic culture, not Islamic religion, has failed to resolve, I do not ignore the fact that other cultures, even my own, also have shameful faults which also have not been corrected. Islamic religion has indirectly influenced how women are treated in Islamic society, but it has also taken steps to guarantee a better life for both sides. For example, I see polygamy as good because instead of having men just sleep around without commitment as they do in other cultures, they can marry multiple women and be responsible for their financial and emotional support for their families. I also liked the fact that Muhammad, influenced by Jewish scholars, limited men to a suggested four wives so that a man can more easily be responsible for all wives equally.