Endnotes: chapter one

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1. Johann Christof Bürgel, Allmacht und Mächtigkeit im Islam (München, 1991), p.286.
2. In Sura al-Masad 111 (which is also called the Sura of Abu Lahab) Abu Lahab and his wife are cursed. There is a reference to Zainab in Sura al-Tahrim 66:2.
3. She has been known in literature as "Hawwa" (that is Eve), but the Qur'an calls her "Adam's wife" (Suras al-Baqara 2:35; al-A`raf 7:19; Ta Ha 20:117).
4. This problem is encountered in the Qur'anic verses that some orientalists call "sections of the history of salvation". Muhammad never intended to let his companions know about the history of the prophets in an objective way, since he searched the stories of the prophets looking for himself, his private affairs and circumstances, and found them (Rudi Paret, Muhammad und der Qur'an (Stuttgart, 1985), p.100).
5. Suras al-Tawba 9:71,72; al-Ahzab 33:35; and al-Buruj 85:10. Since the Qur'an imposes devotional commandments on both male and female, some contemporary scholars claim that Islam put men and women on the same footing (Mahmud Shaltut, al-Islam `aqida wa shari`a (Beirut, 1990), p.12).
6. The following verse can be cited as an example: "And those you fear may be rebellious admonish; banish them to their couches, and [even] beat them" (Sura al-Nisa' 4:34). Some contemporary scholars allege that the context of the verse indicates that "beating" is the final means of disciplining and chastising the rebellious wife (Muhammad Rashid Ridha, al-Manar, 5:63. Mahmud Shaltut, al-Islam `aqida wa shari`a, p.164).

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