booke

276chapter fivealmost always associated with the derivative sense (men). And yet toclaim that this is the only sense of the term would mean, as we haveseen, to amputate its meaning by half.Defining the Term ‘Women’ ( al-nis§")The Arabic term al-nis§" is the plural of two different singular terms:first, of al-mar"a (woman) and, second, of al-nasÊ" (deferment). Thelatter term refers to things that are delayed or postponed, for example,we say, ‘the delivery has been postponed’ or ‘Zayd is late’. Verse9:37 uses al-nasÊ" in this sense: ‘Verily the transposing (of a prohibitedmonth) ( al-nasÊ" u ) is an addition to unbelief…’ ( Al-Tawba 9:37). Anda ÈadÊth, if authentic, states, ‘Whoever likes his provision to beincreased and his life to be extended ( yansa’, i.e., his death postponed),should uphold the ties of kinship.’ 31 The former term, incontrast, refers either to the opposite partner of men (i.e., women,but in the sense of men’s social, nonsexual companion) or to theplural of woman (as a collective term), while, incidentally, the femininesingular imra"a (woman) has the same root as the male singularimru" (man).The conventional—and rather primitive—rendering of the creationstory wants us to believe that Adam was created before his wife.According to this story, she was formed out of his ribs and thusentered the world after him. Women were thought to be those who‘come after’, ‘lag behind’ or are ‘delayed’, a misconception to whichthe following verse was believed to give full support:O [humankind]! Reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created youfrom a single person, created, of like nature, his mate… ( Al-Nis§"4:1)A more objective (scientific) understanding, however, can prove thatat the beginning of creation there was no division into male andfemale creatures. The first organisms were all single celled. Theyincreased in their number not by copulation and fertilisation butthrough cell division (mitosis). Only when evolution had reached thestage by which animals and humans reproduced life through procreativeintercourse do we witness a (simultaneous) split into a male andfemale sex. In evolutionary terms, the traditional creation story simplydoes not make sense. Also, it is a biological fact that male sperms31Al-NÊs§bårÊ, ‘aÈÊÈ Muslim, vol. 8, 8 (ÈadÊth no. 8867).