The Testimony of Women in the Quran
The issue of a woman’s equality with a man is raised with regard to her witness. According to the Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an,
Women’s testimony is another ambivalent issue in the Qurʾān. When two male witnesses are required but no men are available, the testimony of one man and two women is specified. The reason for this inequality is clearly stated in the relevant verse (q 2:282), “so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her.” In other words, women are reliable enough to provide legal testimony but their memory is not as accurate as that of men (Ruth Roded, “Women and the Qurʾān.” General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe . Brill [Leiden and Boston], 2005. CD-ROM version).
The Muslim apologist, Zakir Naik addresses this seeming inequality,
Dr. Naik says that the matter of a woman’s testimony not equaling that of a man is only in the matter of finances. The reason is because Islam places financial responsibilities on men and not women.
Perhaps all Muslims agree with Dr. Naik on this point and there is historical agreement on the matter. Nevertheless, thinking about the matter highlighted for me that some of the most important witnesses to Jesus’ death on the cross and His bodily resurrection from the dead were women. In fact, the Gospels record women as being the first witnesses to Jesus’ empty tomb.
