Men's Authority over Women

Issues like men’s authority over women, management and protection of women by men, the creational deficiencies of women, the superiority of men, the necessity of women obeying men, the impermissibility of going out of home for women, women’s disobedience, corporeal punishment of women by their husbands, occupation of posts by women and the general guardianship of women are the intellectual concerns of many religious scholars, managers and divine politicians. A brief look into verse 34 of Chapter al-Nisa and the related traditions about it can, to some extent, wipe out ambiguity from our mind and give us a clear picture about the opinion of the Quran and that of the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.) in regards to men’s authority over women.It seems that if we examine the literary and explanatory points and purports of the verse in a question and answer manner as is done in sequential interpretation of the Quran, drawing a conclusion and availing ourselves of a more appropriate meaning of the verse concerning the foregoing issues will take place sooner. For this reason, we have followed the discussions in two parts: “the literary and explanatory points” and “messages and purports” followed by a conclusion.