Muhammad is depicted in hadiths as as saying: “I looked into Paradise and I saw that the majority of its people were the poor. And I looked into Hell and I saw that the majority of its people are women.” Sahih Bukhari 3241; Sahih Muslim 2737)
When asked about this, he explained:
“I was shown Hell and I have never seen anything more terrifying than it. And I saw that the majority of its people are women.” They said, “Why, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Because of their ingratitude (kufr).” It was said, “Are they ungrateful to Allah?” He said, “They are ungrateful to their companions (husbands) and ungrateful for good treatment. If you are kind to one of them for a lifetime then she sees one (undesirable) thing in you, she will say, ‘I have never had anything good from you.’” (Sahih Bukhari 1052)
And in another hadith:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went out to the musalla (prayer place) on the day of Eid al-Adha or Eid al-Fitr. He passed by the women and said, ‘O women! Give charity, for I have seen that you form the majority of the people of Hell.’ They asked, ‘Why is that, O Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religious commitment than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you.’ The women asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what is deficient in our intelligence and religious commitment?’ He said, ‘Is not the testimony of two women equal to the testimony of one man?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Is it not true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her religious commitment.’” (Sahih Bukhari 304)
This kind of thing leads to an ingrained misogyny, which leads to absurdities like these statements: “Pakistani cleric says women who wear jeans are to blame for earthquakes, terrorism and rising inflation,” by John Hall, MailOnline, June 1, 2015 (thanks to Anne Crockett):
A Pakistani Muslim cleric has become an online laughing stock after claiming that women wearing jeans are to blame for devastating earthquakes, acts of terrorism and rising levels of inflation.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is also leader of the junior party in Islamabad’s ruling coalition, said ‘immodest women’ are responsible for a whole host of recent disasters around the world.
The hardline politician – who reportedly described the Taliban as ‘our brothers’ – went on to compare women who do not fully cover their bodies in robes to weapons of mass destruction, before urging Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to carry out a military operation against women who wear jeans.
The comments made by Rehman – who leads the conservative Assembly of Islamic Clergy political party – were reported by the International Business Times, citing Pakistani news outlets.
The religious leader reportedly compared women to ‘sacks of flour’ and WMDs, adding that modern clothing is responsible for everything from earthquakes to rising inflation in the south Asian country.
‘The Taliban are our brothers and their angst against the state is justified. As brother Ansar Abbasi has so eloquently put in the past: TTP’s suicide bombings are just Allah’s wrath upon us,’ Rehman was quoted as saying.
‘And so there is a need to earmark and eliminate the real enemy of Pakistan: every woman who wears jeans,’ he reportedly added.
Rehman is said to have gone on to say that if ‘immodest’ women instead chose to cover themselves, the Taliban would no longer carry out terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
Rehman is not the first cleric to be ridiculed for his eccentric views this year and, bizarrely, isn’t even the first to blame ‘promiscuous’ women for earthquakes.
Early last month Hojatoleslam Kazim Sadeghi – who was personally appointed as a substitute prayer leader by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei – was quoted as saying: ‘When promiscuity spreads, earthquakes increase,’ during Friday prayers….