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Fatwa CenterQuran addresses both men and women
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. I sent this question yesterday, but you replied with two fatwas that do not answer the question at all:
Assalaamu alaykum. Can you explain this hadith: Imam Ahmad recorded that Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said, “I said to the Prophet, 'Why is it that we are not mentioned in the Quran as men are?' Then, one day, without me realizing it, he was calling from the minbar (pulpit), and I was combing my hair, so I tied my hair back, then I went out to my chamber in my house, and I started listening, and he was saying from the minbar, 'O the people, Allaah says in the Quran: {Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women...} [Quran 33: 35] People say that after this the Quran started talking about women and mentioning women and that it never mentioned them before; they say that it looks like the Quran had to correct itself. Can you please help me to refute this?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
In this age, some people often talk about the so-called male chauvinism in Islamic societies, meaning the dominance of males over females. It is a wicked campaign against Islam that targets Muslim women with the aim of encouraging them to rebel against men. It is incumbent on the Muslim to refrain from listening to such misconceptions. We have previously underlined in fatwa 310099 that the Muslim should not expose himself to such misconceptions unless he possesses adequate knowledge and religiosity that enable him to refute them and he feels safe from becoming affected by them.
Scholars stated that the religious texts in the Quran and Sunnah address both men and women unless there is an indication that the text addresses either gender in particular. Al-Khattaabi 
commented on the hadeeth that reads, “Women are the counterparts of men ” saying, “This hadeeth proves that the two genders are subject to the same ruling and that if a text addresses males, then the females are also included, except where the texts explicitly addresses women.” [Maʻaalim As-Sunan]
This distinction is inconceivable except for the sick-minded people with a defective understanding. The fact that women are mentioned in some verses of the Quran and are not mentioned in others does not imply undermining their status in the slightest, nor does it indicate that women are not addressed with the divine revelation in its totality. The Quran is the speech of Allaah; it is absolutely impermissible and unacceptable to say that ‘the Quran had to correct itself.’ It is entirely inconceivable that Allaah, The Exalted, should be compelled into any action or statement; He is the Master of the universe, and His decrees are not repelled or challenged. He creates whatever He wishes and chooses whatever He wills for His creation.
Allaah knows best.
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