SURA 4 (FROM THE QURAN)

'Allah enjoins you concerning your children: to the male the like of the portion of two females; so in case they are women above two, then for them is two-thirds of whatever he has left; and in case she be one, then to her is the half.'

In my opinion, this text was probably used as a means of governing the new believers of Islam at that point of time.

In this text, the concept of heaven and hell is emphasized and people are encouraged to do the right thing in order to enter heaven; sin and the doors of hell are waiting for you.

Believers are encouraged to be nice to orphans and also to generally do good in their daily lives, perhaps to maintain order within the people.

The text also has a heavy emphasis on monotheism based on Allah and the perfectness/greatness of Allah is reemphasized every few sentences, perhaps to send a strong message to believers that Allah is the one true god.

On a final note, I find this text to be biased against women because in reference to the quote above, men are thought to deserve twice the inheritance compared to women, as if to say that males are twice as valuable as women. Also, men are mentioned to be able to have 4 wives if he is able to provide for them, this is based on the assumption that women are unable to provide for themselves and are solely dependent on her husband.

Even though this text may have been used to govern this new community of believers, the trend of gender inequality is still being observed within the text.