Islam: Marriage and Gender Roles In today's world, marriage and gender roles differ from one part of the world to another. Therefore, there are many differences between Western societies and Middle Eastern Islamic countries regarding gender roles and married life. Therefore, in Islamic countries strongly influenced by the Quran, does woman play a more important, less important or equally important role in the family? I believe that according to popular scholars and excerpts from the Quran, not only does the woman play an important role, but she is equal to her husband, however she is superior in some areas where the husband cannot perform certain tasks. Argument In many passages of the Quran one can find clear evidence that both the writings of Muhammad and Allah are not exactly misogynistic when it comes to family values, even though it may seem otherwise. Indeed, Muslim scholar Amin Ahsan Islahi writes: “First, men were granted superiority over women. There are some innate abilities and traits in men that are more pronounced in him and that is why he was made the head of a family unit. 1However, he then goes on to write: “It should be noted here that the superiority that men have over women is not absolute: it is only in some [areas] […]. There are some other [areas] where women are more superior [to] men but do not give them the right to become heads of families.” 1As such, women have their own areas within the family where they are superior to men. While married, the woman is subject to the care of the home, as well as the care of the children. Such activities are not carried out by the husband, since he is financially responsible for the family: he provides t...... middle of paper ...... creates his own interpretation, which can be in a terrible, involuntary way. All in all, Islam is a very peaceful and relatively equal religion in its essence, when it comes to gender roles in marriage. Both sexes have essential, but different, rights that supersede each other to varying degrees, meaning that no one person is of greater importance than the other. Unfortunately, many misunderstandings occur when it comes to certain verses of the Quran, which sometimes works to the detriment of the woman, or even to her death in some cases. While positive, the general consensus among scholars and imams is that misogyny and domestic violence against women within marriage are completely unacceptable and un-Islamic. A man and a woman are meant to have mutual respect, which was the goal stated in the Quran many centuries ago.