It is a brief outline of the Muslim scholars' explanations regarding the status of women as per Imam Ali (A)'s sayings.
It is narrated from Imam Ali (A) that in one of his sermons he said that women are deficient in intellect. [1] According to some of the Muslim scholars, it does not devalue all the women; because it directs at a single woman, ‘A’ishah, the instigator of the Battle of the Camel, due to the fact that she disobeyed the Qur’anic verse telling the wives of the Prophet to stay in their homes (Qur'an 33:32-33). However, since she was a widow of the Prophet, Imam Ali (A), out of respect, spoke to her in the plural (‘women’) rather than to her directly (‘you’). [2] Some other Muslim scholars are of the view that these sermons are inauthentic on the basis that they conflict with the Qur’anic treatment of women. [3] Ayatollah Javadi Amoli also implies that he doubts the authenticity of this sermon by saying that these words are beneath Imam ‘Ali even if they were only directed at one woman.[4] It has also been suggested that this sermon was fabricated to defame Fatimah al-Zahra’ in order to reduce her claim to Fadak.
[1] Nahj al-Balaghah, Sermon 80.
[2] This view is expressed in Sharh Nahj al-Balaghah by Ibn Abi al-Hadid.
[3] Ayatollah Ishaq Fayyad and Ayatollah Fadlallah have expressed this view, and it has been attributed to Ayatollah Sane’i as well.
[4] ‘Abd Allah Javadi Amoli, Tafsir-e Tasnim XI, 34 vol. (Tehran: Asra’, 2014), 294-5.