Critique of the Entry of “Marriage” in Oliver Lemon’s Quran Encyclopedia

Orientalists’ interest in Quranic research as a scientific subject with many applications has increased in the present era. Obviously, these researches have some positive and negative points. “The Quran, An Encyclopedia”, known as the Encyclopedia of the Quran and edited by Oliver Lemon, is one of the new Quranic researches in which there are also articles about women in the Quran such as the article “Marriage”. The article “Marriage” written by Ms. “Kicia Ali” deals with various issues such as creation and mating, barriers to marriage, marriage contract and rights and duties arising from marriage. This article, along with some useful materials, has ideological, jurisprudential, etc. doubts that need to be identified and answered. Orientalists, as scholars whose scope of propaganda is international in nature and whose objections to the teachings of the Quran cause the world to misunderstand the Quran, it is necessary to critique and respond to their objections. The present article, with a descriptive-analytical method, first deals with the positive aspects of the article in the field of correct mentioning of marriage issues and then examines five weaknesses in increasing the rights of men over women in three areas of divorce, polygamy, male’s management, and female’s less authority in front of the spouse and the lack of implication of the Quran on the sequence of creation of man and woman. The findings of the study indicate that the Orientalists’ theories that there is no injustice between men and women from the perspective of the Quran are incorrect. According to the Quran, men and women are equal in the value of humanity and the only criterion is the superiority of piety; but in social life, according to the coordinated system of rights and duties, the duties and responsibilities of men are different from those of women.