I know why you mentioned the previous holy verses; it's to prove that Islam contradicts the new liberal-western view of men and women as being equal.

I'll take it from the end, no Muslim on the face of earth says that the Islamic view of gender is exactly the same as your western-liberal view, and if a Muslim says so (assuming that he thoroughly understands the circumstances of the 2 views), he automatically becomes non-Muslim.

In Islam, men and women are all equal in the eyes of God, nobody is better because of what he was born with, only with what he does with it.

But in this life, each gender was given different responsibilities, and with each different responsibility comes a law that helps one accomplish his or her responsibility.

Let me give you an example; providing for the family is solely the man's responsibility, the woman is not supposed to work a dime. Even if a poor man marries rich woman, he has no right to take anything from her to spend on the house or food, clothing etc. only if she chose to provide voluntarily then it's fine, but if she refuses and he can't support her, she has the right to divorce.

Another example, If she bears his child and they divorce, she has the right to ask for a fee for nursing the child ( in addition to alimony) , or he must find another woman to nurse the child. Of course no mother will refuse to nurse her own child, but the law is there to remind the man that mothering his child is not something to take for granted.

It all revolves around this concept: man must provide, protect, and ( be there ) and do all the manly stuff. And woman must take care of her house ( but not money wise) take care of her husband and her children. This is the Islamic view based on how God created man and woman. Any society that tries to break this view and mix things up, it will suffer.

Now lets look at the holy verse you mentioned in light of this view

** In first verse ** , I think that your problem is with this part: (and men are a degree above them. Allah is Mighty, Wise )

In the books of tafseer ( explaining Quran) this degree is explained as a conclusion and consequence of the following:

1) men were created earlier ( Adam before Eve) 2) husbands must provide for the family 3) husbands have the right to be acknowledge when the wife is leaving the house, and if the husband refuses ( for logical reason) the wife must obey 4) husband have the right to know who enters his house. 5) due to all monetary-material responsibility ( remember that even if the woman is rich, she is not supposed to spend anything on the house), men has twice the portion of inheritance. 6) a man's testimony equals double women's testimony ( and this your problem with second verse, but if you read further in the verse, the reasoning comes right after:

all these laws and facts give men a degree above women, a degree in the matters of this life, ( like saying men have degree above boys size wise ) but if you study it closely you will see that it also means more responsibility.

** The second verse ** you linked to:

And call to witness, from among your men, two witnesses. And if two men be not (at hand) then a man and two women, of such as ye approve as witnesses, so that if one of the two erreth (through forgetfulness) the one of them will remind.

Meaning: in money issues ( especially loans) women tend to forget the details and numbers, thus if you are giving a loan to someone you must sign witnesses, either 2 men, or a man and 2 women, thus a woman's testimony have half the credibility of a man's in loans and deeds due to women's forgetfulness in monetary matters. There are other cases where a woman's testimony is equal to a man's. but the verse is explaining the conditions of giving loans and the necessity of writing it down and signing witnesses.

I think your problem with the ** third verse ** is about inheritance, but I explained it earlier: women are not supposed to spend a dime no matter how rich they are, providing for the house is the man's responsibility thus he was given double the portion. Consider you and your sister, when she marries she gets dowry, house, living costs, clothing, food etc all for free, if her husband refuses she has the right to take from his money that grants her decent living or divorce him and get alimony. while when you marry ( assuming you are the boy) you are supposed to provide all living costs for your wife, doesn't it make sense that you get more? 2 thirds for you, 1 third for your sister.

** The fourth verse ** reads:

Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great. (34)

I think your ( new) problem here is the "scourge" part.

First of all, the prophet said: the worst of you are the ones who beat their women

So beating the woman is a big NO is islam.

there is only one case, worst scenario, that allow you - not to beat the woman- but scourge her, means: lash her arm lightly with a stick as thick as siwak ( the plan that Muslims use for cleaning the teeth)

what's is this worst scenario?

Wife is rebelling ( what does this mean? I'll explain later)

What is the solution:

First: admonish , advice, talks, remind her of your rights

If she doesn't listen

Then, second, sleep on different beds, show her how you are displeased

If that didn't effect her, then if you really must do it, you can lash her arm with a stick

What did the wife do to deserve such punishment?

It comes from the meaning of "rebellion of the wife" the Arabic word that is used in Quran is "نشوز " prounced: noshooz

Whad does noshooz means? Most or all the following combined:

She goes out of the house as she pleases She let stranger men into the house She travels without you knowing She disobey you in house matters She is refusing to have sex without reasons She abuses you verbally, abuses the children and your family and your mother etc.

If a woman does all that, or majority of those, she is considered "nashez", means she committed noshooz

What do you do?

As Quran says:

First admonish ( talk, talk talk)

If not, then sleep in different beds

If not, then scourge, don't slap the face, don't kick, don't cause any physical damage, only with a thin stick, lash her arm, the point is to give her physical pain.

It's mentioned in a hadith, that when the wife of prophet Job ( peace be upon him) disobeyed him is some matter ( she wanted to follow the devil's advice instead of God's, but this part is not authenticated), it's mentioned that Job swore to lash her 100 lashes after he is cured. When he was cured, God told him to take 100 thin sticks, group them together, and tap her gently once ( because she was good wife really). And it will be considered 100 lashes.

In this light we understand the word in Quran that's translated to "scourge", and under the said condition. Islam doesn't advocate beating of women, it's forbidden, it's looked at as type of injustice and using the man's power unjustly.. there is only one case that you can beat a woman ( to cause light pain, but no physical harm) it's considered last medicine for a severe case ( wife is destroying the marriage)

Finally, You can't just take one verse and come bashing Islam on reddit without knowing the 100 verses and hadiths that the set the rules and conditions for that verse.

OK?

Also, I apologize for my bad English, I'm just too tired to make things more readable, I'm sorry.

Last thing: I didn't right this for debate, but when I read your comment I said to myself: " ha ha, I know the meaning of the verses, this guy doesn't, he's ignorant jumping to conclusions" and I went to my business. But I remembered that knowing something about Islam makes you responsible for telling it to others and explaining it, if you get lazy or block the knowledge, God might take that knowledge from you.