By Serge Kreutz

People in rich North American and European societies often wrongly believe that because Islam is a religion that gives women fewer rights than men, women would be natural associates in anti-Islamic moves.

However, empirical data, both in Christian and in Muslim societies clearly shows that overall, women are more in favor of religion than men, and even women who are not that religious themselves typically don’t mind if their husbands are religious. Likewise, my personal experience is that you can ask a young woman in any Third World country whether she would prefer a husband who is rather religious, or one who is not religious, and you will get answers that are heavily in favor of the first option.

The assumption is that men who are religious will likely be more responsible towards their wives and children, will be less likely to drink or gamble, or to maltreat weaker members of their environment. Most of all, they will more likely be faithful.

Women in many Islamic societies prefer the implementation of religious rules, even though this will curb many of their rights. The point is: the implementations of religious rules will also curb the opportunities of their husbands for extramarital sex, as there won’t be nightclubs, bars, brothels, or mistresses. This is: if the Islamic society is rich enough to police the implementation of Islamic rules. Because Saudi Arabia is richer than Morocco, it is a safe bet to assume that the implementation of Islamic rules is stricter in the first country. Obviously, though, zealotism can replace material resources to some extend (as was the case in the Taliban’s Afghanistan), a general rule of thumb is that upholding law and order costs material resources, so that the poorer a society, the greater the tendency towards entropy.