With gratitude to my rabbinical thesis advisor, Rabbi Reuven Firestone, Ph.D.
Text Study #1: The Origins of Heterosexual Partnership
The Qur'an, Surat an-Nisa' (Chapter "The Women") 4:1
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا {1}
O mankind, be conscious of your Lord, Who created you from one soul divided from it its fellow, and from them spread many men and women. Be conscious of God, from Whom you request rights and family relations. Indeed, God has been watching over you. {1}
(א) וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ (בראשית א, כו)...אָמַר רַבִּי יִרְמְיָה בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, אַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס בְּרָאוֹ, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (בראשית ה, ב): זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בְּרָאָם. אָמַר רַבִּי שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָן, בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, דְּיוּ פַּרְצוּפִים בְּרָאוֹ, וְנִסְּרוֹ וַעֲשָׂאוֹ גַּבִּים, גַּב לְכָאן וְגַב לְכָאן. אֲתִיבוּן לֵיהּ וְהָכְתִיב (בראשית ב, כא): וַיִּקַּח אַחַת מִצַּלְעֹתָיו, אֲמַר לְהוֹן מִתְּרֵין סִטְרוֹהִי, הֵיךְ מָה דְאַתְּ אָמַר (שמות כו, כ): וּלְצֶלַע הַמִּשְׁכָּן, דִּמְתַרְגְּמִינַן וְלִסְטַר מַשְׁכְּנָא וגו'.
And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26). R’ Yirmiyah ben Elazar said: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, God created him as an androgyne (androginos), as it is said, “male and female God created them.” R’ Shmuel bar Nachmani said: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, God created him with two faces (du-par’tsufin), and sawed him and made him backs, a back here and a back there. They responded to him: But it says, “God took one of his ribs” (Genesis 2:21)! He said to them: [It means] from one of his sides, just as you would say, “And for the side of the Tabernacle” (Exodus 26:20), which they translate [in Aramaic] “for the side.”
"Aristophanes' Speech in Plato's Symposium," K. J. Dover (1966), The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 86, 41-50.
Aristophanes' encomium on Eros (Plato's Symposium 189c 2–193d 5) is a story with a moral. Once upon a time, all human beings were double creatures, each with two heads, two bodies and eight limbs. Then, by the command of Zeus, each double creature was cut in half, and so humans as we know them came into being. Every one of us ‘seeks his other half’, and this search is Eros. If we are pious, we may hope to be rewarded by success in the search; if we are impious, Zeus may cut us in two again, and each of us will be like a flat-fish or a figure in relief.
Text Study #2: Comparing Inheritance Law
The Qur'an, Surat an-Nisa' (Chapter "The Women") 4:7
لِلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا تَرَكَ الْوَالِدَانِ وَالْأَقْرَبُونَ
وَلِلنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا تَرَكَ الْوَالِدَانِ وَالْأَقْرَبُونَ
مِمَّا قَلَّ مِنْهُ أَوْ كَثُرَ ۚ
نَصِيبًا مَفْرُوضًا {7}
To the men [belongs] a portion of what parents and close relatives leave,
And to the women [belongs] a portion of what parents and close relatives leave -
Whether it be little or much,
A required portion. {7}
The son and the daughter of the deceased are alike in the halakhot of inheritance. But the difference is that the firstborn son takes a double portion of the property of the father, and he does not take a double portion of the property of the mother. And another difference is that the daughters are sustained from the property of the father after he dies, but the daughters are not sustained from the property of the mother, which is all inherited by the sons.
The Qur'an, Surat an-Nisa' (Chapter "The Women") 4:11-12
يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ ۖ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنْثَيَيْنِ ۚ فَإِنْ كُنَّ نِسَاءً فَوْقَ اثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُنَّ ثُلُثَا مَا تَرَكَ ۖ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ وَاحِدَةً فَلَهَا النِّصْفُ ۚ وَلِأَبَوَيْهِ لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ إِنْ كَانَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ وَلَدٌ وَوَرِثَهُ أَبَوَاهُ فَلِأُمِّهِ الثُّلُثُ ۚ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُ إِخْوَةٌ فَلِأُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ ۚ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِي بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ ۗ
آبَاؤُكُمْ وَأَبْنَاؤُكُمْ لَا تَدْرُونَ أَيُّهُمْ أَقْرَبُ لَكُمْ نَفْعًا ۚ فَرِيضَةً مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا {11}
وَلَكُمْ نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ أَزْوَاجُكُمْ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ فَلَكُمُ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْنَ ۚ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِينَ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ ۚ وَلَهُنَّ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَلَهُنَّ الثُّمُنُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ ۚ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ تُوصُونَ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ ۗ وَإِنْ كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلَالَةً أَوِ امْرَأَةٌ وَلَهُ أَخٌ أَوْ أُخْتٌ فَلِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ ۚ فَإِنْ كَانُوا أَكْثَرَ مِنْ ذَٰلِكَ فَهُمْ شُرَكَاءُ فِي الثُّلُثِ ۚ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصَىٰ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ غَيْرَ مُضَارٍّ ۚ وَصِيَّةً مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَلِيمٌ {12}
God will make you bequeath the following to your children: For boys, the equivalent of two girls, but if there were only two women, then they receive two thirds of the inheritance. And if there is only one, then she gets half. And to his parents, to each of them, a sixth of what he leaves if he has a child. If he did not have a child, and his parents are his heirs, then to his mother [goes] a third; if he had brothers, then to his mother [goes] a sixth, after any bequest he needed to bequeath or any debt. Your parents and your children – you do not know which of them is closer to you in benefit. [This is] an obligation from God. Indeed, God is knowing, wise. {11}
And to you, half of what your wives leave, if they did not have children. If they did have a child, then you [receive] a fourth from what they leave, after any bequest they might have made or any debt [has been paid]. And they shall receive a fourth of what you leave if you do not have a child, but if you have a child, then they receive an eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you might have made or any debt [has been paid]. If a man or a woman dies without a direct heir, and they have a brother or a sister, then each of them [receives] a sixth. But if they have more [than two siblings], then they share a third, after any bequest he might have made or any debt [has been paid], without prejudice – this is a bequest from God. God is knowing, forbearing. {12}