ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the contradictory claims of the creation theories and their subsequent impact on the ontological self, gender, and humanity in Muslim scholarship and societies. The hierarchical view of the standard creation theory generates the premise that human beings originated out of the male father, Adam. Drawing on the story of Adam and Eve (or >awwm’), both Islamic scholars and lay Muslims believe that Adam was created in a manner superior to Eve. This interpretation has become the public perception of the truth governing how the status of men and women as humans is materialized. In its subsequent interpretation, the concept of gender relationships is often founded on gender inequality and difference. Such inequalities are further accentuated within the patriarchal system, whose power operates throughout different legal, economic, social, political, and cultural apparatus.
