The Muslim Woman

It is routine work for 43 year old Helen Rawlins. For years now she finds peace saving women forced into marriages. She knows the way the cruel world acts upon their daughters. She wants a change. She might not be able to change the mentality of the thousands who believe in what they call tradition, but she surely has been able to give a peaceful life to the girls who do not want to surrender to the ’situation’.

The West might rebuff it as preposterous while the East might defend it as its tradition, but arranged marriages nonetheless cannot be ruled out in the Asian culture. Marriages in these countries are more of a contract between two families and little of a choice between two individuals. With changing times and advent of technology, the Asian societies are becoming more liberal allowing more liberty in asserting one’s discretion in choosing one’s life partner. However, the Saudi society has not only maintained its centuries old belief of separation of sexes but any intermingling of the two genders outside marriage is interpreted as blasphemy.

Even after engagement, couples are not allowed to meet each other. If a man is caught talking to an unrelated woman, he will be arrested and flogged for his audacity. Family honor is what the Saudi society stands for. If people in the West feel that the Saudi youths are extremely unhappy with the strict social norms then they are wrong. Despite of flash of rebellions now and then, Saudis by large accept their religious and cultural obligations. Like youthful indulgence, Saudi men and women try to contact each other through mobile phones and taking a cue from the West even plan their honeymoons.

The strict Islamic laws restricting movement of women, takes preposterous dimension in Saudi Arabia where men and women are treated in a manner as if they are two different species. Shrouded in dark colored abayas or traditional Saudi attires for women covering the head and extending to the tow, Saudi women move about the street like living ghosts. Forbidden to move outside their girls’ only circle, interacting with a non-relative male is blasphemous in Saudi Arabia.

Post Saddam Hussain’s hanging, things haven’t changed much and a new phenomenon is grappling Iraq, with a new trend emerging with the rise in the number of widows. One such widow is Suad Rzuki Aboud who lost her husband, three sons and a son-in-law when their family bakery was blown off by the Sunni militia. She says:

I was pleading for anyone to help. No one came.

Iraq has been in the news ever since 2001. With the country being in the state of a perpetual war, women and children suffer the most, both, in social and economic aspects. Amidst such a climate, the atmosphere in Iraq is not very friendly, especially for women, who face threats not only from the militants and frenetic gangs who go looting Iraq, but also from their own family. The recent news of a murder of nineteen year old girl by her in-laws, just because she had an unknown number in her mobile phone, for the sake of honor, shows how blatant their idea about religion is. All the more, since Sharia law is incorporated in the constitution, the government is only able to sit and watch such crimes. This is true not only of Iraq, but many other middle-east countries.

Bangladesh is terribly in hot water as the protest for gender equality is underway. Hundreds are currently experiencing the lashes of the patriarchal system of male dominance over women.

What the country is undergoing is a long-battle with a noble goal that if ever it will be pushed to the limits, it will eventually result to women empowerment. Dhaka may seemingly be bloody as riots begin to curtail any movement to give women equal rights as men, but the members of the radical Islamic Constitution Movement should not be violent about their actions to temper down the situation.

She is living under police security not because there is threat of criminals or terrorists, but because her own parents are out to rake her! In other words, her parents are her worst foes at this moment because what she did, hardly any girl of her community dares to. This is the story of ill-fated Khaleda Begum, 25, whose fancy for marriage turned into a nightmare when she was forced to marry her own cousin, who was 20 years older to her. Khaleda is not the only victim of such brutal and savage custom, but many like her are forced to keep up the same brutal tradition. However, most of the girls surrender to such rituals or practices. This somewhere shows how the brutal practice like a tumor is stilling swelling up, if not openly, secretly at least.

Is the western media painting a wrong picture of the women in the Arab world? Despite of contention of the politicians, scholars and women rights groups are the Arab women in reality content with their veiled existence? I think time has come for us to become an impartial judge and judge the Arab society as distinct from the liberal western societies.

The popular allegation against the Arab world is that they have kept their women under veils depriving them of all forms of liberty, education and employment. They are forced into arranged marriages and are victims of triple talaqs, while they themselves do not have the right to ask for divorce. A close look into the realities of the Arab life will show that at least some of these allegations are mere myths far-fetched from the realities of life.

Despite of a large number of women rights movement across the globe it seems that the larger portion of the fruits of women rights have gone to the woman of the western world while their sisters, especially in the Islamic world still remain deprived behind the veil of anonymity. For a society that treats its women as wealth to be possessed and kept fettered inside the secure environs of home, Nadia Abu Amar, an Israeli Arab’s desire for freedom cannot be tolerated. So even by escaping from her home in Ramle to a women’s shelter in Jerusalem she could not save herself from being killed by the male relatives of her family in the name of salvaging the family honour.

Do not compare the Burkha clad policewomen of Iraq with their counterparts in non-Islamic countries. The gender discrimination is more astounding in this country. After the US forces took over Iraq, a recruitment drive was undertaken by the Iraqi administration encouraged by the US forces to involve Iraqi women in maintaining the law and order of the country. With rising Shiite hold in Iraq, the growing Islamic conservatism did not allow these women to function freely. In a latest move to scuttle activities of the policewomen, Iraq’s Interior Ministry issued an order requiring the police officers to return all their weapons.

How can the police function without arms? The Interior Ministry’s order is not only strange but also preposterous, especially their explanation regarding issuing such an order. According to ministry, the female police officers were misusing weapons by either selling them or handing the weapons to their male relatives. Does the ministry have any evidence to prove their contention? Who cares for evidence in a conservative country trying to stifle women’s independence? While the women officers denied the allegations they have pointed out that the administration was trying to push them away from field jobs to administrative jobs. Therefore, what is the use of Iraqi women police officers if they only have to do desk jobs? The only job of the women officers seems to be in Iraq is to search for female suicide bombers.

In its fight against Islamic extremism, the world has decided to acquire a new weapon — the women in the Islamic society. The women folk are the most neglected lot in the Islamic society, oppressed and suppressed by their male counterparts’ chauvinism and complex socio-religious dogmas. They may prove a surprise weapon in the West’s quest to win the confidence of the Muslims.

The Muslims harbor a long-entrenched hatred against the Western powers, in Britain, particularly in Muslim-majority areas. Everything here is seen as a suspicion by the Christian-dominated administration. When the government has failed to bridge the gap between the administration and the Muslim society, it is worth seeing whether the proposed measure to rope in women to spread the message of tolerance and controlling hardliners ever pay dividends.

Britain is one of the few countries known for possessing higher civilian ethics and supporting human rights in the best possible way. However, quite shocking it’s to know that here too women are subjected to brutality, sometimes in the name of religion or sometimes in the name of customs. The issue takes a more gruesome turn when it comes to Muslim women.

It’s shameful to say that this brutality is a part of 21st century Britain. Yes! You got it right. No doubt, in the Muslim community, this brutality is prevalent for a long time after it started approximately 2000 years ago. However, one is certainly shocked to know that countries like Britain are also part of it. Here I am talking about a very brutal form of custom called Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

A section of poor Muslim women often face the brutality of a male-dominated society. Women and girls all over the world(of all religions and nationalities)are not safe from violence and exploitation in the so called ‘age of globalization and information technology’. We still love to follow the cruel adaptations of our primitive lives that structured our religious and national identities.

It pains me to read widespread reports of ‘Honour Killings‘ among the Islamic society. According to old Muslim values, its the female who bears the family decency and the males are to defend it at any cost. In simple words, its the woman or girl who must pay with her life for any dishonor that befalls upon her family and society due to her actions. In most Arab societies, women are solely responsible for the protection of their virginity, the loss of her most precious asset in incidents, other than in proper marriage, would inevitably lead to death.

It is still a paradox as to what many religious leaders of the Islamic community preaches and practices. Some says that it is the duty of the Muslim women to draw the veil whether they are amidst the public forum or at home, but the unfortunate killing of an innocent 16-year-old Canadian Muslim girl has nothing to do with Islam, this is what the Islamic community has to say to the world. As word goes around and the entire nation is mourning her death, the leaders are refusing any connection of their faith to the victim’s death.

Since time immemorial, every Muslim woman around the globe is following the practice of wearing hijab very religiously. However, this duty is being vehemently criticized by many organizations and high profile figures. Yet, even today, since it is a cultural phenomenon, no one dares to defy the practice. Yet, the refusal of Aqsa Parvez, the victim, to wear the hijab snatched the girl’s life. The girl was caught up in a never-ending battle with her family because of her reluctance to wear the Islamic veil, said one her school friends. Ultimately, her denial took the family by storm and this resulted in her brutal murder by her father.

Do you aspire for a virgin? So, does everyone. However, when it comes to Muslim community this aspiration takes a new high. But what if this virginity is fake or artificial? As it happens in the case of Aisha Salim who is to marry a person from Pakistan, therefore, went for a surgery, which would prove her virgin on her first wedding night. In fact, it won’t be her first experience. Aisha is not the only one opting for such medical procedures to prove her virginity but many other Muslim girls are also following the same path.

This is just a tip of the iceberg, while the core issue is quite grave. In other words, it merely percolates the fast growing conflict swirling up between modern lifestyle and the so-called chauvinism, which is, indeed, a strong pillar of Islam. Not only this but it also puts forth a new debate; are rigid Muslim rules still applicable for the fast changing society or isn’t this trite rigid structure proving a stint for the development of Muslim community?