The Muslim Woman

If we plunge deep into the Islamic chalk talk pertaining to clothing for Muslim women then we would discover the Islamic feminine are allowed to cover their whole body except their eyes palms and fingers up till the wrist. The Muslim women are hitting back due to high levels of oppression churned out by the Islamic community.

If the report from EZINEARTICLES is to be believed then several online shopping websites are getting a slew of orders for bikini from Muslim nations. It implies that the wave of rebel has homed itself in the hearts of the women of Islamic community who plan to launch themselves in bikini and end the subjugation caused by their community to wear black veils, Jilbab, Hijabs and other clothing which has been confirmed righteous by the Islamic teachings.

Women confirmed the rumors of the bikini revolution soon to hit the Islamic community by saying-

“The men want to hide our beauty in the closet and the clerics want us to take responsibility for the design of the human body, but, the truth is, we didn’t have anything to do with it. Our job is just to live with the design. In fact, to love it and be proud of it as the way Allah made us.”

Now, let’s see how the Muslim community will take the bikini revolution.

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. Most honor killings are done by the girl’s own family members. Sometimes it is astounding when people justify honor killings in the name of Islam. I am absolutely sure that the Great Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would not have advised such horrific followings. The killings are extensions of old Arab and nomadic rituals that have been in existence long before Islam’s advent to this plane. Due to the raising of voice among many Muslim women with the help of media, we are coming to know the senseless violence that are being meted out to the women who knowingly or even mistakenly fail to follow the rigorous steps. These conservative religious teachings are results of personal radical ambitions and age-old beliefs of depriving the feminine society. Media is not the only way of relieving these poor women. The time has come for the heads of states to come up with modern ideas to combat radicalism and blind beliefs. Image: Hinduonnet Source: Boston Globe

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. However, one question that remains to be answered is, are these strict social norms bringing real happiness to Saudi households. Divorces are rising at an alarming rate in Saudi Arabia. It has the second highest rate of divorces in the world. The marriage court registers 40 marriages and 20 divorces a day. According to a study conducted by Dr. Ebtisam Halawani at King Abdul Aziz University, main reasons for women, leaving their spouses was ill-treatment and violence. Polygamy was responsible for up to 55% of divorces while involvement of husbands in illicit affairs accounted for 38% of divorces. It shows that not allowing one to know the person who one is going to marry does not guarantee conjugal bliss. Source: Times Online Image

All the religions in the world teach only two things, love and peace. However, human beings, for their selfish motives, mould the religion, and create discrimination and hatred. Islam represents religion of humanity, love and peace. Unfortunately, due to the wrong deeds of some misguided Muslims, the entire Islam community is getting blamed in recent times. Islāmic political values have always been misunderstood.

Is the Islāmic political system a rival to democracy?

The Islāmic political system places firm belief in sovereignty of the Almighty, or Allah. The total Muslim Population in the year 2009 was 1.82 billion. Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria and Morocco have the largest Muslim population in the world. The word ‘Islam’ refers to peace. Like all other religions, Islam teaches its followers to live harmoniously with fellow human beings. Islam does not practice any form of compulsion. This religion does not tolerate oppression. There are hundreds of successful people all over the world who follow the principles laid down in the Islāmic religion. There are many cities that have large Muslim communities. The purpose of such communities is to promote the principles of Islam, and help Muslims get their due respect.

One must understand that all human beings are equal in the eye of God. We must not, therefore, label a person as a Muslim or a Christian. Religions exist to help people become disciplined, and not to make them wage wars. Boston also has a large Muslim community. Most of the Muslims in Boston originally belong to Asian counties like India and Pakistan. Hundreds of Muslims dwell in Boston, MA Apartments. Boston is a beautiful city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is also the largest city in Massachusetts and tenth-largest metropolitan area in the United States.

Muslim hip-hop has been gaining momentum at an almost exponential rate, with new MCs seemingly popping up almost every day. This isn’t so surprising, considering the political roots of the music form itself. However, the Muslim take on R&B is having a much harder time being accepted by the mainstream Muslim culture. Could this be to do the explicit and pervasive sexual undertones of the western form of this type of music, which seems to become more and more extreme as time goes on? If you strip away the shameless and excessive sexuality of western R&B, and you are just left with the music itself, there is something there among the beat and melodic harmonies that some modern Muslims living in mainstream culture find attractive – an alternative to the nasheed-based folk singers and groups. However, the tide seems to be turning, with ever increasing access to music through the internet and free iPhone ringtones. Farid Alhadi, an American Muslim R&B artist, believes that it’s the ability for hip-hop to avoid “more-than-plutonic love” that accounts for the disparity in popularity between Muslim hip-hop and Muslim R&B. Farid believes that he has found a way to get this Muslim R&B to the masses. As an artist, I choose to embrace the concept of romantic love in R&B. I know that romantic love is not forbidden in Islam – when practiced within permissible parameters, namely marriage. Loving women – your wives, mothers, sisters – is, in fact, a trait that defines a good Muslim. It seems we are able to rap or sing about pain, anger, etc., but for some reason, singing about love is taboo. Time will tell as to whether Farid is right, and whether he will be accepted by the mainstream. In the meantime we can hope that his music and other Muslim R&B artists will continue to provide alternatives to the perverse gyrations of artists like Rihanna, who has shocked the world with her explicit and even by most western standards, inappropriate, Rude Boy song and video.

The issue of Islam and its tribe like bans on certain things often seems a little bizarre to me. I mean, having social customs is cool, and all that, but anything taken to an extreme becomes down right odd. Banning women from showing skin is strange enough, but now they would seem to be banning smoking. And I would be lying through my teeth to even suggest that this issue doesn’t have me very ambivalent. As an avid non smoker, I can appreciate that there is a very good underlying reason for keeping the public at large from lighting up those putrid death rods. After all, caring for all the self inflicted cancer patients most likely costs other nations about as much as it costs us, all other things being basically equal (which they never are, but the point remains the same). But on the other hand, do people have a right to smoke? And how many stop smoking measures will the religious authorities tolerate? Will they encourage them, or force everyone into quitting cold turkey? I have seen the effects of smoking first hand – my own mother needs breathing treatments because she used to smoke. And my father’s lost several good friends to puffing away on those things. I completely agree that the only people who think smoking is a good idea are those who have a profit motive. But, at the same time, I can’t help that I’m a spoiled American who thinks everyone everywhere should be free to do pretty much anything they please. While it’s true that cigarette butts are an insidious little source of pollution, it seems a small price to pay for the right to do as one pleases. I also tend to wonder if the authorities will permit patches, nicotine gum and electronic cigarettes as ways to kick the habit a little more gently.

Going on a cruise is always something special and exciting, you get to travel around the world on a luxurious cruise ship while relaxing in the sun and taking in the wonderful views of oceans and islands, so, of course, it’s only natural that you would like to look your best at all times and a hot swimsuit seems to be the most important item of clothing. There are many different styles of swimsuits for women, it doesn’t matter what shape or size you are, whether you like to flaunt what you’ve got or whether you are the conservative type. Swimsuits come in so many different colors, sizes, fabrics, styles and patterns that it may be hard for you to choose just one, but why should you have just one when you can have a different color and style for every day of the week. You obviously need to choose wisely, pick the right style that will suit your body shape and flatter it; also, will you be tanning or just relaxing in a one piece and wrap? Where in the world will you be? Temperatures range drastically in different areas of the world so you should choose a swimsuit according to the weather as well. Just because you want to look good in your swimsuit on the cruise, does not mean you should bare all, there are full swimsuits that look just as good as any and are perfect for women who need to cover up but still want to look stylish. If you are planning to tan, you should wear a swimsuit that will give you the best looking tan without leaving strange patterns and lines, never forget to wear sun protection though because you don’t want to look like you are burnt to a crisp when you return from your luxury cruise.

In Islam, there is no such concept of free will, especially with respect to women folk. They are treated as mere commodities in the hands of men. They are battered, molested, killed when they ask for freedom. To make the situation worse, women have given no say in their own marriage. Girls less than ten years are given away to men over fifty years! Do you expect women in Islamic countries to breathe? There are no such laws in Saudi Arabia that define the minimum age for marriage. Although a woman’s permission is legally required, but that’s a different story that some marriage officials do not think it’s necessary to ask them. Running on the similar lines, recently a case has come up from Saudi Arabia where the court has discarded a divorce plea from eight-year-old girl married to 58-year-old man. The girl’s mother filed a divorce plea on her behalf but the judge dismissed it saying that she (the mother) has no right to file such a case. And that the girl can only file the plea when she reaches puberty. This is just a single case but the province is saturated with instances where young girls – who themselves don’t know the meaning of marriage – are actually being given away as wives to old men. The so called educated men in Islamic nation are likely to nourish the disgusting practice of marrying off prepubescent girls. Fathers and guardians tend to sell their daughters into marriage just for few bucks, further abetting rape. Instead of feeling guilty about it, poor families find this a profitable bargain, as they receive high bridal fees from the old groom; after all, religious hardliners acts as pillars to support the inhuman regime. What a miserable life for these little girls. (Sigh)!

Morsal Obeidi was just 16, she wanted to live like the other girls in Germany. Free to make choices. But she paid dearly for aspiring to be free, her brother stabbed her 20 times. This honour killing right in the heart of Germany has sparked huge debate about muslim women, the choices they have and they don’t have. And whether at all they can opt to walk away from the family bindings. It must be really difficult to live closed life in a free world. The children of religious minority groups can never really get integrated into western society. Their homes and their religious bindings often place them in a dilemma of choices. They rarely think of escaping from home and bindings. Their upbringing teaches them not to abandon family and family values at any cost. The family name, family honour, their own religion and society are of supreme importance. Defying parents and religious law is never tolerated. If some of them do dare, they end up getting punished. Asserting one’s own religion, one’s own culture and value is important. But not giving freedom to step out to explore the world and live life on one’s own terms is a kind of oppression. Modern society will see more such attempts to crossover traditional barriers and boundaries to see the world beyond. source: guardian

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. We all have memories of Taliban. But many other Middle East countries face these kinds of problems. A reason for such incidents is degeneration of the country itself ravaged by wars and suffering from many social evils. There is an unending fear factor in these countries, for most of these countries never know what peace is, because of which they fear change and stick to old laws trying to implement it. Many women in these countries are denied education- Afghanistan is still reeling under pressure. Some of the sects of Islam even prescribe rules and conducts for women, which they have to compulsorily abide by like the dress codes; laws regarding marriage seem quite absurd and many such forbidden laws preventing social upliftment of women. Any women emancipation program is derogatory to these people, for they are fearful of their own society, religion and world around-that seems too progressive to Islamic fundamentalists. And politics is so corrupt that there are hardly any leaders to curb the hard core fundamentalists and fanatics who make laws as they wish to keep women under control, denying them even basic freedom. The governments should first try to absolve tribal Islamic laws. It is such fundamentalists who are responsible for such honor killings and gang rape, for they try to make it legal. Some of the political governments are either in alliance with them or are silent, too bothered about their own household and their votes. Pakistan – where women are supposed to be free (though many of them suffer), does not find any women activists who have recourse to power to change the tide and though India does boast of Women Emancipation, it cannot deny that there are thousands of women who die everyday fighting for their lives. Unless the fear factor is removed completely from the minds of both men and women, it is difficult that people in Iraq or elsewhere would stand up to guard their honor and dignity. Source: The Independent Image: BBC