Unveiling the Myth of the Muslim Woman
Anniqua Rana January 7, 2006
#29 Posted by Zeena on January 8, 2006 10:35:42 am
#27 Salim
{{we are stuck in the ecstasy of finding immorality among us - never mind the corruption, the bribes, the lack of freedoms, and the rule of law. As long as our women are hidden, we have honor and can hold our head high. }}}}
{{{{ But don`t go overboard. The cure of rampant nudity is NOT putting women in mobile tents. }}}}
Bravo. Can`t say better than this. Yes, Salim, you said it all.
We can be as progressive as Westerners are, but, only if, we leave our religions aside, which is an extremely personal issue.
{{we are stuck in the ecstasy of finding immorality among us - never mind the corruption, the bribes, the lack of freedoms, and the rule of law. As long as our women are hidden, we have honor and can hold our head high. }}}}
{{{{ But don`t go overboard. The cure of rampant nudity is NOT putting women in mobile tents. }}}}
Bravo. Can`t say better than this. Yes, Salim, you said it all.
We can be as progressive as Westerners are, but, only if, we leave our religions aside, which is an extremely personal issue.
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#28 Posted by Zeena on January 8, 2006 10:21:45 am
#25 by nasah
{{{The process of desensitization of an oversensitive Muslim psyche is in progress in Europe -- hopefully with positive results for both Europe and the `European` Muslims.... }}}
Exactly, this is what we need globally to desensitize the oversensitive Muslim psyche. For that process, we have to fight with love and compassion with oversensitive Muslims among ourselves to combat their outdated ideology with updated one. That will be hard for them to accept, but, that is th eonly way to survive in coming centuries.
{{{The process of desensitization of an oversensitive Muslim psyche is in progress in Europe -- hopefully with positive results for both Europe and the `European` Muslims.... }}}
Exactly, this is what we need globally to desensitize the oversensitive Muslim psyche. For that process, we have to fight with love and compassion with oversensitive Muslims among ourselves to combat their outdated ideology with updated one. That will be hard for them to accept, but, that is th eonly way to survive in coming centuries.
#27 Posted by Salim_Chauhan on January 8, 2006 10:19:30 am
Anniqua,
Very well written and a great job in being comprehensive about the topic. I would just add that we Muslims stop looking at western standards as a benchmark of progress or acceptance. Come on, during Victorian age, the proper way for a civilized woman to dress was from neck to toe. Only the heathen women, Hindus and Muslims of the Orient, walked around half-naked in harems. So, in the twentieth century, Europeans discovered the prison attire as swimming gear and we are now well past the age of topless bathing and clothing optional beaches.
The important thing to do is to discard the attempt to appease westerners and at the same time to upgrade our own ancient sense of morality. Hiding women in harems, behind four walls, segregating them to their own kind, or making them walk in tent-like burkas to me is the most blatant form of immorality. Such treatment of women degrades them as human hens and thus to the only value they bring to Muslim society - providng sexual pleasure to their legitimate male ``owners,`` and conceiving, bearing, and raising the next generation of equally ``pious`` Muslims.
If I didn`t know any better, I would believe that Islam stands primarily for the suppression of joy, whether physical or visual, written or oral, real or imaginary. Sexual pleasure is the worst form of joy and should be suppressed, repressed, legislated against, policed, regulated, and if necessary, punished. This has become the cornerstone of our belief system and boy do we excel in practicing this to the letter. Like the Pilgrims of New England, we are stuck in the ecstasy of finding immorality among us - never mind the corruption, the bribes, the lack of freedoms, and the rule of law. As long as our women are hidden, we have honor and can hold our head high.
To have any chance of success in social development of our people, we Muslims need to immediately remove any connection between Islam and how one dresses. Islam is a belief in God, how to serve Him, how to worship Him, how to do good and prevent evil. How a woman dresses is between her and her God. How a man dresses is between man and his God. Of course, society can impose basic standards for public sanity and cleanliness for the prevention of disease and control disturbance of harmony. :) But don`t go overboard. The cure of rampant nudity is NOT putting women in mobile tents.
Very well written and a great job in being comprehensive about the topic. I would just add that we Muslims stop looking at western standards as a benchmark of progress or acceptance. Come on, during Victorian age, the proper way for a civilized woman to dress was from neck to toe. Only the heathen women, Hindus and Muslims of the Orient, walked around half-naked in harems. So, in the twentieth century, Europeans discovered the prison attire as swimming gear and we are now well past the age of topless bathing and clothing optional beaches.
The important thing to do is to discard the attempt to appease westerners and at the same time to upgrade our own ancient sense of morality. Hiding women in harems, behind four walls, segregating them to their own kind, or making them walk in tent-like burkas to me is the most blatant form of immorality. Such treatment of women degrades them as human hens and thus to the only value they bring to Muslim society - providng sexual pleasure to their legitimate male ``owners,`` and conceiving, bearing, and raising the next generation of equally ``pious`` Muslims.
If I didn`t know any better, I would believe that Islam stands primarily for the suppression of joy, whether physical or visual, written or oral, real or imaginary. Sexual pleasure is the worst form of joy and should be suppressed, repressed, legislated against, policed, regulated, and if necessary, punished. This has become the cornerstone of our belief system and boy do we excel in practicing this to the letter. Like the Pilgrims of New England, we are stuck in the ecstasy of finding immorality among us - never mind the corruption, the bribes, the lack of freedoms, and the rule of law. As long as our women are hidden, we have honor and can hold our head high.
To have any chance of success in social development of our people, we Muslims need to immediately remove any connection between Islam and how one dresses. Islam is a belief in God, how to serve Him, how to worship Him, how to do good and prevent evil. How a woman dresses is between her and her God. How a man dresses is between man and his God. Of course, society can impose basic standards for public sanity and cleanliness for the prevention of disease and control disturbance of harmony. :) But don`t go overboard. The cure of rampant nudity is NOT putting women in mobile tents.
#26 Posted by Zeena on January 8, 2006 9:37:18 am
#21 amansandhu
Agreed. If, some women in Western countries prefer to veil themselves to look different or to enrich their culture, that is OK. But, if, they wear Veil, just, b/c they want to enrich Islam or they want to protect themselves from stranger males. That is absurd. Why? B/c first of all , Veil has got nothing to do with Islam or with being Muslims. If, they refer to Quran. Then, there is not even one surrah or verse that uses this word veil. Yes, in Quran, it is stated clearly, that {{{both men and women should cover their private body parts with pieces of clothes, which if, you wish can take as VEIL ,but, not like they have started implementing that thing to be.
Second of all, is western men never stare at women like their eastern counterparts. They behave very civil.
As long as, some people cry out loud, that USA has rapes and women abuse in plenty. That is wrong, absolutely wrong.
In Pakistan rapes and women abuse is extremely common. Only difference is they go un- reported , again, b/c this is Paki culture is hide every dirt under the carpet and act all your life following double standards to deceive yourselves and others and that is the sole reason, whole society stinks with corruption.
In USA, rapes and abuse happen ,but, never go unreported. They have awareness, NOT to take any kind of abuse and feel suppressed. Society is healthy. Paki society is sick.
Look what happened to Mukhtaran Mai, even Paki president harrassed her for reporting her case and for standing up for her right.
So, it is Paki society, where women need to implement Islam , if, they wish to, but, absolutely NOT in USA. Their society is more than human in all aspects.
Agreed. If, some women in Western countries prefer to veil themselves to look different or to enrich their culture, that is OK. But, if, they wear Veil, just, b/c they want to enrich Islam or they want to protect themselves from stranger males. That is absurd. Why? B/c first of all , Veil has got nothing to do with Islam or with being Muslims. If, they refer to Quran. Then, there is not even one surrah or verse that uses this word veil. Yes, in Quran, it is stated clearly, that {{{both men and women should cover their private body parts with pieces of clothes, which if, you wish can take as VEIL ,but, not like they have started implementing that thing to be.
Second of all, is western men never stare at women like their eastern counterparts. They behave very civil.
As long as, some people cry out loud, that USA has rapes and women abuse in plenty. That is wrong, absolutely wrong.
In Pakistan rapes and women abuse is extremely common. Only difference is they go un- reported , again, b/c this is Paki culture is hide every dirt under the carpet and act all your life following double standards to deceive yourselves and others and that is the sole reason, whole society stinks with corruption.
In USA, rapes and abuse happen ,but, never go unreported. They have awareness, NOT to take any kind of abuse and feel suppressed. Society is healthy. Paki society is sick.
Look what happened to Mukhtaran Mai, even Paki president harrassed her for reporting her case and for standing up for her right.
So, it is Paki society, where women need to implement Islam , if, they wish to, but, absolutely NOT in USA. Their society is more than human in all aspects.
#25 Posted by nasah on January 8, 2006 9:35:30 am
The process of desensitization of an oversensitive Muslim psyche is in progress in Europe -- hopefully with positive results for both Europe and the `European` Muslims....
#24 Posted by nasah on January 8, 2006 9:27:37 am
A column pertinent to the present discussion.
Denmark Is Unlikely Front in Islam-West Culture War
By DAN BILEFSKY
COPENHAGEN - When the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, including one in which he is shown wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse, it expected a strong reaction in this country of 5.4 million people.
Muslims gathered at city hall in Copenhagen in October to protest cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published in a newspaper, Jyllands-Posten.
Tension has grown in Norrebro, an ethnically mixed area of Copenhagen.
But the paper was unprepared for the global furor that ensued, including demonstrations in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, death threats against the artists, condemnation from 11 Muslim countries and a rebuke from the United Nations.
``The cartoons did nothing that transcends the cultural norms of secular Denmark, and this was not a provocation to insult Muslims,`` said Flemming Rose, cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten, Denmark`s largest newspaper, which has declined to apologize for the drawings.
``But if we talk of freedom of speech, even if it was a provocation, that does not make our right to do it any less legitimate before the law,`` he added in an interview from Miami. He spent months living under police protection in Denmark.
As countries across Europe grapple with how to assimilate their growing Muslim populations in the post-9/11 world, Denmark has become an unlikely flashpoint in the escalating culture wars between Islam and the West.
The publication of the cartoons in late September has provoked a fierce national debate over whether Denmark`s famously liberal laws on free speech have gone too far.
It also has tested the patience of Denmark`s 200,000 Muslims. Many of them say the cartoons reflect an intensifying anti-immigrant climate that is stigmatizing minorities and radicalizing young Muslims.
In Norrebro, an ethnically mixed neighborhood of Copenhagen where the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard is buried and where kebab stands dot the tree-lined streets, Imam Ahmed Abu-Laban, a leader among Denmark`s Muslims, bristles at what he calls the ``Islam phobia`` gripping the country.
He asserted that the cartoons had been calculated to incite Muslims because it was well known that in Islam depictions of the prophet were considered blasphemy.
``We are being mentally tortured,`` Imam Ahmed said at his mosque, an anonymous building that looks more like an apartment complex than a house of worship. ``The cartoons are an insult against Islam, an attempt by right-wing forces in this country to get a rise out of the Muslim community and so portray us as against Danish values.``
Mr. Rose, once a journalist in Iran, said he decided to commission the cartoons for Jyllands-Posten when he heard that Danish cartoonists were too scared of Muslim fundamentalists to illustrate a new children`s biography of Muhammad.
Annoyed at the self-censorship he said had overtaken Europe since the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered last year by a Muslim radical for criticizing Islam`s treatment of women, Mr. Rose said he decided to test Denmark`s free speech norms.
The cartoons were published amid the growth of an anti-immigrant sentiment in Denmark, reflected in the rise of the far-right Danish People`s Party.
The party, which holds 13 percent of the seats in the Danish Parliament, has helped to push through the toughest anti-immigration rules on the Continent, including a rule preventing Danish citizens age 24 or younger from bringing in spouses from outside Denmark.
Soren Krarup, a retired priest and leading voice in the party, said the Muslim response to the cartoons showed that Islam was not compatible with Danish customs.
He said Jesus had been satirized in Danish literature and popular culture for centuries - including a recent much-publicized Danish painting of Jesus with an erection - so why not Muhammad?
He also argues that Muslims must learn to integrate.
``Muslims who come here reject our culture,`` he said. ``Muslim immigration is a way for Muslims to conquer us, just as they have done for the past 1,400 years.``
Muslim leaders say that such talk helped create the atmosphere that allowed the cartoons to be published. And they contend that it is alienating the people the Danish People`s Party says it wants to assimilate.........(NYT)
Denmark Is Unlikely Front in Islam-West Culture War
By DAN BILEFSKY
COPENHAGEN - When the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, including one in which he is shown wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse, it expected a strong reaction in this country of 5.4 million people.
Muslims gathered at city hall in Copenhagen in October to protest cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published in a newspaper, Jyllands-Posten.
Tension has grown in Norrebro, an ethnically mixed area of Copenhagen.
But the paper was unprepared for the global furor that ensued, including demonstrations in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, death threats against the artists, condemnation from 11 Muslim countries and a rebuke from the United Nations.
``The cartoons did nothing that transcends the cultural norms of secular Denmark, and this was not a provocation to insult Muslims,`` said Flemming Rose, cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten, Denmark`s largest newspaper, which has declined to apologize for the drawings.
``But if we talk of freedom of speech, even if it was a provocation, that does not make our right to do it any less legitimate before the law,`` he added in an interview from Miami. He spent months living under police protection in Denmark.
As countries across Europe grapple with how to assimilate their growing Muslim populations in the post-9/11 world, Denmark has become an unlikely flashpoint in the escalating culture wars between Islam and the West.
The publication of the cartoons in late September has provoked a fierce national debate over whether Denmark`s famously liberal laws on free speech have gone too far.
It also has tested the patience of Denmark`s 200,000 Muslims. Many of them say the cartoons reflect an intensifying anti-immigrant climate that is stigmatizing minorities and radicalizing young Muslims.
In Norrebro, an ethnically mixed neighborhood of Copenhagen where the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard is buried and where kebab stands dot the tree-lined streets, Imam Ahmed Abu-Laban, a leader among Denmark`s Muslims, bristles at what he calls the ``Islam phobia`` gripping the country.
He asserted that the cartoons had been calculated to incite Muslims because it was well known that in Islam depictions of the prophet were considered blasphemy.
``We are being mentally tortured,`` Imam Ahmed said at his mosque, an anonymous building that looks more like an apartment complex than a house of worship. ``The cartoons are an insult against Islam, an attempt by right-wing forces in this country to get a rise out of the Muslim community and so portray us as against Danish values.``
Mr. Rose, once a journalist in Iran, said he decided to commission the cartoons for Jyllands-Posten when he heard that Danish cartoonists were too scared of Muslim fundamentalists to illustrate a new children`s biography of Muhammad.
Annoyed at the self-censorship he said had overtaken Europe since the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered last year by a Muslim radical for criticizing Islam`s treatment of women, Mr. Rose said he decided to test Denmark`s free speech norms.
The cartoons were published amid the growth of an anti-immigrant sentiment in Denmark, reflected in the rise of the far-right Danish People`s Party.
The party, which holds 13 percent of the seats in the Danish Parliament, has helped to push through the toughest anti-immigration rules on the Continent, including a rule preventing Danish citizens age 24 or younger from bringing in spouses from outside Denmark.
Soren Krarup, a retired priest and leading voice in the party, said the Muslim response to the cartoons showed that Islam was not compatible with Danish customs.
He said Jesus had been satirized in Danish literature and popular culture for centuries - including a recent much-publicized Danish painting of Jesus with an erection - so why not Muhammad?
He also argues that Muslims must learn to integrate.
``Muslims who come here reject our culture,`` he said. ``Muslim immigration is a way for Muslims to conquer us, just as they have done for the past 1,400 years.``
Muslim leaders say that such talk helped create the atmosphere that allowed the cartoons to be published. And they contend that it is alienating the people the Danish People`s Party says it wants to assimilate.........(NYT)
#23 Posted by pmishra2 on January 8, 2006 6:14:38 am
I have to ditto ranjit`s comments on degrading treatment of women in Delhi. I will to have to go further and say that in all of north india, women are treated very badly in public. I have northern family connections (jullundhar, sri nagar, jammu, delhi) but grew up in Calcutta. I was always appalled at the difference in how my mom and later sisters were treated in comparison to Calcutta. And this is 20-30 years ago. It is definitely worse now..
Pankaj Mishra (``Butter Chicken in Ludhiana``) writes about how women are routinely groped in Banaras in the crowds. He notes the sickening difference between banaras as holy city and attitudes of most young men there.
When women ask me about travelling to india, I routinely recommend NOT travelling to north india. South, West and East are fine. Conservative maybe, but you will do fine as long as you dont do silly stuff (have a lot of drinks with someone you have never met!).
BTW, left-wing extremists like Masadi are the most amusing. The silly twit is always ready to give stats on poverty of women in the west, abuse etc. Of course, no similar statistics are available from socialist heavens like cuba or vietnam. Nor are they available from great islamic nations like Saudi arabia or Iran. But why bother with such fine distinctions...
Pankaj Mishra (``Butter Chicken in Ludhiana``) writes about how women are routinely groped in Banaras in the crowds. He notes the sickening difference between banaras as holy city and attitudes of most young men there.
When women ask me about travelling to india, I routinely recommend NOT travelling to north india. South, West and East are fine. Conservative maybe, but you will do fine as long as you dont do silly stuff (have a lot of drinks with someone you have never met!).
BTW, left-wing extremists like Masadi are the most amusing. The silly twit is always ready to give stats on poverty of women in the west, abuse etc. Of course, no similar statistics are available from socialist heavens like cuba or vietnam. Nor are they available from great islamic nations like Saudi arabia or Iran. But why bother with such fine distinctions...
#22 Posted by ullu_ka_pathha on January 8, 2006 6:02:05 am
Never try to kill machhar with canon.This is wastage,the proper remedy is MORTEIN (Purdah,veil,hijab). Machhar aap se duur,rehne par majboor.Sorry for my non-serious interference to otherwise serious discussion.Kya karun sabar hi nahin hota?
#21 Posted by amansandhu on January 8, 2006 2:37:59 am
Zeena, you are spot on. Religion is a personal thing and should remain so. I fail to understand these modern educated women who wear veils, dont they feel they are being subjugated.
#20 Posted by amansandhu on January 8, 2006 2:29:48 am
Ranjit,
I lived in Delhi from 1990-96, but I did not travel much by bus. Things have changed now I suppose. I believe most of the eve teasing etc is done by guys coming from the small towns , villages etc around Delhi, upwardly mobile types, they come to the city looking for fun etc. This wasnt there in the early 90`s. I have travelled late at night in autorickshaws without much fear, the only irritant being overcharged by the autorickshaw walla .
I have faced eveteasing in amritsar in the eighties but mostly of the harmless kind, a hi or a flying kiss coming your way followed by a grin.
I lived in Delhi from 1990-96, but I did not travel much by bus. Things have changed now I suppose. I believe most of the eve teasing etc is done by guys coming from the small towns , villages etc around Delhi, upwardly mobile types, they come to the city looking for fun etc. This wasnt there in the early 90`s. I have travelled late at night in autorickshaws without much fear, the only irritant being overcharged by the autorickshaw walla .
I have faced eveteasing in amritsar in the eighties but mostly of the harmless kind, a hi or a flying kiss coming your way followed by a grin.
#19 Posted by Ranjit on January 7, 2006 10:37:11 pm
Re:amansandhu#14
I was born and brought up in Delhi. My family lives there, while I live in the US. I dont know when you left Delhi, but everyone I know complains of the incessant eve-teasing in Delhi and it has become really bad in the past few years. In fact, surveys have shown that Delhi is the least safest city for women in India.
Just last year, there were several incidents of women being kidnapped from the streets into moving cars, raped and then thrown out later. One girl from North-east who was working in a call-center faced this situation while returning home in South Delhi. Hardly anyone has been punished for these incidents.
On Zee TV, there is an interesting show called Inside Edition. They sent a woman correspondent to just stand in a bus stop around evening time at different locations in Delhi. They filmed the events using a hidden camera. Within 5 minutes, she got propositioned by several people - cars stopping by, motor-cycles stopping by, other passengers trying to talk to her. It was the same story at every location. It is as if a woman by herself has a target painted on her.
I was so ashamed to see that. I cannot believe that in Delhi, where there is not that much segregation of sexes, guys are totally out of control. Its as if everyone is on viagra.
I was born and brought up in Delhi. My family lives there, while I live in the US. I dont know when you left Delhi, but everyone I know complains of the incessant eve-teasing in Delhi and it has become really bad in the past few years. In fact, surveys have shown that Delhi is the least safest city for women in India.
Just last year, there were several incidents of women being kidnapped from the streets into moving cars, raped and then thrown out later. One girl from North-east who was working in a call-center faced this situation while returning home in South Delhi. Hardly anyone has been punished for these incidents.
On Zee TV, there is an interesting show called Inside Edition. They sent a woman correspondent to just stand in a bus stop around evening time at different locations in Delhi. They filmed the events using a hidden camera. Within 5 minutes, she got propositioned by several people - cars stopping by, motor-cycles stopping by, other passengers trying to talk to her. It was the same story at every location. It is as if a woman by herself has a target painted on her.
I was so ashamed to see that. I cannot believe that in Delhi, where there is not that much segregation of sexes, guys are totally out of control. Its as if everyone is on viagra.
#18 Posted by jang on January 7, 2006 9:29:55 pm
aman i am sad to say that even my 60+ year old aunt once got lascivious attention during her solo ride in a dtc bus..she was very animated...but could not tell for sure why ;-)
#17 Posted by masadi on January 7, 2006 9:01:43 pm
#15, Kulharee sahib, total nonsense (BS) post by you. Maybe before you discuss the ``unique`` challenges faced by Muslim women, you should discuss the unique challenges faced by American women. I have no clue what your source is for the ``chopped head football`` or what its frequency was under the Talibans- you are well aware that such is not sanctioned by Islam or the Quran. That said, I can assure you their frequency would be much less than the over 1 million females that are raped annually in the USA; even though there is no ruling against women driving in Islam, not being able to drive is an ``oppression`` that is not worse than the over third of all females that are sexually molested in their lives in the US- a total number much greater than the combined female populations of Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, neither is it as ``oppressive`` as poverty being concentrated among females and children as it is in the US. Or maybe you should ask the 4 to 5 million women in the US that are battered annually- maybe you should ask them if running seperately in a marathon would be a more desirable alternative to being beaten blue and black by their significant others? That was my small sampling for your thinking pleasure.
The laws that Allah makes in the Quran are a handful and are there to protect the woman to achieve just equality- it gives greater freedom to individuals than ANY modern bureaucratized society~ that is a simple fact whether you accept it or not.
Then, over the years Muslims have picked up regional traditions that veil a woman from head to toe, such is not sanctioned by the Quran at all. However whereas these women wear a ``physical`` veil that hides them from the rest of society, women in western societies, those who are judged based upon appearance alone, also wear a veil, a veil that hides everything about their personality from the rest of society and themselves except their physical appearance. If you study Mead`s ``I and ME``, how the concept of the self develops~ how you see yourself through the eyes of others, you`d understand what I was getting at.
The laws that Allah makes in the Quran are a handful and are there to protect the woman to achieve just equality- it gives greater freedom to individuals than ANY modern bureaucratized society~ that is a simple fact whether you accept it or not.
Then, over the years Muslims have picked up regional traditions that veil a woman from head to toe, such is not sanctioned by the Quran at all. However whereas these women wear a ``physical`` veil that hides them from the rest of society, women in western societies, those who are judged based upon appearance alone, also wear a veil, a veil that hides everything about their personality from the rest of society and themselves except their physical appearance. If you study Mead`s ``I and ME``, how the concept of the self develops~ how you see yourself through the eyes of others, you`d understand what I was getting at.
#16 Posted by Morningdew on January 7, 2006 8:53:37 pm
The Hijab issue is quite old. We need to move on people.
Overall this is an ok article, but most of your references are quite old.
Bottom line is the Hijab is required by practicing muslim women. It says so in the Quran. Whether or not they chose to wear it, is another matter entirely. The fact of the matter is, most muslim women don`t wear it. There is no compulsion in religion...every muslim knows that. No one should force any woman to wear it. If she choses to or not, is between her and God...and not for not for anyone else, muslim or non-muslim to judge. IF you feel they are trying to put forward a `holier than thou` image, then you really should take a look at yourself and your own insecurities.
I think when we talk about hijab we should also mention that in the Quran right along the passage about modesty, it mentions that believing ``men should lower their gaze`` as well. Now how many of us see men lowing their gaze whenever a women, veiled or not, passes by??? Everyone is at their own level of piety, and so it is regarding the hijab as well. When a muslim woman does chose to wear it, it should be for religious reasons not any other. I know of many sikh girls in Toronto that wear something similar to a hijab, and its for their own religious reasons. How many religions are you going to try to suppress?
OK, forget about religions, take a look at different lifestyles. Go to any downtown city in the US or Canada, and you`ll see numerous colourful, different looking, punk, ganster, and religious zealots, etc. (even the Hari Karishma`s in Toronto). Should we all conform to look like one another?? No, we are all individuals, with different ideals. That is the beauty of the human race in the cosmopolitan world we live in today. Yes it does get annoying if one groups tries to enforce its values on you...but, its great to be able to learn from one another. I`ve been approached by many different people, and I think its amazing that we are able to smile and talk to one another and often even share similar values.
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. And most of the people converting are educated. So go figure. :)
Overall this is an ok article, but most of your references are quite old.
Bottom line is the Hijab is required by practicing muslim women. It says so in the Quran. Whether or not they chose to wear it, is another matter entirely. The fact of the matter is, most muslim women don`t wear it. There is no compulsion in religion...every muslim knows that. No one should force any woman to wear it. If she choses to or not, is between her and God...and not for not for anyone else, muslim or non-muslim to judge. IF you feel they are trying to put forward a `holier than thou` image, then you really should take a look at yourself and your own insecurities.
I think when we talk about hijab we should also mention that in the Quran right along the passage about modesty, it mentions that believing ``men should lower their gaze`` as well. Now how many of us see men lowing their gaze whenever a women, veiled or not, passes by??? Everyone is at their own level of piety, and so it is regarding the hijab as well. When a muslim woman does chose to wear it, it should be for religious reasons not any other. I know of many sikh girls in Toronto that wear something similar to a hijab, and its for their own religious reasons. How many religions are you going to try to suppress?
OK, forget about religions, take a look at different lifestyles. Go to any downtown city in the US or Canada, and you`ll see numerous colourful, different looking, punk, ganster, and religious zealots, etc. (even the Hari Karishma`s in Toronto). Should we all conform to look like one another?? No, we are all individuals, with different ideals. That is the beauty of the human race in the cosmopolitan world we live in today. Yes it does get annoying if one groups tries to enforce its values on you...but, its great to be able to learn from one another. I`ve been approached by many different people, and I think its amazing that we are able to smile and talk to one another and often even share similar values.
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. And most of the people converting are educated. So go figure. :)
#15 Posted by Kulharee on January 7, 2006 7:59:13 pm
Challenges faced by Muslim women are somewhat unique – on top of plain gender inequality prevalent in the Muslim world, there are additional challenges mainly a result of the barbaric and outdated religion practiced in those lands. In Afghanistan under the Taliban, the nation’s favorite sport was soccer played with freshly chopped female heads. In Saudi Arabia they are not taught to drive (the argument is that because they are fully covered, they might ram the car into some camel). In Iran they must not dance in public. In Lahore, they are forbidden from competing in a road race. In Jordan, it is unlawful to prosecute a man who kills a woman to protect his honor. Just a small sample of some minor challenges faced by Muslim females living in the Muslim world.
Saying that Muslim women should make their own decisions is kinda comical. How do you tell Saudi or Iranian women to make their own decisions, when Allah himself has already made the decisions affecting them.
Saying that Muslim women should make their own decisions is kinda comical. How do you tell Saudi or Iranian women to make their own decisions, when Allah himself has already made the decisions affecting them.
#14 Posted by amansandhu on January 7, 2006 7:48:12 pm
Ranjit,
I have lived in Delhi, can say eve teasing is extremely minimal. Yes, women have been raped in cars etc and most of the rapers charged.
I have lived in Delhi, can say eve teasing is extremely minimal. Yes, women have been raped in cars etc and most of the rapers charged.
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