Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Women and Islam |
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| haaris |
| 09/25/01 at 11:28:49 |
| [slm] Some time ago, someone on this board asked why there were so many pages on Islamic web sites that deal with women in Islam and women's issues. The short answer is because people still think like this: [url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,59-2001331228,00.html]Check this out[/url] Now, it may be that women in many parts of the Islamic world are treated badly BUT even if this is the case (and I'm not saying it is) it is not a part of Islam to do so, a mistake so many people still make. May Allah bless all of you and others who make sincere efforts to counter the acts of Shaytan. Salaam |
| Re: Women and Islam |
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| NewJehad |
| 09/25/01 at 10:20:39 |
| I think Women in the Islamic world get treated allot better then Women in ever other part of the world, especially the feminist west in things that really matter. I don't mean a peace of nostalgia, I mean even now. I am going to modify what I have wrote now I have read the link. The things the kaffar wrote against is thrown right back in to their faces by reality. The real fact is that in their civilised society rape is so common, and most rapists are known to their victims as friends from class or work. Our system is the liberation while the consequences of theirs can be seen in the dust bins of the abortion clinics. Lets look at what Ataturk’s actions did to Turkey? Lets look at the modernisation? Before Atturk even at its weakest Turkey was a world power. Now what is it? Each day since Ataturk westernisation life has become harder. The reason why feminists in the west regard Islamic lands as bad for women is because of lies and brainwashing. The only Women from the Muslim world most of them speak to are people with no connection to Islam. People from the upper classes who hate the people of their lands and consider them as inferior and backward. If you go to the Muslim lands what makes peoples lives hard is not sexism, even of the ignorant kind coming from culture. It is abject poverty and state corruption. The Problems in our lands is not due to our culture, as even the worst bits of our cultures is better then the best of theirs. It is due to evil governments who curse the people and whom the people curse ruling our lands for the pleasure of their kaffar masters. People who believe the lies of the west should go to our own country and speak to the people from the poor villages and ask them if they consider them selves as being ignorant pathetic uneducated objects only existing to satisfy male desire and living under the constant oppression of men. I think you may be surprised at their response, unless they head but you first for insulting them with such a idiotic question. |
| Re: Women and Islam |
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| solehah |
| 09/25/01 at 10:31:23 |
| Salaam [quote] Now, it may be that women in many parts of the Islamic world are treated badly BUT it is not a part of Islam to do so, a mistake so many people still make. [/quote] If you look at the sociological history of women and their position in society, it would be interesting to note the developments, and in some cases the regression, of their rights and power. Every society of all ages have somehow used women as a mean to further their cause. One classic example is the Saddam Hussein government. Prior to the Gulf War, Iraqi women are encouraged and lauded for their achievements and its interesting to note that Iraqi women are the better educated amongst their Arab brethren. Many years post-Gulf War and financial ruin, the Saddam government finds that it is fast losing support of the people so what does it do ? It tries to rouse the support of the masses by using religious sentiments. Its target ? Women. Now Iraqi women are facing the same plight as some of their sisters elsewhere. They are denied access to high education, their "modesty" and chastity become primary concerns of the government and the menfolks etc. The ploy of using religion to gain the support of the masses has worked elsewhere so why not in Iraq ? We all know that Islam does not promote, condone or even tolerate the ill treatment of women. That is why when u say that women in many parts of the Islamic world are treated badly, alarm bells in my head set off. If these countries do make up part of the Islamic world then no ill treatment should take place because a world that is Islamic would be based on Islamic principles and that would certainly rule out ill treatment of women, IMHO. Yes many people make the mistake of equating Islam with the distorted version of Islam practised by some countries. But the question is, can we blame them ? In a world where the information highway is one long F1 race circuit, many people would find difficulty to actually sit down and do research on eacha nd every subject they come across. So the alternative is to get knowledge thru second hand means like observation and media reports. Thus, it doesn't help if we have people claiming that they are practising Islamic way of life and that includes relegating women as second class citizens denied of education and personal voice. It does not help that one of the strongest bastion of Islam does not even allow women to drive (or so I have heard :) ) Of course there will be the handful who have no idea of what Islam is all about, who have practically zero knowledge of the Muslimahs' condition and yet proceeded to pity us anyways, to rant and rave about how lowly our lives are. The link you forwarded us shows two of the many I spoke about. So besides laughing at their ludicrous claims and shaking our head with disbelief, what else can we do. It is rather difficult to actually go about changing a whole country's policies, so the next best thing we can do is to educate the ignorant. I have written many letters and e-mails in the past to correct misconceptions about women in Islam and Insya'ALah if you can just confirm with me how we can go about responding to letters published in The Times, I would not mind writing in to them too. LOL *gets off soapbox* I guess the point of my rambling is to reiterate the fact that we all must play a part. Sis Jannah was talking abt da'wah in another post. Where Umar RA used to take up the sword, take up the pen and defend Islam. Wallahualam bissawab. Wassalam. |
| Re: Women and Islam |
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| solehah |
| 09/25/01 at 10:58:08 |
| Salaam [quote] I think Women in the Islamic world get treated allot better then Women in ever other part of the world, especially the feminist west in things that really matter. I don't mean a peace of nostalgia, I mean even now. [/quote] I remember long ago when I was in Uni (please don't ask exactly long ago lol), there was a mini debate going on between the brothers and the sisters of the Muslim Society about the rights of women in Islam. Lots of heated words were exchanged and a widening gulf was developing. Miraculously, there was a moment of silence (due to claws being sharpened maybe lol) and I calmly announced that I am a feminist. Some of the brothers, and sisters too, visibly jumped as if feminism is a dirty word. I felt as if I have announced that I have the cooties. One brother actually gathered enough indignant breath and roared " There is NO place in Islam for feminism". I knew he badly wanted to say what a blasphemy but maybe because I was giving him a curious smile he stopped short. So I told him, " Yes there is no need for feminism in Islam because Islam is perfection. BUT, and this is a strong but, there is certainly lots of room for feminism in the administration of Islamic laws and principles." Sis(?) Bro(?) Jehad, there are many branches of feminism. Some are militant feminists who believe in man-hating and aggressive lobbying for radical laws like all women workplace paid for by the Government and so on. Some, however, are women who believe that feminism is actually an intellectual revolution to prevent the harming of women and to eradicate practices and policies that would disadvantage women. Now, tell me, isn't the latter branch in line with the teaching of Islam. In his last sermon, Prophet Muhamad SAW said amongst others to protect the womenfolks. Not all efforts to improve the condition of women worldwide are condescending attempts by misguided West to belittle the poor East. With regards to the latter part of your post, I regret to inform you that there are instances where the subjugation of women is due to cultural practices. I majored in Sociology of Gender so I had to do lots of research and "live" fact finding assignments. I naturally chose societies where the religion is predominantly Islam and the social structure is predominantly gender-challenged. I guess the point I am trying to drive home is, its quite exhausting for a minority to extol the fairness of Islamic laws with regards to women when you have a majority who behave in a manner that proves otherwise. Where I have offended, my sincerest apologies. I make a disclaimer that the issue of gender discrimination is too complicated to resolve in one post. I do not support any form of feminism that attacks Islam when talking about womens' issues. You know, if you speak to many intellectual feminists (men included) you would be surprised by their opinion of Islam and its position on women. Wallahualam bissawab Wassalam |
| Re: Women and Islam |
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| haaris |
| 09/25/01 at 11:31:35 |
| [slm] [quote]when u say that women in many parts of the Islamic world are treated badly, alarm bells in my head set off[/quote] Eek! Sorry, I did not mean to give the impression that I was of that view. I was in a bit of a rush at the time I posted. I've modified my original post to clarify this, Insha Allah. |
| Re: Women and Islam |
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| solehah |
| 09/25/01 at 12:17:19 |
[quote] Eek! Sorry, I did not mean to give the impression that I was of that view. I was in a bit of a rush at the time I posted. I've modified my original post to clarify this, Insha Allah.[/quote] LOL I know you did not subscribe to that view. Problem with most of us is we are complaisant writers. We bkrrow expressions freely without scrutinising deeply. I too am guilty of that sometimes. Sighhhh...don't mind me. I had time on my hand just now which account for my finickiness :) Wassalam |
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