I am writing a paper on women in Islam and its easy for me to say I am not oppressed.. Well my parents are good muslims and I am muslim too but not as good of a muslim as my parents or brothers.. My parents wish me to wear the hijab like my mom but they would never force me to wear it... they know it would not do any good if I wore it for them even though I would at least when I go out with my parents just out of respect... even besides that my dad does not quote quran often in treatment of women and in our house hold my mom actually wears the pants lol... so def my family is fine but wat about all other muslim women? how do you feel? especially if you live in east and not in west?!?!
azrul MVPTA2009-03-19T23:30:28Z
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I believe that you are one of the luckiest one to not live in areas where Islam has been misinterpreted to disadvantage women like in areas where they don't speak English and very little internet connection.
I'm a Muslim from Malaysia (a mostly civil country) and I also cannot say for sure that women in Malaysia are not somehow oppressed. We still have legislation especially in marriage. The court of shariaa is somehow a bit bias and they take a very long time to settle a case which I think is oppressing women more than men as men can legally take another wife.
While in most countries women are not oppressed, we ought to have ways to have a system where respect and justice put it its utmost importance.
I love how some here go to websites that are funded by their churches and find a quote about how woman are "supposedly" treated in Islam and then paste it as their answer.
Do you want to know what it's like for a woman to live in the East in a predominantly Muslim country? Let me tell you since I currently live in a predominantly Muslim country in the East and can visit "English sites". Good God. I work, I have a family, and a very caring husband and does he "enforce" the male version of Islam upon on me? No. In fact I work more than him and earn more than him. I don't cover my head but that's my own personal preference, some of my sisters do. I'm not being stoned to death as we speak, actually I'm in my office in a high rise and am the boss of many. I don't feel oppressed, I feel liberated here. When I used to work in the US, I never could get a CEO post since I was always "lacking experience." That is bullcrap. I had more experience than half the men I was pitted against but would lose out since I had a family, a husband, and I didn't have a pair. Here I am respected and have the job of my dreams. Sure we have some extremists with their massive beards and their false male bravado, but when I see them even mentioning something about me, I say, "Brother, in Islam you're not supposed to raise your eyes to look at a woman, no matter how she's dressed." That usually gets them red in the face and then they mutter about how I'm going to hell, but again, thats the minority. What people don't understand is that most of the oppression that women face in Muslim countries is due to their CULTURAL beliefs, not their religious ones. Too often people combine the two and then lay the blame on their religion when in fact it's their twisted culture that says they should treat women as third class citizens. What I find amazing is that people tend to forget to learn from the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). I mean do they not remember that his wife Khadijah was richer than him? She was a well off business woman in THAT time and didn't NEED a man to achieve that status. So, as a woman in the East, I'm doing pretty well :-)
I live in Bangladesh and I'm doing fine, like most of the women here. Equal rights to everything, no forced hijabs or laws. A female prime minister too. Heck, its a muslim country RULED by women. Wonder why non-muslims never look that up?
Humanity has lived like a baby ( state of mind of baby) since creation of man, and as men had more physical power suppressed women, and thought because women are weak ,they can not even give right suggestions. Even though prophets of God were chosen among humanity,along the way but still did not change the way men thought of women but much better than just use them ,,,,,Because messenger of God guided humanity to respect life and women too. but as humanity lived like a baby they could not hold this right. But now that The End of the first cycle of living has been announced ,,,,,, End of Time ,,,,,,,,,, END OF THE OLD ERA Everything is getting better toward women rights. God has lifted the pressure, by releasing a new spirit to the world. AND END OF TIME ,,WAS said to be Day of God or Day of Father , In Persia 165 years ago Equality of women and men was announced by new prophet of God ,,,, AND HE ANNOUNCED THE END OF TIME,,,,,,, This new prophet of God was called Bab which means Gate,,,He announced the Day of God ,,,,,,Day of all good. Then He announced and wrote in His holy book about the coming of the PROMISED ONE OF ALL AGES ,,,,,,( ALL RELIGIONS OF THE PAST). As all religions had promised of coming of a great age with great messenger to unite east and west ,,,,,,, After 9 years Baha`u`llah announced He was the one Who the Blessed the Bab had promised, and Baha`u`llah Glory of God ,,,,,, ANNOUNCED THE DAY OF GOD. One of Baha`u`llah`s teachings is equality of women and men ,,,,,,,,, God really has blessed the world to the full, To know more study the Bahai writings about women,
My parents tried to force my underage sister to marry a balding guy from "back home" in his late thirties. She was oppressed....until she became a runaway. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anita B WROTE: What people don't understand is that most of the oppression that women face in Muslim countries is due to their CULTURAL beliefs, not their religious ones. Too often people combine the two and then lay the blame on their religion when in fact it's their twisted culture that says they should treat women as third class citizens. What I find amazing is that people tend to forget to learn from the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). ---------------------------------------------------------- Okay, lets take a look at the teachings of Islam and Mohammad as written in Islamic holy scripture (Quran & Hadith) and see wether or not what Anita B says is a bare-faced lie:
Here's what the Quran says:
If you fear high-handedness from your wives, remind them [of the teaching of God], then ignore them when you go to bed, then hit them. If they obey you, you have no right to act against them. God is most high and great. Quran 4:34
Here is what Mohammad had to say:
The Prophet (Mohammad) said, "Isn't the witness of a women equal to half that of a man?" The women said "yes". He said "This is because of the deficiency of the women's mind." Sahih Bukhari 3:826:502
"Your wives are as a tilth (a field to be ploughed) unto you, so approach your tilth when or how ye will." Quran 2:223
"When a man calls his wife to satisfy his desire she must go to him even if she is occupied at the oven." Tirmidhi 691:
I had a chance to look into paradise (heaven) and I found that majority of the people was poor and I looked into the Fire (hell) and there I found the majority constituted by women.
The Prophet (Mohammad) said: A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife. Abu Dawud 11:2142
Here is an example of him beating one of his wives:
(Aisha): I said: Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be ransom for you, and then I told him (the whole story). He (Mohammad) said: Was it the darkness (of your shadow) that I saw in front of me? I said: Yes. He (Mohammad) struck me on the chest which caused me pain. Muslim, vol. 2, no. 2127
He used his slaves as sex objects:
the messenger of Allah (Mohammad) had sexual intercourse with Mariyyah (his Coptic slave) in the house of Hafsah. When the messenger came out of the house, Hafsa was sitting at the gate (behind the locked door). Tabaqat 8:223
He was also a......
A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Apostle (Mohammad) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I was nine years old. Sahih Muslim 8:3310