I found this definitely worth sharing and encourage everyone (not just Muslim women) to read it and reflect on it. And please read the whole thing before reaching a conclusion or forming an opinion. Responses are also posted on the article, the source of which is given below.
P.S. "Islamic law is on the side of men. That is a fact."
A Letter to Islam: We are women, not things - by Anonymous
Islam is a pure faith, with the Holy text guiding us to live a good life. But that text is now lost under the thinly-veiled abuse of men who have interpreted it to what they want it to mean. Islam no longer exists in its pure form. It has been bastardised in order to wage war on others, and specifically women. Basically, Islam does not exist anymore, except in the hearts of very few people. The ruling majority in Islamic states are not true Muslims. They are corrupt dictators who use and abuse the Holy text to get what they want, including multiple wives, sex and an excuse to abuse the women in their family.
Islamic law is on the side of men. That is a fact.
In order to fight this abuse of The Holy Q’ran, I urge women to stop practising ‘man-made Islam’ until the sin of men is purged. Not subscribing to hijab and Islamic law is a way of saying “no” to the atrocities committed by men on women.
Women who continue to subscribe to these ‘rules’ are oppressing themselves and allowing this to happen.
It is a really sad state of affairs that this has happened to a beautiful religion. My religion. But it is a horrible truth we have to accept.
The facts speak for themselves. Women are not allowed to drive in some places. Women can only go out with a chaperone. Women are forced to cover themselves just because men cannot control their penises. Women are raped and then jailed for extra-marital affairs. Women are beaten and blamed for being ‘disrespectful’. Women are stoned to death for being under suspicion of adultery. Women are forced to marry when they don’t want to. Women bear the scars of what Islam has become.
I was married to a man my family forced me to marry. On our wedding night, he beat me black and blue for not agreeing to the marriage. He beat me for being on the pill because I didn't want to have his children. The last straw was when I went to town without a chaperone and he allowed his brother to rape me.
He has threatened to kill me and my family if I press charges.
Is this Islam? No, it’s not.
I came to South Africa seeking freedom from this oppression, as I have heard South African Muslims do not share the same fate.
You South Africans are lucky. But it does not mean you are safe. Nor does it mean you can ignore the reality of Muslim women abroad. You, as free women, need to stand up for us who cannot speak.
It is a brutal reality Muslim women have to face because of what Islam has become, and women all over the world need to stand up in defiance and say: “No! We will not allow this to happen anymore!”
Discard the veil and let us prevail.
We are women, not things.
I know many will slate me for saying this, and continue to blindly practise what they have been brainwashed by, but this is a truth every Muslim woman has to acknowledge.
Wake up and smell the blood, sweat and tears of every Muslim woman who has to go through this, and then you will realise that Islam – or should I say the bastardisation of Islam – has ruined women.
I beg you.
If you would like to respond to this letter please email ilive@timeslive.co.za
SOURCE: timeslive.co.za
As salaamu Alaykum,
ReplyDeleteThere can be no doubt that people have always abused others under the guise of religious authority or what Khalid Abu el Fadl refers to as Authoritative v. Authoritarian. Although it is more widespread now than ever before, due in large part to the lack of a magisterium class and the rise of self-made ulema, corruption of the Shari’a is the stain of our age. In the early development of hadith authentication, the same elements that use Islam to enshroud their heinous behavior today, did so then by forging teachings of our Prophet.
As our tradition illustrates, there are ways of fighting the misrepresentation of our faith: scholarship and humility. Scholarship to develop an understanding of how to apply the din and humility to be willing to admit our own limitations and learn from those superior in knowledge (indeed, those who know and those who do not know are unequal). The people in leadership across the Muslim lands are a residue from the colonial grip that stripped the Shari’a from its rightful position and replaced it with secular rule; that is the reason those in power are able to “use and abuse the Holy text to get what they want…”
Abandoning the Shari’a is the root of our problem. Survey the world today, you will find dictators who look more like used car salesmen than leaders of the Muslims, with a few exceptions. In places like Turkey, “a model Islamic state”, sisters are actually barred from attending in public universities or serving in government if they wear the hijab- but the West is pleased to call it “progressive.”
To protest the corruption of men by encouraging the removal of the hijab is short-sighted, to say the least. There are plenty of instances where sisters have dawned the hijab in opposition to their families. To argue that by wearing the hijab, women are oppressing themselves is asinine. Women oppress themselves by supporting a industries that capitalizes on their insecurities, e.g., cosmetics, western fashion, dieting, surgery, etc. I can testify to the fact that men would much rather women wear less as opposed to more and do exactly what the women of Cosmopolitan would have them do.
Historically, every military conquest the West has embarked upon has included an element of so-called liberation for women, from the Philippines to Vietnam, from Afghanistan to Japan. In every case, the traditional dress of the women in these societies reflected modesty and in every case, horrible atrocities were committed against them. In Japan, women wore beautiful kimono and it was considered shameful to show one’s legs−today it’s embarrassing not to show one’s legs. In Afghanistan, where traditionally, women wore the hijab, since being occupied, liberation has come in the form of a brothel−an institution never before found in that country. Meanwhile, in the West, Muslim women are being denied citizenship for wearing the hijab while lewd behavior and topless beaches are allotted state protection.
The crimes committed against our sisters in Islam, who are forced to marry, whose husbands (or even states) allow them to be raped as punishment, who and beaten, and stoned for mere accusations are all the result our failure to understand and uphold the Shari’a. Women have rights of protection against all of these barbarisms as codified in our legal tradition. To blindly argue against it is to argue that Allah is unjust. People who use Allah to cover their crimes will be held to account, and fortunately for their victims, the Dunya is temporal.
Call to Allah, cry for our sisters to be liberated from those who would defame His religion in the cause of their own lust and hatred. Discarding the traditions of the Prophet and his family, comprise the paths of ruin, for it is Muslims, WE who have transgressed, not Islam− it existed before creation and will exist so long as Allah wills. It can never be “bastardized.”
An Article worthy of your time, in sha Allah: http://www.newislamicdirections.com/nid/articles/the_lawful_nature_of_niqab_face_veils/
Thank you for sharing this jaan.
ReplyDelete4:34 "Husbands should take full care of their wives, with [the bounties] God has given to some more than others and with what they spend out of their own money. Righteous wives are devout and guard what God would have them guard in the husbands’ absence. 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."
ReplyDelete- Even the term "take full care" sounds ridiculous. If the wife goes wrong then the husband can fix her but if the husband goes wrong then the wife cannot fix him! But, "don't worry the 'husband' shall be fixed by Allah". Do women don't have a God then?!
- Women, in particular, can either stay Muslim and accept whatever ridiculous status is bestowed upon them by the "Almighty" or free themselves from the divine absurdity.