This
article is taken from a thesis written by a Muslim woman who grew up living in
Afghanistan.
There is a difference
between the dogma taught by the Muslim extremist groups and the teachings by
the Prophet Mohammad. Fourteen hundred years ago, Mohammad permitted women to
be politically active, to work and mix with men, and they were not required to veil
their faces.
As Islamic extremism gained
strength throughout the Muslim world, rigid patriarchal religious leaders
emphasized Koranic passages removing its clear command giving women equality,
justice, and education. For political ends, the Prophet’s intent regarding
women is both altered and inappropriately applied. His sympathy for women’s
rights is often no longer reflected in the law and practices of modern
government.
Because Muslim women
are the first to be affected by such changes, their freedoms, or lack thereof,
have become a key indicator of the political direction in which such states are
moving.
Muslim women who work
in the Gulf and Middle Eastern countries often enjoy job benefits and equality
more than most women in the western world. Since the 1970s in Iraq for example,
a woman’s employment benefits are extensive and include free child care while
she is working, and has the right to retire with a full pension after fifteen
years of employment. In virtually all
Arab countries, maternity leave with full pay is substantially longer than in
the United States and Canada.
Dichotomously, the
majority of Muslim women still find their lives controlled by their closest
male relatives. They are the daughters whose future marriage partners continue
to be determined by their fathers. They are the brides who must be virgins on
their wedding nights in a culture where if they are not, honor killings are
common and often carried out by the girl’s own brothers. To guard against this in many cases in the
Muslim world, a simple surgical procedure –hymen restoration is performed.
Fratricide (kill your own sister) can occur when a young woman refuses to marry
a man of her family’s choice. Despite the fact that Islam states that a woman
has a right to refuse a husband selected for her. In reality, familial
pressures can be so strong; they may result in her death if she refuses.
Bride-price in Muslim
countries confirms that a woman is a man’s property. Once married, every aspect
of a woman’s life will be dictated by her husband. What she does, who her
friends are, where she is permitted to go, how her children are raised, and
even whether she may use birth control or be sterilized. She cannot obtain a passport or travel abroad
without his written approval.
If his spouse is not
obedient, her husband may take another wife. Husbands are entitled to have four
wives. According to Koranic dictates, should a man decide to marry again, he is
supposed to obtain his first wife’s permission. He is also required to treat
each wife exactly the same, in affection, time spent together, material
possessions, and status. In practice, if his first wife doesn’t agree, he gets
married anyway. And invariably he favors the newer and younger spouse.
According to the newer
version of the Koran published Everyman, “Men are superior to women…” The Koran 4:34 in most Muslim countries state;
As to those women
on whose part you fear disloyalty and
ill-conduct,
first admonish them, then refuse to share
their bed, and
last beat them, but then if they return
to obedience, do
not seek a way against them.
Radical Islam is
not a religious organization. It is a bunch of ruthless criminals with twisted
beliefs;
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