Sister Noor
My experiances and how I find that Islam does not oppress women
by Sister Noor
I came from a purely Hindu family where we were always taught to
regard ourselves
(i.e. women) as beings who were eventually to be married off and
have children and
serve the husband - whether he was kind or not. Other than this I
found that there were
a lot of things which really oppressed women, such as:
* If a woman was widowed, she would always have to wear
a white sari (costume), eat vegetarian meals, cut her hair
short, and never re-marry. The bride always had to pay the
dowry (bridal money) to the husband's family. And the
husband could ask for anything, irrespective of whether the
bride would have difficulty giving it.
* Not only that, if after marriage she was not able to pay the
full dowry she would be both emotionally and physically
tortured, and could end up being a victim of "kitchen
death" where the husband, or both the mother-in-law and
the husband try to set fire to the wife while she is
cooking or
is in the kitchen, and try to make it look like an accidental
death. More and more of these instances are taking place.
The daughter of a friend of my own father's had the same
fate last year!
* In addition to all this, men in Hinduism are treated
literally
as among the gods. In one of the religious Hindu
celebrations, unmarried girls pray for and worship an idol
representing a particular god (Shira) so that they may have
husbands like him. Even my own mother had asked me to do
this. This made me see that the Hindu religion which is based
on superstitions and things that have no manifest proof , but
were merely traditions which oppressed women could not be
right.
Subsequently, when I came to England to study, I thought that at
least this is a country
which gives equal rights to men and women, and does not oppress
them. We all have
the freedom to do as we like, I thought. Well, as I started to meet
people and make
new friends, learn about this new society, and go to all the places
my friends went to in
order to "socialise" (bars, dance halls, etc.). I realised that this
"equality" was not so
true in practice as it was in theory.
Outwardly, women were seen to be given equal rights in
education, work, and so forth,
but in reality women were still oppressed in a different, more
subtle way. When I went
with my friends to those places they hung out at, I found everybody
interested to talk to
me and I thought that was normal. But it was only later that I
realised how naove I was,
and recognised what these people were really looking for. I soon
began to feel
uncomfortable, as if I was not myself: I had to dress in a certain
way so that people
would like me, and had to talk in a certain way to please them. I
soon found that I was
feeling more and more uncomfortable, less and less myself, yet I
could not get out.
Everybody was saying they were enjoying themselves, but I don't call
this enjoying.
I think women in this way of life are oppressed; they have to
dress in a certain way in
order to please and appear more appealing, and also talk in a
certain way so people
like them. During this time I had not thought about Islam, even
though I had some
Muslim acquaintances. But I felt I really had to do something, to
find something that I
would be happy and secure with, and would feel respected with.
Something to believe
in that is the right belief, because everybody has a belief that
they live according to. If
having fun by getting off with other people is someone's belief,
they do this. If making
money is someone's belief, they do everything to achieve this. If
they believe drinking is
one way to enjoy life then they do it. But I feel all this leads to
nowhere; no one is truly
satisfied, and the respect women are looking for is diminishing in
this way.
In these days of so called "society of equal rights", you are
expected to have a
boyfriend (or you're weird!) and to not be a virgin. So this is a
form of oppression even
though some women do not realise it. When I came to Islam, it was
obvious that I had
finally found permanent security. A religion, a belief that was so
complete and clear in
every aspect of life. Many people have a misconception that Islam is
an oppressive
religion, where women are covered from head to toe, and are not
allowed any freedom
or rights. In fact, women in Islam are given more rights, and have
been for the past
1400 years, compared to the only-recently rights given to non-Muslim
women in some
western and some other societies. But there are, even now, societies
where women are
still oppressed, as I mentioned earlier in relation to Hindu women.
Muslim women have the right to inheritance. They have the
right to run their own trade
and business. They have the full right to ownership, property,
disposal over their wealth
to which the husband has no right. They have the right to education,
a right to refuse
marriage as long as this refusal is according to reasonable and
justifiable grounds. The
Qur'an itself, which is the Word of God, contains many verses
commanding men to be
kind to their wives and stressing the rights of women. Islam gives
the right set of rules,
because they are NOT made by men, but made by God; hence it is a
perfect religion.
Quite often Muslim women are asked why they are covered from
head to toe, and are
told that this is oppression - it is not. In Islam, marriage is an
important part of life, the
making of the society. Therefore, a woman should not go around
showing herself to
everybody, only for her husband. Even the man is not allowed to show
certain parts of
his body to none but his wife. In addition, God has commanded Muslim
women to
cover themselves for their modesty:
"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the
believers
to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies (when outdoors).
That is most
convenient that they could be known as such (i.e. decent and
chaste) and not
molested." (Qur'an 33:59)
If we look around at any other society, we find that in the majority
of cases women are
attacked and molested because of how they are dressed. Another point
I'd like to
comment on is that the rules and regulation laid down in Islam by
God do not apply just
to women but to men also. There is no intermingling and free-running
between men and
women for the benefit of both. Whatever God commands is right,
wholesome, pure and
beneficial to mankind; there is no doubt about that. A verse in the
Qur'an explains this
concept clearly:
"Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and
protect their
private parts (i.e. from indecency, illegal sexual acts, etc.);
that will make for
greater purity for them. And God is well aware of what they do.
And say to the
believing women that they should lower their gaze and protect their
private parts
(from indecency, illegal sexual intercourse, etc.); and that they
should not display
their beauty and ornaments . . . " (Qur'an, Surah Al-Nur 24:31)
When I put on my hijab (veil), I was really happy to do it. In
fact, I really want to do it.
When I put on the hijab, I felt a great sense of satisfaction and
happiness. Satisfied that
I had obeyed God's command. And happy with the good and blessings
that come with
it. I have felt secure and protected. In fact people respect me more
for it. I could really
see the difference in behaviour towards me.
Finally, I'd like to say that I had accepted Islam not
blindly, or under any compulsion. In
the Qur'an itself there is a verse which says "Let there be no
compulsion in religion".
I accepted Islam with conviction. I have seen, been there, done
that, and seen both
sides of the story. I know and have experienced what the other side
is like, and I know
that I have done the right thing. Islam does not oppress women, but
rather Islam
liberates them and gives them the respect they deserve. Islam is the
religion God has
chosen for the whole of mankind. Those who accept it are truly
liberated from the
chains and shackles of mankind whose ruling and legislating
necessitates nothing but the
oppression of one group by another and the exploitation and
oppression of one sex by
the other. This is not the case of Islam which truly liberated women
and gave them an
individuality not given by any other authority.
Sister Noor has been a Muslim for over a year and a half and is
currently in her second
year of undergraduate study in the Department of Biology at
University of Essex, U. K.
