Let Muslim women speak
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 "The last few weeks have been particularly eventful for Muslim women on Comment
is Free. We would have felt extremely exhausted by all the excitement, were it
not for the fact that – with the notable exception of Samia
Rahman and Reefat
Drabu – we were spared the ignominy of having to participate in the debate
ourselves.
"AC
Grayling started us off by equating the headscarf with an iron shackle and
stating that Muslim women are complicit in their own oppression. In the process
of attacking the abhorrent denial of freedom that Muslim women can wrongly
suffer, Grayling (in)advertently takes away the very same freedom of choice to
decide to wear the hijab if we choose.
"Julie
Burchill bigged up Christianity, and in the process scathingly dismissed
Islam and Muslim women. The only "Muslim" women she suggested as role models –
Ayaan
Hirsi Ali and Irshad Manji – were those she claimed had rejected Islam and
were no longer Muslim....
"Islamic theology has a strong framework for a blueprint of gender
equality.... we may say, believe and do things which don't fit in with the caricature of a
Muslim woman who would be desperate to be 'liberated' from Islam if only she
knew it.
"You may find our voices reverberating with the view that we
like being Muslim women, we just want to make our lives better and in line with
true Islamic principles. It would be nice if those who debate vociferously about
Muslim women would therefore move over and give us the seat at the table that
we're demanding."
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at Comment is Free, 2 September 2008