When reading this, I invite fresh minds open to interpreting the world with a new lens without any preconceived bigotry and prejudice. Know that Islam belongs to millions of people who have their own cultural history and they happen to follow the religion of Islam. Yes, Islam is a way of life that dictates the actions of Muslims but the teachings are still used jointly with cultural norms. This is why you will see various Muslim nations practicing differently – this is not even touching on the sects that exists within Islam.
Literal Islamic ideology should be on the rise rather than celebrating the liberalisation of a religion that is un-changing. Shariah can be seen as a written constitution, if you like, for the citizens of Islam, in the sense that all the rules that govern us are written, although some are abrogated they are all codified in the Quran and Ahadith direct from our Supreme Creator and his Prophet making them absolute.
Muslim women are in a world where Western ideology and Western views of what constitutes ‘feminism’ dominates. Their doctrine dictates a woman’s position is equal in every aspect to those of men. Shariah on the other hand celebrates our gender given differences in the interest of having a successful family unit with stable children and beautiful relationships. This does not take away from the fact that we are equal in the eyes of Allah when it comes to our actions and the rewards that follow.
Islam does not subjugate a woman to a subordinate position – this is a propaganda that promotes a breakdown of Shariah. The woman’s role in Islam is very high and quite important in actuality. She is responsible for what goes on in the house in that she moulds, teaches, guides and brings up the children in a stable union where the husband provides. Being a mother is a full time role and it is highly rewarded by Allah.
When you talk about the relationship of a man and woman in Islam, our ways of life is considered archaic and not relevant to the world today. However the teachings of Islam will always stay authentic as a divine revelation. Humans have a lot of pride in that they consider themselves above everything, but in fact we are blind. As the saying goes, the blind is now leading the blind and some Muslims are following without fully understanding the consequences to the community at.
Yes Muslim men can marry more than one wife, they can marry a woman of the scripture from another Abrahamic religion – a Christian or a Jew and yes, men are in a position as the head of the household.
It is time we celebrate our differences in ideology rather than making apologies for who we are and trying so hard to fit in. I understand the difficulty that some Muslim women face, especially if they grew up in the West. The teachings of what constitutes a Muslim woman is diluted which confuses us and makes us believe we can learn from both believes. However, this just brings about a colonialist state of mind that makes us adhere to something that is not at all ours. We then grow a new generation that delve even further away from Islam and promote a new ‘liberal’ way of thinking – which is of course celebrated by those in the West even if the educated clearly see the contradiction. It is not at all possible to call yourselves a Muslim and yet only follow some aspects of the religion. The teaching was brought to us as a whole by the final Prophet, Muhammad (P.B.U.H) as a final testament in a series of divine revelations. I will like to celebrate Literal Islam and Literal Feminist Islam or we can discount the sociological terminology and just celebrate Islam as it stands – with no apology.
