Vision of Islam

For my first blog post, I found it necessary to delve into one of the questions which I found most troubling: what is the role of women in the Islamic faith? This week in lecture Professor Asani pointed out some of the  disparities which occur due to the implementation of, at least seemingly, sexist practices within the religion of Islam. These disparities play out differently depending on where in the world you are. In Saudi Arabia, the injustices that women face are some of the most aggressive. In other countries, it is less so the case. One thing that struck me was the “necessity” to separate women from men during worship. As the professor explained this, it was because women were “distracting”. In order to better understand this matter, I took to Youtube (quite naturally).

This video explains that though there are certain practices in the Islamic faith that make women seem as if they are subordinates, I am still puzzled. The narrator makes mention to the fact that there are several passages in the Qur’an which mention quite explicitly the fair treatment of women. However, I’m not quite  sure how to reconcile this with the practical implementation and rationalization of certain practices like segregated worship services, laws [in certain countries] that limit the autonomy of women, and so forth.

All the while, this research reminds me of an English teacher I used to have in the 11th grade, who was a practicing Muslim woman. I think back to the day in class in which she made specific reference to her religion and to rumors that had been going around our class that she was being treated unjustly by her husband. She said, “….and just because I wear hijab does not mean that I am oppressed. You all need not worry….”. My questions moving forward are certainly going to be pointed toward the social implications of Islam and how it manifests itself around the world. I also hope that for this mosque project, that I can create a fully functional and multipurpose mosque SOLELY for women.

https://youtu.be/IzKyzS8Y6IY