Muslim Voices in Contemporary World Literatures

It is we delicate women who carry our own weight

We delicate women who venture out into unchartered lands

We delicate women fight for our power

We delicate women who defend our own for their rights 

To live, to dream, to act, to succeed

While those with power try to strip us of our dignity, our rights, our choices

It is we delicate women who stand up for our rights to choose how we dress,

Whether that is a miniskirt or a hijab, or a miniskirt and a hijab.

It is we delicate women who discover our own buried

In the rubble of the walls we are tearing down.

We delicate women who find that we cannot be condensed to a singular adjective

That our worth cannot be determined by people unworthy of our accomplishments.

We strong women, we ambitious women, we exceptional women, we brave women.

We can find more accurate words to describe us,

But a single adjective or an assortment of words cannot encompass 

                                                       The multitude of perspectives, lives and dreams that we have.

We Sinful Women is a collection of poems written by women that explore life for Muslim women. These poems represent a perspective that is ofter overlooked or under appreciated. The poem “We Sinful Women” deals with things women have to deal with in the world and in Muslim societies. The title itself is represents how women are being characterized by men as “sinful”. Throughout the poem, the author is using sinful and is defending women against what people say about them. The author brings up relevant points about things that women have to deal with. Throughout the poem, there are mentions of different constraints women have to deal with and how in reality it is often times the men who are sinful or held to very different standards than women are.

As a response to the poems, I chose to write my own poem stemming from “We Sinful Women”. I chose to keep certain ideas in my poem, such as a title that shows reproaches women in the world have to deal with and then continues with things that women have overcome and are still dealing with. I chose the word “delicate” to base my poem on, because I felt it accurately characterized a sentiment that people have that women are weaker and less able to handle things. Delicate at first seems like it could be a positive thing, but really only demeans women. There are a lot of similarities between my poem and “We Sinful Women” and I feel that my poem represents a different angle and perspective of a common feeling.