I am currently reading this book my friend Malinda gave me just before the heffah left for
Boston (I do miss you).
I haven't read a substantial portion of the book at all. I may be 13 pages in but already I am reading about a heavy emphasis on the pride of being a male and the commodification of women that is blatant, viscous, annoying, arbitrary and stupid.
The book commences with an account of the young female protagonist learning her lineage from her bulldozing grandmother. Rather than learn a complete history of those who came before her, she memorizes her literal forefathers only -- back 800 years.
I thought it was a great concept to be knowledgable about your ancestry. I wish my parents had made me learn the names of my lineage. Other than my maternal grandmother, the only surviving grandparent I had for a long time, I didn't really know about my grandparents. As I grow older and more African, I am interested in my ancestry and I ask. Once I know them (and my baby's daddy's lineage), I'll make sure my babies know from jump who they are.
I digress.
In learning the names of the men, they were communicating to this small girl that she is a consequence and is somebody because of the men who preceded her and not the women who birthed them all.
Typical.
Given that the author is a female, the book details the commodified, strict life of Muslim women in Somalia. Something I find peculiar about Islam is the obsession with sexuality. If you know anything about Islam, there is a high degree of obsession with decency, morality, submission, and humility. However, I am observing a serious obsession with sex.
The ideas behind the decency, honor, and submission of women in Islam is all about sex. Women must be decent and cover themselves so as not to arouse their men when their men should be focusing on Allah and providing for the family.
Women should honor their bodies (virginity) so as not to shame the men of their family. Their bodies and the limited sexuality they are granted are not their own but belong to the men in their life at that time. For an unmarried Muslim woman, her father, brothers, uncles are the masters of her body and sexuality. Once she is married, her husband possesses dominion over her body and sexuality, much how it was in ancient society.
Ayaan, the protagonist of the story details the rationale behind wearing the now vilified burkas. No part of a woman should be exposed because it is sexually incendiary. A woman should not wear high heels for the clicking sound a woman makes as she walks will remind a man of her legs which can be an unending distraction. Woman is unclean when menstruating and should not talk to God, attend mosque, or sleep on the same bed as others.
There are two things communicated in the aforementioned regulations. For one, it appears to me that Islam understands men to be wild sexual beasts, unable to contain or control themselves. Their every thought, motivation, desire in life is to have wild sex with every woman who walks by. And they cannot control it. If a person cannot control something about themselves, then they also cannot be blamed for what they do.
Hence the onus of decency being on women. A woman should not show her body or remind a man that she has a body because it arouses something uncontrollable in him. What type of shit is that?
The second thing communicated is that women are inherently defective. Menstruating and childbirth make women vulnerable and weak, physically and mentally. Women need decisions made for them and are in constant duress if left to make decisions on their own.
I observed that women are not people. They are confined by so many rules that unequivocally deny their humanity. They are not to feel, opine about anything, and should definitely not express those opinions. They are defenseless and at the mercy of often times cruel men who shape a cruel culture.
Women are to be seen and not heard; used but not considered; protected but ignored; necessary but negligible. Boy children have more freedom and dominion than do grown women. Absurd.
It is quite sad because I think Islam is such a beautiful religion. I try to live my life by the five pillars and exercise submission and humility in my life. I think the core tenants of Islam are pure and would make for wonderful world if people could actually practice it. But the Qu'ran and the laws must be reconsidered and re-interpreted. It excludes a whole half of the population who is responsible for the creation of the other half.
Women around the world should go on a sex strike and watch mountains move.
I aim to change the position of women in the world and I aim to make you like it.
2 comments:
reconsidered and re-interpreted. i disagree. although my attachment with my religion is not as pure as i want it to be. it is leaps and bounds further than what it was a few years ago to the extent that it was solely the religion that i grew up on. so i stuck with it.
there's a reason the Koran isn't translated/transliterated in very many languages. it can not be recreated and it only conveys it's true meaning in arabic. and honestly in any religion (with the exception of christianity, in my opinion) you don't reinterpret the laws. all holy texts include the word sent to us from God. you don't go changing things around and the Bible has fell victim to a lot of interpretation. It is up to the follower of the religion to take what they wish from their religion. we consider terrorists to be radical and spare Christians by only calling them "bible thumpers." any person who follows a holy text to the tee even a text that has not been tampered with an excessive amount, like the Koran, is setting themself up for failure.....idk. i could finish but. i think that's enough.
but i am not just talking about physical translation of the words in the Qu'ran. It doesn't matter what language it is translated into or not translated into. I am talking about a complete ideological overhaul of Islam. I am talking about a more fair and complete interpretation that does not commodify or exclude women. Women are excluded in Islam. How can a woman be advised not to pray because she is menstruating? It is a punishment. How can you punish a human being for what they were born as? Did not God create women? Did he not create women to menstruate so as to be able to bear children? Is menstruation and a litany of other things a biological and necessary phenomenon that should be revered? People are born everyday because women menstruate. I find it absurd that she cannot talk to God because, essentially, she is existing as a health female human being. It makes no sense.
Paradise: Paradise in the context of a martyr is 72 virgins. Clearly, that is a treasured thing for men. Women and female culture do not boast and require a man to be a virgin at any point in his life. All the religions save sex for the context of marriage so it is commendable when a man remains a virgin until he is married, however, most cultures hold no severe punishment if a man fails to do that. It's acceptable even.
It's acceptable so much that it is fueling forced prostitution in many underdeveloped nations. Wealthy, decent girls are saved as virgins until marriage. Poor, indigent girls are hauled off to brothels for work as prostitutes to satisfy the needs of unmarried men who cannot disturb the virginity of a "decent" and "worthy" girl. And this is occurring in Muslim nations.
It is a beautiful religion but it's current interpretation fails to meet the spiritual and physical needs of the women. God loves all of us. Even if we menstruate.
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