Islamic Women In The Seventeenth Century Essay

The first chapter explores questions of possible Islamic liberation and why, given the choice, women don’t remove their burqas. In response to that first query, the author advocates that freedom and liberation for a country should be based on its people’s desires and values instead of what Westerners believe is the best way of life. Unfortunately, a key finding in this chapter was that the United States took advantage of Afghan women’s situation by using their rescue from the Taliban-and-the-terrorists as a justification for the War on Terror. Westerners view head coverings like burqas/hijabs as restrictive, a symbol of the patriarchy. In fact, many Middle Eastern women describe burqas as ‘portable seclusion’ that enables them to move out of segregated living spaces. Veils are worn as fashion statements or to express piety/virtue or belonging to a household. This exact worrisome practice of colonial feminism focuses more on the religious and cultural practices that persecute women, rather than more destructive issues like poverty, illness, malnutrition, politics, or lack of

Individual women have the right to either be liberals or conservatives therefore the western ideas cannot be imposed on the Muslim countries. The westerners can avoid imposing their ideas on Muslims by cultural relativism. Everyone’s ideas and cultures are not the same this is why we are all unique in our own ways. The Muslim women have the right to either wear the veil or not. One should be able to respect all the cultures equally. If one doesn’t belong to a certain culture they are not supposed to levy their ethics on them. People from all religion or culture don’t have to follow each other’s religion or culture but they can be respectful towards their beliefs.

"The Discourse of the Veil" Ahmed examines Amin’s recommendations regarding women and formed part of his thesis and how/why he believed that unveiling was key to the social transformation, which is important for unraveling the significance of the debate that his book provoked (Ahmed, 145). Ahmed discusses the origins and history as an idea of the veil which informs Western colonial discourse and 20th century-Arabic debate have several implications. The first implication is the evident connection between the issue of culture of women, as well as between the cultures of other men and the oppression of women, which was created by Western discourse. The idea that improving the status of women resulting in abandoning native customs was

Muslim women living in North America and Europe often face scrutiny over their choice to wear the veil, even though many Western people do not fully understand the practice.

The term sociological imagination was a concept constructed by the American Sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1959 to describe the ability to understand how our lives are affected by the historical and sociological changes around us. In order to possess the knowledge of sociological imagination, we should be able to pull away from the current situation and be able to look and think from a different perspective. C. Wright Mills defined his concept of sociological imagination as “...the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society”. We need to be able to grasp the connection between the society which is shaped by the historical events and how our personal biography is affected by these events take place everyday. To further reiterate this concept, I will attempt to discuss how social issues surrounding my gender and my religion as a Muslim woman living in the United States have changed my sociological imagination and I how I was able to shift my perspective by thinking from a different point of view thus applying the C. Wright Mills’ concept of sociological imagination in my personal life. by making references to articles, “Gender as Structure” (Ferguson, 291) and “Muslims in America” (Ferguson, 519). I will also attempt to explain the how knower and known is related to the social issues of gender and religion.

The specific topic of this book is the oppression of women. Its overall purpose is to understand the women behind the veils and why the Muslim women take up the hijab. The purpose is also to show how

In the article A Look behind the Veil written by Elizabeth W. and Robert A. Fernea, both authors take a deeper look into the significance and the interpretations of the veil. They begin by explaining that every culture has objects that are seen by others as strange and interesting. The authors mention that each culture has objects that are valued in society and become significant. In which the case for Middle Eastern societies that object is the veil. The authors explain how the veil for westerners is seen as a sign of “slavery” rather than what those whom wear a veil see it as.

Abu Lugod argued that in order to move past this separation, we must: “First, we need to work against the reductive interpretation of veiling as the quintessential sign of women's unfreedom. Second, we must take care not to reduce the diverse situations and attitudes of millions of Muslim women to a single item of clothing.” (2002:786). As a result, creating a better understanding and better terminology of the “east” will allow feminists in these different social locations to communicate and to create a better strategy to move beyond the basic and into the complicated nature of feminism around the world.

During the mid-1970’s, the process of veiling in Islamic countries such as Egypt and Iran became highly controversial. The veil became the center of intense political debate throughout the countries, creating political tension among the citizens on opposing sides of the argument. Like many other political issues, there was more than one side to the argument. There were various political groups including Liberal Feminists, Islamic Feminists, and Class Feminists, to name a few, who each had their own opinions on the process of veiling. This paper will go in depth on the arguments regarding the process of veiling and my own personal argument in favor of the Liberal Feminist ideology in regards to this debate.

Homa Hoodfar addresses the misconceptions the western population often makes towards Muslims, especially, Muslim women. Hoodfar focuses mainly on the misunderstanding of the veil and its symbolism. Western ignorance has led us to believe for years that the veil is a sign of oppressive religion, patriarchal home life, as well as illiteracy as a result of their oppression, when in reality, this stereotype is the most detrimental to the female Muslim population. People don’t see the women defying the de-veiling act to devotedly follow their religion. They don’t see hardworking women, receiving an educations and searching for a job. Western culture sees one thing: the veil. Because their religious beliefs differ from ours, and because of

When non-Muslims in the United States think of Islam the first things that comes to many their minds are September eleventh, terrorist, the middle east, and oppression of women. Most Americans believe that Muslim women must be oppressed because they have to wear “those veils over their heads”, completely cover themselves, and their husbands are allowed to have multiple wives. A survey last year by the Council on American-Islamic Relations found that more than half of the 1,000 U.S. respondents believe that Islam encourages the oppression of women.( al-Jadda, A veil doesn't mean 'oppressed,1). But are Muslim women really oppressed or do they have a choice? In this paper I will look at the viewpoint of three Muslim women. The first one is Sumbul Ali-Karamali the author of The Muslim Next Door . The second is Aisha Stacey who is an Australian revert to Islam that works as a writer at the Fanar Cultural Islamic Centre in Doha, Qatar. The third is Khalida Tanvir Syed who is the author of Through White Noise , but the source I will be referring to is a paper she wrote called Misconception About Human Rights and Women’s Rights In Islam. I will also look at the viewpoint of Azam Kamguian, who is an Iranian writer and women's rights activist and my final source.

All throughout history men have been superior over women. Islam wasn’t any different in that aspect, though Muhammad said men and women were created equal. The Islamic men were known to be great scholars of mathematics, astrology, medicine, and of natural sciences. They were also known to have made great architectural structures and displayed beautiful pieces of artwork throughout the buildings and all throughout the civilization of the Islamic people. It’s fair to ask, did the women have any part of the artistic beauty and structures displayed in Islam, or was it only the men who were granted the privilege to make such advanced and beautiful structures and art within the Islamic world during the early periods.

Although, the veil represented a form of oppression for some women, it was the opposite for others and rather a form of religious freedom. By wearing the veil many women felt free and it was their form of expressing themselves. For fundamental woman, which are the older and conservative girls, wearing the veil was something that they enjoyed wearing and believed that everyone else should I also be wearing the sacred head piece. However, for the modern women, which was more of the younger generation, wearing the veil was something

Pre-Islamic people were a modest society. Meaning the women of this religion and culture wore shapeless clothing. The people tried as much as they could to cover the women’s beauty so the men would not have their eyes wander. The men also could wear some type of head covering as well, but they were not forced. This paper will be acknowledging the women’s rights and clothing.

In early Islamic society the laws were followed and obeyed when it came to respecting women. In many cases it was found that women earned property and had an influence on the husband’s decision. Veils or hijab as the Muslim’s call it, would be worn proudly by women before and today as a way of reducing lust and preventing temptation. Women were permitted to be warriors, politics, and lead religious sanctions. They also traveled freely and played active roles in trade and economic roles.