Spare me the Sermon on Muslim Women

I read this article in the WashingtonPost recently and it’s a wonderful read.  One of the main reasons: it challenges common perceptions of Muslim women with concrete examples from the faith/lived experience. Too too often, we discuss how representations of women/islam are inappropriate, but don’t counter common understandings with an explanation of Islam. We cry out: “People don’t understand Muslims! Can you believe the stereotypes that people hold about Islam?”, but then we don’t give people the tools to learn more about the faith. One thing I’m learning more and more (and have been spending a lot of time thinking about) is that you can’t really improve the image/understanding people have of Islam without delving into the religion/theological conversations- the way to combat Islamophobia and the low knowledge of Islam that currently exists, is to improve our own knowledge and practice of the religion. And it’s not fair to evaluate Islam based on practices of people, we need to turn to the teachings of Islam and see what they are for themselves. In every time, there are people who  polish their hearts and illuminate their communities with the light of Islam and the failure of others to do so doesn’t negate Islam as a viable way of life. I mention this because many times when people celebrate Muslim men and women they are knocked down/attacked because not all women are treated properly. That is true, and it is important that we all undergo a process of critical evaluation to ensure we have equitable communities, but where we find gaps doesn’t have anything to do with faults in Islam..if anything it indicates a lapse in emulating the Prophetic model.

Side note about the hijab: Please if you don’t wear the hijab, let’s stop talking about it. I promise to not criticize/bother you about your choice to not wear it, (none of my business) and please show me the same courtesy.  I’m so so tired of discussions where women who don’t wear the scarf rail against it, and go on and on..it’s offensive and makes me want to run away!  Even if your intentions are good, unless you wear the hijab it’s really hard to understand what wearing it is like. I’ve had several conversations with friends about this topic. During one conversation in particular, a friend was discussing about how it is hard coping with people’s comments/perceptions of the hijab, but also especially hard when other muslims are so critical/vocal about it. Support outside of Muslims can sometimes be hard to find, and when you can’t find support among Muslim sisters, it can be an alienating and isolating experience.

Case in point: I was taking part in a class about representations of Islam a few months ago, and the first class was a general introduction to the topic. We spoke about common perceptions of Muslim women (oppressed, powerless etc etc) and went over some ways that Muslim women deal with these stereotypes. At one point in the class, one of the participants (the students was predominately non-muslim) turned and said, “hang on, is the scarf required in Islam?”.  I was the only hijabi in the room, and the teacher basically said, “no, it’s more about having a scarf around your shoulders, although there are people who take the verses more literally”.  A few moments later, she asked me to share my parents response to my decision to wear the scarf, and asked what that journey has been like. A very personal question and not one that I could really avoid answering..though I pretty much spoke in generalities. More importantly, when you have someone in authority making definitive statements like that to an audience that really doesn’t know much about Islam, it’s not fair because other people don’t understand where that opinion is coming from. And the hijabi seems like a crazy person with an ‘ultra-conservative’  understanding of Islam. The next day I wasn’t well, but even when I felt better, I didn’t return because of my discomfort and disappointment in that first session. And such experiences are all too common.

And that’s all! Going to try and post some happy positive stuff to counter this rant.cos I’d really like to keep rants OFF this blog.