West and Muslim Women

West and Muslim Women 

No one can negate the reality , women’s place is different than men’s in every society. Men have their own role to play , while female have some specific role of their own according to nature. If male start doing what females are supposed to do and vice verse then society will certainly be on verge of destruction.

            Have you ever thought about the life of Muslim Women and the challenges they are facing for their survival ? In my discussion today I will compare  Muslim women with Western women in my capacity and will try to find what west feels for them .

Islam is first religion who recognized rights of females in society and positioned women in a special place as she have to bring forth and bring up next generation.

If we study about the time prior to Islam, we will come to know that women had no rights , no respect and value what so ever in society and were sold as slaves and were treated badly , for being a female. Many women were even buried alive, after their birth , as they were considered worthless to live in this world. Why I am telling you about time before Islam ? Let us just have a look around us and check the statistics  of surveys published by different international organizations  about the pitiable condition of females in a Democratic and Secular country India ; how many females are killed even in womb everyday , how many lose their life after birth. We can  also check statistics about sexual harassment, rapes cases , discrimination, violence , abuse and many other such unacceptable biased reactions against women . There is no safety for women even from law of state. Now compare these figures with any of Muslim majority country in world .. the picture will be clear.

Islam addressed this problem of society; claiming it as a sin and gave rights to female to live and work in society and help in nation building. Islam declared about the equality of women and men. Women who hold with the teachings of Islam , will not demand for any other right or  freedom or feminism as common in west today.

Many westerners feel that there is gender discrimination in Islam, and as a result women feel isolated and harmed. 

Islam protected the rights of female and removed any discrimination  against them.  Islam advocates for dignity and  respect for females ever since it was revealed by Allah through Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) (p.b.u.h). The law of Islam has evolved from Allah Almighty ,  can never go under any revolution as everything is written in Quran and it cannot be changed. 

According to Law of Islam "women shall work in all fields suitable to their nature" .Islam have specific roles for men and women , these roles are according to nature of women and men as we know that Allah have created human beings and every creature in universe so He knows best what are the tasks that can be performed by specific creature and what are their needs.

All Muslim women  have their legal rights, Islam enabled women to make decisions for themselves. They can easily access the courts and engage in the government . In most of Muslim –majority countries , women are granted the right to an independent identification card. Islam suggested that violence against women is not a family issue  , but rather a judicial issue. Islam condemns the concept and tradition of “honor killings” and considers it as violation against women.

If we compare western culture with Islamic culture then we will see that all rules and regulations are changing on everyday basis , during the passage of time in west .  If we have faith in our religion Islam, then we will know that, there is no reason that any Muslim claim or demand for any reforms in Islamic laws. Islam helps everyone to nurture their family on true and pure values. No one can deny this reality that there is no greater satisfaction than following Islam.

Western society claims to be most modernized and developed and stands for freedom and equality of female , but if we go in detail then it will be clear that their concept of freedom is vague , shallow , have no depth and is full of confusion.  In modern western society , female having all rights and freedom , is taken as commodity by men and they take advantage of female in every possible way , media is clear picture for this and what to say about females , they consider this as their freedom. Some of these concepts of freedom border on absurdity and most of them have severe cost on humanity.

 The reality is actually that , the modernized western women’s actions, behavior , concepts and thoughts are unclear, but the outcomes are very clear and disastrous . The concept of western civilization, away from Islam, have adverse affects on society , it has totally damaged household structure ,bringing up of children; so they can be a best civilized generation tomorrow. Female have lost her destined dignity and nature. This  so-called freedom, in reality, is an anxiety and feelings of stress ,due to Sins.

In European civilization , the notion of modernization and freedom for women  has given birth to many problems. There is no compulsory rule, actually modernization gave a way to crimes of every nature . If we check the survey reports of different organizations and compare the figures then it will be clear that there is a clear increase in number of crimes and west is spending a lot of money to investigate these crimes. 25th November is observed as 'Anti-Violence Against Women Day' decided by UN . More than 50% of World’s violence against women occurs in United Kingdom and America . Many male agreed that westerners exploit women. Different studies reveal that women complained of more anxiety, depression , insecurity and inability to cope with stress.

If Western society stands for human rights of women and children then how it will explain about all the atrocities that they are carrying out against Muslim world and specially , why they are killing innocent females and children , why they put them in prison and make them slaves to serve them as they want against the will of women and children? Why they are showing prejudice against Muslim women or why they have double standards for themselves and for others or they think that Muslim women and children are not humans or they do not have blood in their veins like they have. I receive killing  as an act of utter barbarism by the highly influential western world, this should be  brought to a spotlight to highlight the troubles of Muslim women .West quickly deny that the children and women who are  murdered are not innocent, but rather executed for helping terrorists.

International media significantly coverage about the oppression of women within Islam, even many Muslim countries suffer criticism from a number of media outlets and human rights organizations for not giving freedom to women , but it is a terrible fact that they do not pay any heed to this point of brutal killing and genocide.

This matter must be considered urgent so that prevention would be done and we can save many women and children for becoming victims of slavery or even death .

I have a sense that this point may raise the most disagreement .I am a Muslim woman and I believe that western women have to face problems with in her society but Muslim women have to stand against the injustice and issue that are not from their own society but from west against them , even some are life threatening.  As many Muslim women throughout world are suffering because of western so called War on Terror as European and U.S.-American military endeavors have been launched against many Muslim countries . A large number of  Muslim women and children are prisoners or displaced and living as a refugee and they are being killed every day in this war on terror . These are real problems that Muslim women in different countries have to face and are already struggling against that . Muslim women face daily struggles for their survival because of situation created by west in their countries .These problems are not because of law of Islam but they have to do with militarism against Muslim countries by west. Not even a single  Muslim-country has launched any military or armed action against Western nation,  but the West colonized/ invaded many of  Muslim countries like Pakistan , Iran,  Iraq , Afghanistan etc.

In this situation how west can claim to be standing for human rights and how Islam have harmed western modernization and values.

I just want to know if all those women and children were criminal or terrorist who are killed in this war and where are all human rights organizations who are not speaking against the barbaric killing of innocent children and women. Muslim women are increasingly suffering and this seems to be an unending process.  I am really saddened by the fact that no one seems to speak and stand for them as if they are not humans. 

I know this is important as many people in west think that Muslim women are invisible , kept behind high boundary walls ,not allowed to go out of their houses and cannot talk to male in any capacity and  have no right to speak for their rights  and they do not have and are not allowed to be in power. I will strongly suggest them to study Islamic history and specially learn about last prophet Mohammad (p.b.u.h) , who gave Muslim women power to speak , stand and fight for their rights and a voice to be heard and how he improved women status in life . Throughout history of Islam women have played a vital role and fought shoulder by shoulder with men in every field of life. I am sure that  you will be astonished to study about First Muslim women Khadija , the way she supported Mohammad and must read about Battle of Camel how Muslims had an armed struggle  under leadership of Hazrat Ayesha( youngest wife of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) . I am confident you will have respect for them.  

These are just few examples of some of Muslim women who had played most prominent roles in the history.

Since that time till now Muslim women have also struggled for political advancement and liberation of their countries from western dominating colony system. They come out and share their ideas and register their protest . Many women have been jailed, ridiculed but they won the battle because of their strong faith and determination.

In spite of all these problems , created for them by west directly or indirectly , many Muslim women advance in education and many are studying in western universities and have their own identity and have faith on their own religion. They gain respect for being strong hardworking and intelligent by advancing in science and arts.

Islamic nations, stand firmly for the rights of Muslim women and allow them to advance as per law of Islam. Muslim women are given right to vote in public politics .If you study about political scenario of south Asian Muslim countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mali, Pakistan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Senegal and Turkey then you can find many examples of Muslim woman president or prime minister  like Benazir Bhutto , Prime Minister from Pakistan Sheikh Hasina Wajid ,   Prime Minister of Bangladesh etc are Muslim women. Similarly, Atife Jahjaga, the President of Kosovo, is the world's youngest female president. 

I will surely not say that Muslim women are without faults and they do nothing wrong toward west and also I will not say that there was nothing good between Islam and west . There are many Muslim women throughout the world who idealize and try to imitate glamorous life of western actresses and want to be in flash light and follow their footsteps , which is totally against Islam. But I am standing for the point that west is benefited in many ways from Muslim women as simply consider that  many women in Muslim majority nations do a lot of work with very low wages to produce a lot of stuff used in European countries . 

Keeping in view ever deteriorating condition in west we should think twice before following their footsteps as this is not a path toward success and security but this clearly  explains that the condition is much more worse after independence and freedom of women, women are facing really a tough time. 

As it turns out, some human rights organizations had been speaking behind the scenes and they are actually the enemies of Islam and they just play a blame game without having any knowledge about the Law of  Islam.

I await the day when human right organizations will stand for rights of Muslim women and will fight together against oppression that make their lives horrible

 Attention brought to Muslim women by international media and human right organizations can force the west to take a closer look at their killing and west will be  taking a different approach toward war on terror.  Rather than treating Muslim women and children worthy of death, forcing it underground, west will treat it as more as an issue and sin against humanity . I even know that this is far from becoming a reality but I believe that Muslim women must be treated equally   by west and must be given their right to live according to Law of Islam. It can be  a notable step in their desired direction.

Peaceful environment will enable Muslim women to contribute a lot towards a better future.

Western society stands for seeking excitement, and have nothing  to do with praising  their Lord 

 The Law of Islam  has everything to do with our society . I personally believe  that Knowledge and adherence to Islam, go hand in hand with happiness and satisfaction.

We are under strong influence of media and it makes us to react, as it wants, by distorting the facts and use information for its benefit . There are every type of people in world , some are open minded , helping and some are very narrow minded and do not let go a chance of even bullying and harassing.  I also accept the fact , that many westerners condemn abusive , cruel and discriminative behavior of western media against Islam and Muslims. I am familiar with the fact that when America invaded Iraq large number of protesters , from west came out against this act , the number of protesters were much more than the number of protesters in any of Muslim-majority nation.

At the end I deem it necessary to write that as a Muslim women , we must understand that we should not be influenced by western society, there is no solution of our problems.

I will emphasize that westerners must not hate Muslims and in particular Islam , keeping aside religious prejudice we must rise together without further ado and  take the chance to fight against poverty , domestic violence and many other social problems of women. 

In this way we can proceed towards a better and prosperous future.