Rima Husni Quotes

This was another historical reality that shocked traditionalists. There was nothing in the Koran or Islamic scripture requiring women to wear veils and burkas. Many Muslims and non-Muslims, to this day, do not realize that.

This statement is referring to the custom of women covering their eyes whenever a man who they did not know passed them. Turks did not ever use Burkas the way some other Muslim countries do, but they wore headscarves and covered their eyes when a strange man appeared. This was a shocking statement in a sexist Islamic culture. Although the process of modernization and reform in Turkey was relatively bloodless, Ataturk was prepared to and did use force to defend it. This and many others made the role of women not only uniquely equal in the Islamic world, but women were suddenly elevated to the level of most Western nations and in voting rights were ahead of most. He used his own family to set an example. See {584503}.

The burqa wearing practice was outlawed by French Law.

In much of the Islamic world if a woman commits adultery or becomes pregnant out of wedlock, she will often be killed by her own father or brothers who perceive that this is the only way to maintain the honor of the family. The primitive custom really becomes gross when a woman who is the victim of rape, ends up being killed by her own male family members. In some Muslim countries honor killings are against the law but that prohibition is rarely legally enforced.

Dr. Saadawi was fired from her government post for revealing the status of women in the country. She was also actually arrested and jailed as well for impairing national “values.” See .{586709}.

The importance of women in the Hamas, fundamentalist vision is to function as a brood mare to “manufacture” men and then to bring them up which at least requires something more than their bodies. The role of women in producing other women however is never mentioned as important.

An immigrant Muslim woman herself, she was very familiar with the physical abuse of a woman in a Muslim household where she may not be the only wife and Islamic law and tradition makes her subservient to the man and allows her to be beaten by him.

Islam is no more monolithic than any of the other major religions. This view is not held by most Muslim Coutnries or Islamic leaders throughout the world. It is held by a significant minority however.

This proverb is a large part of the conceptual basis of the concept of honor killing. It starts with the notion that women are property. However, being animate property women are in the same class as livestock. And if a camel or a donkey get lose and does damage, the owner is responsible. So if a woman does something wrong, it is the father or the husband who is responsible. Since sexual behavior of most kinds is contrary to the Islamic custom and law, any activity in this regard, demonstrates that the father of husband has not been up to his obligations and is therefore dishonored. Therefore, the least he can do, to provide a deterrent to other women is to kill the offending female. Without the concept of property, the entire chain of logic collapses under its own weight.

The Hijra was the spread of Islam after The Prophet organized the first Muslims. Islamic reformers have been trying to improve the legal and cultural position of women in Islamic Societies ever since with little success, even in modern times. The notable exception was the Turkish Revolution led by Ataturk. He was familiar with Aga Kahn arguments for reform and put the force of law behind them. See {444998}.

He is often referred to as The Reformer as he was a modernist. In particular, the told his people that there was no religious obligation is Islam for wearing a veil or a burka. These are just customs. Yet most Muslims still believe that veils and burkas were required by God. The only Koranic statement on the subject simply says that women should dress modestly. Despite his efforts, veils and burkas are still required by most Afghani families and most people think the requirement is religious.

In the last centuries, Egypt has been intellectually more advanced than the other Arab countries. It has a significant number of modernists who oppose religious influences on Government. During the Arab Spring when the old regime was ousted, the modernists had hopes that a modern democracy would be formed that was not controlled of even significantly influences by religious leaders and where women would have equal rights. However, the first election the Muslim Brotherhood, a religious party won, and then tried to institute Islamic law—Sharia. A coup ousted the Muslim Brotherhood, and then many dreamed again of a modern, non-sexist, secular democracy. Professor Ajami tried to give them a more realistic view.

Turkey, the only Islamic nation where women have equal rights, made huge developmental and reform strides immediately after Ataturk reformed Turkish society and gave women the vote, freed them from veils and chadors, educated them and gave them equal employment rights. Turkey moved from an impoverished 3rd world nation to a modern industrialized democracy.

Her husband had been assassinated. It is not uncommon that after a political assassination, the widow of the slain male politician, carries on the political legacy. But otherwise there are few female politicians in the Third World in general and the Middle East in particular. Arab and other cultures so severely restrict a woman’s mobility within the society that death of a husband or father seems to be the only vehicle whereby a woman enters politics.

This 12th century observation which appears so obvious has been ignored by the vast majority of Islamic scholars and writers subsequent until modern times, and even then they represent the small reform minority of Islamic thinking.

Some Muslim women in Holland are virtual prisoners of their husbands and families. Many are beaten in conformity with a fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran. Some are even killed. Under previous concepts of Dutch tolerance and respect for pluralism the Muslims in Holland were not interfered with. However, due to her efforts, the rights of the women are now taking a higher priority and are not being subjugated to tolerance of Islam generally.

There are fundamentalist Muslim nations and subunits throughout the world, which make it a criminal offense for a women to exercise what, in the West and according to the UN International Charter of Human rights, are her legitimate rights. The punishments in some of these communities are very brutal and barbaric. Under Canadian law and policy a person who is in fear for their safety and/or life because they are exercising a fundamental right are eligible for political asylum and immigration status in Canada. Mayfield and a few other conservative Canadian legislators do not see the issue of women’s required dress as being in the same category of freedom of speech, criticism of the government, or the practice of one’s chosen religion. The same people generally favor more restrictions on immigration anyway, and they would not give Canadian asylum to women so aggrieved. Those legislators seem all to be men. The women in Parliament and the majority of the men do not agree, have maintained the right of women to seek asylum for these reasons.