Position of WOMAN in ISLAM And this is why on my side I’m pushing something I call Islamic feminism understood as: Go back to the Islamic sources, understand the Islamic principles, and act with these principles against any kind of discrimination done in the name of very narrow minded reading of the sources or the cultural understanding. So I think that all this perception that for example you don’t have to be in the same room with men all this is exaggeration and very superficial understanding of the deep meaning of what it means to be a Muslim woman. Not only is this happening in Europe or in the United States, it’s also happening in Morocco, Indonesia and Islamic-majority countries with something which is a very assertive presence based on two things: I want to remain a Muslim woman but I want to decide for myself. So this is what we have to push for. Now, yes we have literature coming from the classical Islamic tradition still obsessed with you as a woman. You have to think about your role as a mother and wife. This is what I’m always saying. We are obsessed in Islamic tradition with speaking about women and the role and the functions in fact within the society which is completely wrong. We really have to come with a better understanding as discourse on woman as woman, and women as women within the society which is also something that is really important. It’s coming, and more and more women are now starting to speak for themselves. With regard to mixing, we have to be very cautious. There are levels of mixing. So if we are speaking about being in the society and working and having a role as a citizen, as a woman electing and being elected, all this has to be tackled. Now, you may have practicing women saying “Look, this is my freedom to be in the society but I don’t want for example to go in a swimming pool because of the way my body is going to be shown is not the way I think it’s to be a good Muslim.” Here we should be very careful not to create a problem of integration on these decisions. If freedom is what you want, if freedom of choice is what you are proclaiming, just be consistent. A woman who decides for herself to wear the headscarf, you cannot say that she is alienated or self-alienated. Let her decide. And if she doesn’t want to wear the headscarf, let her decide. To come to something which at the end is leadership, because I’m working with so many Muslim women. They are more effective, more efficient, and they are working very well. And I think the future is at least to share the leadership, if not a stronger Muslim presence for the women as to driving the communities towards something which is a better presence and a more rooted understanding in the West Tariq Ramadan (official) youtube/watch?v=YtLTLmLNilg
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 05:20:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015