Comments on: What is a Woman's Place in the Arab World?

By: TeacherLady

TeacherLady — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:16:37 +0000

Brian, the problem is how to get the male population to “allow” those things to happen. Theoretically, women in the UAE are capable of any of those things, but all it takes is a father, brother, or uncle to say no, and the door closes on her without question… And that’s a “modern” Arab nation.

By: Esra'a

Esra'a — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:44:02 +0000

This article is not about Muslims. The title reads: What is a Woman’s place in the Arab world? It only became about Muslims when people were making the wrong assumptions. The Arab world includes Jews, Christians, and Baha’is.

By: Brian H

Brian H — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:19:10 +0000

Esra: read what’s there, not what you assume.
I didn’t say “Arabs”. I said “Muslims”. Or don’t Persians qualify as “real Muslims”? And I do believe I’ve seen the phrase on placards in Palestine and elsewhere, in any case.

By: Brian H

Brian H — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:17:04 +0000

About TeacherLady’s appeal: the #1 way, bar none, of improving a country’s economy and quality of life is to provide education for girls and women (if they are being denied). The #2 way is to enable them to run small businesses with microloans and lending circles. (The #3 way is to deed slum properties to families so that they can obtain credit and enter the official, legitimate economy — see de Soto’s Peruvian work and systems.)

By: Esra'a

Esra'a — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:12:23 +0000

Brian you’re obviously an expert at this stuff. Have you considered a career at Harvard?

It’s Iran that calls the U.S the “Great Satan.” This is about the Arab world. But I guess we brown ones are all the same terrorists to you. Touché.

By: Brian H

Brian H — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:08:53 +0000

Well, Muslims, it’s about your self-indulgent hypocrisy. You can call US the “Great Satan”, opine that Western women are and dress like sluts, assert that the reason your economic and intellectual achievements are so puny is because of Western oppression — but let a Westerner make the obvious observation that Islam treats women like ancient tribal harem properties, and you squeal with indignation. Observe the obvious truth that virtually all religious violence and terrorism world-wide is committed by Moslems, and you are accused of “Islamophobia”. Note that the Koran contains bloodthirsty threats against all non-believers, and you whine that moderate Muslims are the real Islam — while doing squat to restrain the “minority extremists”.

Pretty hard to take you seriously, all in all, except as demented dangers to world survival and sanity.

By: TeacherLady

TeacherLady — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:22:23 +0000

You may all want to check out http://www.womenforwomen.org where you can help finance women’s job training in war-torn third world countries. Sorry if you’ve seen me push WFW before, but it’s a great cause and I want to reach as many people as possible with it.

I struggle to discuss feminism in the context of the Arab world because people always call the religion card, making it an awkward argument to get in to. Possible misinterpretations aside, the culture of the Arab world has been bred and raised to see women as second class citizens and the reasoning behind it has always been placed on Islam, regardless of the validity of that argument. Thus, any debate is seen as a direct insult to Islam.

As long as men enjoy their position of power and learn at their father’s knee that status quo is the best way to go, women will continue to suffer. I don’t know what it would take to change things.

By: Esra'a

Esra'a — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:07:15 +0000

Still, this column by Nissim isn’t talking about a woman’s place in Islam but today’s real world, where it “stands in stark contrast to Muhammad’s teaching.”

I was going to add that, but the arguments were too tempting to ignore. Some of these opinions need to be addressed, so that people are aware of who we really are and what we represent.

Arab and Muslim are incorrect synonymies, however, and people need to think before making that immediate connection.

By: MyTwoCents

MyTwoCents — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:45:28 +0000

That’s an excellent article, Esra’a: thank you. Several others on the site look interesting, too.

Still, this column by Nissim isn’t talking about a woman’s place in Islam but today’s real world, where it “stands in stark contrast to Muhammad’s teaching.”

By: Esra'a

Esra'a — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:43:49 +0000

Muslim women always had the right to manage businesses and own properties. Women even fought in battle alongside the prophet (ex: Laila Al Ghifariah.) If the Koran denied women of such rights, how do you explain the Koran speaking highly of the Queen of Sheba (27:32), there are many other women within the Koran who are praised, namely the virgin Mary. This is an insightful article by an American convert to Islam regarding women's rights and equality in the faith.