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Essay on Islam and Women
‘Women in Islam’ as a topic is becoming a very popular subject matter when talking about Islam, almost as popular as Jihad and Terrorism. The first impression one gets in this area is that women are disadvantaged or oppressed or subjugated to male dominance. Does Islam really suppress and oppress women? Don't Muslim women have any rights? Why is this topic so popular? I will answer these questions as I talk about how Islam stands on different issues regarding women.
I very often ask myself, why are Muslim women so misunderstood? Why is there such a huge gap between what Islam teaches with regards to rights of women and what some Muslim's practice? I came up with a number of answers. Firstly, within the Muslim world, there can be a confusion of cultural and religious practices. Many Muslim’s may think that a certain cultural practice is a religious practice. This becomes a problem when cultural and religious practices contradict each other. I will give examples of cultural aspects as I cover different topics concerning women. Also I think that some Muslim’s intentionally misinterpret some Islamic teachings to suit themselves or think that more of something good is even better which is not always the case. As an example, the Quran tells men and women to lower their gaze and be mindful of their chastity.
Although the verse addresses men and women, some pretend that it only addresses women and so focus on the women’s actions, not the men’s. Secondly, for some reason, the mass media picks up on the current negative aspects of the Muslim world, hardly ever the good. And we assume that whatever the media tells us, is factual and accurate, which is not always the case.Also our understanding of each other’s religion is minimal, sometimes it is in the red.....
