If you really look at his life and teachings carefully, might
Muhammad be a good model for how to treat women with dignity and
respect? Do you believe that religions
(like Islam) have good ideas at their beginnings, which are then corrupted by
culture? Or do you believe that religion
is a bad place to look for models and inspiration in terms of how to make
our world a better place?
In my opinion, all religions mean well at the beginning for example how the Quran talks about respecting women . Yet every text can be interpreted differently by different individuals, no matter if it’s the Quran, the bible or the law. We believe that they should be clear, so that everybody understands them and follows the “laws” and teachings, but with the modern era and new points of view, they will be interpreted differently than they were 1000 years ago. Society has changed since then and so have the points of view of people. I believe that the ideas and teachings are good and should be followed, but have been twisted by the different points of view and some no longer keep up with the mentality of the modern era.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that women have to wear burqas to feel safe in this time and age, in my opinion, is slightly ridiculous. You would think that society has progressed to the point where we are able to accept almost anyone, yet the reality is that in some countries women have to hide themselves from the prying eyes of men so that they won’t be teased and ridiculed in the street. The question is, if burqas are now more a part of their culture or religion, or a necessity they have to wear to keep safe. If true is the latter, something must be changed. The men have to understand that a women is their equal just how is stated in the Quran and should be respected. Even though it is hard to change the mindset of a society, I believe that with enough time and due to globalization and the views of more progressive countries and societies, women will start to become more respected and hopefully will in the end be viewed as an equal.
I have no problem with people praising a religious figure as a paragon, however, it becomes questionable when people make a bold statement of “religious figures have to be a role model”. Mr. Usman claims a similar statement at the beginning of the article: “The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was considered the greatest embodiment of the principles laid out by Allah (SWT) in the Holy Quran …… Hence, the best way to appreciate how Islam empowers women is by observing the conduct of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) towards women”(“From empowered to oppressed”, 2019). Here, Mr. Usman claims that since Prophet Muhammed is the messenger of God and the greatest sympathizer of his principles, without no doubt, the Prophet should be taken as a model for all men. When I lived in Bahrain I have seen a lot of people with the same train of thoughts. They said the Quran is everything, and the Prophet is the absolute ideal. Although in my opinion, this is a myopic way of thinking. A person being a religious figure doesn’t classify him as being a paragon of perfection, and in this case, people should think more outside the box and not be too attached to the religion.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I deeply agree with Mr. Usman about the fact that Islam has changed from how it looked at the beginning. It is true that the Quran contains multiple descriptions stating that men is superior compared to women. Legends also say that the Prophet once lamented about God having a different thought about women compared to himself. Although, the overall concept of the Quran was actually to encourage equality between men and women. I think what caused the gender polarization in Muslim society today is the broad interpretation of the men’s superiority in the Quran, and the combination with local customs and biological differences. Progressively, people began to only emphasize specific parts from the Quran and combined with the already existing “Women stays at home” ideology.
The idea of women’s inferiority is still existing in many Muslim countries, however, with my personal experience in Bahrain, it is getting better compared to the past. The globalization of those countries is gradually increasing, and foreign cultures started to flow in. On this occasion, the people who still tend to follow the old-fashioned ideology should look around the world, and realize the change is happening.