Women under Islam

Submitted by Debbie Walls (United States), Aug 2, 2002 at 02:02

As a woman who has lived under Islamic Law, in a Middle Eastern Country, I agree that it is time for change in the Islamic world, including those Muslims in the US!!

When the birth of a baby boy is celebrated more highly than the birth of a baby girl, (a bigger celebration and 2 camels or goats are sacrificed instead of one), when a young adolescent girl is subjected to mutilating surgery (FGM - female genital mutilation), when a woman must be escorted by a male member of her family or have to sit at home, when a woman finds out her husband already has other wives or wants to have other wives, when a woman cannot drive a car and when she does, her fingernails are pulled out as punishment (it happened in Jeddah after the Gulf War), when a woman does not have the freedom to date and freely choose her marriage partner, when a woman must allow men to sit in the front of the public bus while they move to the back of the bus, and when a woman does not have the right to vote for those governing her life... I can only call that evil and not peaceful.

Oh by the way, I have Muslim friends here in the US, who are forced by their husbands or families to live under these Islamic laws listed above. One of them from Turkey, grieves and yearns for the freedom of her American friends, who are allowed to drive, be out of the home without a male member of the family, and to be free to choose her marriage partner. Only by her disobedience can she live freely here in the States. You never hear about that in the news do you?!

Maybe the Bush Administration needs to consider Muslim Women as a possible true Force for Change!! I know there are many Muslim women, who are wanting their freedoms here in the US.

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