If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Women's rights have come a very long way in a very short time. This is right and good and how things should be. It is also a facet of the plan for the ultimate unification of humanity that was foreseen centuries ago.
Over the last few decades, the steady immigration of Muslims from around the world to America and across Europe, has thrown the spotlight on the hijab. Many Americans and Europeans are surprised to find that contrary to what they believe, a large number of Muslim women do not wear the hijab out of compulsion but out of choice.
The problem of the repression of women, especially in leadership roles, developed as the Church institutionalized itself over time, melding its practices within cultures of increasing male dominance.
The Shunammite (a woman of the town of Shunem) is a wealthy married woman living in the time of the kings of Israel and Judah. She does lovingkindness out of a sense of abundance and majesty: chesed sh'b'malkhut.
If Rosen is going to rail against a war against women, then let's agree that a gender bias that praises men who put their kids first but punishes women for the same is an unfair assault in that battle.
As Muslim women born and raised in America, we are tired of hearing everyone talk about Muslim women without ever stopping to listen to what we have to say about our lives.
Together with my female colleagues, on a daily basis, I am engaged in the arduous task of breaking the stained glassed ceiling.
What was the revelation contained in my dream? In my dream I felt the pain of the earth. I also felt the shame of the perpetrator. I felt relieved when the people around me joined in to call out the abuser.
Fortunately, as free agents, women enjoy inalienable rights to express themselves in multiple ways, particularly by having the freedom to have sex whenever and with whomever we please.
I was invited to attend the Dr. Phil show last week to offer commentary on their feature story about a young and beautiful woman who had a tale of unsettling circumstances in regard to her Hasidic background.
Muslims can further the human rights agenda by re-examining the lives of the very first Muslim women who lived during Islam's formative period as more than historical figures but as modern Islamic models.
In Matthew, we find the story of a woman who is healed merely by touching Jesus' cloak so that she can lead a new life. It's a beautiful story, and even more so if we consider her affliction: she had been bleeding for years.
That a man in an eminently civilized country like Canada could invoke an ancient practice like honor killing in the 21st century is frightening. The mores that seem to be at work cut to deeply felt attitudes about families and women.
Although there are differing religious views on the use of contraception, it should be up to women to decide on whether and when to use contraception based on their own beliefs and needs.
What is it about women that the men of deeply conservative religions find so threatening? What runs so deep that it justifies traumatizing an innocent eight-year-old like Naama Margolese in Beit Shemesh?
Without proactive intervention from Muslim women, young men in Muslim communities are destined to fall prey to the same predatory tactics experienced by young African American men.
