We have a voice!

I watched “The King’s Speech” yesterday, and felt inspired by it. I’m sure most of you know the story. It’s about King George VI of Britain, who has a stammering problem. He feels very unsure about speaking in public, and about finding his voice really. Luckily he meets a man, Lionel Logue, who can help him with his problem and who becomes a true friend.

Maybe the same can be said about us Muslim women. Some of us are still stammering too, as in that we feel unsure about speaking up. So many decisions are made over our head. So many people claim to know what’s best for us. Enforcing the veil, banning the veil, locking us up in the house, trying to westernise us and making us appear half-naked on the street,…
But we are not dumb creatures who can’t look after ourselves. We have a voice and we can look after ourselves! No need to restrict us or to pity us.
We know exactly what Islam is about, and it’s not about being a prisoner or being oppressed! So stop trying to tell us what to do, and let us make our own decisions. Most of us WANT to wear the veil, because we believe it guards our modesty and dignity, and we are NOT forced.  Some of us are treated unfairly, but that’s despite of Islam and not because of it. We feel the injustice of that as much as you do, and we want a change!
And do you think the West is so much better? My friend who’s a convert got a lot of job offers, until they discovered she wore headscarf, then all of a sudden they weren’t interested anymore. Is that not discrimination or unfair? They say they want to liberate us, but instead they force us to stay at home or to take on lesser jobs just as much! In most schools in my country, the veil is now forbidden, while miniskirts are all over the place. Why can’t we wear what we want? We don’t have a bomb hidden underneath our veil. Who do we hurt with wearing a veil, except the narrow-minded racists?
We have a voice, and we will use it more and more. We know how the Prophet (p.b.u.h) instructed Muslim men to treat their women, and we will not accept anything less! Not from our fellow Muslims, and not from the West! You don’t have to agree with us, and we are not here to force you to become Muslim too. All we want is respect and freedom to let us be who we want to be, and to let us develop ourselves in the best way possible.
Maybe we are still stammering now, but like King George VI, we will find our voice and we will resist all the hostile forces surrounding us.

The Prophet of Islam, peace be upon him, said, “Women are the twin halves of men”

Once a woman came to the Prophet, peace be upon him, with a complaint against her husband. He told her: “There is no woman who removes something to replace it in its proper place, with a view to tidying her husband’s house, but that God sets it down as a virtue for her. Nor is there a man who walks with his wife hand-in-hand, but that God sets it down as a virtue for him; and if he puts his arm round her shoulder in love, his virtue is increased tenfold.”