Islam: Oppression vs. Freedom
Are you oppressed by Islam or do you feel liberated? Do you feel you are given the option of free will without any consequences, or are you fooled into believing you have the freedom to do WHAT you want, WHEN you want and HOW you want… When in reality you don’t have this luxury!
The question of whether religion is oppressive or allows freedom is an extremely debatable one… what i want to know and I’m sure many others will want to know is, does this question have an answer or is it one that is best left rhetorical?
If we break it down beginning with what i personally believe is possibly the most controversial religion in Britain and even worldwide, ISLAM we will find that this is a religion of which if we look at its role in British society, does not seem to have a place at all, mainly due to the massive contradictions between British Modern Society and Islam.
This is of massive interest to me as it seems that traditional religions – such as Islam – do not fit in a secularised British Society particularly in relation to women. One main argument for this statement would be that after the suffragettes fought for female emancipation is there any room for these patriarchal, oppressive religions in British Society.
I mean in Islam there are a number of rules and regulations regarding womens dress and behaviour, so isn’t that a form of oppression. Oppression can be defined as ‘ the state of being kept down by unjust use of force or authority’. So in the case of Muslim Women, they are being told what to do by a greater force – GOD… am I right?
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Post Commentsimon alma
On June 16, 2009 at 11:34 am
It’s not the religion but the illiteracy of the people. It is the picture of poor and backward nation. What ever you mentioned about oppression such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), honor killings, forced marriages, the unequal application of hadd punishments on women, or the denial of education to girls and women etc are found in many countries where Muslims are minority such as India (we see India from the top but look into it’s general population where you can find more oppression on women and girls by the society), Burma,African countries. We have the problems with the high rank people who lead the society. Islam comes into picture for woman oppression again and again because it is visible with its dress code. Remove the dress code and you won’t find any Islamic oppression but the problem of the society!!