I know, I don't blog often, and
that's all because I don't have time. But yesterday, I received a facebook
message from a friend of a friend, saying she needs some people to help her
with her master thesis. For maybe an hour, I spent typing, trying to answer
some questions for her, about women in Islam. I asked for her permission to
blog about this, so if she doesn't like the idea, I will have to respect and
remove this post, but I really wonder everyone's opinion about these issues. I
am copying her questions and my answers below, so please do let me know about
your opinion.
I asked if Martyna is blogging
about her interviews, or if she is thinking of doing so. I am hoping she does,
so I'll let you know about that. Martyna's questions start with name,
age, relationship status, religion, and go on with these:
M: What do u think about different religions?
F:Religions tell what people wanna describe themselves
as -but what they are not, so I think, all different religions are -kind of-
societies' identity card that they are born with, or maybe a skin colour. I
think celebrations, festivals are all make-ups or accessories that try to hide
their controlling sides.
M: What do u think about polygamy?
F: Polygamy has become an excuse for sex recently. When
we look at nature, polygamy is a need for living creatures to keep their kind
alive, but human being does not need that population problem, so its definitely
wrong. Polygamy has never been advised to Muslims (I don’t know about other
religions for sure), it was advised that women should be protected under a
man’s roof to give her a name and shelter only if they didn’t have any income
or they lost their husbands in a battle or incident. But men chose to take
advantage of being strong and use tradition’s pressure on women to keep them
under control, using religion as a trump card.
M:What in ur opinion r the advantages and disadvantages of being Muslim?
F:Being a Muslim means “I among all the religions, have true faith, believe
in the right way”. So deep inside, whether you strictly follow the rules or
not, you know you’ll eventually go to heaven, wherever that is. So I guess this
is the advantage of being a Muslim.
Disadvantages are more than one.1. Being a Muslim is
not being able to give a sensible answer to the questions: “Why are Muslims
killing each other?” , “Why do you slaughter animals and not eat them and waste
them if you are ordered to share and not waste?” , “How come Muslims are
forbidden to steal but steal anyway?” , “Why would an old man marry, more
frankly, buy a 12-year-old girl?” , “How come the first order of god was to
read but for centuries, most of Muslim country populations were
illiterate?” 2. Another disadvantage of being a Muslim is that it is
very easy to explain everything with religion, because Koran says so many
things about world, daily life, people’s minds, and this makes it easier than
said to make people believe in rubbish, unrealistic stuff, and that stuff can
help people control the others in the name of god.
M:What do u think is the position of a woman in Islam?
F:A politician once said “If you educate men, you have
literate men, but if you educate women, you have an educated nation”. Women
used to be under control until this century due to the reasons I said above.
But recently, women started to have their own voice in life. In Arabic
countries, we see women in resistances. All covered, but that does not mean
they are kept behind locked doors anymore. Turkey’s scarves are totally a
politic symbol than religion; women have gained power in most of the Muslims
countries. Yes, there are women who don’t have their voice, or freedom to
choose their husbands or jobs. These can be divided into different groups: One
group don’t have economic strength. They have no other option than living the
life they are destined. One other group strict Muslims whom are told what to
do, they don’t have their own minds.
M:What do u think are the advantages and disadvantages
of being a western girl?
F:Western girl, I think, is the person who has a
European lifestyle. I think this is what you are asking. An advantage of being
a western girl is to have choices. Like university, job, career, husband or
being single, going out with boys and not be isolated from society. Comparing
this opportunity with those who cannot have, I am talking about a matter of “Do
I write my destiny, or do I follow orders from someone else and live like a
sheep?” According to me, being a western girl has such disadvantages that make
me think this is where religion is needed in life. Western girl lives a life in
a hurry; experience this, achieve this, be perfect, be open-minded, if not
religion, then follow an “-ism” or fashion, or you will be isolated from
society, be blamed of being shallow, rush, buy more, work more to buy more, no
child until you have enough economic power, love, break up, travel, be better
than others, spend more to work more, and so on. That’s I think where religion
was good in older times, it was calming people down, and telling them to be
modest, caring and sharing. But then imperialism showed up as another religion
:)
M:How would u describe freedom?
F:Freedom is
not going out till late, drinking alcohol, dressing short skirts. It is having
an option, and being able to decide and take the responsibility for your
actions. Do you think USA president is a free man?
M:What do
u think about terrorists?
F:Terrorism,
if we describe it, consists of violent actions to cause danger, fear, and push
an idea or act in an organised way. That, with no exception, is unacceptable to
achieve something. No logic accepts hurting innocents for any reasons. “If
there is no other option” is rubbish, not even an excuse. Organisations should
be in use of people’s safety and better life standards, not vice versa
M:What do
u think about conflicts between Muslim countries and the western countries?
F:I don’t
believe in conflicts between Muslim countries and western countries. I believe
in western countries playing conflict games to sell weapons, more importantly,
fashions. Weapons are only means of selling other products. By showing off with
weapons, they also show Muslim countries that they are strong, and people have
dream life. So Muslim people wanna copy or adopt techno-fashions to resemble
western countries. If you sell weapons, you earn some dollars from limited
soldiers, but if you sell an idea of a life, you keep earning millions from
billion different people from all age groups. That’s what I believe.
There are a few more questions like "what do you
think about Christians, bourqa, jews, atheists.." But I don't want the
blog to be too long so I'm not adding them here. My
answers are my opinions, I never claim them to be truth, so hope nobody feels
offended or try to offend me. But I am hoping I get objective feedbacks.
Maybe Suphan won’t be there anymore every time you look at, being
a majestic symbol on the plain that you talk silently, giving you the feeling
of existence. Maybe journeys won’t be a black line among the snow. And you won’t
have the feeling of lightness for going somewhere and leaving all the heaviness
and weariness there.
Stopping by the road and dancing like crazy, feeling cold
outside the car and boiling inside it, getting tired, pinched, singing loudly,
swearing for not being able to reach somewhere over and over, to cut it short,
travelling on the East, won’t be this fun. Because
you won’t need to make places your own saying “This looks like our ….”. You won’t
have expectations for familiar places. You won’t have the feeling of making a
change. Because you found yourself on your own geography, so you won’t be
blessed for losing yourself in a stranger land. 
