Mohja Kahf has a piece in Sunday's Washington Post on the wonderful things about being a Muslim woman, including the egalitarian practice of signing marriage contracts, the provisions Islam makes for women acquiring property when they get married, and the generally egalitarian spirit of God as articulated in Islam.
It's important to remember that Islam does have many elements that are progressive with respect to typical feminists demands. Also, I don't find the argument that Islam should be considered sexist because it is practiced in that manner in so many different places persuasive – sexism is such a pervasive problem that it seems very silly to point fingers at the degrees of sexism present in different nation-states, geographical regions or religious traditions. As Kahf says: “Excuse me, but a woman with Saint Paul in her religious heritage has no place feeling superior to a Muslim woman, as far as woman-affirming principles are concerned. Maybe no worse, if I listen to Christian feminists, but certainly no better.”
What is interesting about this article, though, is how thick it lays on the stereotypical girliness. Her point is that Islam is as hospitable to women as any other religious tradition, and the way she makes it is not by pointing out Muslim women who were heroes but by recounting how pretty Islam makes her feel. I guess I missed the right to look in the mirror and smile section of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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