Two women of Islam answered questions and delivered information about their faith to a group of curious non-Muslims Thursday evening as part of Islamic Awareness Week at ASU.
Debra Enos and Aneesah Nadir, both American ASU students, addressed a crowd of about 50 in the Agriculture building on campus. They spoke about their experiences as Muslim women, about the role of women in Islam and helped debunk some stereotypes of women in Islamic culture.
Both stressed the fact women are not regarded as second-rate citizens in Islamic culture. There is no passage in the Quran to indicate the male sex as superior. Men and women are regarded as equal, though different, in the Quran.
Enos explained why women wear veils and keep every part of their body covered except for their hands and faces. She said modesty is tradition in Islamic culture and was ordained by Allah, who transmitted the tradition to mankind through the Prophet Muhammad.
A Muslim woman’s modest dress, or “hijab,” is indication to her being chaste. The traditional garb, including a scarf around the head, is a sort of screen against the evils of the world.
However, the way women of Islam present themselves is, by no means, an indication they are lesser than men.
“The Prophet Muhammad said that women are the twin halves of men,” said Enos, an ASU graduate student. “The Quran regards the two sexes as equal.”
But when Americans, who may not be familiar with Islamic culture, see images of frightened, submissive women in Afghanistan, they associate Islam with oppression.
“Sexism is something that has permeated the world over,” Nadir said. “But Islam is not to blame for that. It has to do with peoples’ personalities, lack of understanding and lack of knowledge of Islam.”
Nadir, a student in the Department of Social Work at ASU West, explained to the audience that the American media’s coverage of the conflict in Afghanistan can be misleading because of how women live under the rule of the Taliban Militia.
The one country, the one conflict, is not representative of the whole of Islam.
“The media tends to sensationalize, to vilify Islam and its members,” Nadir said. “In some societies, women are oppressed. But that is because of culture, not religion.”
Americans also have a misconception about polygamy in the Arabic world. While it does exist, and Islam permits a man to have up to four wives, a Muslim man can only have more than one wife if he treats each equally.
“The rule in Islam is monogamy,” Nadir said. “Polygamy was never instituted. It always existed. But Islam curtailed it.”
In many Arabic nations, a woman’s professional progress is not hindered by Islam. Women are free to seek an education and career.
“We have images of women who are oppressed and repressed,” Enos said. “But we also have images that we don’t see, of women who are involved scholastically.”
