Islam gives equal life to everyone!?

The Western world is often blamed by Islam about its godless, inhuman behavior. They say we do not respect people who are weaker and different from us, and thereby condemn them to a lower class of life. In this article I do not want to apologize for the fact that more blacks than whites can be found in American prisons or anything else concerning our life style, but I want to give an example that Moslems are no better people than we are: A woman in Islam has practically no rights.

When we ask a Muslim about the way a woman is treated in Islam he will answer that women are treated after Islamic belief. He will also say that women are equal to men, but they are just not the same. That a woman is not the same to a man sounds understandable, but so is no human being the same to any other human being. Indirectly, this statement is therefore an admission, that men and women are not equal.

Injustice is also shown by the statement, that women are treated after Islamic belief. How can life be equal for both sexes when the Qur'an, -written by prophet Muhammad, was only translated by men? After all, those men interpreted it from their point of view. That is not necessarily inhuman but of course it will influence the meaning in a more men-sympathetic direction.

When we go back in time and look at the prophet Muhammad we can see that he was said to be a man who swept his room, washed his clothes and supported his family greatly. Today in Islam we will hardly find a man like this. Nowadays they expect their wives to do the housework, because men are in power and are able to control the 'weaker' woman. That has nothing to do with religious belief, it looks much more as if it is based on the arrogance of men.

To give another example, -Muhammad told men that they should not exclude women from praying, because in front of God everyone is equal. It seems therefore a kind of strange that women today are not always allowed to enter a mosque. And, if they are allowed to go to mosque, they are separated from men by a wall. A discrimination like this would be unacceptable in the western world.

In conclusion it can be said that the way some Islamic men treat their wives is inhuman and disrespectful, and puts her in exactly that lower class that these men condemn us for creating, but we cannot blame the Islam. Islam gives the woman the right to live the life the way she wants. One has to blame the men, who treat their  wives in such an arrogant manner. They use their power and manipulation of the Qur'an's teachings to handle women the way that seems best for them.

Analysis

My article discussed the question, whether Islam offers the same rights to everyone. To catch the readers attention, I put a question and an exclamation mark behind the headline, this already gives a clue to it being a critical writing.

I started the article with an argument Moslems often use against the west and later turned it around to argue against them (e.g.: ..they blame us for our godless, inhuman behavior. Moslems are no better people.). To prove my statement I used several examples on how women are treated in Islamic countries, and showed at the same time, that this has nothing to do with religious belief.

In this article I do not want to insult the Islamic faith, but by showing the contrast between Islamic men's behavior and the Qur'an, I try to make Moslems think about their behavior, before judging others. I also try to show them, that they do not have the right, to use their religion as an excuse for any unfair treatment. Therefore we all should be more critical of ourselves before spreading criticism.

When writing this piece it proved to be a challenge to write in formal words and in a tone which does not sound offensive or arrogant. I feel that a quieter tone can impress the reader more than an aggressive tone, which only forces him/her into a contra-position.

Another difficulty was to find good examples of Moslem's behavior, which struggle with the message of the Qur'an.

I chose to write this article because we studied articles about Islamic life in class, which I thought was of interest. Beside this media is one of the most effective ways to manipulate someone's mind. An article is supposed to convince the reader of something and/or to make him/her think about the topic.

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