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Islam is a religion that I have not learned much about before now. I knew that the women wore scarves covering their face, but I did not know why. I knew that Muslims celebrated Ramadan, but I did not know what that was. I have recently become more interested in learning about the Muslim religion because of a speech I heard in one of my other classes, and the book Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks is a great insight into the world of Islam and into the lives of Muslim women.
In the prologue I found it interesting that the author / narrator was denied a room in a Saudi Arabian hotel and taken to a police station because she did not leave the lobby. I would think that the man at the desk would be willing to help her even though it is against the law, seeing as she is a woman traveling alone, and obviously didnt know any better. The author, I think, started the book this way to ease us into the idea of what women in the Middle East went through. By telling a personal story she lets us know that the information in this book has been seen and experienced first hand by the author and is not just the result of a group of researchers who may never have been to the Middle East. The first Muslim practice we are introduced to is prayer.
On page 3, the narrator is awakened at sunrise by the call Come to prayer! It is better to pray than sleep! Since prayer is one of the Five Pillars of Faith, it is something that all Muslims do (five times a day facing Mecca), and is one thing that remains constant throughout all the variations and interpretations of the religion that are discussed in this book. Another effective method of story telling that the author used is giving the reader some background information about the origin of the Muslim religion and some of the customs. She tells us that Muhammed is the prophet and what he did basically became the precedent for the entire religion.
Muhammed relayed messages from Allah (God) and what he said was written down in the Koran (Muslim holy book). From the prologue, we see that women are segregated from men because that is what Muhammed did he kept his wives inside. Muhammed's wives were also required to cover themselves from head to foot, as we saw on page 5, the ancient Assyrians began to have wives of upper class men veiled and the custom was adopted by Saudi Arabia (which was known as Islams heartland). The first woman we meet in the book (aside from the author) is Sahar, the authors friend and translator. At first I admired Sahar for daring to be different and western and not conforming to Islam; I was disappointed when she showed up for work one day wearing hijab and no make up and her hair completely covered. On page 8 we understand that adopting the hijab means accepting the following things: A legal code that valued her testimony at half the worth of a mans, an inheritance system that allotted her half the legacy of her brother, a future domestic life in which her husband could beat her if she disobeyed him, make her share his attentions with three more wives, divorce her at whim and get absolute custody of her children.
Why would any woman want to do that? The way I see it all people should be free to believe what they want to believe. If Sahar believes in Islam, thats fine, but why should she have to change her appearance and become inferior to her husband when she seemed to be doing just fine as an independent woman? I compared this section of Nine Parts of Desire to a similar section from Bound Feet and Western Dress. There is a difference between the way Muslims regard western dress and the way the Chinese regarded western dress. While the Chinese value tradition and family, it seemed to me that they did not despise western dress as the Muslims did.
Although, a comparison can be made between Chinese foot binding and Muslim women having to always be covered from head to toe. A Chinese woman without bound feet was many times less desirable to a prospective suitors family, just as a woman who did not wear the hijab was less desirable to a Muslims family. The Holy Veil is the first chapter in the book and it describes the treatment and expectations of women. Page 14 tells us that not all men treated their wives as servants. One example of this is Khomeini, who seemed to have a soft side and enjoyed spending time with his children, when they cried in the middle of the night, Khomeini did not wake his wife, he simply took care of the kids himself.
He never asked his wife to do anything for him, not even to bring him so much as a glass of water. I admire Khomeini for that. It is very easy to kick back and let someone else take care of you, and even though it is an accepted custom, Khomeini did not rely on his wife to be his servant. It seems that he and his wife, Khadija, lived a simple life and they loved each other very much.
Khadija wears hijab and covers herself from head to toe, but there are many different interpretations as to what is acceptable when it comes to covering up. Guinean women for example wear tighter fitting clothes that sometimes expose their shoulders and toes (p 20). As far as clothing goes, I think that Islamic men are hypocrites. They tell women to wear chador's and wont even allow them to swim without wearing them, while young men in the Gulf wear crotch hugging jeans and swimsuits that did not cover their naval.
Men think they are so superior to women in that culture and it really bothers me because without women to have babies, there would be no men. While I do believe that Muslim men are just as passionate about their religion as the women, I think they get some kind of ego trip out of being able to tell women what to do and how to dress. While were on the topic of things women have to do, lets move on to Chapter Two. I almost could not finish reading chapter two because of the graphic explanation of female circumcision. I have not ever heard of anything like that before. The description of an eight-year-old girl being held down by her female relatives while her clitoris was scraped and sewn up made me feel so bad for little Muslim girls.
I felt even worse for them when the author explained that for those who survived the loss of blood and infection because of this procedure, 20 % of women die while giving birth and many times babies are born dead (p 33). I found the reasoning for this procedure ridiculous as well. Page 35 says, Without it a woman wouldnt be able to control herself, that she would end up a prostitute. I understand that it is also considered unholy if a woman has sex before she is married, hence the chapter name, Whom No Man Shall Have Deflowered Before Them. The Muslims contradict themselves when it comes to sex. According to page 38 most Muslims believe that there is nothing in the Koran that says women should have their clitoris scraped (it is actually an African practice), that Muhammed promoted womens right to sexual pleasure, he cited intercourse without foreplay as a form of cruelty to women.
Also regarding sex the punishment for homosexuality, lesbianism and sodomy are greater than for a person who committed adultery. I dont agree with the idea that homosexuality is wrong, but many religions do. I also dont agree with the honor killings that take place when a woman has extramarital sex, and / or when a woman has premarital sex. When Muslim women get married, it is often right after they hit puberty. They have arranged marriages and dont usually meet their husband until the wedding day. Even though I dont agree with this type of marriage, I have to give the Muslims a little credit for coming up with wedding rituals that allow a girl / woman to get used to the touch of her husband with him washing her feet so that the girl is not shocked when he (a stranger) first touches her on their wedding night.
I think that people should marry for love, and that way they would not have to worry about a strangers touch. One section of this chapter reminded me of a section in Bound Feet and Western Dress. Basilar al-Homound finds out that she has a marriage proposal and when her father offers for her to meet the man, she simply states that she trusts her fathers judgment and if you (father) sit with him, it is enough for me. She believes that her father has her best interests at heart and it is important for the two families involved to get along so she knows her dad wont let her marry anyone who would be bad for her. Two other similarities to Bound Feet and Western Dress in this chapter are when Rose broke off a relationship with a Christian because she would be living in sin (p 65).
And on page 67 when Roses husband tells Geraldine (author) that he is nothing in this village without a son. The Chinese also value marrying other Chinese and having sons. Chapter Four is about Muhammed's women. The woman he supposedly loved most was six years old when the two got married, and only nine years old when the marriage was consummated. I think that is disgusting. I understand that it was normal for a girl of that age to get married, but she...
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