The Double Standards Imposed on Women in Islam

Double Standards of Women in Islam The works of Jazmine Zine, Honour and identity: An ethnographic account of Muslim girls in a Canadian Islamic school, and Anaya McMurray, Hotep and hip-hop: Can black Muslim women be down with hip-hop? Meridians: Feminism, Race, transnationalism discusses the double standards of Muslim women in various communities where most people consider them minorities. The authors reveal how the groups have made the Muslim women live lives of double standards where most of them face gender inequalities, the body policing of young Muslim women, and control of their mobility. The authors also argue that Muslim women face rigid gender-based structures and the imposition of a single ideal type to which all young Muslim women should conform. The paper analyzes the arguments of McMurray and Zine concerning the double standards of Muslim women in their communities.

Most Muslim women experience gender inequality despite the intensity through which most organizations, such as UN Women, have dedicated their resources to fight gender inequality. Such organizations’ primary objective is to address the issue, protect the helpless female gender, and help them obtain their rights. Zine argues that Muslim women have more problems to worry about than Muslim men who have few restrictions on what they can do.

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WOMEN IN ISLAM2 For the women, there are various activities that the religion does not allow them to conduct—the Muslim schools have been at the forefront in facilitating such protocols. Zain also argues further that the Muslim women are currently struggling for better freedom that will enable them to develop towards what they want rather than conforming to particular patriarchal discourses.

The Muslim women in Islamic schools may be shyer than boys, and due to this, they have few opportunities to speak before crowds, making them feel disadvantaged. Most of the girls become shy, probably due to their cultures at home; hence, transferring it to schools. Thus, most Muslim women remain helpless since they lack the courage to communicate their thoughts.

Perhaps most Muslims still believe that they must instill shyness in their girls, which they consider as a form of modesty. However, such does not apply to their boys. Also, teachers in most Islamic schools face challenges in encouraging girls to speak to the level of boys. Perhaps Islamic culture hinders ladies from participating in many social activities, including education.

Most communities have discriminated against Muslim women in hip-hop, where they are not considered fit for the music culture as their male companions. However, McMurray (2008) argues that Muslim women in contemporary society struggle with Islamic music to negotiate faith and culture. McMurray provides Erykah Badu, Eve, and herself as the example of Muslim women who have realized that they must voice their concerns to the communities. Perhaps they aim to show the world that religion is quite flexible as if it undergoes different cultures and resistance levels. The gender inequality among Muslim women may not come to an end soon since most women are still unable to speak against the issue.

The body policing of Muslim women is still a serious concern that the communities and the organizations responsible for protecting women's rights should address. The Western culture

WOMEN IN ISLAM3 has forced many Muslim women to drop their dress code culture, and in various circumstances, there have been cases of body policing. For instance, a report by American Civil Liberties Union (2020) noted that Muslim women are not allowed to wear a headscarf in jail, courthouse detention, while visiting family members in correctional institutions, accompanying family members to court, and working in correctional institutions. Also, police have harassed many of them for wearing headscarves during arrest and when they call the police for help. The female Muslims face severe discrimination, and sometimes violence, regarding their culture that requires them to adhere to the dress code of covering their entire body, including the head. Most Muslim families, groups, schools, or government demand that every Muslim woman wear the veils throughout any public place. The Islamic religion perceives this culture as a proper understanding of Islam.

The police sometimes force women to remove their veils in public places. Perhaps they perceive the Muslim women as being disrespectful to the Western culture. Zine argues that Western culture does not condemn dating for girls and even considers it a positive social behavior. However, Islamic culture tends to prevent its girls from such social activities and only recommends that the only relationship exists until marriage. Due to this idea, Muslim girls face criticism that boys, resulting in another double standard. The parents of Muslim girls put them under strict surveillance where they monitor all their movements. Despite Zine’s arguments, she insists that the women are better off adhering to the Islamic traditions since she regards the Western culture as an uncontrolled way of life that exposes them to scornful situations in some schools.

The patriarchal nature of various communities on the women’s honor also results in the double standard for Muslim women. Most Muslims consider girls who engage in pre-marital

WOMEN IN ISLAM4 relationships as those who have lost their integrity; hence, it indicates the family's failure.

However, their spiritual commitment refrained from some extreme emotional reactions in both women and men, similar to most cultural communities globally. Over the years, most people have dwelt in honor of Muslim women as a political fulcrum, which has significantly impacted the women in the Islamic community. Zine argues that male counterparts may blame women for losing their honor since they should be responsible for keeping the women's purity in their families. Thus, the Islamic community may define various measures that include both social and cultural rules outside the context of their traditions.

The Muslim community has restricted the movements of their women by limiting how mobile they can be. Many Muslim families have confined their girls in schools as a way of preventing their pre-marital relationships. However, every human deserves to interact with a broader society to gain more social and educational experience. Due to this, it seems unfair to utilize patriarchal regulations in schools and the claim that the girls have high reputational risks to prevent their mobility. Besides, such practices may be against Islamic policies. School teachers' simple supervision, school sign-in sheets, and group systems may just be enough to monitor the Muslim women’s movements in Islamic schools. Several religious beliefs have poisoned school policies to the extent that it facilitates the girls' bias. If Muslim men do experience such movement restrictions, then the women should also have equal treatment. The Islamic culture should cease measures such as spying on their young women, making them develop negative attitudes towards their learning environment.

From Anaya McMurray’s Hotep and hip-hop: Can black Muslim women be down with hip-hop? Meridians: Feminism, race, transnationalism, McMurray argues in the context of utilizing music art to express one’s thoughts and issues. Various Islamic traditions do not allow

WOMEN IN ISLAM5 instruments, but they recommend only the voice or a flat drum. The Islam group, Nation of Islam, encourages and empowers the black culture in the hip-hop genre of music, and they tend to adhere to the Islamic traditions. However, McMurray argues that Muslims in hip-hop do not uphold the ideas of Islamic culture. Perhaps McMurray shares in the belief that hip-hop may be used to glorify religion and God, which is not the case with contemporary hip-hop. Most artists have diverted their attention towards praising women, criminal wealth, excessive drugs, murder, fornication, adultery, and promiscuity, among others. The hip-hop stars worldwide have influenced the youth, and many young generations now regard them as their role models— youths are imitating the way of life of the hip-hop stars, and most of them have become susceptible to the vices that the music contains. Although McMurray argues that her hip-hop version is aligned towards positive and religious implications, the music remains prohibited in the Islamic community. Hip-hop has taken its direction, and whether an individual is male or female, they will still have similar themes and even use of language.

Despite McMurray’s argument that hip-hop music can help empower creative expression and improvise black culture promotion, she claims that black Muslim women have been set aside from such experiences since the male counterparts get more opportunities. According to McMurray (2008), Islamic culture expects its women to undertake the ‘good girl’ roles. As a result, such expectations leave them veiled and submissive to their homes. McMurray insinuates further that Muslim women may only fit the sexualization roles in hip-hop music, which is prohibited in the Islamic culture. The black Muslims in hip-hop utilize the opportunity to express their religion and the issues they may face. Despite their religious expression, they also include some explicit contents in their lyrics that raises many questions. Also, McMurray points out gender inequality in the hip-hop industry since, for most hip-hop fans, it is easier to recognize

WOMEN IN ISLAM6 male Muslim rappers than one would for Muslim women. Advocating for Muslim women’s rights in the hip-hop industry by either religious authorities or other concerned entities may be difficult since the hip-hop culture has warped most of their traditions or principles.

McMurray also claims that there are several issues that the Islamic culture prohibits, but most black Muslim raps still contain such problems. The author refers to Zine’s comment that despite the Islamic communities' claim of Islam being practiced in its right form in the Middle East, it does not form any object boundary. Muslims from different places in the world practice religion in diverse contexts. McMurray perceives that the male Muslims have the opportunity to relish in the illegal practices of hip-hop and that Muslim women should be allowed to enjoy similar opportunities. McMurray argues why Mos Def is a human activist who fights against vices such as over-sexuality and crime, yet he also has music that contains identical contents.

Patriarchal dominance does not exist in the hip-hop industry, where black Muslim males decide to follow their paths involving the creation of immoral music. Thus, Muslim women should not advocate for a similar opportunity to disregard Islamic traditions and rules and create sinful music. McMurray’s work talks about practicing Islam through unethical ways that involve ignoring Islamic customs and regulations and creating immoral music content. She believes in the hip-hop industry's incorrect practices and feels that Muslim women are sidelined and not allowed to relish the same opportunity of immorality as Muslim men do. Thus, McMurray thirsts for gender equality in the hip-hop industry because the Muslim men here disregard the Islamic religious traditions and rules.

The arguments of Anaya McMurray and Jazmine Zine illustrate double standards for Muslim women in different communities. Zine discusses how the Islamic religion restricts the mobility of their women through several extreme measures and schools to prevent pre-marital

WOMEN IN ISLAM7 relationships to preserve their honor. The Islamic culture should address the patriarchal dominance in schools that makes the Muslim girls fear talking before crowds. Such fear results from families instilling shyness in girls as a way of modesty; this a rigid regulation of genderbased structures that the women experience. Muslim women also face gender inequality where male counterparts get most of the opportunities, and it is women under surveillance both in schools and outside schools.

Most Muslim women also face the challenge of body policing, where the Western culture forces them to drop their culture of veiling themselves. Perhaps some people consider their veiling as a show of disrespect for Western civilization. Additionally, various Islamic families impose a single ideal type to which all young Muslim women should conform. McMurray also insinuates the existence of gender inequality in an immoral society of hip-hop. Her arguments are a bit ironical and may not hold any necessary Islamic religion intervention to address gender inequality. She wishes to have the same opportunity that male Muslims have in creating immoral hip-hop content while disregarding the Islamic rules. Both Zine and McMurray have argued their concerns for Muslim women under double standards in new communities. Therefore, I agree that the young Muslims in Canada face the kinds of doubles standards they have discussed in their works. However, the two authors may be criticizing Islamic tradition before realizing how complex it may be. Perhaps one should understand every aspect of a theory or idea before making any conclusion.

WOMEN IN ISLAM8 References American Civil Liberties Union. (2020). Discrimination Against Muslim Women - Fact Sheet.

American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved 18 November 2020, from https://www.aclu.org/other/discrimination-against-muslim-women-fact-sheet.

McMurray, A. (2008). Hotep and hip-hop: Can Black Muslim women be down with hiphop? Meridians, 8(1), 74-92. Retrieved 18 November 2020, from https://read.dukeupress.edu/meridians/article-abstract/8/1/74/138415 Zine, J. (2008). Honour and identity: An ethnographic account of Muslim girls in a Canadian Islamic school. TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 19, 35-61. Retrieved 18 November 2020, from https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/topia.19.35