“I just love this excellent letter written by Pakistani journalist Kunwar Khuldune Shahid. Such a wonderful response to those ‘educated’ women who are proud of being veiled Muslims and who foolishly defend Islam, the anti-women religion. The author of this letter is a man. I am proud of men like Kunwar Khuldune, who believe in women’s rights.”
- Tasleema Nasreen
Thank you, dear ‘Muslimaat’
A letter of gratitude to Muslim feminists who defend the hijab and niqab and are social media jihadis
Dear Muslimaat (Islamist Muslim women),
I don’t have words to express my gratitude and appreciation for your noble battle against evil. Your #MuslimahPride movement against #Femen was a slap on the collective face of Western imperialists who believe that Muslim women can’t fight for a cause. It was also a resounding reminder for the rest of the world that you have what it takes to spark a revolution. What the ignorant world does not realise is that once you have the permission of your husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, the approval of your neighbours, in-laws, their relatives and the consent of your spiritual guardians, their God and their scriptures, you can be quite the rebels.
It takes a lot of courage to ridicule something that is already taboo where you live. It takes volumes of bravery and valour to bow down to the status quo, and toe the lines that have been forced upon you. It takes unbelievable amounts of gallantry to act out a script that someone else has written for you. And it must take guts and the proverbial cojones to take a stand against cruelty and the personification of tyranny that a horde of topless women is.
Who on earth are those damn Europeans to try to steal your voice? Do they not realise that your lives were defined a million-and-a-half ago by the Arabs, who protected your rights and guarded your modesty by ensuring that you don’t have much of a say in most things? Who are those unabashed infidels to protest on your behalf? Do they not realise that you are not allowed to express, let alone clamour in favour of, anything that contradicts the ostensibly divine scriptures? Who are those shameless activists to try and liberate you? Do they not realise that you can’t be liberated without the permission of your mehrams?
I can’t thank you enough for choosing to be more offended by naked bodies than dead bodies. And since there are so many different kinds of you to thank, I’ll try to address you one by one.
Dear ‘guardians of modesty’ Muslimaat, thank you for letting patriarchal societies define ‘modesty’ for you. Thank you for accepting contrasting definitions of modesty for men and women, and for not being a source of strength for your sisters and daughters, vindicating the men’s claim of you being the weaker sex. Thank you for teaching your daughters about the sin that having sex is, throughout their lives, and then compelling them to do it immediately with a man they first met a couple of hours ago, after signing a few papers and getting the clergy’s approval. Also, thank you for blaming your fellow women when they are raped, since men have the divine license to refuse to keep their emotions in the right place. And thank you very very much for being more misogynistic than any male chauvinist can ever possibly be.
Dear ‘feminist’ Muslimaat, thank you for being a ray of hope for bacon-eating vegetarians, god-fearing atheists and peace-loving terrorists. Thank you for reiterating the fact that your mehrams choose to overlook the divine orders and allow you to think freely and take your own decisions. Thank you for citing your personal example to highlight how you wear the hijab by your own choice, ignoring the fact that an overwhelming majority of Muslim women are coerced into doing so. Thank you very much for making the whole debate about you, when it was always about the torment and suffering that most of the Muslim women are going through.
Dear ‘liberal’ Muslimaat, thank you for defying the orders of your deity by choosing to not cover your heads. Thank you for disregarding other restrictions that your religion commands, and then having the audacity to condemn someone who is critical of these very commands. Thank you for cherry picking the commandments and making your ideology sound compatible with the 21st century, only to castigate those that take the same ideological orders literally and implement them. Thanks a lot for elucidating that you don’t need liberation and for paying no heed to the fact that the most of the women in your country do. And thank you very much for clinging on to those very shackles that have enchained the prospect of women empowerment in your country.
Dear ‘revolutionary’ Muslimaat, thank you for ignoring the life threats that Amina Tyler and many others like her are facing, after choosing to protest against the harassment that they have to bear on a daily basis.
Thank you for overlooking other lesser issues like terrorists attacking a 15-year-old schoolgirl; female genital mutilation; women being raped with judicial approval just so they don’t die virgins; two-year-old girls being forced to wear veils because the disgusting men in your country have no self-control; and fathers legally getting away with raping their daughters by paying a few riyals.
Thank you very much for screaming bloody murder over half-naked women’s claim of representing you, but accepting rapists, pedophiles and sorry excuses for human beings as your state leaders and role models.
#MuslimahPride is not just a hashtag, it’s a symbol of integrity and pride. It’s about taking pride in inequality, in half testimonies, in blaming rape victims and in gender discrimination. It’s about taking pride in chauvinism, where men have divine permission to beat and rape their wives, marry multiple times and possess slave girls.
It’s about taking pride in patriarchal societies where husbands are categorically told in detail how they should punish their “disobedient” wives, while not a single text exclusively tells women what they should do with unfaithful husbands. It’s about taking pride in not being allowed to vote, let alone lead your nations, and about finally being allowed to ride a goddamn bicycle – under a mehram’s supervision – in the year 2013 AD.
The #MuslimahPride jihad will be written down in history as the moment where Muslimaat made it clear to the world that no one should protest on their behalf, half-naked or otherwise. Thank you, dear Muslimaat, for saving the rest of the world’s time by clarifying that you’re fine living in the 7th century AD, and no one should push you towards the enlightened times, regardless of whether they have clothes on or not. Thank you for being a source of inspiration and an illuminating example for everyone. We all know that you have what it takes to transform the plight of the women and change the dynamics of the world, as long as you are back home before sunset.
More power to you.
PS: I hope being addressed as ‘dear’ does not land you in trouble with your oversensitive male guardians.
Yours thankfully,
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid
The writer is a financial journalist and a cultural critic. Twitter: @khuldune
I am sick and tired of hearing our ulemas that Islam gave women so many rights. Please name a few? If the Arabs used to bury their infant daughters then how come everyone had 10 or so wives? And add to that mutta and halala and harams…………..
the arabs buried their daughters before Islam came..not after..women had the right to vote, do business, hold property in their name, marry the man of their choice, ‘khula’ (right to ask for divorce) to name a few..a slave girl once freed, walked out of her marriage despite the Prophet REQUESTING her to re consider..he requested because her husband did not want to end the marriage, she replied she is a free woman now and will use her right..no one forced her back, hanged her, stoned her to death..just because you and most of the muslim women are not aware of these rights does not mean they do not exist..
maybe she wasnt sexy like maria so he didnt want her as he miraculously wanted his adopted son wife
You can just mock and write satire on a subject that is important to people that you have wrongly judged on your values.
You will not compare a fashion show and dead bodies, but you will say people wearing hijab don’t care about people dying based on what one or two people said.
The author has no idea of the basics of the believes of a Muslim and I would advise him to do some research and reading before writing something again.
Precisely, you hit the nail on the head.
A man wearing a 3 piece full suit is considered as well dressed but a woman needs to flaunt her curves and show skin to be considered liberal and modern and empowered ? These guys have an agenda and they won’t think about or consider anything that opposes or devalues that agenda. hardly “excellent” by any standards other than the hypocritical kind
Ibn, we are talking about women being forced to cover their faces behind masks. It has nothing to do with flaunting curves. If you live in Saudi Arabia, have at it. If you live in Canada, SHOW YOUR FACE. Pretty simple, really.
Khubaib , the author is a woman, not a man. A man has simply shared it on his website.
Khubaib, I owe you an apology. The author was a man, the letter was distributed by a woman, and then distributed by a man. I got confused and I do sincerely apologize.
Lol did this girl even read the letter all the way before making her own bull crap comment?? Doesn’t seem like it! Thanks for a hood laugh though 😉
What a load of baloney!! Excellent by what definition ???? More garbage on the internet. Meh.
Hey Abdulla, you do know ‘baloney’ is haraam, eh?
Oh Tarek, say it ain’t so. Bacon AND baloney??! Oh, the humanity!
And yes, Khubaib, we ARE mocking you. Show your face like a civilized human being and we will mock you no more. Or at least less. Yes, we will mock you less. 😉
lol, Tarek Saab!
Its quite simple ban the burka make no exceptions allow our church and state to rule. Dont like it. GET OUT! STAY OUT AND NEVER COME BACK. Oh Im must be a racist and intolerant. Please shuv it. You have exceeded all limits on tolerance and patience.
I truly appreciate this letter. It was very much needed. I wish more men like Kunwar would speak up. God bless <3
Many if not all the people of faith, be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Sanatan (Hindu) religion and too many others to mention, get brainwashed in childhood about the purity, truthfulness and correctness of the scriptures and can not get rid of the same even after growing up. Recently I came across some beautiful writings by the kids in elementary school in which most wanted God to get rid of some one they did not like or give them what did not have and also asking where He/She/It lives so that they could complain to him about the things that are wrong.
Most religions except for Islam have reformed to some how live with science and also to live and let live for peace and not kill each other. Unfortunately even the men who dared to reform or create a following slightly different from the Islamic scriptures to eradicate slavery, polygamy and strict sanctity of the same met an unfortunate death or discrimination, still prevalent in most countries.
Unless some Muslims in hordes start asking for reformation, change and allow critical thinking to be accepted this cancer of killing in the name of religion and also trying to justify the sanctity of religions will keep on going. Change in any society is difficult to accept by most of the old people of faith, no matter which one, and those whose livelihood depends on religion as well as fooling the poor and illiterate will keep on harping and clamoring on the sanctity of scriptures and the word of God.
Irrespective of the religion, living in peace is possibly more difficult or even impossible for people, who can not accept that there could be some thing wrong in the scriptures and is not suited for the present.
In my opinion only educated or enlightened women in Islam and all other religions will possibly make us or even force us to live in peace one day. Men have formed armies and devised the religions to usurp wealth ( land and resources) and women in history. Unless women in the respective religions and societies demand the change it is not likely to occur. Democracy has brought that change in the west where equality of all humans, freedom of speech and right to life, liberty and happiness is guaranteed. These are the same very rights, which make life so easy for even the ignorant people, who do not believe in them and insist on the purity of their religions.
May sense and peace prevail and the brainwashed realize that living in democracy with democratic principles is the only solution to cure this cancer of religious superiority over reason and science.
I’m a former muslim and against the wearing of niqaab and hijab. However, I stopped reading this halfway through. The author is assuming that all women who wear hijab and niqab are somehow pressured into it. While it does happen, I can guarantee that a very large percentage of the women tweeting on those hashtags were not subject to pressure by anyone. Thats the problem when men speak on women’s issues for women. (please sit back down, we don’t need you.)
I was raised in a very moderate muslim household but when I was 9 I chose to wear the hijab (I took it off at 20). At the time I was actually discouraged by my parents but I wore it anyway. I think I wanted to be like the older arab girls I looked up to as a little girl. MANY muslim females choose to wear it on their own in this way, especially in the west, and I think that is more of an issue. The fact that women are not only accepting, but supporting their own bondage. Its dangerous when the oppressed confuse their oppression with freedom.
This article was mostly useless.
Tarek sounds like an atheist who can bring up anything from anywhere doesn’t matter to mock Islam and Muslims. Even the writer of this letter is not a Muslim.
Excellent.
A thought or an ideology can only be fought with a thought or an ideology.
Ishwar Allah Tero Naam, Sabko Sanmati De Bhagwan.
Janak Parikh, India