Preview

Behind the Burqa Essay

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1372 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Behind the Burqa Essay
Raechel Ruesch 2/14/08 Behind the Burqa Essay If you lived in a country that never let you have the sun rays shine on your face or even never let you leave the house with Man that wasn’t related to you. Would you rebel or fall back like every other woman, who was sacred and just waiting for someone to set an example of courage and give them there idea to leave and be free. Many women in Islam didn’t have the power to rebel or even try to stand up for themselves; the consequences were way too severe. The story of Behind the Burqa by Batya Swift Yasgur is about to young women seeking to rebel Islamic rule and religion. Sulima and Hala had contrasted views on the religion but similar views on the schooling in Islam. First off Sulima and Hala agreed on this, people in general needed to be more educated about what’s going on in not just the detention centers, but in the US, being able to read English as well to support themselves because women, in Islam, were treated inferior to men, it made them more willing to take a risk and start learning to better educate themselves. Sulima Had started a little rebellion against the men by teaching women out of her home how to read and write. There were only a very select few women who agreed to this rebel reading group. Hala’s way for rebelling was starting a multi-gender school for younger children in Islam. They are both similar because in big ways was Sulima and Hala both improving the learning abilities of the people and children around them. However, Sulima and Hala contrasted in their views on Islam regarding the Religion in Islam. Sulima over all has a very negative and very upsetting time with her religion. It all started when her own father made a trip to Mecca only to take pictures but when he returned he was a hardcore believe and over an activist now. The first real sign of her father now being an activist was when Sulima’s Burqa had fallen off her head and her father


Cited: 1. Yasgur, Batya Swift; ed. Behind the Burqa. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2002

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    This entry is in responses to Lila Abu-Lughod’s Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?I find this essay to be incredibly important. It challenges the Western notion that women of the Muslim fate are inherently subjugated and oppressed.…

    • 125 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nine Parts of Desire

    • 1250 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There are many political, religious, and cultural factors that shape the lives of Islamic women. Islam is one of the world’s fastest growing religions; however, Brooks argues that “Islam’s holiest texts have been misused to justify the repression of women, and how male pride and power have warped the original message of this once liberating faith.” The book also shows these factors have slowly been taking away women’s rights, rather than furthering them.…

    • 1250 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Contrary to popular belief, not all Muslim women are being oppressed into fully covering their bodies. Instead, a majority of Muslim women around the world have made the decision themselves to wear a head covering or veil. The belief concerning the oppression of Muslim women has resulted from the negative connotation of head coverings associated with Islam. Many people are convinced that Islamic head coverings represent fundamentalist Islam and oppression of Muslim women. This belief is highly misinformed and untrue. Muslim women who choose to veil do so to represent their dedication to their religion. In the past there were many Middle Eastern and African countries that banned different types of headscarves for security reasons or to protect their women.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They describe three stereotypes that we have about Muslim girls. The first is that they are veiled, nameless, and silent. We are shown pictures of covered and frightened girls desperate for Western help, but is this reality for the millions of girls and women in the Middle East? The authors suggest that Westerners have created their own stereotype about Muslim girls that does not maintain truth and “suggests that we in the west need to help unveil and ‘give’ them a voice.” (Sensoy and Marshall, 122)…

    • 1751 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The rise and expansion of Islam both broadened and restricted women's rights throughout the 20th century. There is evidence of prior advancements towards women's rights found in the ancient writings of The Holy Qur'an. Women in every religion, especially Islam, had to fight for their own rights. In Islam, that fight is continuing and many documents, photos, quotes and other sources show the back-and-forth struggle to get women out from under the veils and into the lights.…

    • 839 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Beyond the Burqa

    • 274 Words
    • 1 Page

    The role of the Burqa is to conceal women’s bodies and/or face says Chris Moore whom wrote The Buirqa – Islamic or Culture?. Islamic men believe that women should wear the burqa as a sign of respect and loyalty to the family but where did they get this idea? Moore says many people would think it is Islamic religion but you can’t really say that and be completely accurate. The reason being is because of these facts Moore states he says that is you read the Quran ( the Muslim Bible) it doesn’t gives that as one of the laws that women specifically have to follow. Rather it says that both men and women should follow a dress code but does in fact say that women have to cover their chest, lengthen their garments to conceal their body as respect for themselves and for both men and women should wear the most important garment of all which is righteousness and modest conduct. Nowhere does it mention or require women to wear such garments as a burqa I feel that Quran just wants women in Muslim community to carry themselves in a respectable manner in society. With the information I got from the passage is that the only reason women have to wear the burqa is because men want to feel as if they have power and control over the women in their society I also feel that women should stand up for each other and make a change to stop this in their culture.…

    • 274 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 2011, my aunt Leila, who lives in Paris, was stopped by law enforcement because she was wearing a burqa, an outer garment worn to cover the entire body and face for religious and cultural reasons. She was fined 150 euros which is equivalent to about 205 U. S dollars, and such fines can be up to 200 euros. Leila was nearly arrested because she was resisting the force they were using against her to try to get her out of public by moving her to a more secluded location. Many others have experienced situations similar to what my aunt has, and the public debate has been going on for years before and after the law went into effect, continuing to fuel fire on both sides.…

    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Pipes, Daniel. Militant Islam Reaches America. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2002. Print.…

    • 3330 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    In 1979 the Islamic revolution took place and in 1980, when Marji was no little more than ten years old, it was mandatory to wear the veil at school. As you can see in the picture on the left, the teacher is giving the female students s veil and telling them to “wear this”. These children obviously didn’t have any clue of what was going on and why they had to wear the veil, so the rebelled against it. As you can see in the picture on the left the children didn’t understand why there were wearing the veil, so they had no respect for it. They used it as blind folds, reins and even jump ropes.…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Counseling Arab Americans

    • 3406 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Goodwin, J. (2002). Price of honor: Muslim women lift the veil of silence on the Islamic world. London: Plume Books.…

    • 3406 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Funding Hezbollah

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Harb, Mona, and Reinoud Leenders. “Know the enemy: Hizbullah, Terrorism and the Politics of Perception.” Third World Quarterly 26.1 (2005): 173-197. World History Collection. EBSCO. Web. 25 July 2001.…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 2010, the controversial Bill 94 was introduced in Quebec. The bill would prohibit women wearing the niqab from accessing any public service and would allow them to be denied access to schools, non-emergency healthcare, daycare facilities, courtrooms and more. Furthermore, government employees would be banned from wearing the niqab to work. The Quebec government is petitioning to ban the niqab because they claim it is a symbol of oppression, that women only wear if forced by a male, and that their needs to be a law to protect women from being oppressed by male relatives. However, many women who choose to wear the niqab who have spoken to the media that what they wear was in fact their choice, (Reynolds, 2010). While only approximately 100…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Muslim Women

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The life of women in the a Islamic society is faced with great and unequal odds, as their human rights are limited, due to Islamic beliefs and a patriarchy society. From their daily actions at home, to their physical appearance, women are portrayed as quiet, faceless women veiled from head to toe. While this image is just another stereotype, women in the Islamic society do face many obstacles and challenges of creating their own identity as they are frequently denied their rights. Living in a society dominated by men, life in some cases is difficult for women in the Islamic society. There is constant fight for a change as they balance their traditional roles with those of modern society.…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Niqab Research Papers

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Niqab refers to the veil that some Muslim women wear in public either out of regional customs or religious obligations. This cloth covers all of their faces with the exclusion of their eyes. Many people raise concerns about the wearing of niqab because of with the veil, it is impossible to identify those veiled people…

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    North American Women

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The female plays a vital role in every culture, but the expectation of a woman is different from North America to the Middle East. American women had to fight for their current rights, but in some countries women are not given the opportunity to fight, or even think it. Both religion and men from the Middle East play a major role in the Islamic woman’s beliefs, education, and even health. Imagine the American women of the past, who were not able to have an education, expected to bare children, expected to wear a dress and had no say in the political world.…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays