The politicians of my nation? The well-meaning feminists and leftists who want to "save" me? My family and friends who are "concerned" about so-called Islamists? My husband, my son, my brother, my father; whatever male family member is available?
I cannot be asked to speak for anyone else's experience or needs. If you want to know how a migrant worker feels, please, ask a few migrant workers. If you want to know why black men feel systematically disenfranchised, please, go meet with some of the boys on the corner and ask them. If you want to know how a Saudi woman feels about not being able to drive, or how an Afghan woman feels about the burqa, go to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan and engage in dialogue with the women living it.
If you want to know what an American Muslim woman thinks, ask me. Don't ask my husband, my non-Muslim mother, my employer, or some Christian theologian. Ask me. I am only one, and my words do not represent every other American Muslim woman, but they do represent me. And I can speak for myself, thank you very much.
4 comments:
I definitely agree. I hate people speaking up for the muhajabas and the female Muslims in general.
And I went to a high school with two brothers to speak.. One brother was slightly upset I was coming because they could fulfill my part.. And the other said, "No. For too long us men have been speaking for the women."
Allah listens to words spoken truly and from the heart, with love and adab. They are the prayers of everyday speech.
Bravo for your true words!
Ya Haqq!
Asalam aleykum,
I think we need to focus our attention to the United Nations..
Can muslims please campaign for the UN headquarters to be relocated to a "neutral" country????
Do you know what? These days what bothers me is not who speaks for me but how I speak for myself. Days like this I wish I could run away from my self.
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