Islam's militant women
From Penny M. Russell Sir: With regard to Mark Steyn's article (`They want to kill us all', 19 October), having lived in the Islamic community in the US by virtue of my marriage to a Muslim man, I can confirm that the purists' reading of the tenets of Islam most certainly leads to the
conclusion that. if Islam is to prevail upon the earth (and they believe it must), Western culture must be destroyed.
However, I do take issue with Lee Kwan Jew's assertion (quoted by Steyn) that in Singapore Muslim men now 'dress their womenfolk more severely'. This suggests a male-centric image of Islam as completely dominated by its men who force its women into the outrage of having to cover themselves in public. In my experience, nothing could be further from the truth. The Muslim women I knew were completely in favour of this practice, and expressed their sympathy for us Western types, believing we lay ourselves open to the outrages of abuse, manhandling and rape by exposing our bodies in the way that we do.
If the West thinks that militant Islam is a male-only movement, and that Muslim women are just waiting for us to come and liberate them (as is portrayed in the coverage of the restoration of some rights to the women of Afghanistan), this is another example of our lack of understanding of how this huge portion of the world's population functions. Case in point: young Muslim women in the US who did not 'cover' before 11 September are now doing so in ever increasing numbers. Why? It is their
response to the backlash that has vilified all of Islam and its practices, and they say they are glad to be able to make this public statement about their commitment to their faith.
To underestimate the extent to which Muslim women are committed to the practice of their faith as they now understand it is to dismiss their contribution to whatever course Islam takes in the future. Muslim women do not see their role as simply the making of a home and babies.
Penny M. Russell Cambria, California
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