Humankind's freedom means self-determination to direct one's course in life according to his or her vision. This vision is the product of the long experience acquired, together with the experience of others from different cultures. Everyone has a unique vision of life, like a fingerprint. The free practice of this vision generates personal happiness.
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]From this definition, one may ask, "Is the contemporary woman free and therefore happy?"[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]Whenever the predicament of women's freedom is discussed, fingers immediately point to the radical Islamic culture. Such an accusation is partly true.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]Twin Horns of Oppression[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]It is not difficult for observers to discover the two main roots of discrimination against women. The first root is attributed to a radical Islamic school. This is a particular religious school that has dominated the Islamic World for decades through the power of oil, until it was accepted by the public as "the" religious school instead of "a" religious school.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]This school compares women to precious jewels (a famous metaphor in their literature), which should be kept in closed velvet boxes to be seen only by the owners.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]Then there is the second main root: gender feminists. This root dominates the world with the power of the new global system, spreading a notion of democracy and enlightenment with armies and financial aid.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]In the literature of gender feminists, women are subject to experiments exactly like guinea pigs; they are labeled "gender" without considering their physical and psychological uniqueness.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]Radical Islamic School[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]Both the Islamic and feminist radicals alike compete to practice guardianship over women by imposing their dogmas upon them. Meanwhile, women grow more poor, more illiterate, more increasingly marginalized, and more unhappy.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]Thousands of female nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from both radicals spend millions of dollars on hypocritical slogans, while the status of women remains the same. Those NGOs tend to politicize women's issues to settle their ideological disputes. This attitude, which makes use of women's suffering, is the most oppressive and discriminatory among all other immoral practices.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]The radical Islamic vision is really dangerous because it is the most popular among Muslims (especially in the Gulf region). It comforts those who were "tamed" by their regimes as it enables them to refrain from the social or political realms of reform, which they claim to be affairs not related to religion.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]This vision subjugated women as part of the process of subjugating the whole society. It isolates women from the world at large using a highly Freudian approach to reading some holy Islamic texts.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]This school of Islam makes use of the fact that the majority of the Muslim population is ignorant of classical Arabic in which the original texts were written. Therefore, the scholars of this school of Islam act as mediators by interpreting the holy texts according to their vision. They zoom in on what may substantiate their views and zoom out of what does not.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]This mentality believes that there is no place in Paradise for female martyrs, revolutionists, scientists, creative artists, and social workers. They believe there is only room for women who, all their lives, have never crossed the threshold of their parents' home except twice: once to their husbands' homes upon marriage and the other to the grave![/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]This Islamic school is strongly supported by some regimes as it presents an anesthetizing alternative to the reformist Islamist school, which every now and then tends to open files of political, social, and economic corruption, thus stirring up the "masses."[/FONT]