When you look at me
all you can see
Is the scarf that covers my hair
My word you can't hear
Because you're too full of fear,
Mouth gaping, all you do is stare.
You think it's not my own choice,
In your own "liberation" you rejoice.
You're so thankful that you're not me.
think I'm uneducated,
Trapped, oppressed and subjugated.
You're so thankful that you are free.
But Western women you've got it wrong-
You're the weak and i'm the strong,
For I've rejected the trap of man.
Fancy clothes- low neck, short skirt,
These are devices for pain and hurt,
Always jumping to the male agenda,
Competing on his terms.
No job share, no baby-sitting facilities,
No feeding and diaper-changing amenities.
No equal pay for equal skill-
Your job they can always fill.
Is this liberation?
a person with ideas and thought,
I'm not for sale, I can't be bought.
I won't decorate anyone's arm,
Nor be promoted for my charm.
There's more to me than playing coy.
Living life as a balancing game-
Mother, daughter, wife, nurse, cleaner, cook, lover-
And still bring home a wage.
Who thought up this modern
"freedom"
Where man can love'em and man can leave 'em.
This is not free but life in a cage.
Western women you can have your life.
Mine- it has less strife.
I cover and i get respected
Surely that's to be expected-
For I won't demean the feminine
I won't live to a male criterion.
I dance to my own tune,
And i hope you see this very soon,
For your own sake- wake up and use your sight!
Are you so sure that you are right?
Full Version: When you look at me...
mashallah very nice 
That was so sweet! thank u so much for this poem
Salam.
I wanted to add this commentary here because it's what the poem above is describing.
Ma Salamah.
Women should rethink displays of overt sexuality
Guest Commentary
July 01, 2004
I have been thinking lately about skin and the enormous amount of it on campus. In particular, what it does to our respect for ourselves and from others as well as our place in American society. These thoughts were enlightened by a lecture I attended -- "Women & Human Rights in Islam" -- presented by the Muslim Student Association.
A significant portion of the audience was Muslim women, who displayed little skin. Their lack of displayed skin made me notice both my own and other Western women's attire. We wore tighter, smaller, shorter and skimpier clothes. The line of skin that peaks out from the bottom of my shirt to the top of my pants had never been more on the front of my mind. I like to think I am not a provocative dresser, but in comparison to the Muslim women, I definitely was less dressed.
Western cultures have evolved into rather sexually open societies where exposed skin is common. Western women epitomize this openness in our clothing: painted-on jeans, impossibly tiny tank-tops and skirts that stop two inches below our behinds. We see these clothes everyday on women in our classrooms, acting on TV, walking down the street, sitting on our couch, looking back at us in the mirror.
The Muslim women at the lecture made this pervasive sexiness even more apparent with their opinions. The topic of oppression and head scarves came up. In Western media, head scarves often symbolize Islamic oppression of women. However, the Muslim women felt otherwise. One felt liberated by her modest apparel because she has the freedom to choose the man who sees her body, rather than displaying it for any man on the street. She said Western style of female dress is oppressive because it forces women to display as much skin as possible, to be sexual objects. Further, Western activists will come to Muslim countries and decry the "oppressive burqa," but will not question their provocative clothing as a form of cultural oppression. It's an interesting point: Revealing our skin is a way to keep women subservient, as beings whose primary value is sex and how much we exhibit it.
This sexiness is, of course, defined by our culture and expressed through the media. Our culture tells us that women are liberated, equal participants in American society which values production, independence and hard work, while the media shows us that our value is primarily dependent on our appearance -- how toned our abs are, how white our teeth are, how well-dressed we are. The travesty is, we all buy it to a certain degree. Some women spend hours in the morning primping themselves while others reject this value, spending little time in front of the mirror. Most women fall somewhere in between the two extremes.
I think we should try something revolutionary -- putting our clothes back on. For just one day, check out of the hyper-sexualized culture that tells us to wear skirts seven inches from our knees and shirts two inches above our waistline. To women who already do not wear provocative clothing, tell others why you don't! To women who do wear provocative clothing, evaluate why you do and what tells you to. Then decide if you still want to participate in the overt sexuality of our culture.
http://www.dailyemerald.com/vnews/display....1/40e41add943d5
I wanted to add this commentary here because it's what the poem above is describing.
Ma Salamah.
Women should rethink displays of overt sexuality
Guest Commentary
July 01, 2004
I have been thinking lately about skin and the enormous amount of it on campus. In particular, what it does to our respect for ourselves and from others as well as our place in American society. These thoughts were enlightened by a lecture I attended -- "Women & Human Rights in Islam" -- presented by the Muslim Student Association.
A significant portion of the audience was Muslim women, who displayed little skin. Their lack of displayed skin made me notice both my own and other Western women's attire. We wore tighter, smaller, shorter and skimpier clothes. The line of skin that peaks out from the bottom of my shirt to the top of my pants had never been more on the front of my mind. I like to think I am not a provocative dresser, but in comparison to the Muslim women, I definitely was less dressed.
Western cultures have evolved into rather sexually open societies where exposed skin is common. Western women epitomize this openness in our clothing: painted-on jeans, impossibly tiny tank-tops and skirts that stop two inches below our behinds. We see these clothes everyday on women in our classrooms, acting on TV, walking down the street, sitting on our couch, looking back at us in the mirror.
The Muslim women at the lecture made this pervasive sexiness even more apparent with their opinions. The topic of oppression and head scarves came up. In Western media, head scarves often symbolize Islamic oppression of women. However, the Muslim women felt otherwise. One felt liberated by her modest apparel because she has the freedom to choose the man who sees her body, rather than displaying it for any man on the street. She said Western style of female dress is oppressive because it forces women to display as much skin as possible, to be sexual objects. Further, Western activists will come to Muslim countries and decry the "oppressive burqa," but will not question their provocative clothing as a form of cultural oppression. It's an interesting point: Revealing our skin is a way to keep women subservient, as beings whose primary value is sex and how much we exhibit it.
This sexiness is, of course, defined by our culture and expressed through the media. Our culture tells us that women are liberated, equal participants in American society which values production, independence and hard work, while the media shows us that our value is primarily dependent on our appearance -- how toned our abs are, how white our teeth are, how well-dressed we are. The travesty is, we all buy it to a certain degree. Some women spend hours in the morning primping themselves while others reject this value, spending little time in front of the mirror. Most women fall somewhere in between the two extremes.
I think we should try something revolutionary -- putting our clothes back on. For just one day, check out of the hyper-sexualized culture that tells us to wear skirts seven inches from our knees and shirts two inches above our waistline. To women who already do not wear provocative clothing, tell others why you don't! To women who do wear provocative clothing, evaluate why you do and what tells you to. Then decide if you still want to participate in the overt sexuality of our culture.
http://www.dailyemerald.com/vnews/display....1/40e41add943d5
a
An e-mail I received, thought I would share with the sisters out there who are contemplating hijab!
At the mirror she argues with herself on Hijab
By: Haneen
"I'm so tired"
"Tired of what?"
"Of all these people judging me."
"Who judged you?"
"Like that woman, every time I sit with her, she tells me to wear hijab."
"Oh, hijab and music! The mother of all topics!"
"Yeah! I listen to music without hijab.haha!"
"Maybe she was just giving you advice."
"I don't need her advice. I know my religion. Can't she mind her own business?"
"Maybe you misunderstood. She was just being nice."
"Keeping out of my business, that would be nice..."
"But it's her duty to encourage you do to good."
"Trust me. That was no encouragement. And what do you mean 'good' ?"
"Well, wearing hijab, that would be a good thing to do."
"Says who?"
"It's in the Qur'an, isn't it?"
"Yes. She did quote me something."
"She said Surah Nur, and other places of the Qur'! an."
"Yes, but it's not a big sin anyway. Helping people and praying is more important."
"True. But big things start with small things."
"That's a good point, but what you wear is not important. What's important is to have a good healthy heart."
"What you wear is not important?"
"That's what I said."
"Then why do you spend an hour every morning fixing up?"
"What do you mean?"
"You spend money on cosmetics, not to mention all the time you spend on fixing your hair and low-carb dieting."
"So?"
"So, your appearance IS important."
"No. I said wearing hijab is not an important thing in religion."
"If it's not an important thing in religion, why is it mentioned in the Holy Qur'an?"
"You know I can't follow all that's in Qur'an."
"You mean God tells you something to do, you disobey and then it's OK?"
"Yes. God is forgiving."
"God is forgiving to those who repent and do not repeat their ! mistakes."
"Says who?"
"Says the same book that tells you to cover."
"But I don't like hijab, it limits my freedom."
"But the lotions, lipsticks, mascara and other cosmetics set you free?! What's your definition of freedom anyway?"
"Freedom is in doing whatever you like to do."
"No. Freedom is in doing the right thing, not in doing whatever we wish to do."
"Look! I've seen so many people who don't wear hijab and are nice people, and so many who wear hijab and are bad people."
"So what? There are people who are nice to you but are alcoholic. Should we all be alcoholics? You made a stupid point."
"I don't want to be an extremist or a fanatic. I'm OK the way I am without hijab."
"Then you are a secular fanatic. An extremist in disobeying God."
"You don't get it, if I wear hijab, who would marry me?!"
"So all these people with hijab never get married?!"
"Okay! What if I get married and my husband doesn't like it? And wants me to remove it?"
"What if your husband wa! nts you to go out with him on a bank robbery?!"
"That's irrelevant, bank robbery is a crime."
"Disobeying your Creator is not a crime?"
"But then who would hire me?"
"A company that respects people for who they are."
"Not after 9-11"
"Yes. After 9-11. Don't you know about Hanan who just got into med school? And the other one, what was her name, the girl who always wore a white hijab.ummm."
"Yasmeen?"
"Yes. Yasmeen. She just finished her MBA and is now interning for GE."
"Why do you reduce religion to a piece of cloth anyway?"
"Why do you reduce womanhood to high heals and lipstick colors?"
"You didn't answer my question."
"In fact, I did. Hijab is not just a piece of cloth. It is obeying God in a difficult environment. It is courage, faith in action, and true womanhood. But your short sleeves, tight pants."
"That's called 'fashion', you live in a cave or something? First of all, hijab was founde! d by men who wanted to control women."
"Really? I did not know men could control women by hijab."
"Yes. That's what it is."
"What about the women who fight their husbands to wear hijab? And women in France who are forced to remove their hijab by men? What do you say about that?"
"Well, that's different."
"What difference? The woman who asked you to wear hijab.she was a woman, right?"
"Right, but."
"But fashions that are designed and promoted by male-dominated corporations, set you free? Men have no control on exposing women and using them as a commodity?! Give me a break!"
"Wait, let me finish, I was saying."
"Saying what? You think that men control women by hijab?"
"Yes."
"Specifically how?"
"By telling women how and what to wear, dummy!"
"Doesn't TV, magazines and movies tell you what to wear, and how to be 'attractive'?"
"Of course, it's fashion."
"Isn't that control? Pressuring you to wear what they want you to wear?"
Silence
"Not just contr! olling you, but also controlling the market."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you are told to look skinny and anorexic like that woman on the cover of the magazine, by men who design those magazines and sell those products."
"I don't get it. What does hijab have to do with products."
"It has everything to do with that. Don't you see? Hijab is a threat to consumerism, women who spend billions of dollars to look skinny and live by standards of fashion designed by men.and then here is Islam, saying trash all that nonsense and focus on your soul, not on your looks, and do not worry what men think of your looks."
"Like I don't have to buy hijab? Isn't hijab a product?"
"Yes, it is. It is a product that sets you free from male-dominated consumerism."
"Stop lecturing me! I WILL NOT WEAR HIJAB! It is awkward, outdated, and totally not suitable for this society ... Moreover, I am only 20 and too young to wear hijab!"
"Fine. Say that to yo! ur Lord, when you face Him on Judgment Day."
"Fine."
"Fine ."
Silence
"Shut up and I don't want to hear more about hijab!"
Silence.
She stared at the mirror, tired of arguing with herself all this time. Successful enough, she managed to shut the voices in her head, with her own opinions triumphant in victory on the matter, and a final modern decision accepted by the society, rejected by the Faith:
Yes to curls on the hair, no to hijab
At the mirror she argues with herself on Hijab
By: Haneen
"I'm so tired"
"Tired of what?"
"Of all these people judging me."
"Who judged you?"
"Like that woman, every time I sit with her, she tells me to wear hijab."
"Oh, hijab and music! The mother of all topics!"
"Yeah! I listen to music without hijab.haha!"
"Maybe she was just giving you advice."
"I don't need her advice. I know my religion. Can't she mind her own business?"
"Maybe you misunderstood. She was just being nice."
"Keeping out of my business, that would be nice..."
"But it's her duty to encourage you do to good."
"Trust me. That was no encouragement. And what do you mean 'good' ?"
"Well, wearing hijab, that would be a good thing to do."
"Says who?"
"It's in the Qur'an, isn't it?"
"Yes. She did quote me something."
"She said Surah Nur, and other places of the Qur'! an."
"Yes, but it's not a big sin anyway. Helping people and praying is more important."
"True. But big things start with small things."
"That's a good point, but what you wear is not important. What's important is to have a good healthy heart."
"What you wear is not important?"
"That's what I said."
"Then why do you spend an hour every morning fixing up?"
"What do you mean?"
"You spend money on cosmetics, not to mention all the time you spend on fixing your hair and low-carb dieting."
"So?"
"So, your appearance IS important."
"No. I said wearing hijab is not an important thing in religion."
"If it's not an important thing in religion, why is it mentioned in the Holy Qur'an?"
"You know I can't follow all that's in Qur'an."
"You mean God tells you something to do, you disobey and then it's OK?"
"Yes. God is forgiving."
"God is forgiving to those who repent and do not repeat their ! mistakes."
"Says who?"
"Says the same book that tells you to cover."
"But I don't like hijab, it limits my freedom."
"But the lotions, lipsticks, mascara and other cosmetics set you free?! What's your definition of freedom anyway?"
"Freedom is in doing whatever you like to do."
"No. Freedom is in doing the right thing, not in doing whatever we wish to do."
"Look! I've seen so many people who don't wear hijab and are nice people, and so many who wear hijab and are bad people."
"So what? There are people who are nice to you but are alcoholic. Should we all be alcoholics? You made a stupid point."
"I don't want to be an extremist or a fanatic. I'm OK the way I am without hijab."
"Then you are a secular fanatic. An extremist in disobeying God."
"You don't get it, if I wear hijab, who would marry me?!"
"So all these people with hijab never get married?!"
"Okay! What if I get married and my husband doesn't like it? And wants me to remove it?"
"What if your husband wa! nts you to go out with him on a bank robbery?!"
"That's irrelevant, bank robbery is a crime."
"Disobeying your Creator is not a crime?"
"But then who would hire me?"
"A company that respects people for who they are."
"Not after 9-11"
"Yes. After 9-11. Don't you know about Hanan who just got into med school? And the other one, what was her name, the girl who always wore a white hijab.ummm."
"Yasmeen?"
"Yes. Yasmeen. She just finished her MBA and is now interning for GE."
"Why do you reduce religion to a piece of cloth anyway?"
"Why do you reduce womanhood to high heals and lipstick colors?"
"You didn't answer my question."
"In fact, I did. Hijab is not just a piece of cloth. It is obeying God in a difficult environment. It is courage, faith in action, and true womanhood. But your short sleeves, tight pants."
"That's called 'fashion', you live in a cave or something? First of all, hijab was founde! d by men who wanted to control women."
"Really? I did not know men could control women by hijab."
"Yes. That's what it is."
"What about the women who fight their husbands to wear hijab? And women in France who are forced to remove their hijab by men? What do you say about that?"
"Well, that's different."
"What difference? The woman who asked you to wear hijab.she was a woman, right?"
"Right, but."
"But fashions that are designed and promoted by male-dominated corporations, set you free? Men have no control on exposing women and using them as a commodity?! Give me a break!"
"Wait, let me finish, I was saying."
"Saying what? You think that men control women by hijab?"
"Yes."
"Specifically how?"
"By telling women how and what to wear, dummy!"
"Doesn't TV, magazines and movies tell you what to wear, and how to be 'attractive'?"
"Of course, it's fashion."
"Isn't that control? Pressuring you to wear what they want you to wear?"
Silence
"Not just contr! olling you, but also controlling the market."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you are told to look skinny and anorexic like that woman on the cover of the magazine, by men who design those magazines and sell those products."
"I don't get it. What does hijab have to do with products."
"It has everything to do with that. Don't you see? Hijab is a threat to consumerism, women who spend billions of dollars to look skinny and live by standards of fashion designed by men.and then here is Islam, saying trash all that nonsense and focus on your soul, not on your looks, and do not worry what men think of your looks."
"Like I don't have to buy hijab? Isn't hijab a product?"
"Yes, it is. It is a product that sets you free from male-dominated consumerism."
"Stop lecturing me! I WILL NOT WEAR HIJAB! It is awkward, outdated, and totally not suitable for this society ... Moreover, I am only 20 and too young to wear hijab!"
"Fine. Say that to yo! ur Lord, when you face Him on Judgment Day."
"Fine."
"Fine ."
Silence
"Shut up and I don't want to hear more about hijab!"
Silence.
She stared at the mirror, tired of arguing with herself all this time. Successful enough, she managed to shut the voices in her head, with her own opinions triumphant in victory on the matter, and a final modern decision accepted by the society, rejected by the Faith:
Yes to curls on the hair, no to hijab
Nice post sister. I went to the Islamic Centre today, I saw a little girl and two women with hijab...its so nice. Much better than without
Salam Alaikum,
Hmmm... very intresting post sister... somthing that is an effect of western society.
M3a Salama.
Hmmm... very intresting post sister... somthing that is an effect of western society.
M3a Salama.
Salaam alikum
A very beautiful post and so very true.But it's even worse when women who used to wear hijab remove them, it's so sad to see them this way.They think they are freeing themselves but infact they are so wrong.
May Allah guide us all .
A very beautiful post and so very true.But it's even worse when women who used to wear hijab remove them, it's so sad to see them this way.They think they are freeing themselves but infact they are so wrong.
May Allah guide us all .
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