Do Muslim women really need saving?
“We do not stand outside the world, looking out over this sea of poor benighted people, living under the shadow – or veil- of oppressive cultures; we are part of the world. Islamic movements themselves have arisen in a world shaped by the intense engagements o the Western powers in the Middle Eastern lives” (p.789). Lila Abu-Lughod examines the religious practices of Muslim women in Afghanistan, and the western beliefs that’s Muslim women are controlled by the Taliban (Muslim men). Lila Abu-Lughod talks about the US involvement in Afghanistan targeting the aftermath of 9/11, she talks about Laura Bush’s speech on Muslim women and how the US saved women from the unjust practices of the Taliban. Bush claims that the US interference in Afghanistan helped women and allowed them to “properly’ part take in the community, “white men saving brown women from brown men” (p.384).
Lila Abu-Lughod also highlights that the Taliban did not invent the burqa, “It was the local form of covering that The Pashtun women in one region wore when they went out. The Pashtun are one of the several ethnic groups in Afghanistan and the burqa was one of the many forms of covering in the subcontinent and Southwest Asia” (785). Why doesn’t Americans worry about other religions that use cover ups for women, such as Jewish women and men, I live in area in Brooklyn were there are lots of Hasidic Jews and like in the article I’m sure they don’t ‘enjoy’ wearing long sleeves and pants during a heat wave but they do because it is part of their religion. Lila Abu-Lughod also argues that women were being forced to wear burqa’s, but even after Afghanistan was liberated from the control of the Taliban women continued to cover up. Its interesting and questionable why America is obsessed with Muslim practices, particularly Muslim women. It also seems that Westerners are forcing and encouraging heterosexual norms upon Muslim countries and while doing so US coins themselves as heroic. The veiling of the Muslim women is in fact a choice and a belief that Muslim women follow; they are not being forced to wear a burqa. Instead of focusing on Muslim women and practices Lila Abu-Lughod suggests how we as a nation can make the world better. How we should stop trying to understand and change cultural practices, and realize that it may cause greater harm then good in doing so.
