Right to be wrong
\r\nA particular risk for Muslim women in our own time is our frequent reluctance to treat other women as individuals, rather than as exemplars of our collective feminine identity. Too often we seem to feel that obtaining a dignified identity for women in general is so vital that we need to sacrifice the rights of some women for the sake of the group. It is common in marginalized groups that there is pressure for individuals to conform for the sake of the good of the collectivity. Many are afraid that if some of their peers make statements that are too challenging, perhaps there will be a backlash. However, we need to remember that there is no general woman; there are only individual woman, each with their own idiosyncrasies, values and beliefs. Women should be able to live in all their diversity, with all of their flaws and talents, with all of their strengths and weaknesses, in their collective and individual identities just as men do, no more, no less.
\r\nCertainly, there is much value in respecting common norms of behavior and not acting counter-cultural simply to provoke a reaction. However, sometimes it is only outrageous behavior that will elicit a necessary reaction in the face of mindless complicity. Who is to judge when it is appropriate to sacrifice individuality for the sake of the common good, and when it is necessary to fight for one's rights, despite protests that one is creating discord (fitna)? In the end, this is a judgment call that we all might have to make, and we should not assume that any of our judgments are infallible. When it comes to women's rights, we should not be so terrified of a backlash that we disown our sisters who take a more radical path. We might think that their behavior is outrageous, ridiculous, or over-the-line, and we can make that judgment. Still, we should support their right to be wrong.
\r\nMuslims in the West are under this enormous pressure to project themselves as a so-called "moderate community". This leaves many of us, for example, uncomfortable with the veiling practices of any woman who covers to any degree more fully or traditionally than ourselves. If we do not wear a headscarf, we think that women who wear the headscarf are an intrinsic threat to our dignity and autonomy. Women who wear a simple headscarf with otherwise Western clothes feel embarrassed to be seen with women wearing jilbab with a matching tarhah (scarf covering the whole upper-body). Most of us are annoyed by women who cover their faces. We cannot let our fear that we all will be looked at as "extremists" or as "unassimilated" to deny a woman's right to dress as she chooses.
\r\nCompiled From:
\r\n "Heaven's Gate: How Muslim Women Open or Close Doors for Their Sisters" - Ingrid Mattson