Maryam Amir – When Muslim women struggle religious texts

			Sometimes when women have a
question about a particular
		

			quranic verse or a hadith that
they're not sure how could be
		

			empowering or uplifting, they're
told it's because you don't have
		

			strong enough faith, or you're
impacted by feminism, and that's
		

			why you don't understand the
meaning of these verses. In
		

			reality, many women walk into many
different Muslim spaces and feel
		

			like the architecture,
infrastructure and policies of the
		

			masjid not only don't welcome her,
but actively push her out, bind
		

			that with the reality of many
women in our communities are
		

			victims and survivors of child
sexual trauma and of sexual
		

			assault and domestic violence, and
when they have the courage to seek
		

			help and blame shame, often their
abusers are the ones who are
		

			protected, and instead of looking
at a Muslim woman like a
		

			cumulative believer to support the
messages that she keeps hearing is
		

			modesty and hijab are the only
parts of you that we care about.
		

			Isn't that because she has a lack
of faith, the fact that she's
		

			still Muslim speaks to the
strength of her faith, because she
		

			keeps hearing that she doesn't
have worth it's because she keeps
		

			seeing that her safety, her
emotional protection, her physical
		

			protection, are not priorities.
That is the lens that she goes to
		

			those verses with. So before
blaming woman and saying they're
		

			just impacted by progressive
feminism, recognize a lack of
		

			community systems of
accountability impact her. Iman
		

			for you Queens know that the Quran
is power for women. Get to know
		

			who Allah is, and take classes
with women who are scholars, who
		

			understand your reality and who
will support your journey. A.