Islam After 9/11 (Entry #11)

First of all, I have to say that this week's readings were one of those parts of a course where my mind approached things differently but was also challenged. I knew the issue was much more complicated than what is already out there and these two readings just blew me away and it was really interesting to see the authors examining the issue through a different viewpoint...the Feminism, the Taliban, and Politics of Counter-Insurgency article by Charles Hirschkind and Saba Mahmood was especially interesting and I loved the way it was written. Both articles point out how the "West" feels they must fight for the freedom and good of civilization. Now, while I did find these readings to be interesting, it amused me how they both did the same thing that the West is accused of doing on Islam's image...the generalization and lumping of a group into one whole body; namely these two articles target the "West" as having a misconception of Islam and also having the need to rescue civilization as a result of the misconceptions. Anyhow, I still think these readings are important because they do point out many factors that need to be considered when it comes to the unfair portrayal of Islam.

Hirschkind and Mahmood outline how, instead of focusing on how war has caused women, children and men to face a higher likeliness of starvation, the U.S. is focusing on the Taliban and how it's an oppressive force, specifically for women. Hirschkind and Mahmood argue that the image of Muslim women being subjected isn't entirely true to the extent that U.S. states. For example, it's perceived that Muslim women are forced to wear the scarves at all times but in rural areas, women rarely do so. Moreover, because of the Taliban's regulation on strict surveillance, it's increased safety for women as they feel they can go out in public without the fear of being raped. However, this aspect isn't discussed as Hirschkind and Mahmood state that it's because the Feminist Majority needs to target the Taliban as the source oppression.

What I also found interesting was America's involvement in creating the extremist groups through the "pipeline" of arms. They gave weapons to the most extreme and conservative groups to help defeat the Soviets and also to enforce their power. They also provided aid in the form of money to people like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (who was, as stated in the article, known for throwing acid in the faces of women if they broke any rules) and one of the reasons that U.S. provided for doing so was "fanatics fight better." This all only heightened their prevalence and power since the U.S. was feeding them by giving aid.

As I stated in the previous blog, I think it's unfortunate that the image of an entire community is being misconstrued because of the media and few groups or people. There definitely is a misunderstanding on the image of Muslim women. As Hirschkind and Mahmood stated, many Muslim women wear the scarves because it is their personal decision and represents an article of faith for them; yet you have a lot of the media and feminist groups that declare it to be a subjugation of women. Even if many Muslim women explained that wearing the scarf is their choice, it's considered to be a "false consciousness", as Hirschkind and Mahmood argue.

Both articles outlined some amazing arguments but I think that there are many things that need to be looked at from both sides: the "West" and Islam.