Muslim Women and Modern Challenges

The position of women in Islam is often misrepresented and misunderstood. Through malicious propaganda and hostile media coverage, the West portrays Muslim women as veiled personalities who are backward, uneducated, voiceless and subjugated to the dictates of men. By extension, they imply that Islam is oppressive and incompatible in the modern world. The West are quick to find fault with Islamic laws, but consistently fail to point out the broader wisdom behind these laws. They also downplay the numerous problems thrown up by their own culture.

Despite the failure of the Western system, the media has unfortunately succeeded in indoctrinating millions of women around the world into believing that Western women are rightly guided and that their free lifestyle is yardstick of success.

Unfortunately many Muslim women have also been influenced and the result of these influences and ideologies is that many Muslim women today are depressed, insecure, uncertain of their identity and are low in self-esteem.

This subject is a complex one and has to be understood in the correct context. For this reason, basic core issues are first discussed and are then used as a foundation for exploring some modern challenges which Muslim women face.

While this book is directed at Muslim women and grapples with some of the challenges facing them, it should not be seen to imply that men do not face similar challenges nor does it exonerate men of their wrongdoings.