Narratives of Muslim Womanhood and Women's Agency by Minako Sakai Samina Yasmeen

Author:Minako Sakai, Samina Yasmeen [Minako Sakai, Samina Yasmeen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367892203
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

In fact, it appears that their position in society, which is generally accompanied by at least financial ‘comfort’, has shielded this group from the more extreme manifestations of the Islamization phenomenon. A number of them actually said that they were not at all concerned about it, as it just did not affect them. For example, they are better able to deal with the difficulties often presented by the Sharia courts than less well-off women, who are often completely financially dependent on their husbands. (This group was not even aware of the changes to family law described above.) One of them commented: ‘What’s the problem? When I got divorced I just paid him off and got rid of him — it was easy!’ The enforcement of adherence to religious norms seems to pass them by — it was explained to me by a number of my male Malay participants that the religious police, while they do target working-class Malays, particularly the women, avoid the elite group.

Nevertheless, some of the participants objected in principle to the concept of religious police enforcing Islamic norms, and societal pressure to conform:

Azizah: What upsets me is that people’s mindset is so religious — most of them. I bet it’s very rare to find any senior person who would openly do what they often do privately. Fasting is a very good example. No one dares to not adhere to this.

Zubaidah: I think that it violates privacy. What you do between you and your God is your business. To be picked up by the police for having a glass of wine is not what I think Islam is about.

Zaleha: It’s so religiously suffocating here that I’m going back to the UK, for good.

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