I beg to differ, Shariah is totally unknown to Westerners, and they talk
about what they don't know. Media and Western imperialism, so bound to bend
other peoples and impose cultural uses that are not our own, and we don't
want to practice, like in France and the veil, which is a absolute violation
to our human rights. I'm a Muslim, I'm a woman and I use hijab (veil). As a
religious student, I know the MANY advantages Shariah has for woman,
advantages that no Western code posses, specially in Shiite Muslim branch.
My husband and I are representing Imam Ali's Foundation Spanish Speaking
Branch. Imam Ali's Foundation is managed by Grand Ayatollah Sistani. So you
have a good source of information right here.
Now, if we are talking about men misusing Shariah to keep women down,
that's another issue.
Unfortunately, in the West it's exactly the same. We also have wonderful
laws that are supposed to protect us, yet they are still words written in
the books. And men still take advantage of us. In America, women win 76
cents for each dollar an American male is paid, in Europe, women receive 30
% less than men for the same jobs (average). In Chicago, you have that in a
total of 500 top corporations, 496 has NO women in upper executive posts.
And I won't go into how many representatives male and female are in the
Congress. Laws protect us in theory... but in true reality, we are still
second hand citizen here too.
So, there are problems right here, that requires us to change it. Focusing
in things that most of the present ignores in reality, only diverts the
efforts and weaken our strength.
Western concepts can be good for westerners, but they are hardly
Universal, and the West should learn to be less arrogant and respect other
peoples cultures. Yesterday, 10.000 women wearing Hijab marched ONLY in
Paris to protest for the ban of the headscarves, the protests repeated in
several European, including England and in many muslim countries. Chirac is
no better than the Taliban. While these brutes forced a caricature of Islam
in a totally ignorant fashion. We, as Muslims, reject them. But Chirac is no
better than them when he order us to take out our veils. Both force us! We
do know what we want and we don't need any Western daddy to tell us what we
must do, in ANY sense.
Don't think that the Iraqi clerics are similar to Taliban. In first place,
the House Ilmie in Najaf is probably the oldest University of the world
founded in times of Harun Al Rashid, second, to become a cleric, you must
have an Universitary degree. They are NOT priest, most of them work on the
side to maintain their families. These people is a totally different brand
from Taliban mullahs. I only beg you, ask to the source, and don't rely on
the manipulative media. I'm fed up hearing stories that I know FIRSTHAND
that are no true about us....
Sorry for the rant, but I had to vent. I could not access the link so I
don't know for sure what the blog said, but I'M POSITIVE it has to do with
inheritance, divorce, children, etc, which are totally taken out of context
and the real meaning they have. Again, if you want to know about these
questions, ask me and I'll try to explain these for you.
Regards.
Firuze