Female Muslim bloggers are responsible for some fascinating commentary on what it means to be Islamic in today's society, writes Haydn Shaughnessy.
In the course of the past seven years, an opinion on Muslim culture and its relationship to "our own" has become as inescapable as a view on property prices, George Bush or political corruption. It has become one of the contours of our times, encountered during the course of the average week, or even the average day, in the same way that hospital waiting lists or climate change are, once the shopping is done or the evening meal cooked. To talk about it is not exactly de rigueur, but it is curiously inescapable.
I confess now to being quite ignorant of Muslim culture, its diversity or uniformity, and the validity, accuracy or importance of many of the Muslim beliefs and rules I read about. But I'm also the kind of person given to voicing an opinion about those beliefs and rules. That probably makes me normal.
For a phenomenon so integral to our daily lives, though, the ignorance should be astonishing. It becomes obviously so when reading the blogs of the many Muslim women who sometimes anonymously write and enjoy freedom of expression on issues of modesty, dress, comportment, love, of course, the nature of democracy and even the issue of what is expected in a man.
"Most Arab men I know think a woman's modesty is reflected by the fact that she wears an abaya and shayla," writes PM, an assistant professor of film studies in Qatar, on the blog www.peacefulmuslimah.blogspot.com. "It's like a check list and anything short is found to be wanting. Long outer garment (aka abaya, jilbab, etc): check. Head scarf (aka shayla, hijab, etc): check. Yep. She's a modest Muslimah [ female muslim]."
"My issue isn't with the hijab or jilbab or any other item of clothing that is Islamic practice," writes Sumera, a twentysomething blogger from the UK, on her blog (http://innerreflectionstranscribed.wordpress.com/tag/learning/), "but it's surrounding the issue of adornment and what/when is something classified as being adorning?"
Adornment apparently enhances beauty and is therefore deemed unacceptable by many of the women who visit these blogs. PM goes on to describe two muslimahs not wearing veils who nonetheless dress in a restrained way. She argues that they are equally as modest as those who can tick all the boxes.
Sumera also makes this point: "Modesty is applicable to both men and women, and each sex has set rules governing clothing. The rules or guidance concerning behaviour, attitude and actions, however, are the same for both genders." These thoughts come in the context of several discussions about virginity, women's rights, and a fascination with fading traditions.
"In India, the deflowering of a virgin is symbolically referred to as the removal of the 'Mookuthi' known as 'nath' in the northern part of India, or nose ornament," writes Sumera. "Normally, widows remove this nose-jewel, but nowadays even this practice is stopped mostly."
If that is apparently archaic to us, then its context is not. Dress, modesty, dignity and the balancing of repressive and respectful traditions to these women reflect the real nature of democracy. While our own democracy is currently about which party will win an election, these women are searching for fairness rather than equality, dignity rather than the vote. PM even seems to define democracy in oppressive terms.
She writes that the "circumstances of women in Iraq and Iran have declined considerably with the advent of 'democracy' in those countries. And don't get me started on the suffering of women in Pakistan and Afghanistan - not to mention the Magic Kingdom [ Kingdom of Saudi Arabia], although certainly no democracy. We Muslimahs are very quick to point out how Islam guarantees us our rights, but what are we doing to make sure that [ male] Muslims fulfil those rights?" To PM, the regime in Iran is democratic, which is to say Iran hosts elections. By extension, democracy is held up to question.
Notable too in these blogs is that fairness is ultimately about how men and women define their relationships and express or display their sexual attraction, a feature of society that we might be only dimly aware of today.
The underlying principles expressed in Muslim women's blogs are addressed by my own neighbours regularly. The monthly, alcohol-free teenagers' disco in nearby Clonakilty is uniformly preceded by parents discussing immodesty in the dress sense of some teenage girls, suggesting there are many of us who feel we too have become a little extreme.
Some Muslim women bloggers are prone to juxtapose western and Muslim news events to highlight what they see as western hypocrisy. "As I write this, Oprah is on Channel 4 (one of the MBC channels we get on Nilesat), showing Americans how to get out of debt," writes Riverbendblog. "Her guest speaker is telling a studio full of American women who seem to have over-shopped that they could probably do with fewer designer products."
"As they talk about increasing incomes and fortunes, Sabrine Al-Janabi, a young Iraqi woman, is on al-Jazeera telling how Iraqi security forces abducted her from her home and raped her." Al-Janabi was later arrested to prevent her revealing more about the rape.
CONTRARY TO RIVERBENDBLOG'S intention, it says little about western society but it does perhaps reflect a more universal truth that Muslim women bloggers are telling us, which is that real democracy is about balanced human relationships, a concern we clearly all have in common.
The non-Muslim blogging community, when it addresses the issue of Muslim culture, is seemingly preoccupied with the lack of integration of Muslims into western society. "The refusal of most Muslim immigrants to adopt liberal European values - for example, the regular claims of 'Islamophobia' made by Muslim community leaders against critics of Islam - combined with the huge numbers of young Muslims entering the EU is the most important challenge to do with immigration facing Ireland," writes Sam at pulloutthepin.wordpress.com.
On the other hand, Ireland is now a place of reconciliation. South Africa may have ended apartheid more than a decade ago but only the island of Ireland has devised a formula for inter-state governance and the reconciliation of old enmities in a working executive.
Fifty-five years ago my Catholic father was refused holy communion because he married my Methodist mother and there are thousands of Irish families who can tell a similar story.
The division between Muslim and Christian cultures may seem more vexed than internal factions within the Christian religion but hidden away on the web, at least, a dialogue is there in the making.
It has taken more than 50 years to get over Ireland's deeply held divisions, but they are clearly open to resolution. The Muslim blogosphere perhaps offers a clue as to where to start.
"One day I was challenged by an Egyptian lady I know. I was disrespectful about an issue and she disagreed with me. She made so much sense, I started to question me? How can we both be right?" asks organicmuslimah.blogspot.com. "That was the key. Two people can be right, it all depends on where they are coming from and what suits them."
Muslim women in the blogosphere
http://www.muhajabah.com/islamicblog/veiled4allah.php: "Time magazine has an interesting look at young women becoming nuns. My mom, who is Catholic, has said more than once that she sometimes thinks of me as having become a nun, just in a different religion."
http://organicmuslimah.blogspot.com: "I don't think any woman wants to share her man willingly. Just like no man wants to share his woman. I can't picture my husband, my friend, my everything, spending nights away from me to spend with another. How can I be happy with that? I might accept it because I have to, but how dare he? Will he be happy if I decided to choose someone else over him?"
http://lightnessofbeing.wordpress.com: "Once upon a time, I used to carry rhythm in my heart. I guess they call it being youthful, and perhaps everyone ages with age, although my friend Fatima disagrees.
"She tells me that age is one of the two things that frees up a woman; divorce is the other."
http://uniquemuslimah.wordpress.com: "You know it's strange how something as simple as having a blog can have a profound effect on your life. Like the precious day you had, with you running home, eager to share your joy with your beloved readers. Or the special memory that you share. And the nightmare of a day, where the only comfort you feel is from your precious readers."
