Political Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Political Islam - Essay Example As a consequence, the only recourse left to a woman was to be a wife or a whore1. Whether this is an overstatement largely remains to the interpretation of an individual differently. Nevertheless, there is one thing for sure that many arguments propounded by men will be filled by biases and stereotyping. Paradoxically, the society we live in has come to agree with some of these fallacies conceived about women. Ironically, most people normally find solution in religion but Islam as a dominant religion offers so little protection for the woman. Qasim wonders why the same men would go such a long way to demean women. He observes that although men tend to discriminate against women based on their ignorance2, their mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters are not included in the same category. Qasim goes on to ponder whether a man’s happiness can be complete without women. Qasim also notes that out of their ego, men deprive themselves of the greatest delight in the world3 Scholars se em to have noticed that the most affected person is a woman who confesses Islam as faith. It should be noted that Islam has only been used here as an example but not as to attack its dogma. Mahfouz notes in the book Palace Walk, the plight of women especially under brutal and irresponsible husband. According to Mahfouz, husbands have failed to play their roles as husbands and consequently left women at the temptation of developing bad habit to supplement the missing part of their married life. Mahfouz notes on the very first page how women would do anything just to keep their men happy. The first victim of abuse Mahfouz presents is Amina. Amina has no alarm clock to wake her up at midnight to wait for her husbands return. She has a duty to welcome back her husband who allegedly goes for evening entertainment every evening4. It is past midnight and as a good wife, Amina struggles to keep awake so that after she has served her husband food she can go to bed. On personal qualities, Mah fouz presents Amina as a beautiful and obedient woman. She was married at the age of fourteen, implying that her education came abruptly to an end. Nonetheless, one cannot fail to notice that Amina was a bright woman. Her effort to try and correct her husband had not been taken kindly. The first time Amina had objected to her husbands night outs, his response had been to seize him by the ears and yell at her that he was the master. He had said, â€Å"I am a man. I am the one who commands and forbids. I will not accept any criticism of my behavior. All I will ask of you is to obey me. Don’t force me to discipline you.†5 Since then, Amina had opted to leave that issue unaddressed. However, for how long was she going to assume that all is well when her husband induced that through fear and a show of power? In fact, Amina became convinced that true manliness, tyranny, and staying out until midnight were common characteristics of single entity. Like most women whose rights were annexed by their men, Amina was already between the devil and the deep sea. Mahfouz has portrayed Jalila the vocalist as irresistible. She easily goes with different men at different times, a perfect picture of beauty who was herself a victim of tyranny of manliness. It is ironical that even Sultana attends the performances, which were in many cases characterized by immorality. For Jalila, it was business as usual as long as the fire was burning. It is