Women Issues

There are endless discussions about women in Islam, their rights, their duties, their problems, comparisons between Muslim women and Western women, about freedom and human rights regarding women, especially Muslim women. Much has been said and written. More women are fighting for their rights and yet more are suffering. And although many Muslims claim that a Muslim woman has all the necessary rights and freedom in Islam, so many Muslim women still suffer from abuse and lack of respect. There are a million and more sad or worrying or appalling or unbelievable or infuriating stories about Muslim women, who were burnt, stoned, raped, forced into marriage, stripped of their basic human rights, treated badly or disrespectfully, denied education, or just prevented from choosing for themselves.

And although we all know hat Islam and the traditions of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) teach us differently, the causes for Muslim women problems still lie in the many twisted so-called Islamic cultural practices. Change is slow and hindered by many obstacles. It's ironic that so many of our Western convert-sisters are the pioneers for change in the situation of Muslim women. And it's equally ironic that we Muslim convert-ladies find more tolerance and acceptance in traditional Islamic societies to change things than our Asian or African sisters. It's a long way, but, as we all know, a journey of a tousand miles starts with the first step. So, just keep on walking.

My Dream

It has always been my dream to become a writer. Well, in a sense, I am one, at least a blogger and, occasionally I also write for online newspapers. But my real dream was to publish a book. Back in April 2007 I wrote about the story I wanted to write and published a synopsis of the story on this blog.

A year later I started to look for a publisher in Germany, because I wrote the story originally in German. But I have translated it into English a little later, as I had to find out, that it is very difficult to get my book published in Germany. The first reason being it's a short novel, pretty short, but much too long for a short story. But I haven't given up hope. The time will come, when it's right.

You might ask what the story is about. If you don't want to read the full summary from April 2007 on this blog, I can tell you that its title is "I don't want to die, Brother!" and that I had the idea for this story when I was watching a British man being interviewed by a BBC reporter after the terror attacks in London back in the summer of 2005. The man had been on the bus that was blown up by the suicide bomber and this man had noticed an Asian man he thought looked suspicious. So this British man became anxious and just got off the bus. A little later the people on that bus were all dead. Now, what if it was no longer possible to get off the transportation a person is travelling on, like a full speeding train? And what if the person who noticed someone this suspicious was a Muslim him or herself? Would s/he feel responsible for what was going to happen, because s/he had noticed it in advance and because s/he was a Muslim too? Whould s/he be able to do something about it? Was there a way to prevent a suicide terrorist to carry out his mission?

Thus, I wrote the story of Fatima, a convert to Islam, who notices another Muslim man on the train to her work in Central London, whom she soon suspects, on the basis of her own religion and background knowledge, to be a suicide bomber. What will she do? Stay paralysed with fear and die, or cause panic and die just the same, or think and try to do the impossible?... When I'll have found a publisher, I'll let you know.