Men don’t have a special hotline through which they exclusively get to speak to God and for God. Women too often live in fear that men will wield religious rhetoric to force certain behavior on them —you must do x lest God is displeased with you. But when did we as women begin to believe that men speak for God? That they have a secret authority as representatives of God on earth that somehow allows them access we are shunned from?
In our faith men alone lead salah and men only were chosen as prophets and men are preferred as political leaders. It is even true that men are seen as the leaders within their own households. All of this is true, yet none of it equals men being categorically closer to God than women. Men as a category are no more able to access Quran, Hadith, scholarship than women are. So why do we live in fear? If we too can know God why are we afraid of religion being used against us? Why don’t we claim it as our shield and protection as much as (some) men hide behind it?
Of course, religion is not a tool for argument and frivolous debate and it is also not a tool for oppression. The more confident women feel in their faith the less they will fear being oppressed by a skewed version of it.
Photo by Agnieszka Kowalczyk on Unsplash
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