It's Not About the Burqa: Muslim Women on Faith, Feminism, Sexuality and Race

by Mariam Khan

A frequent sentiment we hear in regard to mental health issues from many in the Muslim community is that someone is experiencing depression, or suicidal thoughts, because their faith is low.

There is a hadith about someone who asked the Prophet (pbuh) whether he should leave his camel untied and trust in Allah that it would not be stolen or run away, or if he should tie his camel (Sunan at-Tirmidhi). The Prophet (pbuh) replied that he should tie his camel and trust in Allah. So, Islam encourages us to take both practical and spiritual approaches to problems.

To find the motivation to pray – or to do anything – can be difficult when you are suffering from mental illness. But when other Muslims see that you are not praying, regardless of the reason, they can be extremely judgemental.

that it is not about choosing either a medical solution or a purely spiritual one, but about integrating the two.

And that also helped me to see how prayer would help me. Knowing that my mental illness didn’t mean I was un-Muslim, knowing that praying didn’t have to be the only solution, meant I could see what it could offer me.

Islam is a religion that empowers women. And yet, for many young Muslim girls, their understanding of Islam comes entirely from a series of cultural interpretations of their faith dictated by the patriarchy.

the first time many Muslim girls in the West will encounter female empowerment is likely to be from a White Feminist perspective.

White Feminism (which is still the mainstream) centres the agenda and needs of white, straight, middle-class, cis, able-bodied women while making claims that it speaks on behalf of all women.

Their space was non-negotiable and sacrosanct; ours was free for the taking. But that’s not to say the women in our community were willing to be silenced. We created unconventional spaces for ourselves.

I am a feminist, but I’m not sure feminism is for me. Would those with whom I fight in solidarity fight in solidarity alongside me when I need them to? I know the answer is no.

Every White Feminist I have come across will argue until they are blue in the face that women should have the right to decide how to dress themselves. And then those same people are unwilling to stand up for a Muslim woman who wears a hijab or burqa because they ‘don’t believe in it’ or ‘feel like Muslim women are oppressed’. They can’t entirely explain or point to the oppressor. Neither can they acknowledge that they themselves are playing the role of oppressor by impressing their ideology of empowerment on others