By Faten Al-Alawi, Buxton Intern
I am a student from Bahrain and I have just completed my second year at Yale University. This summer, I am participating in a program administered by the National Council on US Arab Relations (NCUSAR). Through this program, I am able to intern at the Buxton Initiative. At the Buxton Initiative, I have started a project called “Understanding Muslim Women in Washington” with the help of Buxton staff members Mac Skelton and Kathryn Goetz. The goal of the project is to explore the lives of Muslim women living in the Washington area and to provide a platform for them so that we can hear their stories, opinions, and beliefs.
So again, I grew up in Bahrain. I visited other places before coming to the US for college, but visiting places never gives us a full picture of the way of life there. For me, living in the US has been eye opening and shocking in many ways. On this list of “ways” you will find religion in the top five.
In Bahrain, I have often felt that my gender is sometimes a barrier to achievement due to the patriarchal nature of the society. As a result, I developed an interest in women’s rights. After living in the US for a while – and experiencing a different lifestyle, meeting unique people, educating myself, and having a different mindset induced by the ability to think, act, and converse freely – I began to question the ideologies that are the backbone of the culture I grew up in. For example, why is it acceptable for a man to have multiple wives and not acceptable for a woman to have multiple husbands? It might seem like a trivial question, but why is it that we immediately find it unnatural for a woman to have multiple husbands? Of course, this question does not apply to non-Muslim societies because polygamy is an unnatural idea to begin with. So, my transition from an ordinary Muslim to a confused Muslim occurred a few months after I arrived in the US. But perhaps it is necessary to doubt your faith before it can solidify.
In Bahrain, religion was defined by the religious authorities; there was very little room for doubt and questions. Most of my religious education occurred in school where we were taught out of a book provided by the Bahrain Ministry of Education. The main form of Islamic instruction was listening to mini-sermons about Islam. In one of these sermons, I remember learning that women are not allowed to become judges and political leaders because they are too emotional, as it was put. Because of such unfounded assertions, the study of Islam became something I did not enjoy. There were many things I learned that seemed illogical, but all I could do was memorize what I was taught and not inquire about any of it. I didn’t have the authority to doubt.
I took a class related to Islam last semester at Yale. I think I gained more from that class alone than during my 12 years of studying Islam in Bahrain. Through discussions with the professor, I was allowed to doubt, reason, inquire, and believe, whereas previously I was only able to memorize and regurgitate. I started to think differently and with more sophistication because of the materials I was reading, and I learned that Islam does not have to be about blindly believing things, contrary to what I had been taught.
This summer, I intend to explore Islam though the eyes of a variety of Muslim women. I hope that it will help me continue wrestling with what it means to be a woman of faith in the midst of a complicated, modern world.
Great post Faten! Thanks for sharing your insights.