“Religion is an incredibly sensitive issue in Egypt, with many Christians and Muslims refusing to accept people leaving their congregation”(9). The article “Egypt: The forbidden love of interfaith romances” by Ali Gamal shows the challenges that inter-faithful relationships in Egypt have attend to; specifically, focusing on struggles faced in attempt to be with their significant other. Specifically, as the Egyptian law extremely restrictive towards inter faithful couples they are unable to marry in Egypt without both partners being Muslim. To illustrate how strong Egypt implements their marriage law, Gamal describes a couple Abeer and Mohammad, whom have been married for 24 years after she was forced to switch from Catholic to Muslim; although,
In the novel All The Shah’s Men we are introduced to Iran, and the many struggles and hardships associated with the history of this troubled country. The Iranian coup is discussed in depth throughout the novel, and whether the Untied States made the right decision to enter into Iran and provide assistance with the British. If I were to travel back to 1952 and take a position in the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) for the sole purpose of examining the American Foreign Intelligence, I would have to conclude that the United States should have examined their options more thoroughly, and decided not to intervene with Iran and Mossadegh. I have taken this position after great analysis, which is something that Eisenhower and his staff never did. By discussing the history of Iran, the Anglo-Iranian oil company, and Document NSC-68 I will try to prove once and for all that going through with the coup in Iran was a terrible mistake made by the United States.
It revolves around the issues of gender oppression, sexual assault, and importance of social status. Alifa Rifaat manages to express her opinions towards these themes by writing about a typical Egyptian marriage. She puts in focus the strong influence that a patriarchal society has. She also manages to prove how important social status is in society. The uses of literally elements such as theme and irony help express this view. It shows that in a typical Egyptian society women are commonly oppressed by all males in society
Imagine getting off the plane for the very first time after living the majority of your life in a Muslim country. The first sight you see is a couple being publicly affectionate. This is my grandmother’s very first encounter on Canadian soil. To any Western this is a social norm, but to an Arab woman it is a cultural shock, which is perceived as uncomfortable at the least. Although she is closed minded, it partially is not her fault, as I have lived with her in Tehran and Dubai –two Muslim cities located in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. (PDA) Public display of affection is forbidden in these two countries. To me public affection is not just “…people making out and touching each other inappropriately…” it is the respect you have for your self and the people around you that is brought about through your identity. (Davis).
Islam, a religion of people submitting to one God, seeking peace and a way of life without sin, is always misunderstood throughout the world. What some consider act of bigotry, others believe it to be the lack of education and wrong portrayal of events in media; however, one cannot not justify the so little knowledge that America and Americans have about Islam and Muslims. Historically there are have been myths, many attacks on Islam and much confusion between Islam as a religion and Middle Easter culture that is always associated with it. This paper is meant to dispel, or rather educate about the big issues that plague people’s minds with false ideas and this will only be touching the surface.
Religion and Family can be very large contributors to an individual’s life decisions. Ed Husain’s authorization of The Islamist, exploits the decisions made between beliefs and family members with intriguing detail and heart: which reverberates similar things in my life as well (less extreme obviously). Hussein talks about his life as a child and his relationship to his parents while growing up in a small Muslim community. As Husain grows from 16 to 20, so does his belief and interest in the Muslim faith. However, his faith develops into more of a fundamentalist view called Islamism, which in turn goes against most modernistic views in Islam today, and correlates sharia law with personal, political, and social life. Husain develops some realizations and faces a few personal hardships, which make him decide to return to a formalistic and normal lifestyle after 5 years as an Islamist.
Walking through the halls of public schools in the U.S., Muslims are encircled by the Hollywood-like trials of the dunya from every angle: the way female’s dress, the way opposite genders mingle, and the way rumors run through the school like wildfire. Engrossed in such an environment for at least thirty hours a week, many Muslims drift away from their core values as they start to act upon their natural desires without any sense of restraint. They start to perceive notions such as a serious premarital relationship and a party replete with drinking and dancing as acceptable. Over time, fellow Muslims drag other brothers and sisters into this life of living without any restraints, causing the deterioration of the Muslim youth. At the end of the day, only the strong Muslims, who carry their Islamic faith in their hearts, survive.
While Coptic Christians are determined to keep their identity, they are facing major adversity in their place of origin: Egypt. Facing around 80-90% of the population is of the Islam faith is tough for the Copts, but the way they are treated by their government and fellow citizens is simply unf...
In some areas especially in the Northern Egypt, various other groups considered to be minorities associated with other origins apart from Arabian Peninsula also exists, but discrimination against such groups is very minimal as compared to Yemen, where Ethnic and religious minorities are considered to be ‘Occupiers’ who brings a new identity for the Yemen people, the decedents of the family of prophet Muhammad.
Picking an original and engaging topic that is able to span all five of the very different authors’ novels we examined this semester proved to be a difficult task. Though there are certainly similarities between each book and overlying themes that connect them, ultimately I didn’t want to get tied down into the shifty and unsafe territory of placing novels together solely because one, they are all written by women; or two, they all emerge out of the Arabic world. However, there are certainly broad themes present in all of the novels, and I chose to focus on how women express, or can’t express their desires and wants, and how the ability to do so leads to agency and freedom in one’s own life.
Recommending marriage highly, the Prophet Muhammad condemned celibacy. “ Marriage is my tradition ”, he said to have stated. “ He who rejects my tradition is not my followed ”. Not only does marriage bestow social prestige and status on men and women, particularly on women. It also incurs religious merit on its practitioners. Traditionally marriages have been arranged by the parents and are the culmination of involved and often lengthy negotiations between the families of bride and groom. A permanent marriage is of particular importance, and it a couple’s first marriages it is publicly announced and celebrated lavishly. The institution of permanent marriage constituted t...
Since the middle of 21th century, there has been a rapid increase in the number of intercultural marriage, which is the result after the Supreme Court declared the lega...
Nawal El Saadawi was born in 1931, in a village called Kafr Tahla, which is located in Cairo, Egypt. She was born into a poor family being the second eldest of nine other children, and as a result when growing up, money was always scarce in her household. Her father, who was a government official, had always encouraged Nawal to study the Arabic language. He also strove the teach the young lady about self-respect, and at the same time told her that it was okay to speak her mind, and that she should always stand up for what she believed in. As is fairly common in Egypt, at the age of six Nawal was circumcised by the midwife of the family. After her circumcision, she bled for several days, until finally the wound healed and the midwife rejoiced, but she claims to have always felt like a part of her was missing from that point on, as if she was never able to fully heal her wound. Her parents died when she was at a very young age, causing her to be forced into supporting a large family with little to no assistance, but despite all of the hardships she faced growing up, and the walls that were in her way due to religious oppression of women, Nawal El Saadawi attended the University of Cairo, which had been very male-centric, and graduated in the year of 1955 with a degree in psychiatry. After this large moment in her life, Nawal went on to become the director of Public Health in Egypt, in which she then met her Husband, due to the situation at the office where they shared the same office space. Her husband, Sherif Hetata, shared her leftist views of Egypt, and had been imprisoned for 13 years prior to their meeting, due to his participation in a left-wing opposition party. During the time she worked as the director of Public Health, she...
Every young boy has fantasized or dreamt of that girl next door. We often study them, watch them, and even hatch elaborate schemes that, we hope, will send a probe of insatiable lust into their brains. Alas, those probes are not met with any phenomenon that would resemble a surge of insatiable lust because most of the time we are too shy to say anything at all. James Joyce introduces the reader to such a relation in his short story, Araby. In Araby, Joyce, voiced through an unknown narrator, chronicles a young North Dubliner longing for adventure and escape, while the prevailing theme of the story is consistently the object of the narrators erotic desires, his friend Magnan’s sister.
My paper studies the three most significant and most commonly known western religion Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in terms of the role that the woman played and a brief synopsis of the religions itself. Religion is a system of human though which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner’s experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity, or ultimate truth. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are the only religions that are based on a single creator and that are why they are called western religions. These three religions are monotheistic faiths practiced by about half of the world’s population. Believers of the three religions are found on every continent but tend to be concentrated in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Western Asia and North Africa. Christianity and Islam are growing faiths in the sub-Saharan Africa, beginning to replace indigenous beliefs.
Once Egyptian citizens reached the peak of their adolescence they were deemed ready for marriage by Egypt's societal