Outline

I. Introduction
a. Subject of Essay:
The representation of Muslim Women in the western media, has been slightly distorted for different reasons. In the common Western imagination, the image of a veiled Muslim woman stands for oppression. Images that are seen in the news portray women as helpless, ruled by males, and ruled by their religion. These images are very true, but they have been used for the wrong reasons.
b. Argument: (2 or 3 sentences)
These images are vivid in our minds when we think about women in Muslim countries, but they have become so much more persistent since 9/11. Many women feel the need to help with Afghani women that are oppressed by fundamentalist Taliban, the women who are covered head to toe with their burqas, unable to go to school or anywhere without the accompaniment of a male in their family. These are the images that the Bush administration has used to get moral justification for the military invasion of Afghanistan. There are so many untold horrors that these invasions have caused the women of Afghanistan. I would argue that the use of these images has been bad for us, in the countries of the West where they are mostly circulated; because of the effect they have on our capacity to appreciate the complexity of Muslim women’s lives as human beings. While this is true, throughout my research I found many interesting facts that contributes to the oppression of Muslim women, their religion is the key factor. Islam is a religion that has been rumored to be male dominating, during my research I found that it isn’t a rumor, women are belittled in this religion not by slightly suggesting it, but by clearly stating it in the verses known as suras in the Qur’an. I am a feminist, so while reading several articles about Islam and what it promotes, I felt so passionate to argue the other side of this argument which I presented. I would like to state that not all Muslim women deal with these hardships, mostly women in Afghanistan and Pakistan are faced with severe oppression. These images that are presented by the media should not represent all Muslim women. But the images of these women are real, and no woman should have to undergo any abuse or oppression because of their religion.
c. Method by which this paper will prove that argument:
In order to justify my claim that their religion promotes sexism and abuse towards women, I will quote several verses from the Qur’an and other articles.

II. Body
a. Paragraph 1: (state the overall point in a complete sentence.)
Islam was founded by Prophet Mohammed, the article “The Wondrous Treatment of Women in Islam” revealed the history of Prophet Mohammed which explains why the Qur’an is written so demeaning towards women.


i. Evidence for that point: (generally, this will be a cited quote from your research and an explanation of its relevance)
“Lets start with the "great" Mohammed himself, the founder of this "fabulous" faith. Mohammed was married to Khadija Bibi, his employer and 15 years his senior. At that time Mohammed was 25 years old. He was Khadija Bibi's third husband. Khadija Bibi was a widow when she married Mohammed. For the first time in his life, Mohammed enjoyed a luxurious life. This shows the parasitic nature of Mohammed who married his employer so that he can live a rich life without putting in a single day's work. Khadija Bibi died when Mohammed was 49 years old. Between the ages of 49 and 63 the "great prophet" married at least 11 times. This shows how he treated the institution of marriage. For him, women were nothing but objects for sexual fulfillment. Marrying at least 11 women in 14 years throws light on his insatiable sexual appetite. Mohammed's favorite wife was Ayesha Bibi who was 6 years old when she was married to him. Marrying a 6 year old baby clearly shows that Mohammed was not only a womanizer but also a child molester. Mohammed's adopted son Zayed was married to Zainab, daughter of Jahsh. But one day the prophet "beheld in a loose undress, the beauty of Zainab, and burst forth into an ejaculation of devotion and desire. The servile, or greatful, freeman (Zayed) understood the hint and yielded without hesitation to the love of the benefactor." Mohammed was not satisfied with his own overflowing harem and had to marry his son's wife. His son being a devoted follower of the "great" prophet was more than happy to divorce his wife. What a great father-in-law Mohammed was, a model for all Islamic father-in-laws.”Based on the excerpt, you begin to understand where Mohammed’s theories and justifications for some unacceptable behaviors come from. He was just a regular man who had an epiphany one day and decided he was the enlightened one. He then decided to share his “wisdom” in the form of Islam with everyone else. He was said to be Allah’s Prophet, in Islam a prophet is god’s messenger who is sent to relay spiritual teachings to their people. In Eastern culture tradition is so strong that this religion was passed on generation after generation.

Paragraph 2: (Repeat format of II (a), as necessary)
With regards to Muslim behavior toward women, let’s go to Islam’s holy book, the Qur’an. The following are a few verses pertaining to the treatment of women in Islam.


i. Evidence for that point: (generally, this will be a cited quote from your research and an explanation of its relevance)
Surah 4:15 “If any one of your women is guilty of lewdness...confine them until death claims them.” This Surah is also a warning to women that the Islamic god Allah is not forgiving when it comes to them and they will suffer death. But, note that the very next verse does forgive men for aberrant sexual behaviors

ii. (If needed, further evidence for the point)
Surah 4:16 “If two men among you commit indecency (sodomy) punish them both. If they repent and mend their ways, let them be. Allah is forgiving and merciful.” This verse clearly proves how sexist this was written.

i. Evidence for that point: (generally, this will be a cited quote from your research and an explanation of its relevance)
Surah 4:34 “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other.. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them”. First point to notice here is that Quran clearly states that Men are superior to women. Secondly, Islam instructs that a man should control his woman through brutal violence and fear. Because men are superior to women they are also allowed to falsely testify against their wives, with little to no proof whatsoever and have said lies believed by Islam’s Shari’a court system. The Qur’an states:“As for those who accuse their wives but have no witnesses except themselves, let the testimony of one of them be four testimonies…” – Surah 24:6-7 Here we see, that a husband can easily accuse his wife (or wives) and eventually sentence her to death by merely declaring four times that the accusation is true. On the other hand, women have no such right in Islam.


i. Evidence for that point: (generally, this will be a cited quote from your research and an explanation of its relevance)
The Hadith, is oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. There are several verses in the Hadith and Tirmzi which allows the discrimination of women by “god”. “If a woman's conduct is mischievous or immodest, the husband has the right to beat her up but must not break her bones. She must not allow anybody to enter the house if her husband does not like him. She has the right to expect sustenance of her husband. (TR. P 439) It is forbidden for a woman to be seen by any man except her husband when she is made up or well-dressed. (TR. P 430) A woman is not a believer if she undertakes a journey which may last three days or longer, unless she is accompanied by her husband, son, father.A woman must veil herself even in the presence of her husband's father, brother and other male relations. (TR. P 432) If prostration were a legitimate act other than to God, woman should have prostrated to her husband. (TR. P 428)
If a man is in a mood to have sexual intercourse the woman must come immediately even if she is baking bread at a communal oven. (TR. P 428) The marriage of a woman to her man is not substantive. It is precarious. For example if the father of the husband orders his son to divorce his wife, he must do so. (TR. P 440) A woman who seeks KHULA i.e. divorce from her man, without a just cause, shall not enter paradise. (TR. P 440) On the contrary, a husband can divorce his wife at will. Majority of women would go to hell. (Muslim P 1431) If a woman refuses to come to bed when invited by her husband, she becomes the target of the curses of angles. Exactly the same happens if she deserts her husband's bed. (Bokhari P 93) Women who are ungrateful to their men are the denizens of hell; it is an act of ingratitude for a woman to say: "I have never seen any good from you." (Bokhari P 96) A woman in many ways is deprived of the possession of her own body. Even her milk belongs to her husband. (Bokhari P 27) She is not allowed to practice birth control either”.

i. Evidence for that point: (generally, this will be a cited quote from your research and an explanation of its relevance)

Australia’s most senior Muslim cleric, Sheik Hilali in a religious address on adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney said: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat? "The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred." These teachings have completely polluted the morality of Muslims so much that, if a woman is raped in an Islamic-run country, it is the woman’s fault. She will be put to death in an “honor killing”, while the rapist goes free to commit other future rapes. A lot of Australian Muslims were outraged by his remarks. Robert Spencer wrote in Frontpagemagazine that: It was also somewhat surprising that Al-Hilali’s remarks generated any uproar at all. After all, the idea that a woman is responsible if she is raped did not originate with him, and this was not the first time it has been enunciated in the West. One notorious example occurred in September 2004 in Denmark, when the mufti Shahid Mehdi of the Islamic Cultural Center in Copenhagen said on the Danish television program Talk to Gode that women who venture outside without a hijab are “asking for rape.”
i. Evidence for that point: (generally, this will be a cited quote from your research and an explanation of its relevance)
“In Germany the problem of domestic violence in Muslim homes is so bad that thirty per cent of the occupants in women’s shelters in German cities are Muslim. And even there, these unfortunate women are not safe. Husbands and other male clan members, who can number up to 300, often set up round the c lock surveillance of the shelter, in which the woman has sought refuge. One young Muslim woman, who fled a planned forced marriage and is now living what the police term a ‘submarine existence’ (she is in hiding), said her father told her when she was a child never to play with German girls because they were whores and that he would kill her if he ever caught her playing with boys. This ‘man of honor’, she says, has now threatened to pour gasoline over her and burn her to death if he ever finds her.” This excerpt taken from the article Islam and Women goes to show that if a religion promotes this violence there is no way to stop it, this results in the high rate of domestic violence in Germany.


III. Conclusion
a. Summary of Supporting Information: (2 or 3 sentences)
b. Conclusion Reached:
After gathering all my thoughts on this issue, Muslim women face all the oppression and humiliation because of their religion. A man is allowed to beat his wife according to Islam, because “god” says its ok. So a Muslim woman in Afghanistan can’t call 911 or social services to intervene if she’s getting beaten and has broken bones everyday. What can she do? Nothing is the answer, because there is no separation of state and religion in Muslim countries. I came across so many articles about women who chose to change their faith because they were educated and realized that Islam has no respect for women. One might wonder how can a religion promoting such violence and abuse against women last so long? No one knows. American feminists haven’t stepped in the fight against Islam because it is controversial and can cause major uproar, so it is a topic that remains unaddressed. The representation of Muslim women in the media, are not all Muslim women but it is definitely the majority of Muslim women in eastern countries who deal with all these issues because of their religion. Perhaps the greatest abuse of Islam towards women is turning them into extremist suicide bombers. According to Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, who has interviewed bin Laden, there is a ready supply of female Jihadists in his country alone who would be thrilled to help al Qaeda. "Our women are more extremist than the men," he said in a recent magazine interview. "There are hundreds here." Women who become suicide bombers are coerced into believing that they are finally doing the job of a man and that they will enter paradise, which is promised by Allah. Based on all of my research Islam seems to brainwash their followers. Men believe they have a right to abuse women, because Allah permits it, and women believe they deserve it because Allah says so. How do you put an end to this? Can you protest a religion that makes up 1.8 billion of the population?