The following is a guest contribution by “Hope.”
Choosing My Own Chains
The Rhetoric
- “The shackles of Ms. Clairol… you are a slave to the cosmetics industry… a prisoner of Hollywood’s concept of beauty… if you don’t’ fit their standards you are nothing! Allah subhanawata’ala gives you freedom from all of that.”
- “A woman is like a piece of candy – she must be covered to not let filth pollute her.”
- “A man is like a stone, if you drop the stone in mud, you can wash it clean; however, a woman is like a piece of silk, if you drop it in mud it is forever soiled.”
- “Your husband is like your father except you bear children with him.”
- “A woman needs “ta’deeb” (discipline) which is why Allah gave men the right to hit her, she is in her nature rebellious; therefore, the man who hits his wife honors her by keeping her “ala al sirat al mustaqueem” (on the righteous/straight path).
Yes, I was well versed in this rhetoric; it was instilled in me as a young girl. I fell for it too. Click to keep reading!