Freedom of Speech, Religious Fundamentalism and Feminism in Ghana [Dela Sekadzi]

About two years ago, during my master's education, an argument cropped up in ethnic/gender class about Muslim women's dressing and, by extension, their lack of agency. I saw my colleagues (primarily trained in the West) arguing that how Muslim women dress is a sign of oppression. Mind you, my colleagues are not alone in this thinking. Lots of people who observe Muslim women reach the same conclusion. They do not understand why while Muslim men are allowed to choose to cover their heads or not, including wearing western attires, Muslim women are denied the same opportunities. Some further pointed out that if it were true that Muslim women themselves chose to dress the way they do, then women who refuse to follow the same dress codes wouldn't be reporting that they encounter severe sanctions. In that sense, they were arguing that how Muslim women dress is not simply a matter of choice.

Being a minority in those spaces, just like Muslim women, and understanding that Westerners often misunderstand lifeways that are different from their own, I supported my only Muslim sister in class to disagree with the rest of our colleagues. I argued that the same way western women find it hard to walk outside without brassiere and panty, even when the law allows them, Muslim women feel naked without their head and face coverings and long lose dresses. I also pointed out that someone covering up the greater part of their body does not mean they lack agency. Except, of course, not wearing a brassiere and panty outside the home is considered the same way - as a lack of agency. In other words, the same way we non-Muslims are trained to consider covering the lower and upper parts of our bodies as appropriate dressing, Muslim women are taught to believe that any show of arms, legs and head equals nakedness.

Supporting my Muslim sisters to defend their way of dressing doesn't mean that my argument didn't leave questions in my mind. I wondered why the definition of nakedness is different for the sexes. I asked myself: why are Muslim men allowed to wear western-style trousers, short sleeve shirts and leave their hair without covering,  while the opposite is demanded of Muslim women? A Muslim woman in shorts, sleeveless and no hair covering is often considered by her religion as inappropriately dressed even though she chose those attires herself. Isn't that hypocrisy stemming out of double standards? I also thought of how some of the dressings copied from the Arab world are so unsuitable for the hot African weather within which we live. Imagine covering up from head to toe in 37+ degree Celsius weather (because you are a woman) while your men (fellow human beings, for that matter) parade up and down with light clothing. Are both of you not human beings? Or do women's bodies have natural coolers that men's bodies don't have? But I left these questions unasked because at that particular time, what my Muslim sisters need was support, so I gave them exactly that: I acted as their ally.

This weekend, I was made to painfully understand that, when it comes to Islam, practices can only be supported but never questioned. You could be the woman standing beside fellow sisters who are Muslims to defend their right to wear hijab in schools and workplaces. Yet the same people you support will throw stones at you and pray for your death because you questioned parts of their religious practices. I read one particular Muslim sister's letter to me. She said I should desist from speaking on behalf of Muslim women. I was surprised. I don't know if she saw my original post. But I wondered what made her think I am interested in speaking on behalf of Muslim women. I understand that she must think that only people who belong to the Islamic faith can question and criticise Islamic practices. Unfortunately, as I explained to her, questioning and criticising doesn't work like that. In fact, it is even those who do not belong to a certain religious group that are able to disagree with the group. So in as much as I am not interested in speaking on behalf of Muslim women, I will always ask questions and criticise Islam if I please. To me, religion is one of the major things that continue to hold women down. If I see Islam as one of those religions whose practices subordinate women, I don't see how I can't talk about it.

It's important to state, particularly to those Muslims who resorted to insults and threats under my posts this weekend, that your threats mean nothing to me. So my advice to you is, don't waste more time making more threats. I was sad to see how far some of you will go to ensure that your beliefs are not questioned. Unfortunately, we no longer live in the time and space where people could be killed because they questioned other peoples beliefs. I am fully aware that the Quran advises you in various "verses" to kill those who do not share the same faith as you and criticise your beliefs. In as much as some of you may want to do as your holy book says, this land - the one that belongs to you and me, is a place of freedom of speech and tolerance. If you don't want anyone to question your belief, then maybe you should live on your own planet away from other human beings who share contrary views. We want our kids to ask questions and chase answers. We do not want to raise children who follow religious doctrines or any doctrine for that matter, without question. We want them to challenge and remove the parts of their culture that do not promote equal rights and freedoms for all human beings or peaceful co-existence. That's why instead of shutting up as you demanded through your threats, I have decided that we will continue this conversation.

Those of us who studied culture spent our young adult lives arguing against the belief that Islam is violent. In America, I saw how many of my colleagues held negative opinions about Islam. I saw how the few Muslim students among us often walk alone and without a happy expression. I hated it. Sadly, this week caused a lot of confusion in my head. I don't know what I believe about Islam and violence anymore: is Islam violent or not violent? I have been encouraging difficult conversations through my social media activism for more than ten years now. But this is probably the first time I received this magnitude of hate and threats. Both people within and outside your faith sent me messages. All of them had one thing to say: "these people are violent so leave them alone". Is that what you want people to continue to hold about you? While some of your leaders and members are working day and night to convince the world that Islam is not violent, and by extension, reduce Islamophobia, you are working so hard to make their efforts fruitless.

One thing that you failed to realise is, the more you resort to violent behaviour such as threatening as a way of keeping your religion intact, the more unattractive it will become. You may even end up losing empathisers and followers because human beings generally like to be associated with good. The violence you displayed on my page and elsewhere towards me isn't good for you. The Ewes have a saying that the goat thinks it's spoiling the community environment by defecating all over, but it is his anus that's getting dirtiest through his actions. I believe the earlier you do something about how you react when your practices are questioned, the better your public image. Instead of continuing to tell people that you will kill them when they talk about the unequal, unattractive and damaging aspects of your religion, you could try to have conversations about those things and change them as much as you could. After all, no element of culture, of which religion is a subset, is static.

No matter how much you want to believe that things haven't changed in Islam, they have. This is why I concluded that those of you who resorted to insults and threats over the weekend on my wall were being unreasonable and hypocritical. I read lots of you are saying that you follow the words of Allah and you do not question. But that's not true. Because if you truly read your Quran, you would have realised that there are so many things that the Quran advise you to do that you no longer do. We all change according to our environment. If it were true that you do not think through whatever your Quran says, then there would have been a lot of chaos by now. In case you are wondering, how come I think I know so much about your religion, let me remind you that holy books are not unattainable to we the non-believers. The only difference is we may see what we read differently.

At the age of 18 or so, I had a tailor who, although an Ewe, was a Muslim. His beautiful behaviour and warm reception got me interested in Islam. So he gave me an English version of the Quran as a gift. A few years later, I got interested in women's issues and wanted to understand what the major religions in Ghana say about women. So I spent a lot of time reading the Bible and the Quran. What I saw in both religions, coupled with my limited knowledge of traditional African faiths, made me realise that all three religions are made to be tools for men to control, subordinate, dominate and discriminate against women. And that is one of the reasons why I chose to not be religious. To me, it is the human beings around me and my environment - the universe - that controls what happens and doesn't happen to me. My duty is to treat all people, irrespective of gender, sex, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class etc., equal. That's why I laughed a lot each time I read one of you saying that I support LGBTQ and yet speak against Islam. One denies certain groups of people equality while the other isn't hurting anyone, yet they are hated.

I will end my message here.

[Dela Sikadzi]