I'm passive, weak, uneducated
Veiled from head to toe
One of his four wives
Work in the kitchen all day
And spread my legs wide at night
That's what you think, right?
Funny how the devil spreads ignorance amongst a "civilized people"
The Orientalist whispers in so many ears
To him, I'm the mistress of the harem
Black-hair, olive skin, eyes that glow, hips that don't lie
Hold up
Sexual exploitation- There's nothing exotic about that
Or
I'm poor, cracked feet that never touched soft designer shoes
Dirty, hungry, cold, alone
I'm calling out for help, America save me from my fathers, my brothers, my backward culture, America- save me from myself,
Let me tell you something
You don't have to be a woman to hear my stories
But you have to be a woman to understand them
The blood that boils in my veins is the same as yours
My story is a testament of my struggle
My struggle is a testament of my faith
I am a Muslim woman
Muslim woman.
I made Prophets weak in the knees,
Fought alongside my man in war
Then went home to nurture my baby
Does that surprise you?
You say I need liberation
What do you call it?
Oh yeah...Furthering women's rights in the Middle East
I have one thing to say to you
My liberation won't come from the one who has oppressed me
Bringing me democracy
You think you're really gonna send Condi
to tell me how to be free
But wait, I'm not here to play the blame game
Let's make this more real
Not only do I take this hate from you
But I take it internally from the close-minded bigots of my own society
So my Muslim father tells me how to dress, but so does BCBG
So my Muslim brothers tell me how to act, but so does MTV
Yea... so it's this double bind I face
When I realize that if I do what I want,
I won't make anyone happy
Too good to be bad, too bad to be good
But wait, why this dichotomy
Since when did my identity become a zero sum game
Why do you insist on labeling me?
Putting me in boxes simple and easy only for you to understand
Countless books and movies dedicated to uncovering me instead of just letting me be
What's in free will when my spiritual will isn't allowed to be free
Just look at France and Turkey
"Unveiling the Muslim Woman"
Why don't I unveil your sexist patriarchal ideology
Remember The golden rule-treat others how you'd like to be treated, if you're so keen to educate then please be educated,
Enslaving not our bodies now but our minds,
Eating disorders and depression, no love and not that much attention
This equality talk is cheap and the price expensive
Using my body to sell everything from cigarettes to automotives,
Confusing my flesh for my spirit
Confusing my humanity as weakness
When I say something in protest
Standing against trafficking, hunger, poverty, violence, you know "women's" issues,
they brush it aside to...oh, she's just a Femi-NAZI
So Don't confuse my silence as submission
nor my covering for oppression
Don't confuse my peaceful battle as lack of conviction
When you ask what sustains me
I say: not man, not America, But God, our God
Am I American, Kashmiri, or an ABCD,
On applications, I check none of the above, all of the above, some of the above, but ultimately
I am a Muslim Woman.
Hafsa Kanjwal
FROM: American Bedu Blog site
