[Jack]

One Islamic woman's opinion:

Islamic law provides women with a plethora of rights, from the right to financial autonomy (the right to make and keep her own earnings, own property, barter, trade, sell, obtain or grant loans, etc); the right to be maintained financially in a marriage (according to Islamic law, the man has the responsibility to provide for the needs of the family; if the woman chooses to work, she is not obliged to spend a single penny for the maintenance of the household; if she does, it is considered charity); the right to inherit; the right to seek an education; the right to consent to her marriage (no marriage is valid without a woman's consent in Islamic law); the right to a dowry or marital gift (this belongs to the woman alone, not to her parents or husband); the right to participate in the political affairs of her country; the right to vote; etc. While Muslim women owned property, inherited property and established endowments as far back as the 7 th century and throughout Islamic history, let's not forget that in our own country, the United States of America, it was not until 1839 that the first state, Mississippi, granted women the right to hold property in their own name, but only with their husband's permission. Despite all of this, the greatest beef some feminist critics have with Islam is the hijab – the mandatory covering of a woman's hair and body. Although religious scholars ascertain that this is a fard or religious obligation, it is ultimately each woman's prerogative to decide whether or not she will cover her hair. No one – not a father, husband, or bother – can ever force a woman to cover against her will, or that in fact violates the Quranic spirit of "let there be no compulsion in religion." I have personally decided to wear the hijab and I relish in the freedom the hijab gives me, the freedom from having my body exposed as a sex object or from being judged on a scale of 1-10 by strange men who have no right to know what my body or hair look like. For Muslim women, the hijab is a form of modesty, security and protection, shifting the focus of attention from a woman's physical attraction, or lack thereof, to the personality that lies beneath. By forcing people to look beyond her physical realm, a woman is valued for her intellect, personality and merit. More importantly, however, is that I wear my hijab for God. My belief in God and my ultimate accountability before God is the driving force of my behavior in life. My desire to be with God in the hereafter motivates me to make certain sacrifices even if they might make me unpopular or elicit ridicule by others. Even if others perceive me as a victim of patriarchy or as oppressed or uneducated due to my hijab, I recognize that my happiness, success and destiny in this life and the next are in the hands of God alone, not anyone else's.

Hadia Mubarak: OnFaith on washingtonpost.com