[It's Meeee]

Hi Toylin, interesting article, thanks for sharing. However, let me say this, it doesn't explain away the 'you may beat her' and 'men are superior' passages rather it just shows the contradiction of the whole matter. Now, I don't come at Islam in a judgmental way as a Christian, I look at it as a liberated woman who don't want any male telling me what God said, "I'm inferior and must subjugate myself to a male.' I say this as a married woman who believes in equality. Masculinity and feminity working side by side.

Womankind exists, we are made in the likeness of God as God is both masculine and feminine. We are to be respected and have no 'male' limitations put on us PERIOD! Islam and all the patriarchies are anti-God in that they seek to oppress the woman. Again, you cannot explain away the TRUTH that Islam allows 'beating of the women' and promote 'male superiority' as there it is written in black and white.

Why those western women convert? They perish for a lack of knowledge. They don't know the TRUTH about who they are before God/Goddess. Listen, as children we who were reared with fathers in the home we were already given our values. When we become adults no rules of dress or ideas or anything else should be foisted upon us as women. Plain and simple. To do otherwise is to subjugate us to the will of men, that's bondage.

Again, if women want to come under the yoke of Islam that's fine and good, but tell me the truth, what about women who don't? Are we ALL as the article alludes 'ungodly' women? Because that's what it is saying. If we don't go by their rules we are immoral and that is wrong.

The article tries to push off male oppression as that of extremists but the reality is, mainstream Islam, if you will, oppresses women. As long as there is a law on the book that says, 'women can be beaten,' 'men are superior' then that law is itself an oppressive danger to womankind, PERIOD!

The article alludes some men don't act on the negative, yeah but the danger is, they are licensed via their religion to act on the negative. It's like the white racist who said, some whites didn't enslave, true enough but slavery existed and whites whether they approved of it or not, allowed it to exist as a law on the books that some whites did act on.

Another thing, the converts in the article talked of the liberty Islam gave women. Well, liberty isn't any religion's place to give if you ask me. We are born into this world free to do what we will. If we are raised in loving homes as many of us were then our parents already taught us the basic rules of right and wrong, so when religion rears it's head and says, 'here are the rules of liberty we give you' that is wrong, sinister, devious.

Just look at the primitive tribes (hunter/gatherer) that still exists in Africa and South America. Those who have had no contact with white racists, they live how they want to live. For sure, uncovered and all. In a sense, they know more freedom than any that have come into contact with patriarchy religions and they are mirrors into yesteryear as to how humanity really lived. No binding oppressive rules that man says, 'God told him about women.' In fact, there were entire matriarchy societies in Africa, where men and women lived in equality until Islamic males came in and destroyed and enslaved all who were not like them.

Now again, those who choose to take the good out of Islam and act good fine, I have no qualms whatsoever with them. However, I cannot blind myself to Islam in practice. Just look at those cloaked, beaten, defeated women throughout the MIddle East who have to get permission from a male to do anything. Most of the males in that wretched land regularly beat the women. Women are separated by sex and their gender is cursed as that which is bad. If the converts choose to blind themselves to that reality and worse, base their conversion on erroneous information concerning other religions, so be it. As said, they perish for a lack of knowledge.