Suffering in Saudi Arabia

Already, there has been some positive cultural change in women’s favor; the peer reviewed journal “Change and Muslim Women” examines how women’s rights have improved from the advent of Islam in the 6th century when women were considered commodities and articles of inheritance.  Not long ago, women were simply objects which Islamic men passed among one another.  Little can be done in other countries to stop the sexual discrimination, but a small progressive reformist group recently challenged the Islamic defense of the sex-based inequality, so hopefully someone will successfully advocate the argument.  From the journal “The Review of Women and Society in Saudi Arabia,” I found that Alhareth, Y., Yasra, A., and Ibtisam, A. discuss how the Saudi government is developing campaigns to challenge gender segregation.  The article also reveals the fact that feminism is an assault on the Islamic religion.  Reformist scholars have researched the Shari’ah, hadith, and varying rules, norms, and laws - by which Muslim activists are supposed to live their lives - and have discovered perspectives that challenge the traditional and sexist teachings that appear in the Shari’ah and the hadith.  Coincidentally commensurate to feminists, which encapsulate all inequity, these reformists test “Progressive Islam” by attempting to understand the reasoning behind the gender bias.  Many researchers found that the Shari’ah is man-made and that the Qur'an is the only true “God-given” text on which Muslims can agree upon.  Once the gender-bias Shari’ah and hadith are taken with a grain of salt, and the Qur’an is reinterpreted - according to research - then, will Muslim women be freed from their captivity.