back from another long night at Buba's. we talked, prayed and talked again. the talking was about education again. girls' education. young muslim women in wum. why aren't they being educated? are their parents' perceptions of "western" education (post-primary) justified?
it turned into a far-ranging conversation on women and marriage. here are some of the questions/topics that came up:
- educated muslim women, are they too independent? is there such a thing? too opinionated?
- what are the roles/responsibilities/rights of muslim women to their men? what of muslim men?
- how will we raise our daughters? do we want to raise our wives? [i.e. wives much younger than us]
- what kind of wives do we want? "educated" or "illiterate?" in what sense of each term, western or islamic literacy/education?
we disagreed on most points except educating our daughters. a must. but in what sense?... some western, some islamic, and some both styles of education. again, i know that distinction is problematic. all of us understood that.
i must say that having the conversation with these 3 other young muslim men was enlightening. as to their views on such topics and, in light of their views, my own. am i that liberal? is it the westerner in me? where is this influence from? my mother? my sisters? being around american women, muslim or otherwise?