(Not an actual picture of the woman)
Trapped in a cage, nobody can free her from the darkness that surrounds her. She walks about like a ghost in the daylight, shrouded in black, unspeaking… isolated.
Where is her freedom? Where is her place in this world?
The woman in the all-black burka who accompanies her well-dressed husband to pick up their child is beautiful. “How do you know that?” you may ask since she is completely covered. The simple answer, her eyes, the only part of her that we are allowed to see, sparkles and looks at us with curiosity.
Seeing her everyday after school is an overwhelming reminder to be thankful for a God who loves women and teaches respect. As a Christian woman I am taught to honor, respect, and submit to my father and husband. However, the men are also exhorted to honor, respect, and cherish me so it’s a two way street. Vastly different from Islam where the women are expected to submit and respect but the men may do as they please in regards to their wives.
I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father who cherishes women and desires them to be treated like royalty.
As I think about my love of freedom and independence the Lord gave me I wonder if he gave her that same love.
Did she have it as a child, and then have it stripped away when she became of age and got married to a Muslim?
Was she once a young playful girl who twirled around in a field with the sun shining on her skin?
Did she love the feeling of the wind blowing her hair?
Does she wish she could show her unique individuality through her clothes?
Does she long to be seen?
Is she loved by her husband?
Does she have an identity?
Walking around Malaysia there are many women dressed in the burka's most of them are not required to cover their faces or wear all black. It does not make it any easier to see. When we went to the beach in Penang the women would be walking along the beach dressed in their Muslim appropriate clothes with their husbands who stopped and stared at us and took pictures of us. I was mortified. First the women were forced to wear all black on a beach, in the heat then their husbands would stand right there and try to "discreetly" take a picture of us. What the heck?
American, non-Muslim women, we have a lot to be thankful for in life.
