Submission, a direct translation of the word "Islam," is a 10-minute film directed by Theo van Gogh and written by the eloquent Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel, depicting the plight of four different Muslim women who experience the injustice inherent in the writings of their religion.Since saying anything negative about Islam is grounds for a death sentence, Theo van Gogh was assassinated on November of 2004 by a Muslim extremist who did not quite share van Gogh's views. The assassin also left a note threatening Ayaan Hirsi Ali's life as next.
The film strikes me as very symbolic. The narrator is dressed in black transparent garments, both concealing her body (as tradition dictates) and revealing what Allah has created but orders to hide: a beautiful woman, whom Allah is now forced to see through the sheerness of the fabric. The koranic text written in the women's bodies shows the physical and psychological pain inflicted on these women as a result of the words of their 'holy book' and scriptures. Finally, at the very end, when the narrator prays to Allah, she looks up, suggesting defiance and no longer submission to God, which is all the more interesting and ambiguous since she still prays.
> Since saying anything negative about
ReplyDelete> Islam is grounds for a death sentence,
> Theo van Gogh was assassinated on
> November of 2004 by a Muslim extremist
> who did not quite share van Gogh's
> views.
What you're doing here is, accepting the interpretation of Islam by violent and mentally sick people above the interpretations by peaceful and moderate muslims. As a moderate muslim I am left wondering, why you go out of your way to validate and accept those people's opinions and thereby diminish our ability to define ourselves.Are you really of the opinion that as long as we are muslims we should all be like them?
Just wondering. And before you make any more jokes about being afraid to disagree with me, I haven't ever threatened anybody physically [after adolescence], and I have atheist and christian friends who exhibit the same kind of puzzling behaviour.
ali
Dear Ali, thanks for your comment. Let me state first that my statement was meant to be descriptive rather than judgmental.
ReplyDeleteI am not accepting the "interpretation" of violent and sick people above that of peaceful and moderate Muslims. If you read the Koran you will find numerous references in which it becomes painfully obvious that disbelievers are to be punished with fiery hell both in this world and the next. That's not so much an interpretation as it is what the scriptures literally say. You can't fault me for that... it's your book.
I'm glad your interpretation is a peaceful one, but I imagine that happens as a result of ignoring the more disturbing passages in your holy book. In other words, just like you have complained that I have perhaps picked and chosen certain passages to make Islam sound bad, that's precisely the same thing you're probably doing in order to make it sound good.
If you are a believer, however, it seems strange that you would choose what parts of your holy book to accept and what parts to reject on religious grounds. A true believer would take everything in. That you don't suggests to me that you don't actually wholly base your beliefs in your religion, but that you try to fit your religion to your beliefs, but if you already have these beliefs, independently of the religion, then what's the point of the religion?
Something that somewhat disturbs me about your comment, on a personal level, was that you picked the one negative descriptive thing I mentioned about Islam and completely ignored the whole point of the entry: the injustices performed against women that are justified and/or encouraged in that religion.
I'd love to start a dialogue if you're interested in exploring these themes further.