Waleed Al-Husseini on Women and Islam
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/08/31
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: For women who leave the religious fundamentalism seen in the some of the world, what is the consequence to the family, especially if the culture is based on honor?
Waleed Al-Husseini: Women, they have the most complicated situation if they stay Muslims; imagine what the situation is if they left Islam, some of them if they just stop wearing hijab the family will stop talking with her, and the others will start to call her whore!
That is why some ex-Muslims women still wear hijab, even here in France.
If you talk about the closed society, yes, many got killed in the name of honor, because they just did something not consonant with Islamic values!
Jacobsen: Can a woman lose the financial and family support system if they renounce the faith?
Al-Husseini: That’s what happened for some of the women who leave in a modern society like Europe. The family just stop talking to her and cut all the relations with her. You know, some of them had this result just because she had a non-Muslims boyfriend. She went to live with him! Not just about faith!
This situation of women was one of the main reasons for me to leave Islam, because I refuse to treat my mother and sister or my girlfriend with Islamic values, which look to women like today’s citizens in the society.
Jacobsen: Many ex-religious people continue to fear hell while not believing in it. It becomes a form of long-term, even lifelong, trauma for them. Are there any unique forms of trauma experienced by women who leave the faith?
Al-Husseini: The same one but what is most insulting is the treatment of her like a whore.
Jacobsen: What have been some hopeful stories of recovery from fundamentalist religion that you have seen in France among the ex-Muslim population?
Al-Husseini: Yes, we had a hard story for a girl. She was with her family and forced to wear hijab since 10-years-old, during her school time, and in that time she was thankful for French law, which made forbidden the hijab in school; and after when she started working, she was happy for the work of the law that forbade the hijab, but after all this she started her life alone after her family wanted to let her marry an the age of 17 for some man. This was the main reason for her to leave the family and be far away from them. Now, she has a good life and is happy! She left her family since 15!
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Waleed.
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