Muslim women can be involved in both Islam and hip-hop (McMurray, 2008). McMurray says that people often ignore the discourses surrounding Islam, which consequently ignores some Muslim groups such as the Black Muslim women. These women are used as agents of negotiating the relationship between Islamic faith and the hip-hop culture. She studies how the Black Muslim women negotiate hip-hop music and Islam, and how the society marginalizes the Black women due to their involvement in hip-hop music.
McMurray uses Erykah Badu as an example, which she argues belong to a Five Percenters Muslims movement (McMurray, 2008). The Muslims consider them Muslims in the political sense and not in the religious sense. She discusses how Badu encourages both women and men to remain within their traditional roles in her songs, which, in the process, creates space for the Black Muslim women. However, since women like Badu are believed not to be in the mainstream Islam religion, they are not considered Muslims, but a political movement. McMurray also uses Eve as an example to show how the Black Muslim women are restricted by the double standards of the community to express themselves. Eve is a Muslim woman, a fact that can be supported by her personal communications. McMurray makes an interesting study on how people discuss Eve and her religion. For example, in one of her songs, she says, “I thank Allah,” but the online lyrics read, “I thank the Lord.” McMurray notes that people from all sides do not see Eve as a Muslim (McMurray, 2008). In her article, McMurray criticizes the mainstream community, the hip-hop community, and the Muslim community for assuming about Black Muslim women in hip-hop music. She argues that nobody accepts Black Muslim women as hip-hop artists. The Muslims do not consider them their fellow Muslims due to their controversial lyrics and their dressing code. Many rappers do not consider the Muslim women as artists because women are seen as objects. The mainstream society values Christianity in the Black community, which makes them assume that Muslims should not be in the black community. The Black Muslim women are thus left struggling to create and establish a position in the hip-hop industry.
In my opinion, young Muslim women in Toronto face double standards of the kind noted by both Zine and Mcmurray. These women are not sure of the standards they should follow. While some people believe that they should behave in a certain way, others expect them to behave in a different way. A good example of the trouble that these women go through is the case that Zine mentions in her article, about a teenage Muslim girl who died after fighting with her father. The report claims that the fight between the young girl and the parents started after the girl refused to wear the Hijab, which resulted in a violent altercation with the parents. Even though many people criticized the case story, it was used to lament the too-permissive multiculturalism in Canada, which made the misogynistic cultures rampant.
Most women in Toronto are at a risk of facing fitnah. The determinations of fitnah rely on the logic that the Muslim women should be responsible for men’s failures. When women are involved in these types of cases, fitnah is seen as the main value of Islam. As a result, the mobility, safety, religious liberty, and education of women is restricted in the move to avoid fitnah. Restricting the mobility, education, and religious liberty of the Muslim women reduces their happiness, which shows that Muslim women in the city are suffering from the double standards.
Using McMurray’s argument, we can say that the Black Muslim women in Toronto suffer from the practiced double standards, which makes it hard for them to assert their position in the music industry. The society expects them to follow set guidelines, which makes it hard for them to follow their passions and dreams. The Islamic community, the mainstream community, and the hip-hop community have different views on the position of women in Islam, the Black community, and the hip-hop culture. As a result, these women are confined to societal rules, which means that their femininity, religion, and race are not recognized.
I agree with the authors’ criticism of the controls and limits on young Muslim women. The limits and controls make it hard for these women to express themselves and follow their dreams. They are subjected to societal rules that limit their ability to achieve anything in their life apart from what the society expects. Most young Muslim girls feel that some of the traditions of the Islam religion are outdated. Using the example given in Zine’s article, the young girls face a lot of criticism from the society and their parents when they try to ignore these traditions, such as the wearing of Habib. In some extreme cases, parents punish their girls when they fail to follow the traditions.
In conclusion, Zine and McMurray criticize the double standards for men and women within each community, showing their concerns about how the double standards affect the young Muslim women. The two authors believe that the expectations of the society, both the Islam and the mainstream, on the Muslim girls, should be abhorred. They claim that the societal expectations make it hard for the Muslim girls to assert their position in life and follow their dreams. In my opinion, the young Muslim girls should be allowed to follow what they believe is right, rather than being subjected to double standards. They should be respected for who they are, which includes their gender, religion, and race.