In the middle of a heated argument my sister sent me a text saying I should stop being an ex-Muslim because it will shame our family and that I should think about how other families will think about us. My sister ended her text message with the words, “Do you want to ruin my life?”
So I wrote her back. Word for word, here is what I relayed:
You like to believe you’re half a man, that you don’t deserve as much inheritance, that a man must be your provider and be a guardian over you. That you must seek his permission. That he can marry others beside you. That should you do something he disapproves of he can shun and beat you, but if he errs you must find a way to settle with him… you cheapen yourself through your religion and ask me to have some value for what others think of you? Why? You don’t even think that much of yourself.
My sister took a while to respond, and then finally said, “That’s the way it is.”
It saddens me to see how defeated women can be, living under Islam.