Muslim Girls' Situation Differs Today

All Muslim girls are supposed to take up certain responsibilities when they attain puberty. One of them is dressing modestly. This means they have to begin to wear their head scarves. These scarves are known as hijab, and various other names are also cited for this. There is an interesting story behind this, which relates to Prophet Muhammed. He reportedly saw a visitor to his wife dressed in some see through clothes, and he turned his eyes away from her. He advised her to wear decent clothes, as she was mature enough to do so. Most Muslim women are aware of this modesty even before they reach the age of puberty.

Muslim parents choose very modest clothing for their young girls. Sometimes it is entirely left up to the Muslim woman to decide when she wants to begin wearing the hijab. A lot of girls who are Muslims begin wearing the head scarf much in advance than when they are required to do so. Even when they are young, they will not wear sleeveless clothes or short skirts. While they have an independent choice, they will be educated about their Islamic responsibilities at an early age, so that they will be ready for a marital life.

In some cultures where Muslims are orthodox, they will fix the marriage for very young Muslim girls. But the girl will go her husband’s house only when she is mature enough to do so. She will also have to take up spiritual responsibilities at the time of her marriage. She must be religious, so that she might share a good life with her husband. She must also limit her friends to girls, and must not have any young Muslim boys as her friends. This will be a distraction for them, as it is also illegal according to Islamic law.

There are incidents of young Muslim girls being subject to racism because of their color and traditional dress. In France, girls are not allowed to wear the hijab. Many of them have been expelled from state schools for doing so. Though these girls fight for their rights, it does not make a difference. They lose most of the time because they do not live in a country of their origin. In America, girls of the Muslim communities have been exposed to racism, because they are easily identifiable with their head dress. Some were even reported to be detained by authorities, if they were found to be suspicious.

Some incidents like this are not fair to these young Muslim girls, because they are not even part of wrong doings. But it may also be noted that some girls have been influenced by the holy war for Islam, and have even joined terrorist groups to fight for their religion. All Muslim girls when born are to be treated as equal as the boys, as it is written so in the Koran. They have equal rights as a human in the world as the boy does.