So today, my Muslim friend discovered that, by the rules of her religion, she’s not allowed to talk to men.
She had lived years not knowing this, and after a strange turn of events, an argument with her mother ended in “What?! You want to visit a man in a cafe? (for the record, no, no she didn’t) You’re not even allowed to talk to boys, it’s a sin!”
And this has absolutely devastated my friend. Many of her friends are guys, and she has no intention to stop talking to them. She’s had to change names in her phone’s address book (example: Carlos to Carla) because she’s afraid her mom will check her phone - every message that my friend sends gets forwarded to her mother’s phone; she’s had to download apps like Kik to get around this. And this is the same woman who accused her daughter of being a lesbian because a female friend texted her “love you!” on her birthday.
It fucking kills me, because here’s a girl who’s really dedicated to her religion. Loves going to the mosque, prays at the right times, all of it. And there’s sections of it that she doesn’t agree with: she doesn’t wear a hijab, and her mom doesn’t force her to. But this is the one part she won’t bend on, and it’s starting to cut into my friend’s social life. There’s a club that she loved to attend, and her mother saw her talking a guy there: now she’s not allowed to come anymore. Because, according to her mom, “I didn’t think you’d actually talk to the guys!”
Where am I going with this? It sucks to see someone so dedicated to something, but want to change parts of it because, let’s face it, some of it is outdated, and have their mom crack down on it and treat her own daughter like she’s a package of sins.