These men! THEY are the only ones who could divorce the women and the women have to stay married to them even if they don't want to and THEY are the only ones that can remarry them if they so choose? what if they don't want to remarry them?

Part of it is what you've grown up with.

Part of it is the customs of the country you're in.

And part of it is ignorance or misuse of the Koran which does state that women can divorce their husbands, too. Of course, if the women are stuck in a country in which they need the "protection" of a man to survive, forget it.

In Jade's case, she does have the option of not accepting the terms of marriage at the time of the ceremony, but that would bring down disgrace on the entire family and I doubt that anyone, even her beloved Tio Ali, would support her in that. Certainly not in the early years of this story. The family reputation would have been ruined, making it difficult to find spouses for other family members. This had been a fear of Latifah's for herself and, later, of Mohammed for the futures of their children.

In tightly knit communities, family reputations and the threat of social stigma are huge factors in controlling the behavior of individuals.

Remember, too, Jade is currently wrestling with the power that Said has over her with regard to Kadijah.

I think and I don't think it's really too far beyond understanding to see why it would be accepted by most women when it's what they've grown up with...realistically we who have been raised in our culture here would never ever be able to understand it fully...but for me the question is: why would a woman want to CONVERT to Islam..knowing the restrictions that Muslim women face? I know that there are good reasons but I just can't imagine it..especially if one were forced to move to the country that will enforce each and every restriction..one of the things that I found terrifying in Clon was the fact that Jade couldn't even TRAVEL and leave when she wanted to..not without permission...I couldn't imagine that at all!!!!

Camelia

Author: (---)
Date: 08-22-04 10:31 PDT

I agree with you on being puzzled about why a woman would convert to Islam with all of its restrictions. Having been raised a Catholic at a time when there were plenty of restrictions on women's freedom, to me it would be like "jumping out of the frying pan into the fire."

But, then again, there's the factor of marrying into a particular culture. As we've learned on this forum, it's very often the various cultures that impose restrictions on women, not Islam itself. For a basically religious woman, it might not be any different than it was for the millions of Catholic women who used to willingly become nuns. Now there was a restricted life! It's remarkable that, in the Sixties, when Pope John XXIII lifted the restrictions and ordered the nuns to leave off their habits to rejoin the world, they left the convent in droves. In effect, he singlehandedly destroyed the backbone of the Catholic Church.

Frankly, I'm pretty fed up with ALL religions anymore. There are other ways to communicate with your god or goddess and lead a rich spiritual life.