MANIPULATIVE ROLE OF RELIGION IN THE GIRLS OF RIYADH BY RAJA AL SANEA
Keywords:
Gender Discrimination, Manipulative Role Of Religion, Patriarchy, Parental, Islamic Feminism, Muslim Female WritersAbstract
Religion is an integral part of every culture but, unfortunately, it has been used as a manipulative force to control and suppress women. This research discusses the manipulative use of religion, Islam, as a patriarchal tool to make women submissive in a phallocentric society. In Islam, there is no gender discrimination and all Islamic orders are for both men and women but in the implementation of the orders, the Muslim communities discriminate and try to impose the orders on women only. Even the girls are brought up with the internalization of such discrimination ideology and girls have the ideology that the prevailing order in the culture and society is to be followed as social norms. The researcher analyzes The Girls of Riyadh by Raja Al Sanea with the application of Jacques Derrida’s deconstructionist approach to figure out how delimited fiction explores the influences that help patriarchy use religion to set phallocentric norms. The researcher applies the theoretical stances of Asma Barlas and Amna Wadud for the analysis of this book. The researcher explores why Muslim society in Saudi Arabia is not following true Islam and the causes of why they are following the patriarchal setups of their culture.
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