Three women offer their personal perspective on being a Muslim

Laura Collins | Salma Yaqoob | Arza Majedi

Laura Collins, Saudi Arabia

I converted to Islam in the United States eight years ago, three years after I married my Saudi husband. I've been living in Riyadh for over eight years and have four children. I currently own my own business consulting service, offering advice to Saudi women who want to run their own businesses.

I love it here and feel very happy most of the time. I admit that the mundane daily issues facing Saudi women are irritating at times but not overwhelming. For example, I wish I didn't have to wear the abaya (cloak) (I wear the hijab and feel that is enough). Sometimes I wish I could drive but then again, who really wants to deal with parking and fighting traffic? Thankfully, I have a driver to do that. I feel comfortable raising a family here. In Saudi, we are far away from alcohol, drugs, prostitution and sexually explicit images. (I'm sure it exists but it's very illegal and very hidden.)

As a Muslim, my spiritual needs are fulfilled and encouraged. It's beautiful to hear the call to prayer five times a day from the nearby mosque. With one hour's notice, I can also hop on a plane to Mecca to complete the Omra or perform prayers in the Grand Mosque (which is worth a thousand prayers elsewhere). Fulfilling my Hajj rites last year was definitely the highlight of my life. It was absolutely awe-inspiring to answer God's call with more than two million other souls at the same time. I said to myself, 'All these people can't be wrong. There's a universal truth here.'

Laura Collins

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Salma Yaqoob, England

I was born in Bradford but grew up in Birmingham. Unlike other parents locally and even within my own extended family, my father was very pro-education. Interested in trying to understand the reasons behind mass Jewish genocide in Nazi Germany, I studied psychology at university and became a psychotherapist.

Growing up, I mistakenly held Islam responsible for the sometimes negative treatment of women in Pakistani culture. I even considered converting to Christianity but believed that text for text, the Quran was more progressive for women than the Bible. I soon realised that practices like forced marriage were un-Islamic and more about culture, and I returned to Islam. I started wearing the hijab at 18, having seen how western women were sexually exploited and pressurised to look attractive. The hijab gave me modesty, energy and permission to be myself.

After 11 September 2001, I went into Birmingham city centre and a man spat at me. I had never experienced racism before but I was more shocked that nobody else did anything. I had been absolutely livid about the Twin Towers attacks but nothing could justify the bombing of Afghanistan, so I went along to the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition where I was elected chairperson. That is how I became involved in politics, having been a psychotherapist, wife and mother of two kids. I see Islam being persecuted and feel the injustice of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Muslim women have had to ask themselves who they are for a long time – not through their own choice – and now they are more self-assured about their Islamic identity.

Arza Majedi, Iranian exile

I am a veteran women's right activist from Iran and the editor of Medusa, journal of the Centre for Women and Socialism, founded in 1998. I am also the chairperson of the Middle East Centre for Women's Rights. I founded the Organisation for Women's Liberation, whose activities are focused in Iran, it publishes a weekly paper and has a weekly TV programme broadcast into Iran via satellite. I am also active as a left political activist opposing the Islamic republic.

I was born and raised in a modern family. My father, a university professor, had leftist ideas and was an atheist, whereas my mother was religious. I witnessed first-hand the conflict between an Islamic world view, ideas and values and a left-atheist one. At an early age I chose my path, as a defender of women's equality, opposed the then monarchist dictatorship and parted with religion as oppressor of women's equality and freedom.

I was active throughout the 1979 revolution in Iran, in both the general political spectrum and women's rights. I had to flee the persecution of the Islamic republic. I have fought relentlessly against political Islam as a main enemy of women's freedom and equality in the Middle East. Both Islamic teachings and the practice of Islamic groups and governments deny women's rights, equality and freedom. Perhaps there are different shades in the preaching of different Islamist groups, but this difference is not by any means fundamental in their approach to women's status or role in the society and family. As a veteran activist and campaigner, I believe that creation of a secular state – total separation of religion from the state – and education is the precondition of achieving women's rights in society.

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Arza Majedi