RAB Source Entry 1- Afrah Mohsin

Why are young Muslim girls protesting against the hijab? What is behind this protest movement?

This topic interests me because I am a female and a Muslim who wears the hijab. The hijab is an important part of my life and it’s a way to represent my religion. I want to learn about other females’ experiences with the hijab and how they feel when they are forced to wear or take off the hijab. I already know that in Islam women should wear the hijab as it says in the Quran. I know that some countries force women to wear the hijab. I think that some people look at the hijab as cultural not religious because in the Quran it says that you can’t force people to follow the religion. Some points that I plan to explore and find out more about are what countries force Muslim women to wear the hijab and why. How do Muslim women who are forced to wear the hijab feel about it? Another thing I want to know is why some Muslim women don’t agree with wearing the Hijab and it’s a part of our religion.

Source Entry #1 – 

Part 1- MLA Citation 

Moaveni, Azadeh. “The Protests inside Iran’s Girls’ Schools.” The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2023, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/14/the-protests-inside-irans-girls-schools.

Part 2- Summary

In the article “The protests inside Iran’s Girls Schools,” by Azadeh Moaveni is about how Young girls in Iran are resisting and protesting in schools against their government, to stop the government from enforcing women and young girls to wear the hijab. In Iran, hijab became mandatory after the Iranian Revolution in 1779. Women and schoolgirls are required to wear the hijab and follow a strict dress code or there would be consequences. According to the Moaveni, Mahsa Jina Amini is an Iranian girl who was born in Saqqez. On September 13, she went to visit her family members in Iran. On her way she was stopped by police officers at a metro station, Amini was arrested, beaten, and sent to a processing center along with many other women. A few days later she died; police reported that she had a heart attack and the cause of her death was organ failure, but her family said otherwise. After Mahsa Amini’s death, people started to protest for equal rights and a peaceful country. During protests, the police were on rooftops shooting at protesters, cars, and supporters. The government was doing its best to stop the act of rebellion against the government. One of the ways the government used to stop the protest was by poisoning girls’ schools to prevent them from attending because young girls were protesting in schools against hijab enforcement. This way worked because many families refused to let their daughters go to school fearing for their safety. Young girls use social media to spread their message and how unfairly they are being treated. The government proposed a law saying that any woman who resisted and didn’t follow the rules of Islam or used online sites to spread this message would be punished.

Part 3-  Reflection

I agree with the author’s points because I know that some Muslim countries have strict and unequal laws for women to follow. What surprised me is that how can a Muslim country or a government hurt or kill people; as it says in the Quran, if you kill one person it’s like you have killed the whole of humanity. I do not support that some countries are using Islam to control their people and force them to follow their own rules in the name of the Islamic religion. What Iran is doing to women is not accepted in Islam because I have read the Quran and know that there is no compulsion in religion. As a Muslim person, I know that Islam teaches us all about peace and equality and to care for one another. Women shouldn’t be forced to wear the hijab because when a woman wears the hijab they are not just covering their hair, they are also wearing it to represent their beliefs. I know this because I am a hijabi girl, and I wore it because I believe that god asked us to wear it. I didn’t wear it because of my government or family. However, countries in Europe like France are creating laws that ban girls under 18 years old from wearing the hijab. And not just that but they are trying to ban women from wearing the hijab in specific places or events like the Olympics because the hijab represents a religious symbol.   

Part 4-  Rhetorical Analysis

The article “The Protests Inside Iran’s Girls Schools” is a news article. The purpose of writing this piece is to educate and inform people on what is happening in Iran and how young girls in Iran are fighting back against inequality. The audience for this article is the whole world because everyone needs to know how women are being treated in different parts of the world, and to help end the suffering women are going through. The author uses logos as an appeal to show that a hundred and seventeen girls were taken to the hospital because of the poisoning in their schools. A hundred and fifty cafes and shops were ordered to shut down by the government because they did not impose hijab on customers. Azadeh Moaveni also used pathos to appeal to other women around the world who are being forced to wear or take off their hijab. The author appeals to ethos because she has written many books about women in Islam and social justice. The author Azadeh Moaveni is an Iranian-American writer and journalist. She won many prizes after she wrote her four books which were mostly about women. This article was published on the New Yorker website. The New Yorker website is an American Journalism Magazine that was founded in 1925. It’s a reliable source because it’s an all-sides source, it’s not biased to one side. 

Part 5- Notable Quotable

 “ Maybe not everything you’re learning is to your liking,’ ” she recalled her mother saying. “ ‘But this is school in the society you’re living in, and you can’t get an education without following the rules. ” (Moaveni, Azadeh)

 “For you, the girl next door / don’t let your home get ruined like ours / don’t let your dreams become like our stories / don’t let war happen in your country.” (Moaveni, Azadeh)

“It’s not just the hijab that’s the issue. Everything is messed up. In whatever corner you look, there’s a problem.” (Moaveni, Azadeh)

 “ Maybe not everything you’re learning is to your liking,’ ” she recalled her mother saying. “ ‘But this is school in the society you’re living in, and you can’t get an education without following the rules. ” (Moaveni, Azadeh)