IN THE NAME OF GOD, MOST GRACIOUS, MOST MERCIFUL.
HI DANIELE, THANKS FOR THE QUSTIONS.  I ADMIRE YOUR INTEREST.
I MUST SAY THAT YOUR QUESTIONS ARE VERY INTERSTING.FIRST LET ME SAY
THAT I AM NOT A WOMAN, SO MOST OF THE QUESTIONS THAT CONCERN
WOMEN I HAVEN'T DONE TOO MUCH OF RESEARCHINTO THEM. BUT I WILL TRY TO
ANSWER THEM IN A GENERAL WAY AND TO THE BEST OF MY
KNOWLEDGE, THEY HOWEVER, ARE VERY IMPORTANT SUJECT AREAS THAT DESERVE
TO BE EXPLORED AND THE QUESTIONS BE ANSWERED WITH VALID PROOF AND EXAMPLES.

THE QUESTIONS:

a) What country do you represent in Islam and please answer the questions in full or
part from your own point of view.
I DO NOT REPRESENT ANY COUNTRY, BUT I DO REPRESENT MY RELEGION. I AM NOT FROM THE MIDDLE EAST. I DO RESPECT THESE COUNTRIES, BECAUSE OF THEIR VALUE TO MY RELEGION AND THE IMPORTANT ROLES THEY PLAY WITHIN.

b) How has the Internet benefited Islamic women?
       
THE INTERNET HAS BEEN A GREAT BENEFIT TO MUSLIMS IN GENERAL, IT HAS
MADE THE ACCESS OF KNOWLEDGE VERY EASY, COMMUNICATION SIMPLE ALSO. BUT
DON'T SEE THE INTERNET AS A MUSLIM WOMAN'S ONLY CONTACT TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD. BECAUSE IT IS NOT! LIKE MEN WOMEN PLAY AN IMORTANT AND  VITAL ROLE IN THEIR FAMILY,COMMUNITY, SOCIETY AND COUNTRY. BUT FOR THE PAST YEARS IT HAS BEEN AS THOUGH WOMEN HAVE NO LIFE AT ALL OR IT HAS BEEN MADE TO APPEAR SO.THEY ARE CAGED UP. GOD KNOWS BEST. LET ME SAY THIS IS NOT ISLAAM.
A MUSLIM WOMAN IS RESPECTED, SHE IS NOT TREATED AS A "PIECE OF MEAT" OR
ENTERTAINMENT FOR EVERYMAN.IN GENERAL THERE IS MUTUAL RESPECT BETWEEN MUSLIM WOMEN AND MEN.A WOMAN IS ALLOWED TO GET AN EDUCATION, TO WORK ETC.THESE ARE ALL ACCOMPLISHED ONCE SHE FULFILS THE REQUIRMENTS. AND THIS GOES FOR EVERY MUSLIM TOO.BUT HER MOST IMPORTANT ROLES REVOLVES AROUND GOD, HER HUSBAND AND CHILDREN,FAMILY ETC. EVERYTHING ELSE IS SECONDARY.
IN THE TIME AFTER THE  DEATH OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD(PBUH), WOMEN HAD
JOBS AS ADVISORS TO THE LEADERS, ADVISING HIM IN MATTERS OF MARKETING ETC.
THIS IS ONE OF THE MANY EXAMPLES OF A WOMANS ROLE IN THE STATE.

c) What is the Islamic women's role in her culture?
I HAVE GIVEN AN EXPLATION OF THIS IN THE ABOVE ANSWER.

d) Are they free to express themselves?
YES WOMEN ARE FREE TO GIVE THEIR VIEWS AND OPINIONS LIKE EVERY OTHER MUSLIM,BECAUSE THEY PLAY AN INTEGRAL ROLE IN THEIR RELEGION. I HOPE THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION.

e) How do the alias handles on the Internet help those Islamic women who can
afford access to the Internet and who live in fundamentalist cultures express themselves?
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS QUESTION.

f)    What do they talk about?
I GUESS THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF THE ABOVE QUESTIION.

f) What do they want the know world to about their lives.
TO HAVE A VERY HONEST OPINION, A  MUSLIM WOMAN SHOULD ANSWER THIS QUESTION.

g) How many children do they have.I WOULD SAY AS MUCH AS THEY ARE CAPABLE OF HAVING

i)    Does being on the Internet interfere with their roles as women in their families?

j)    How many sister wives do most families have living in an Islamic culture and
how does the multiple wife system work?

k)    Does it affect the relationship between men, multiple wives and the children that are born into families with this arrangement?
THIS QUESTION SHOULD BE ASKED TO WOMEN WHO HAIL FROM THE MID EAST AND THOSE THAT HAVE HUSBANDS' AND FATHERS' WITH MORE THAN ONE WIFE. I CANNOT GIVE YOU AN ACCURATE ANSWER.

l) Is it recommended that men have more than one wife?
YES, IT IS ALLOWED FOR MEN TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE WIFE, BUT ONLY UP TO FOUR. THIS DOESN'T MEAN A MAN HAS TO DO IT, BUT HE CAN DO IT IF HE DESIRES AND IF HE MEETS THEREQUIREMENTS. THE FOLLOWIN IS TH E VERSE FROM THE QURAN THT GIVES THIS PERMISSIBILITY:
"……MARRY OF THE WOMEN, WHO SEEM GOOD TO YOU, TWO, THREE OR FOUR; AND IF YOU (THE MAN) FEAR YOU CANNOT DO JUSTICE (TO SO MANY) THEN ONE ………THUS IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT YOU WILL NOT DO INJUSTICE."
THE ABOVE IS TAKEN FROM A CHAPTER OF THE QURAN ENTITLED AN-NISA (THE WOMEN),
THAT IS CHAPTER 4: VERSE 3.(4:3)
HOPE THIS ANSWERS YOU QUESTIONS.

m) Do women in fundamentalist society design websites and what are the websites about?
THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION I DO NOT KNOW. YOU CAN ASK WOMEN WHO COMES
FROM COUNTRIES IN THE MID EAST.

n) Do Islamic women living in fundamentalist society have social lives outside of
the Internet and do they belong to groups that provide for political and cultural equality?
PART OF THIS QUESTION IS ANSWERED ALREADY. AS FAR AS POLITICAL AND CULTURAL
EQUALITY IS  CONCERNED YES ALL MUSLIMS HAVE THEIR RIGHTS. OPPRESSION IS FORBIDDEN
IN ISLAAM.

o) What do you think of the culture of Feminism in Islam and what role can it play in Islamic culture and how should it work?
THIS ROLE WILL ELEMINATE THE PROCESS OF EQUALITY IN ISLAAM. SO I DON'T
SEE IT IN ISLAAM, IN ANYTIME.p) What do you think about the Towers of Light for a memorial?
DON'T REALLY HAVE ANY SPECIAL INCLINATION AS TO WHAT SHOULD BE PUT AS A MEMORIAL.I WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON A WORD THAT YOU USED, I DON'T KNOW YOUR INTENDED MEANING, BUT THE WORD "fundamentalist" HAS SORT OF A DIFFERENT MEANING THESE DAYS, IT SHOULD MEAN IN THIS CASE "PEOPLE THAT LIVE BY THE FUNDEMENTAL TEACHINGS OF THE RELEGION." AS TO WHAT ARE THE FUNDEMENTAL TEACHINGS OF THE RELEGION, RESEARCH WILL GIVE YOU A BETTER UNDERSTANDING.I HOPE I WAS ABLE TO AT LEAST ANSWER SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS.
ANYTHING THAT I HAVE SAID THAT IS CORRECT IS FROM GOD AND ANYTHING THAT IS BAD OR WRONG IS FROM MY OWN IGNORANCE AND THE DEVIL.

I THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOU QUESTIONS AND YOUR INTEREST.

RESPECTFULLY,

ZAHEER.

Letter 2

<< Subj: Re: mosque
Date: 4/27/02 11:14:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: queridad@aol.com (Querida D)
To: gramasam@aol.com

a) What country do you represent in Islam and please answer the questions in full or part from your own point of view.

I don't represent any country. I am an American. Some of my ancestors came here within the last hundred years, some came on the Mayflower, and some were here to meet it.
b) How has the Internet benefited Islamic women?

I can only speak for myself. The Internet allows me to converse with women from all over the world that I would not otherwise have the opportunity to meet. It also allows me to obtain education in Islamic subjects (through distance learning from accredited Universities). Without the Internet, I would not be able to get this education without abandoning my career and family and traveling to a distant place.
c) What is the Islamic women's role in her culture?

I'm afraid your questions reveal more about your lack of knowledge than anything else. There is no such thing as "Islamic Culture". There are a multitude of national, racial, tribal cultures whose members are Muslim. There is a great variety among them. Some are more in tune with the principles of Islam and some less. But that is culture, not Islam.
d) Are they free to express themselves?
Again you are confusing culture and Islam. In Islam, women are certainly free to express themselves. There is a hadith (traditional story) about a woman correcting the Caliph Umar, in public, when he made a ruling that limited the amount of dowry paid to a woman (note that it is to the woman, not for her.) Umar apologized and reversed himself. This hadith is used as an example both of women's right to speak up and everyone's right to correct the ruler.
In many cultures, women do not speak up--at least not in public. Here in the US in various Mosques and Islamic organizations I find the degree of comfort or discomfort the men (and women) have with me and other women participating fully in all discussions and decisions relates strongly to what culture they were raised in. The cultures wrongly limit women's rights, Islam does not.

e) How do the alias handles on the Internet help those Islamic women who can afford access to the Internet and who live in fundamentalist cultures express themselves?

I haven't a clue. Also, you haven't defined your terms. What, exactly, do you mean by "fundamentalist"? I consider myself a fundamentalist. I suspect that what you are calling 'fundamentalist", I call "nationalistic, culture-bound, ignorant or evil, unIslamic perverters of the religion."
f) What do they talk about?
Again, I haven't a clue. I would imagine they talk just like anyone else about "shoes, and ships, and sealing wax."
g) What do they want the world to know about their lives.
Got me. I haven't a clue.
h) How many children do they have.

Again, who is "they"? I have one daughter and two grandchildren.
i) Does being on the Internet interfere with their roles as women in their families?
Why did your questions shift from the second person "you" to the third person "they"? Aren't you supposed to be getting original material--from the source?
No one can speak for "they" except them. I can only speak for me.
Being on the Internet doesn't interfere with my role as a woman in my family. I'm not sure what you think my "role" is. I keep in contact with my grandkids, my ex-husband asks me to find out things and buy things and make travel plans for him on the Internet, etc., etc., etc. It, the Internet, is another tool I can use to be a helper and support to my family and friends.
j) How many sister wives do most families have living in an Islamic culture and how does the multiple wife system work?

Again you are confusing culture and Islam. Do you mean in countries that permit polyandry? Again, ask them.
k) Does it affect the relationship between men, multiple wives and the children that are born into families with this arrangement?
What a silly question. Every factor "affect"s a relationship. You need to ask women who are in such a relationship what the pro's and con's are. I've heard both.
This sounds like a loaded question. Is 'affect' meant to be only negative?

l) Is it recommended that men have more than one wife?
It is permitted. It is recommended only when the number of women, especially war widows, exceeds the number of marriageable men.
m) Do women in fundamentalist society design websites and what are the websites about?
No one can speak for "they" except them. I hope you get some answers from "them".

n) Do Islamic women living in fundamentalist society have social lives outside of the Internet and do they belong to groups that provide for political and cultural equality?

No one can speak for "they" except them. I hope you get some answers from "them".

o) What do you think of the culture of Feminism in Islam and what role can it play in Islamic culture and how should it work?

Whew, this is a big question, for which I'll just give a brief answer. I was a 60's & 70's era feminist and have come to understand how much I, as a woman, have lost by gaining "equality." I now am an Islamic Feminist. I work to eliminate the unIslamic, culture-bound marginalization of women in many countries, and within some "Islamic" organizations in the US.
new question

p) What do you think about the Towers of Light for a memorial?

I like it.
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