Towards a better humanity

The world seems to have changed a lot and may continue to change. One of the changes that has been going on for decades and before many of us were born are the changing gender roles. Whereas I had previously learned that women could not get by in society in the past unless they disguised themselves as a man and used a mans name, it seems that women’s liberation has strengthened the position of women. Feminism gave women rights to work and vote and be outside more and perhaps even to dress less. This may have threatened the traditional bread winner role for men. Men have traditionally been the care takers of women. They have been the ones to look after women and tell her what to do and what not to. He went to work and provided for his wife and the family while women stayed at home. Men had much more authority. They were also hero’s and saviours of women at times. Fairy tales all told us that a woman was rescued by a hero who she usually ended up marrying. Men would fight wars and they w...

  The problem with age grouping, age categorisation and age related deadlines is that they almost always lead to discrimination of people and a lack of acknowledgement of individuality. Although I have often felt that there was a good deal of age discrimination in society, I had not noticed how dangerous it can more or how much it can affect people. However, when reading about several young women who were all worried about their ages and appeared to be trying to reach age related deadlines which led to suicide and a possible attempted suicide, it shows just how too far society is pushing people. I mean, Christy won a beauty pageant when she was thirty.  So what is the big deal? Wouldn’t many people be happy that someone won a beauty pageant at thirty?  Wouldn’t that be more of an achievement than at twenty? Apparently not.  We read after her suicide that people wrote in and were complaining and saying how she was too old to be a beauty queen. At the same time, when s...

I decided to write about suicide after reading about recent events and the need for greater “suicide prevention.” This prevention is more hotlines. It is assumed that suicide is something that people do when they are depressed or mentally ill. That seems a bit simplistic and even patronising to me, since there is already a lot of stigma and fear of mental illness. Is it really the case that people only commit suicide because they are depressed or have “mental health problems?”  The problem may be more. Perhaps society has a role as well. Suicide is often described as the deliberate and voluntary taking of one’s own life.  This can be premeditated and planned, even for years, or spontaneous. It can be the logical solution to a perceived problem that seems to have no real solution or to end suffering or prevent a future event (being arrested, enslaved, oppressed, mistreated and so forth). It can be carried out by a variety of means, such as jumping off a building, hanging onesel...

  It was very sad to hear the news of Ms Cheslie Kryst who apparently killed herself by jumping from her apartment window. People are apparently shocked since she seemed to have a lot going for her and she was successful. Her suicide was said to be due to “mental health issues." However, from reading about her it seems to be more than that. If fact, where or how do people develop mental illnesses in the first place? And could a mentally ill person do all that she did? Maybe she really was depressed but not all depressed people go so far as to kill themselves. There was a problem obviously big enough that there seemed no other way but to take drastic measures. It may have seemed that the only way was to end her life. What kind of problem was she facing that may have led to such drastic measures? Obviously I do not know this woman and have never met her but I felt for her when reading of her suicide. Her perceptions of life and feelings towards the future seem very familiar to me. A...

  Freedom of speech and its limits: comparing human rights law and Islamic law We are often told that modern society has, “freedom of speech.” Freedom of speech is a human right under article 19 of the human rights act and international law as formulated by the UN.   Some countries have freedom of speech as part of constitutional law. Freedom of speech, free speech and freedom of expression are often used interchangeably. The term covers activities that involve seeking, imparting knowledge or finding out knowledge regardless of the method used. When we hear that we have freedom of speech we understand that we can say whatever we want.   Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)—Article 19 states that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."[1] This was ...

 So Christmas has finished now, and the New Year has already begun. For this reason, it might be a bit late to talk about Christmas and greeting people at this time of year. However, since I came across this video and some non Muslims were perhaps offended by it I thought to comment on this. The speaker here says he is asked if it is permissible to greet Christians with “Happy Christmas,” or not. I myself had asked this question to Shayukh previously. They told me there is nothing wrong in greeting and congratulating people who happen to be friends or relatives to keep up the good relationship. Others say it is forbidden to greet people at Christmas because it is not an Islamic celebration and we are not supposed to celebrate the important days of other religions. However, whichever perspective this speaker decided to take, he only had to calmly and politely give his perspective. In this case it was enough to say “No, it is not permissible.”  If he wanted to explain, he only h...