Ebook: Woman in the Muslim Unconscious (Athene Series)

Why are silence, immobility, and obedience the key criteria of female beauty
in the Muslim society where I live and work? Imam Ghazzali, when he was
explaining the Muslim theory of marriage in his famous work, The Revival of
the Science of Religion, had to define the ideal woman. He described her as
follows:
On the whole, regarding the proper conduct for a wife, one can say, in brief, that
she must remain in her private quarters and never neglect her spindle. She must
not make frequent trips to the balcony nor spend her time gazing down from there.
Let her exchange but few words with her neighbors and not go to visit them.

So why are silence and immobility - the signs and manifestations of inertia -
the criteria of beauty in the Muslim woman?2 What does beauty have to do with
the right to self-expression? Why, according to the canons of beauty in Islamic
literature, does a woman who does not express herself excite desire in a man?