"Submission" was a haunting film that was visually stunning. I was, however, disappointed by the seemingly close-minded claim that the Qur'an is directly responsible for the mistreatment of Islamic women. There are many ways in which a religious text can be interpreted; it can be seen as a collection of stories from which to learn valuable lessons, or it can be seen as a strict guidebook on how to live your life, etc. Ultimately, however, religious texts such as the Qur'an and the bible are in many ways self-contradictory because they were written over a long period of time by many different people, and so the messages taken from them are often those that are reinforced by society and personal morals. Because of this, it seems as though the abuse of Muslim women described in "Submission" is more a result of societal practices and personal violence issues than the desire to specifically carry out that which is written in the Qur'an. It is easy to see why this film sparked such controversy because it basically targets all Muslim men as being cold and abusive, and suggests that all Muslim women are simply vicitims who cannot better their position while still remaining faithful to Allah.
I was curious to understand why Ayaan Hirsi Ali approached the issue from the standpoint that Islamic teachings are solely to blame, so I did some searching for information on her background. After reading about her childhood and how she was mutilated as a child due to her grandmother's traditional beliefs, and was almost forced into a marriage against her wishes, I can see how she thinks that Islamic teachings are involved and why she would want to highlight these injustices in the provocative way she did. She clearly wanted to shock people and get them to acknowledge the terrible mistreatment experienced by Muslim women in many areas of the world, and I think it was a very brave move on her part. However, at least for me, her argument would have been much stronger if she had presented a different view on the issue, and made it clear that simply being a Muslim man does not mean that you beat your wife or force your daughter into an arranged marriage.
