This is a very confusing thing about Muslims. The link below has a very nice analysis of quranic interpretation. If one reads the passage, it seems to plainly say that men are the boss and there are a whole range of things a man can do to insure that she obeys, including beating her as a last resort. I know Muslim women who have been beaten by their fathers and husbands.

However, I have talked to a few Muslim scholars about that passage, and have been told that no where does the passage give men permission to beat their wives. The difficulty lies in the fact that the Quran is written in classical Arabic, which no one speaks or understands now days, except for the highest scholars.

After I read the modern interpretation of this passage, I realized that my reading the Quran was just nuts because virtually none of it can be interpreted correctly by the lay person. And, that eventually led me to give up on Islam.

http://www.ruqaiyyah.karoo.net/articles/beating.htm

For the purposes of writing a story, there are just lots of misinterpretations and misrepresentations of the Muslim experience, but I just wish to stick to the facts, and nothing but the facts.

One must also realize that there is a wide variety of Muslim experience, as in Christianity and Judaesim.

Not really. I mean AiofeM obviously knows they have a view mostly dominated by negative stereotypes. I don't see the big problem in asking for information about it, while naming their own preconceptions.

I don't know about america, but in germany many muslim comunities segregated themselves from the rest of society. The effect is that the general opinion on the muslims is full of bias, thanks to a criminal, annoying or even islamistic minority.

I think requesting information is almost always right.

From my seven years of experience, there is as much variation in Muslim women as in any other culture. In Christian culture, you have the Amish at one end and the Unitarians at the other.

So, we find huge ranges of diversity in all religious expressions including atheism.

One thing I noticed in Islam is that a woman will introduce herself to another woman, but you will likely not meet the husband, though you may meet the children. Keep in mind that I lived full time as a woman, and never revealed my past to other Muslims, though several times after a few months people would get curious and in violation of Surah 49, investigate.

Much peace

Khadijah