On being australian and muslim: Muslim women as defenders of islamic heritage

The identity of the Muslims in Australia, whether as Australians or as Muslims, hinges upon the role of Muslim women. The role and status of Australian Muslim women, in turn, can only be understood by considering the cumulative impact of the situation in which Muslims find themselves in Australia, religiopolitical developments in the Muslim world, and the recent developments in the international politics between the Islamic world and the West. Muslim women are caught in the middle. On the one hand, they feel it essential to demonstrate their loyalty, symbolized through veiling of an increasing number of Muslim women, to the world Islamic Ummah [community]. But by doing so they place themselves on the margin of the wider Australian community to whom Muslim women’s veiling symbolizes the “Other,” the peculiar and dangerous foreigners. This article deals with these dilemmas of Australian Muslim women and their role as defenders of Islamic heritage.