This is exactly like paralyze her and then saying that be­cause she is paralyzed...

This is exactly like paralyze her and then saying that be­cause she is paralyzed, she is rived of everything. The sorrow lies here. Oppressors and the Oppressed Hazrat Ali said two parties are required in order to bring about oppression. One is the oppressor and the other is the one who accepts the oppression. It is the co‑opera­tion of these two which brings about oppression. Oppres­sion cannot be one sided. An oppressor cannot perform oppression in the air.

Oppression is like a piece of iron which is formed by the striking of the hammer of the oppressor upon the anvil of the oppressed. Not only is oppression a result of corruption, devia­tion and misery, but it requires two sides working together to come, into being. In the defeat of a society, it is not just the victor who breaks it; society must also be broken. For instance, in the 7th century A.H., it was not Chengis Khan who defeated us. It was we ourselves who were cor­rupted from within.

From the 5th to the 6th century, we were preparing ourselves to be defeated. It was because of this that Chengis defeated us. He only kicked the corrupted states once and we fell down and were defeated. The termites who had built their homes inside our tree and had begun eating away the body from the inside, left it empty, dry and without roots. These termites caused the tree to fall to the earth and not the strong wind which blew upon the tree. Strong winds always blow in the forest.

Why is it that just this tree or that one falls down? The creation of superstitions and the spreading of ignorant backward beliefs of family traditions, the inheri­ted faulty systems of order along with servitude, the tra­dition of `father power' in the community, the lack of psy­chology, all weave themselves together like a spider's web. And it is this very web which impoverishes the woman within itself. She becomes known as `someone who is behind the curtain'.

All of this occurs in the name‑ of Islam, in the name of religion, in the name of tradition and worst of all, in the name of `similarity to Fatima'. It is explained to her in terms of chastity and the necessity to nourish her children.

I don't know how a per­son who is herself incomplete and useless, who is missing a part of her brain and who is excluded from literacy, books, education, discipline, thought, culture, civilization and soc­ial manners could possibly be worthy of being the nourished of tomorrow's generation.