Lessons from Maleficent

Yeah, this post is long overdue but life can most certainly get in the way sometimes, but here it is nonetheless. After weeks of waiting, we finally made it to see Maleficent in theaters. Surprisingly it was a small crowd considering that it had only been out three weeks. We grabbed our seats and eagerly awaited the start of a movie whose previews were as seductive as possibly could be. I was loving how recently film makers were and entertainers were trying to take old well known stories and give us a twist—the other side—maybe even the truth that we were told to never believe all along. And that’s just what they did in this spectacular film!

But like always, I left feeling like a heavy load was just implanted on me from the depth of the film. Contrary to the request at the start of the movie, I couldn’t help but take out my phone and jot down notes of lessons I felt like this movie taught us all.

First off, the movie begins with a clear demonstration of what goes on today. A majority group fearing a minority group and the latter is invaded and attacked for no apparent reason. Why? Why invade a peaceful group that does not bother you? Because you fear them? Because they are different? Because you assume they are terrorists? And I use that last term not to reference the 21^st century implementation, but rather the way the film demonstrated it. They were absolutely terrified by these different beings when there was no need to be.

The lesson here is fearing the unknown could not be more stupid. On top of that, you reap what you sew, and boy do you sew a great deal of evil when you oppress another. Invading other people’s lands and lives can produce a mass spread of darkness and destruction, and you will reap even more of what you sew when you find how much damage you’ve instilled in the personalities of the victims. I fear to even imagine what years of this oppression will do the continuously dwindling population of Middle Easterners. It’s been reported that since the start of the Syrian Revolution, millions of children have gone without education or any sort of schooling. That’s millions of children remaining ignorant to significant life skills and information to survive for almost four years. What a shame! What a sickening shame!

Second, the movie illustrates quite how strong selfishness and greed can be. It portrays the way that it can ruin the strongest of bonds, the strongest of loves and the strongest of lives in just a moment. It becomes like a cancer that takes over and sooner rather than later is eternal. Catch yourself before it latches on tightly and grows.

Thirdly, the film teaches people how significant overreactions can be in life. That allowing yourself to overreact in a moment of heated anger or revenge can forever bring you a lifetime of regret. And it may be something unchangeable, because lesson number four is, no matter how much you try, fate will always play out.

Lesson number five is a difficult one and yet a beautiful one, or maybe a painful one. In the movie we witness how possible it is for people to change—for the better and for the worse—but what ends up being the most real is who they always were on the inside. Sadly Steffan proved himself to own a very ugly heart, and we find that Maleficent never was evil. That ties in to lesson number six which show us just how powerful media outlets can be in making us believe who’s the enemy and who isn’t.

Beautiful lesson number seven is that true love can come from the most unlikeliest of people and places…and I’ll let you watch the movie to find out whose kiss awakens the sleeping beauty.

Lesson number eight had me hypnotized from start to finish and that is that no matter what anyone says, red lipstick is most definitely created for us fair skinned girls. I now own two tubes. Thank you Disney!

Last, and most certainly not least, Maleficent teaches us all a very important cautioning lesson: NEVER ever mess with a woman and her heart. We will make you pay.

Religious

 

Probably the most regrettable $6.99 my mom and I ever spent was when we purchased Noah on Pay-Per-View at home last week. We finally nestled onto our soft couch, made some popcorn and prepared to watch the film everyone was raving about so peculiarly. Lucky for us we watched it at home because surely, neither one of us would have survived in a theater that was playing that movie! For starters I give Hollywood my two thumbs down on such a disastrous film, except for Emma Watson’s acting. She may have been the only good thing in the whole movie. Or maybe I found her role to be the most intriguing, being the traumatized barren girl whose worth clearly dwindles in the eyes of the minimal society because she can’t…wait for it…conceive. Enraged by that and everything else I was watching scene after scene, I held on until the end. It left me in my usual sociological analytical funk as I turned to my mom and said, “This movie just inspires humanity to hate religion because all it is basically saying is, “Do your best to not be chosen by God or even get close to Him for that matter or else you’ll be screwed.’” And hence, Noah ends up alone and drunk towards the very end of the film, until his pious patient wife forgave him and welcomed him back with open arms after he verbally and emotionally abused her and threatened to slaughter his two twin miracle granddaughters—born from the no longer barren Emma.

All in all it got me thinking about religion and religious choices, which has been quite the hot topic around me these days. Especially just recently, after hearing about a friend’s very difficult painful story, when I began to question religious interpretations and the supposed scholarly leaders who come up with them. I must begin by saying something quite bold, and that is that if this woman’s life is broken because of what she is facing, I will live and die forever blaming you oh scholars and leaders for allowing the sexist abusive misinterpretation to continue, all while preaching it as truth. (Bring on the opposing council, but you know what, I don’t care anymore; not after this.) I think she will also do the same because the internal and emotional turmoil the men in her life are abusing her with right now has been labeled quite proudly as religious application. Arrogantly claiming that they are aware of the true knowledge and faith because they know God.

If you knew God, let me tell you, you’d spend a majority of your life in silence. If you knew God you’d wear your faith inside equal to or greater than you do on the outside. Long ago it used to be the thing to say, “Look at him/her. Not practicing the faith because he/she doesn’t dress the part. What a lame thing to say that faith is merely in the heart.” But now, now I’m finding that those with true spirit and love for God, no matter what is on the outside—scarf, beard, tattoo, piercing—I can feel God in their breath and their actions. My religious studies teacher always repeats, in every single class and lecture, that Islam is about a balance of two things: Faith in God and Good Deeds with each other in life. How does that fit into the category of women being hurt, degraded, abused, suppressed, manipulated and controlled? How does that induct men as being the better sex to be obeyed? Please! Just, please!

Sorry men, but you don’t always know it all. You’re not always right. And you’re not always in charge. I’m not saying that women are (it’s a balance), but I am saying that it’s time to get off the high horse. Stop the abuse and the manipulation and the misconstrued interpretations tailored only to please the male egotistical desires.

A big part of the trouble is the fact that this woman was born and raised into a religious lifestyle where it was the norm to believe that God allows and encourages women, like men, to be ambitious, educated, social, accomplished and involved. There were behavioral limits set by the Islamic standards of modesty and respect, but that was it. Besides that, life can be lived. Around her now however, the thoughts differ drastically, and the sad part is that the extremeness of these differences didn’t appear as intense until much later. Maybe at a time far too late.

She explained how she was informed that the Quran clearly displays the rules and regulations for a woman’s (not man's apparently?) behavior. Who she can interact with and how and when. Who she is allowed to be visited by at home and some other nonsense. Also, it seems that the belief is the Quran, deep down, in its subliminal unseen messages, is really trying to call upon the world to recognize that the true way of life is a life that consists of separation between men and women in every possible time and place. I asked her how she could ever work or thrive under that mindset and her answer was a shrug. Apparently this new century has brought us Muslims to a point of desperation where we just have to grin and bear it because we are living in sin with this “mixed” environment. So we women work outside of the house in misery because we are not offered an array of opportunities to work in an all women environments—unless we work in a women’s shelter or a women’s gym? I cannot help but prepare to topple over in laughter. For those who are not Muslim, please understand that this is the farthest thing from the truth.

I am not by any means claiming myself a clergyman of Islam or some highly astute scholar, however, I have studied and been involved in my faith and its works long enough to know the Love, Mercy and Justice of God. And what is being spread around these days isn’t the holy truth but the manmade lies. I cannot believe that at the end of time, on the Judgment Day, I’ll be questioned by God for my lacking skills in cooking, cleaning and sewing; and for not reproducing six kids, slaving away after them and their grumpy, ungrateful, overbearing father. That isn’t faith, that’s unfair.

Religion and spirituality are about the inner liberty of fulfilling your life mission—and for women it’s not reproducing and pleasing the men. Those are choices to be made but not the reason God created you. Learn the difference. I know I’ve mentioned this before in other posts and articles, but in Chapter 2, Verse 30 of the Quran, God tells the Angels that He is creating a representative (of faith) on earth. That is us. Humans. We are here to serve Him, not His creations. We do so by implementing that reminder my teacher always repeats: Believe in God and do Good Deeds in life. How does that happen when you live with the mindset that you’re living in sin because you really shouldn’t be out and about being a member of society?

Yeah being a Muslim is about living and loving and working and achieving and helping and making a difference and smiling all while doing so. There is a Prophetic saying that defines the simple act of smiling as an act of charity. I remember so vividly how my peers in middle school made fun of me for passing out the postcards my mom forced me to, that had that Prophetic quote written on it. She wanted me to be a good involved happy Muslim and I did so willingly. Yeah, Muslims are meant to smile with love and care, not to have mug shot style photos plastered all over the media when some tragedy strikes that involves a slightly tan bearded man. That’s not Islam and neither is the degradation and oppression of women.

Unfortunately however, that’s what is being preached and that’s what is being illustrated. It’s been a while since I was a frequenter at Islamic events and seminars, because there came a time where I could no longer tolerate being insulted for my female state. Being around people who were soaking up the ridiculous manipulations given to us like they were legitimate truths. I only recently tried attending a few with my husband before we both gave up and left early each time—after having been scolded for wanting to sit together too. There’s only a certain amount of times I can be faced with a bearded guy in a jumpsuit loudly lecturing me on how I will eternally face the wrath of God if I don’t obey my husband (like he were my father or something); that I will be cursed all night long in damnation by the Angels of God if I do not please my husband sexually at his command; that I will ruin my life and forget my role as a true Muslim woman if I leave the house to pursue higher education and be an active member of society rather than stay at home and be a mother; or that I will be cursed by God if I leave the house without my husband’s permission. If I’m faithless for saying I don’t believe in that religion, then yeah, I’m faithless because I don’t abide by that religion, nor do I read a book that tells me that nor do I believe in a God that expects that of me.

When my friend talked about pursuing higher education, she was informed that the support for it would most certainly be there, but the preference would be she attend an all girl’s university or take only online courses. Um, anyone know of a Master’s/Doctorate program that offers said choices? I’d like to relay the good news to her family. Not!

I felt at a loss for words at that moment, knowing she was torn between being true to herself, what she knows is right, and her maturity to know never to go against God’s wishes, and being loyal to her well-intended loved ones who unfortunately misconstrued religion to match their own dysfunctional perspectives of life. Her relatives do highly consider themselves religiously all knowing in a way, and I’ve witnessed it firsthand in how they talk and argue. I don’t think there’s ever a way to get through to them and that is a frightening thought. But then again, how can there be a way to get through to them when for years and years they’ve been force-fed the same religious extremism that’s been unjustly justified by the abnormal norms for ages?

The painful part is watching a number of lives get dramatically destroyed in the process of applying incorrect religious understandings. Instead of taking a simple modest step back to basically hear and listen to what the other person is saying and reassessing themselves, they are fueled to go against her (and anyone else that differs in opinion) until she gives in, takes the verbal beating and remains silent. That is until the next time she accidentally forgets to bite her tongue. I know her loved ones are genuinely unbelievably good people in life. Just keep them out of religion and you’ll probably get along just fine. Ironic huh? That’s what I meant when I differentiated between wearing religion on the exterior (physical appearance or condescending approach with words) or interior (heartfelt sincerity, self-reflection and accountability, acts of kindness).

Now don’t misquote me, I’m not at all rejecting the notion of abiding by the obligations of modest attire (for men and women) but I am reiterating the fact that we layer on the outside and have almost entirely forgotten the inside. Where’s the balance? It’s time to reassess. After all, God tells us in Chapter 2, Verse 151 that the purification of the self must come before knowledge is obtained. What good is knowledge to a judgmental conceited heart? With knowledge comes the necessity of Mercy—and Mercy in the Quran appears in relation to many other parts of life like family, marital and work relations. Mercy is highly needed in this life and we need to learn it first and foremost from our Lord, the Most Merciful. Why else does every single chapter of the Quran begin with the verse: “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful?”

At this point, I don’t know what else I can do for my beloved friend in her time of need except pray for her and share this post. I am a writer and a (heated) passionate one at that. I cannot remain silent when I see something as wrong as even basic oppression happening. I pray that my words make a difference, my prayers make a difference, and that I as a faithful Muslim female human being make a difference in this world.