Egyptian feminist, physician, and writer Nawal El Saadawi spent her life challenging systems that disguise control as morality. Born in 1931, she witnessed firsthand how state power, patriarchy, and religion intertwined to police women’s bodies and choices. Her activism cost her jobs, her freedom, and even her safety — she was imprisoned for her writings and received repeated death threats. But she refused to be silent.
In one of her most candid interviews, El Saadawi explained that after a decade of studying the world’s religions, she saw a clear pattern: no matter the doctrine, religion as an institution had been used to enforce gender inequality, uphold racism, and preserve class hierarchies.
“Religion is a political ideology,” she said. “It is not a moral ideology. Politics cannot exist without religion. They need God all the time to justify injustices.”
Religion as a Political Tool
El Saadawi’s point was not about faith itself, but about how religion is wielded by those in power. Across history, religious authority has been used to defend slavery, colonialism, segregation, and the subjugation of women. In modern contexts, laws restricting reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ freedoms, and dress codes for women are often framed as moral imperatives rooted in faith — even when they serve political ends.
She argued that this political use of religion thrives on fear. “When you use God to justify oppression of women, the veiling of women, the oppression of poor people, class oppression, race oppression — then everybody is afraid to criticize.” To question these systems is to risk being labeled immoral, unfaithful, or dangerous.
The Illusion of Choice
El Saadawi was particularly critical of how “freedom of choice” is used to shield oppressive norms from critique. She challenged the idea that a choice made under systemic pressure can be considered truly free. “Do women really choose to be veiled under any age? Why are women veiled and men are not veiled?”
Her stance wasn’t against veiling itself — but against its gendered enforcement. “I’m not against veiling, but everybody should be veiled. I’m not against nakedness, but everybody should be naked — men and women.”
This insight applies far beyond dress codes. The same logic appears when women are said to “choose” pay gaps by entering certain professions, or when mothers are said to “choose” unpaid caregiving at the expense of careers. El Saadawi forces us to ask: are these real choices, or the predictable outcomes of a system built to limit options?
Why Her Words Still Matter
El Saadawi’s critique remains urgent today. Around the world, governments still legislate morality under the banner of religion, from restricting abortion rights to criminalizing dissent against religious authority. In each case, the justification is framed as divine will — which conveniently places it above debate.
Her work asks us to look past the rhetoric and ask: who benefits when morality is enforced by law? Whose freedom is protected, and whose is curtailed? And why are we so willing to accept the idea that some questions are too sacred to be asked?
Breaking the Silence
“Why are people so afraid to criticize religion?” El Saadawi asked. The answer, she suggested, lies in power’s dependence on sanctity. If we remove the sacred shield, the political motives beneath become visible — and vulnerable.
Her legacy is not about rejecting faith, but about refusing to let faith be weaponized. It’s a call to examine the structures that shape our “choices” and to strip away the fear that keeps us from speaking truth to power.
Because once we see that religion, as practiced in politics, is not untouchable morality but human-made ideology, we can finally imagine systems that serve people — not the other way around.