The Muslim Woman

Though women are cattle for some men, these latter are constantly disturbed and agitated by mere cows. So when I hear of Iraqi terrorists insisting on killing Christian women if they do not cover their faces in Basra University, I wonder about whom to write on here – the poor women or the poorer men? Before we blame these violent Iraqi men, I have to mention in all fairness that even in so called non-fundamentalists societies women are the proverbial soft targets. Women are always under scrutiny and in the focus of the omniscient ‘male-gaze’. So these threats that university student at Basra are facing are not to be judged as fallouts of terrorism or Islamic fundamentalism. Rather we must see such events as universal illnesses and analyze them as such. May be then we can at least somewhat calm the fears of our women. TimesOnline UK reports the case of three women, one 21 year old Zeena and two others, were recently forced by Shia fundamentalists to toe their hardcore Islamic line and wear the ‘hijab’. It is of no consequence that Zeena had pointed out to her tormentor that her Christian Faith does not ask her to cover her face in public. Wall-writings both inside and outside the university warn women to never move without their faces covered in public. Some of these graffiti invoke God as a witness to this fair warning before killing the shameless women who dare to disobey this dictat. Advertisements which show women with faces uncovered are sprayed with dark paints in Iraq. Religious and personal freedom is dying. Shias are mercilessly persecuting the Sunnis, as per the report. Pity all these, when one remembers the great Islamic scholars whose liberal spirit brought Humanism and the subsequent Renaissance to Europe. Islam is one of the world’s greatest religions and a very culturally rich one at that. But cowards are twisting it to their own perverted purposes. The New Chaldean Cardinal has been roundly trounced by these zealots. It is only insecurity and the need to dominate which compel some of my brothers in Basra to misbehave with women there. Instead of threatening women, they need to visit counselors and receive therapy to help tide over their fears of intimacy with women. The problem is not with religious fundamentalism but with the twisted psyches of some men irrespective of religion, race and color. The same impulse which leads an American white male to abuse his trembling wife is at work here. It is the very same impulse which made three young men in Assam enjoy stripping a cornered tribal girl in Guwahati is at work here. The animal in us has now shed off its mask in Basra. When the Allies leave Basra, then the real evil will be out. Via: Times Online Image: World Prout Assembly

She is living under police security not because there is threat of criminals or terrorists, but because her own parents are out to rake her! In other words, her parents are her worst foes at this moment because what she did, hardly any girl of her community dares to. This is the story of ill-fated Khaleda Begum, 25, whose fancy for marriage turned into a nightmare when she was forced to marry her own cousin, who was 20 years older to her. Khaleda is not the only victim of such brutal and savage custom, but many like her are forced to keep up the same brutal tradition. However, most of the girls surrender to such rituals or practices. This somewhere shows how the brutal practice like a tumor is stilling swelling up, if not openly, secretly at least. It’s true that consanguineous marriage amongst Muslims is not a new phenomenon, however, when it comes to Muslims living in countries like England, it’s, indeed, shocking! It’s also true that customs prevailing in other communities are full of irrational ideologies but when it comes to Islam, customs and cruelty seem conspiring against women on a larger scale. The main reason for fast growing conflicts between modernity and radical Islam is that both stands head to head, especially when it comes to ideology. Supposing people brought up under the very shade of modernity, to cling to old trite traditions is quite ironic. Isn’t it? At a time when entire world is fast moving ahead, wrapping civilization in its fold, shrunk ideologies deny a woman the right to freedom, right to lead life in her own way, to choose her life partner and most ironically force her to marry her cousin or some other relative, whom she would have called brother or would have played with him. Isn’t it just a subterfuge to ravish her honor? Here the main issue is not consanguineous marriage but brutality against women, against her honor, which is seething secretly on our world, one way or the other. For instance, the nightmarish treatment meted out to 15-year old Muslim, Turkish-German girl is there, who was rewarded with a vicious blow to the head that knocked her nearly unconscious to the floor. Her fault was just that she snapped out about herself, stating that she was too young to marry. Ironically, it was her father who gave her the deadly blow! It’s not surprising to know that just like England other developing countries also have similar tortuous pangs for Muslim women. For instance, an estimate proves that 30,000 women among Germany’s 3.2 million Muslim populations, of which 2.7 million are of Turkish origin, are subjected to forced marriages every year. In addition, thousands of Muslim women in Germany groan under brutal domestic violence. So, the question arises- Is the violence against Muslim women a global phenomenon. Image

Sudan, the largest African nation, is reputed for violence and discrimination against women. Human rights violations against women have taken the driver’s seat here. Ethnic conflicts flowing from an ill-respected cultural diversity, insurgency, illiteracy, poverty, legislative discrimination and other basic issues have joined hands to exploit women economically, socially, politically and sexually. Life Amidst Evils Educational opportunities for women are limited. In fact, access to education remains only on paper. Enrolment percentages hover just around 25% in all states of Sudan except the capital. Drop out rates are badly high promoting illiteracy. The ever-raging civil strife has made ghostly contributions. It has led to a large widow population shouldering the family burden. Men remain at war, hardly finding time for a peaceful and responsible family life. Women participation in public offices is very low too. The ministries, judiciary, civil services, public enterprises and other state-owned entities do have women employees, but they represent an overwhelming minority. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), an arrogant practice of female circumcision has been widely practiced, even before independence. Sudan is one of those African nations to have accepted this evil practice gracefully. Only in the last two decades have civil society groups and women activists raised strong voices against it. Governmental attitude too has lacked consistency, with false promises being made consistently. A conference in 2002 struck the wrong note when it attempted to confer legitimacy on FGM. It even urged civil society groups to model attitudes to promote FGM. Sadly legislations like Public Orders Law (1991) and Nationality Act are also ‘grossly discriminating’ limiting women mobility, dress code, marriage rights, public appearance, behavior and inheritance among others. Male dominance and female subjugation has been the governing spirit of Sudanese legislations. Atmosphere of Promise The protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on Women in Africa is an important tool of protection for women. With the peace settlement (CPA) now under existence from the African Union and United Nations (after Darfur), a golden chance awaits Sudanese women to push a movement to ratify the protocol. With general elections due in 2008, a politically supportive atmosphere makes their fight for rights, little easier. News Source: allAfrica Images: [1], [2]

Do not compare the Burkha clad policewomen of Iraq with their counterparts in non-Islamic countries. The gender discrimination is more astounding in this country. After the US forces took over Iraq, a recruitment drive was undertaken by the Iraqi administration encouraged by the US forces to involve Iraqi women in maintaining the law and order of the country. With rising Shiite hold in Iraq, the growing Islamic conservatism did not allow these women to function freely. In a latest move to scuttle activities of the policewomen, Iraq’s Interior Ministry issued an order requiring the police officers to return all their weapons. How can the police function without arms? The Interior Ministry’s order is not only strange but also preposterous, especially their explanation regarding issuing such an order. According to ministry, the female police officers were misusing weapons by either selling them or handing the weapons to their male relatives. Does the ministry have any evidence to prove their contention? Who cares for evidence in a conservative country trying to stifle women’s independence? While the women officers denied the allegations they have pointed out that the administration was trying to push them away from field jobs to administrative jobs. Therefore, what is the use of Iraqi women police officers if they only have to do desk jobs? The only job of the women officers seems to be in Iraq is to search for female suicide bombers. However, as the news became public there was vehement criticism from all quarters. Succumbing to US pressure, the order was revoked and the women officers can now keep their arms. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether these women can function along with their male compatriots and enjoy equal responsibilities and privileges that the male police officers enjoy. Source: LA Times

What can be called a travesty of judiciary, the Saudi Arabia’s Higher Judicial Council has actually sentenced a rape victim to receive 200 lashes and prison while the perpetrators of humanity’s most heinous crime were allowed to walk free. The 19-year-old Shiite woman who was raped by six armed men was originally sentenced to receive 90 lashes for traveling in the car of an ‘unrelated male’ at the time of the rape. However after the woman had the temerity of not unquestioningly submitting herself to be tortured as punishment of being raped, the judges on Saudi Arabia’s Higher Judicial Council more than doubled her punishment for attempting to influence the judiciary through the media. Her lawyer, human right activist Abdul Rahman al-Lahem, has been banned from carrying her case further. His license has been revoked and he has been called to appear before a disciplinary committee for challenging the judgment, which only punished the victim of the crime and not its perpetrators. The Sunni rapists were given a paltry sentence of one to five years of imprisonment. This is the horrendous state of a country that keeps its women forcefully behind veils only to extenuate and encourage heinous crimes against them in the name of maintaining social discipline. Image: Saudigazette Source: Whyorganic

Is the western media painting a wrong picture of the women in the Arab world? Despite of contention of the politicians, scholars and women rights groups are the Arab women in reality content with their veiled existence? I think time has come for us to become an impartial judge and judge the Arab society as distinct from the liberal western societies. The popular allegation against the Arab world is that they have kept their women under veils depriving them of all forms of liberty, education and employment. They are forced into arranged marriages and are victims of triple talaqs, while they themselves do not have the right to ask for divorce. A close look into the realities of the Arab life will show that at least some of these allegations are mere myths far-fetched from the realities of life. As for education, Arab women especially from the upper echelons of the society attend schools, colleges and universities. Many of them are professionals and even employed. Lack of education and employment opportunities are prevalent among the impoverished Arabs, men and women alike. Gender disparities are common in the Islamic world whereas can we totally rule out gender discrimination and sexual harassment of women in workplaces in the western world? As for marriages, the Shariah rules allow women right to choose their husbands and ask for divorce. Unfortunately despite of claims made by Islamic scholars the elders in the Arabic society who prefer family value to women’s independence hardly follow these rules. There should not be so many fracases about the veils and burqa worn by the Arabian women as it is part of their culture. Women’s independence does not necessarily mean sartorial revolution where to be independent means to walk in skimpy sexy clothes. While much remains to be redressed, but the best way the western world can help the Arab women at least for the time being is promising them a descent life away from the devastations of the wars in Iraq and Palestine. Source:Arab News Image:Yahoo

Women are less than cows, but yet their sexual allure is distracting Muslim males who are no less than lions. The Taliban in Afghanistan publicly thrashed women for joy. And now a mullah in Malaysia has blamed women for snatching men’s sleep. Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the spiritual leader of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, has spoken about the abuses men suffer in silence at the hands of wicked women. The night attire and body-hugging dresses of women seduce hapless men. Thus they cannot sleep, reports Fox News. The fundamentalist cleric does not even consider what Shakespeare once said about the lack of sleeping: one looses sleep from a guilty conscience. What this mullah has done goes only against men. The men are so fragile that they cannot control themselves a wee bit. Also the mullah may be trying hard to cover up and find excuses for guilty souls unable to sleep any longer. And this crazed anti-women talk has a chilling undertone. It reminds us what will happen to a sane world if men like this cleric are allowed to have their say. Abdul Aziz had earlier warned women of inviting rape if they wore lipstick. As the minister of the northeastern state of Kelantan, he has imposed fines on Muslim women who fail to wear headscarves. His speeches are heavily laced with references to hell and eternal punishments. In short he is the public face of the new waves of Talibanization sweeping the world. It is men like him who inspire crazed Jihadis. Freud categorically states that we desire most what we most hate. May be the mullah himself is sexually unstable or has had some frustrating experience to speak like one of those serial killers who blame their victims for all their atrocities. One wants to ask this man what had gone wrong in his childhood for him to rant so. But then again, he will quote the Islamic Scriptures selectively and interpret passages as he fancies. This is not permitted in Islam. Frankly, fundamentalists like him are threefold dangerous. They demean women. They demean men. They are blots on Islam. Via: Fox News Image: Ashraf Latif

Bangladesh is terribly in hot water as the protest for gender equality is underway. Hundreds are currently experiencing the lashes of the patriarchal system of male dominance over women. What the country is undergoing is a long-battle with a noble goal that if ever it will be pushed to the limits, it will eventually result to women empowerment. Dhaka may seemingly be bloody as riots begin to curtail any movement to give women equal rights as men, but the members of the radical Islamic Constitution Movement should not be violent about their actions to temper down the situation. Since the Sharia Law is the prevailing custom in Bangladesh, women receiving only half as much as men will be unfair to those who want to breakfree to traditions. We are living in the 21st century and the old ways of women being treated as second-class citizens should be abolished. The reality of too much female oppression in the region are still being denied by the radical group and consider violence as a normal way of living in Dhaka. The Bangladeshi women treading their way to gender equality will open doors to the progress of the country. It is only proper that the women in the region be respected and be given importance by its men. After all, the women in Dhaka are human beings who should be fairly treated and protected from abuses. Via: euronews

It is routine work for 43 year old Helen Rawlins. For years now she finds peace saving women forced into marriages. She knows the way the cruel world acts upon their daughters. She wants a change. She might not be able to change the mentality of the thousands who believe in what they call tradition, but she surely has been able to give a peaceful life to the girls who do not want to surrender to the ‘situation’. For the British Government, a forced marriage is a breach in human rights. As far as arranged marriage is concerned, it is acceptable if both partners agree to it. Most of the girls Rawlins attend to are shockingly very young. Early twenties, and some even legally not of marriagable age. Thankfully for the girls in Pakistan, mjany have found a way to use their burka to conceal a mobile phone- their tool to call for freedom. The Forced Marriage Unit operates from London. In Pakistan though, Helen Rawlins leads a team with concent of the Pakistan Authorities. It is a sigh of relief for girls who have supportive boyfriends to fight for them and bail them out. For others, it is a struggle alone. In Islamabad Khalida Salimi runs a shelter for women wanting to lead a life away from violence and forced marriages. Image Via: TheAge

Britain is one of the few countries known for possessing higher civilian ethics and supporting human rights in the best possible way. However, quite shocking it’s to know that here too women are subjected to brutality, sometimes in the name of religion or sometimes in the name of customs. The issue takes a more gruesome turn when it comes to Muslim women. It’s shameful to say that this brutality is a part of 21st century Britain. Yes! You got it right. No doubt, in the Muslim community, this brutality is prevalent for a long time after it started approximately 2000 years ago. However, one is certainly shocked to know that countries like Britain are also part of it. Here I am talking about a very brutal form of custom called Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) If you think that FGM is just like male circumcision, in which a small part of thin foreskin is snipped off then you are wrong because it is a surgery of the cruelest kind that involves: • The removal of the tip of the clitoris, which is very sensitive because it contains the most nerve endings • Total removal of the clitoris and surrounding labia • The removal of the clitoris and labia and the sewing up of the vagina, leaving only a small opening for urine and menstrual blood – a process known as infibulations. Conservative estimates show that 66,000 women and girls living in Britain have been mutilated so far and the practice is still on. It provides a glimpse of the horrific practice, still prevalent in a developed countries like Britain, but the situation is no less than a nightmare in many developing countries. For instance, in around 28 countries in central Africa, it is widely practiced. Defining it as one of the cruelest surgery, won’t be wrong. However, it’s ironic that instruments normally used for conducting FGM include razor, blade, broken glass, a tin lid and any other sharp-edged glass. In most cases, untrained mid-wives conduct entire procedure, exposing the victim to fatal repercussions like – serious infections, HIV, abscesses and small benign tumors, hemorrhages, shock, clitoral cysts, etc. The main logic behind such horrendous practice is that it makes women calm and enables her to provide more satisfaction during sexual intercourse. Isn’t it bullshit just, especially at a time when old shackles regarding virginity, abstinence are fast losing their importance? Moreover, such barbaric customs or traditions makes mockery of the very concept of modernization, which we all feel proud of. Isn’t it? Image Source