Muslim women testing traditional boundaries
A Jordanian woman has transformed herself from housewife to licensed plumber, breaking gender barriers, in a country and a region where most women don't work outside the home. (Oct. 25)
VIDEO
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/video/viral/mu ... ailsignout
Women in Islam
November 13: Gender Justice in Islam
Presented by Dr. Zahra N. Jamal, Associate Director at Rice University's Boniuk Institute
Islam is often seen today as a religion that subordinates, oppresses, and discriminates against women. However, Muslims themselves often argue that the "real" Islam liberates, lauds, and protects women. Muslims and non-Muslims are reaching different conclusions on this issue. Some reject Islam altogether, others reject the way that the Quran, the Muslim Holy Book, has been interpreted, while still others embrace the traditional role of women articulated in earlier interpretations of the Quran. In these discussions, the question of gender equality in Islam is central, and specific practices like veiling and polygamy are the subject of debate as examples of gender (in)equality. In this class, we will learn about gender equality in Islam, as articulated in the Quran, and as interpreted by various people, including feminist scholars, religious leaders (imams), and "everyday" Muslims in a range of contexts, from the US to Egypt to Iran.
Dr. Zahra Jamal is Associate Director at Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance at Rice University. She has taught at Harvard, MIT, University of Chicago, Michigan State University (MSU), and Palmer Trinity. She founded and directed the Civil Islam Initiative at University of Chicago and the Central Asia and International Development Initiative at MSU. As well, Dr. Jamal served as Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of American Muslims at the DC-based think tank, The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. She has consulted for the UN, State Department, Aga Khan Development Network, Swiss Development Cooperation, and Aspen Institute. Dr. Jamal received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard, and double B.A. in Slavic Studies and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from Rice University.
http://saintphilip.net/Church_andSociety.html
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Muhammad Was A Feminist
The prophet Muhammad would be appalled by how current Islamic Fundamentalists are treating women under their control. This suppression is done in the name of Islamic Law, known as Sharia. But the current suppression of women is shaped by cultural and history. It has little basis in the Quran and it is certainly not consistent with anything we know about what Muhammad taught or how he treated women. Of all the founders of the great religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam and Judaism — Muhammad was easily the most radical and empowering in his treatment of women. Arguably he was history’s first feminist.
This is of critical importance because if there is one single thing that Arabs and Muslims could do to reform and re-vitalize their crisis ridden cultures, it would be to liberate their women and provide them with the full rights women are enjoying in more and more countries around the world. Women’s equality is key to a real Arab Spring.
More...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-garri ... 38112.html
Presented by Dr. Zahra N. Jamal, Associate Director at Rice University's Boniuk Institute
Islam is often seen today as a religion that subordinates, oppresses, and discriminates against women. However, Muslims themselves often argue that the "real" Islam liberates, lauds, and protects women. Muslims and non-Muslims are reaching different conclusions on this issue. Some reject Islam altogether, others reject the way that the Quran, the Muslim Holy Book, has been interpreted, while still others embrace the traditional role of women articulated in earlier interpretations of the Quran. In these discussions, the question of gender equality in Islam is central, and specific practices like veiling and polygamy are the subject of debate as examples of gender (in)equality. In this class, we will learn about gender equality in Islam, as articulated in the Quran, and as interpreted by various people, including feminist scholars, religious leaders (imams), and "everyday" Muslims in a range of contexts, from the US to Egypt to Iran.
Dr. Zahra Jamal is Associate Director at Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance at Rice University. She has taught at Harvard, MIT, University of Chicago, Michigan State University (MSU), and Palmer Trinity. She founded and directed the Civil Islam Initiative at University of Chicago and the Central Asia and International Development Initiative at MSU. As well, Dr. Jamal served as Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of American Muslims at the DC-based think tank, The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. She has consulted for the UN, State Department, Aga Khan Development Network, Swiss Development Cooperation, and Aspen Institute. Dr. Jamal received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard, and double B.A. in Slavic Studies and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from Rice University.
http://saintphilip.net/Church_andSociety.html
******
Muhammad Was A Feminist
The prophet Muhammad would be appalled by how current Islamic Fundamentalists are treating women under their control. This suppression is done in the name of Islamic Law, known as Sharia. But the current suppression of women is shaped by cultural and history. It has little basis in the Quran and it is certainly not consistent with anything we know about what Muhammad taught or how he treated women. Of all the founders of the great religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam and Judaism — Muhammad was easily the most radical and empowering in his treatment of women. Arguably he was history’s first feminist.
This is of critical importance because if there is one single thing that Arabs and Muslims could do to reform and re-vitalize their crisis ridden cultures, it would be to liberate their women and provide them with the full rights women are enjoying in more and more countries around the world. Women’s equality is key to a real Arab Spring.
More...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-garri ... 38112.html
Farah Nasser – Redefining Muslim Women on TV
Farah Nasser brings extensive experience to her role as anchor on Global News at 5:30 & 6. Nasser began her career with RogersTV before accepting a position with Newstalk 1010 in 1999. There she started as a producer and worked her way up into a reporting role. Next, Nasser made the move to Toronto 1 where she worked as a journalist for two years before joining /A\ Channel News in Barrie, reporting for the Toronto Bureau. In 2006, she joined Citytv as a reporter and later became a weekend anchor. Prior to her position with Global News, Nasser was an anchor and reporter for CP24. Nasser has been informing viewers across the GTA for more than a decade. Among her career highlights are the Air France crash in 2005, G20 Summit in 2010 and the Toronto 18 terror trials. She’s a political veteran having covered municipal, provincial and federal elections.
More...
http://muslimlink.ca/in-focus/farah-nasser
Farah Nasser brings extensive experience to her role as anchor on Global News at 5:30 & 6. Nasser began her career with RogersTV before accepting a position with Newstalk 1010 in 1999. There she started as a producer and worked her way up into a reporting role. Next, Nasser made the move to Toronto 1 where she worked as a journalist for two years before joining /A\ Channel News in Barrie, reporting for the Toronto Bureau. In 2006, she joined Citytv as a reporter and later became a weekend anchor. Prior to her position with Global News, Nasser was an anchor and reporter for CP24. Nasser has been informing viewers across the GTA for more than a decade. Among her career highlights are the Air France crash in 2005, G20 Summit in 2010 and the Toronto 18 terror trials. She’s a political veteran having covered municipal, provincial and federal elections.
More...
http://muslimlink.ca/in-focus/farah-nasser
Samina Baig leads first national women winter expedition to Shimshal peak
Pakistan Youth Outreach, in collaboration with Karakorum Expeditions Pvt Ltd, initiated a national women winter expedition to an unnamed and unclimbed peak, for the first time in Pakistan’s mountaineering history.
National women winter expedition was led by Pakistan’s renowned and only female mountaineer Samina Baig. The expedition was initially planned to 6050m peak in the Shimshal Pamir region, known as “Mingligh Sar”. However, due to some logistic issues the plan was changed and the team decided to ascend an unnamed and unclimbed peak in the Boisom pass area in Gojrave valley of Shimshal in Upper Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan.
The peak has never been climbed in the past even in the summers. Expedition in winters are challenging and have never been attempted before. This expedition was launched under the slogan of Women Empowerment, to encourage gender equality and unity among the youth/women across Pakistan. Women winter mountaineering aims to break barriers and stereotypes prevalent for women in Pakistan and encourage young Pakistani women to pursue mountaineering as a career choice and embark on challenging and unconventional outdoor sports endeavours.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/128042-Samina ... mshal-peak
Pakistan Youth Outreach, in collaboration with Karakorum Expeditions Pvt Ltd, initiated a national women winter expedition to an unnamed and unclimbed peak, for the first time in Pakistan’s mountaineering history.
National women winter expedition was led by Pakistan’s renowned and only female mountaineer Samina Baig. The expedition was initially planned to 6050m peak in the Shimshal Pamir region, known as “Mingligh Sar”. However, due to some logistic issues the plan was changed and the team decided to ascend an unnamed and unclimbed peak in the Boisom pass area in Gojrave valley of Shimshal in Upper Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan.
The peak has never been climbed in the past even in the summers. Expedition in winters are challenging and have never been attempted before. This expedition was launched under the slogan of Women Empowerment, to encourage gender equality and unity among the youth/women across Pakistan. Women winter mountaineering aims to break barriers and stereotypes prevalent for women in Pakistan and encourage young Pakistani women to pursue mountaineering as a career choice and embark on challenging and unconventional outdoor sports endeavours.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/128042-Samina ... mshal-peak
Saudi woman’s plea for help exposes runaways’ plight
A video of female runaway Dina Ali Lasloom's cry for help has triggered a firestorm on social media.
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES—A young Saudi woman’s plea for help after she was stopped in an airport in the Philippines en route to Australia where she planned to seek asylum has triggered a firestorm on social media and drawn attention to the plight of female runaways.
For runaway Saudi women, fleeing can be a matter of life and death, and they are almost always doing so to escape male relatives.
Under Saudi Arabia’s conservative interpretation of Islamic law, a male guardianship system bars women from travelling abroad, obtaining a passport, marrying or even leaving prison without the consent of a male relative. Most Muslim-majority countries do not have similarly restrictive guardianship laws.
The mystery around what triggered Dina Ali Lasloom’s cry for help has only added to concerns for her safety.
In a video that appears to be shot with a mobile phone, the 24-year-old says her passport was taken from her at Manila’s international airport in the Philippines on Monday on her way to Australia. She alleges that Philippine airport officials confiscated her passport at the request of Saudi diplomats until her relatives could arrive to take her to Saudi Arabia.
“If my family come, they will kill me. If I go back to Saudi Arabia, I will be dead. Please help me,” she pleads in the video. Lasloom says she is recording the video at the airport so the public “know that I’m real and here.”
Wearing a beige coat, the woman does not show her face in the video. Most women in Saudi Arabia cover their face with a veil known as a niqab. Many do so believing it is a religious obligation, in addition to covering their hair and body. Some also cover their faces due to social pressure.
More...
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017 ... light.html
A video of female runaway Dina Ali Lasloom's cry for help has triggered a firestorm on social media.
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES—A young Saudi woman’s plea for help after she was stopped in an airport in the Philippines en route to Australia where she planned to seek asylum has triggered a firestorm on social media and drawn attention to the plight of female runaways.
For runaway Saudi women, fleeing can be a matter of life and death, and they are almost always doing so to escape male relatives.
Under Saudi Arabia’s conservative interpretation of Islamic law, a male guardianship system bars women from travelling abroad, obtaining a passport, marrying or even leaving prison without the consent of a male relative. Most Muslim-majority countries do not have similarly restrictive guardianship laws.
The mystery around what triggered Dina Ali Lasloom’s cry for help has only added to concerns for her safety.
In a video that appears to be shot with a mobile phone, the 24-year-old says her passport was taken from her at Manila’s international airport in the Philippines on Monday on her way to Australia. She alleges that Philippine airport officials confiscated her passport at the request of Saudi diplomats until her relatives could arrive to take her to Saudi Arabia.
“If my family come, they will kill me. If I go back to Saudi Arabia, I will be dead. Please help me,” she pleads in the video. Lasloom says she is recording the video at the airport so the public “know that I’m real and here.”
Wearing a beige coat, the woman does not show her face in the video. Most women in Saudi Arabia cover their face with a veil known as a niqab. Many do so believing it is a religious obligation, in addition to covering their hair and body. Some also cover their faces due to social pressure.
More...
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017 ... light.html
Amplifying Women Ulama’s Voices, Asserting Values of Islam, Nationhood and Humanity
EXTRACTS
BACKGROUND
The history of Islam shows that “female ulama” (women religious scholars) play an important role in the development of Islamic thought and in society. Female ulama as well as male ulama bring the Prophet’s mission to stand up and protect the dhu’afa and mustadh’afin (the poor and the weak). The presence and the role of the ulama (religious scholars) is often mentioned as being the heirs of the Prophet (warathat al-Anbiya), that is to spread kindness and blessings for the entire universe (rahmatan lil-alamin) so as to create a peaceful, just and equitable life.
In carrying out this prophetic mission, female ulama are often experiencing various challenges, such as being denied, considered not legitimate, and even facing violence. Therefore various efforts need to be done, like: strengthening the expertise and knowledge of female ulama, networking among them, affirmation and appreciation of their work, as well as strengthening their cultural existence.
........
Therefore, there is urgent need to revitalization of the role of ulama in bringing religion down to earth to promote humanity, women’s rights, and principles of nationhood. By amplifying the voices of women ulama on the ground, we facilitate critical dialogue on theory, conceptual framework, strategy, obstacle and challenges regarding Islamic teaching and the real work of women’s empowerment and advancement of the rights of women and girls in the national and global level. The 1st Women Ulama International Forum is part of Pre Congress activity that will gather women ulama from different continents, academia and practitioners to come together on a common platform for the future works of women ulama.
OBJECTIVE
There are four objectives we would like to achieve:
•Develop common knowledge about “ulama” from the perspective of history, socio political cultural context, roles and concrete contribution of women ulama in the advancement of women and human civilization
•Facilitate a forum for women ulama overseas to share their experiences and analysis in promoting Islamic teaching in the field of women empowerment and social justice covering strategy, obstacle, and challenge in mobilizing community for social change
•Build strong analysis on critical issues relating to violence against women, child marriage, migration, and preventing violence extremism from perspective of academia, ulama and practitioners of women empowerment
•Identify strategies to further develop the knowledge base and sharpen analysis on these issues, to be used by advocates to influence policy and practice in the region
•Contribute to the formulation of religious fatwa about contemporary issues on women and Islam on the basis of lived experience of women, Islamic texts, national and global instruments
More...
https://kupi-cirebon.net/international- ... men-ulama/
EXTRACTS
BACKGROUND
The history of Islam shows that “female ulama” (women religious scholars) play an important role in the development of Islamic thought and in society. Female ulama as well as male ulama bring the Prophet’s mission to stand up and protect the dhu’afa and mustadh’afin (the poor and the weak). The presence and the role of the ulama (religious scholars) is often mentioned as being the heirs of the Prophet (warathat al-Anbiya), that is to spread kindness and blessings for the entire universe (rahmatan lil-alamin) so as to create a peaceful, just and equitable life.
In carrying out this prophetic mission, female ulama are often experiencing various challenges, such as being denied, considered not legitimate, and even facing violence. Therefore various efforts need to be done, like: strengthening the expertise and knowledge of female ulama, networking among them, affirmation and appreciation of their work, as well as strengthening their cultural existence.
........
Therefore, there is urgent need to revitalization of the role of ulama in bringing religion down to earth to promote humanity, women’s rights, and principles of nationhood. By amplifying the voices of women ulama on the ground, we facilitate critical dialogue on theory, conceptual framework, strategy, obstacle and challenges regarding Islamic teaching and the real work of women’s empowerment and advancement of the rights of women and girls in the national and global level. The 1st Women Ulama International Forum is part of Pre Congress activity that will gather women ulama from different continents, academia and practitioners to come together on a common platform for the future works of women ulama.
OBJECTIVE
There are four objectives we would like to achieve:
•Develop common knowledge about “ulama” from the perspective of history, socio political cultural context, roles and concrete contribution of women ulama in the advancement of women and human civilization
•Facilitate a forum for women ulama overseas to share their experiences and analysis in promoting Islamic teaching in the field of women empowerment and social justice covering strategy, obstacle, and challenge in mobilizing community for social change
•Build strong analysis on critical issues relating to violence against women, child marriage, migration, and preventing violence extremism from perspective of academia, ulama and practitioners of women empowerment
•Identify strategies to further develop the knowledge base and sharpen analysis on these issues, to be used by advocates to influence policy and practice in the region
•Contribute to the formulation of religious fatwa about contemporary issues on women and Islam on the basis of lived experience of women, Islamic texts, national and global instruments
More...
https://kupi-cirebon.net/international- ... men-ulama/
Saudi Arabia investigates video of young woman walking in miniskirt
Saudi Arabia’s morality police has called on other agencies to investigate the video of a young Saudi woman wearing a miniskirt and crop top in public, with some calling for her arrest and others rushing to her defense.
State-linked news websites reported on Monday that officials in the deeply conservative Muslim country are looking into taking possible action against the woman, who violated the kingdom’s rules of dress. Women in Saudi Arabia must wear long, loose robes known as abayas in public. Most also cover their hair and face with a black veil, though exceptions are made for visiting dignitaries.
More...
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/sau ... ailsignout
Saudi Arabia’s morality police has called on other agencies to investigate the video of a young Saudi woman wearing a miniskirt and crop top in public, with some calling for her arrest and others rushing to her defense.
State-linked news websites reported on Monday that officials in the deeply conservative Muslim country are looking into taking possible action against the woman, who violated the kingdom’s rules of dress. Women in Saudi Arabia must wear long, loose robes known as abayas in public. Most also cover their hair and face with a black veil, though exceptions are made for visiting dignitaries.
More...
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/sau ... ailsignout
A New Tune on Women’s Rights in the Arab World
LONDON — “I want to tell you something, so listen to what I say. When a man is talking, a woman should obey. She shouldn’t say ‘yes’ and then forget the next day. She should appreciate his value if she wants him to stay.”
So goes the title track of “The Man,” a new album by the Egyptian singer Ramy Sabry. Since its release in June, the song seemed to strike a chord with listeners across the Middle East, amassing more than three million views on YouTube.
This summer, however, legislators in several Arab states appear to have tuned out. Over the past three months, significant legal reforms on women’s rights have advanced in a handful of countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Last week, Lebanon’s Parliament finally repealed its rape law, which allowed assailants to escape punishment if they wed their victims. Two weeks earlier, Jordan, too, closed its “marry your rapist” loophole, and has also amended an article in its penal code that granted lesser penalties for “fits of fury,” a.k.a. honor killings — none too soon for at least some of the 36 cases of women murdered last year still before the courts.
Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring, has gone farthest on this front. In July, its Parliament passed a landmark legislative package on violence against women. The laws break new ground in the region by stiffening penalties for sexual violence against minors (including the removal of a “marry your rapist” provision), mandating compensation and follow-up support for survivors, and explicitly recognizing that men and boys, as well as women and girls, can be victims of rape.
When it comes to women’s rights, governments across the region are generally more comfortable with criminalizing violence than they are with protecting freedoms. But last week, President Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia announced a significant departure from business as usual by launching a commission on how to put laws on individual liberties and equality into practice for women, including the incendiary topic of equal inheritance between the sexes. He also urged the country’s ministry of justice to repeal the law prohibiting Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men, one in force across the region and much of the wider Islamic world.
More....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/opin ... dline&te=1
LONDON — “I want to tell you something, so listen to what I say. When a man is talking, a woman should obey. She shouldn’t say ‘yes’ and then forget the next day. She should appreciate his value if she wants him to stay.”
So goes the title track of “The Man,” a new album by the Egyptian singer Ramy Sabry. Since its release in June, the song seemed to strike a chord with listeners across the Middle East, amassing more than three million views on YouTube.
This summer, however, legislators in several Arab states appear to have tuned out. Over the past three months, significant legal reforms on women’s rights have advanced in a handful of countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Last week, Lebanon’s Parliament finally repealed its rape law, which allowed assailants to escape punishment if they wed their victims. Two weeks earlier, Jordan, too, closed its “marry your rapist” loophole, and has also amended an article in its penal code that granted lesser penalties for “fits of fury,” a.k.a. honor killings — none too soon for at least some of the 36 cases of women murdered last year still before the courts.
Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring, has gone farthest on this front. In July, its Parliament passed a landmark legislative package on violence against women. The laws break new ground in the region by stiffening penalties for sexual violence against minors (including the removal of a “marry your rapist” provision), mandating compensation and follow-up support for survivors, and explicitly recognizing that men and boys, as well as women and girls, can be victims of rape.
When it comes to women’s rights, governments across the region are generally more comfortable with criminalizing violence than they are with protecting freedoms. But last week, President Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia announced a significant departure from business as usual by launching a commission on how to put laws on individual liberties and equality into practice for women, including the incendiary topic of equal inheritance between the sexes. He also urged the country’s ministry of justice to repeal the law prohibiting Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men, one in force across the region and much of the wider Islamic world.
More....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/opin ... dline&te=1
In Indonesia, 3 Muslim Girls Fight for Their Right to Play Heavy Metal
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The three teenage girls — shy and even seeming slightly embarrassed as they peer out from their Islamic head scarves — do not look much like a heavy metal band.
But a dramatic change occurs when they take the stage. All pretense of shyness or awkwardness evaporates as the group — two 17-year-olds and one 15-year-old — begin hammering away at bass, guitar and drums to create a joyous, youthful racket.
They are Voice of Baceprot, a rising band in Indonesia, a country where heavy metal is popular enough that the president is an avowed fan of bands like Metallica and Megadeth.
But beyond blowing away local audiences with their banging music, the three girls are also challenging entrenched stereotypes about gender and religious norms in the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority nation.
“Baceprot” (pronounced bachey-PROT) means “noise” in a common dialect in the West Java region, where the girls live and attend high school in a rural town, Singajaya.
They say they want to prove that they can be observant Muslims while also playing loud music and being independent.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/worl ... 05309&_r=0
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The three teenage girls — shy and even seeming slightly embarrassed as they peer out from their Islamic head scarves — do not look much like a heavy metal band.
But a dramatic change occurs when they take the stage. All pretense of shyness or awkwardness evaporates as the group — two 17-year-olds and one 15-year-old — begin hammering away at bass, guitar and drums to create a joyous, youthful racket.
They are Voice of Baceprot, a rising band in Indonesia, a country where heavy metal is popular enough that the president is an avowed fan of bands like Metallica and Megadeth.
But beyond blowing away local audiences with their banging music, the three girls are also challenging entrenched stereotypes about gender and religious norms in the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority nation.
“Baceprot” (pronounced bachey-PROT) means “noise” in a common dialect in the West Java region, where the girls live and attend high school in a rural town, Singajaya.
They say they want to prove that they can be observant Muslims while also playing loud music and being independent.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/worl ... 05309&_r=0
'As a Muslim, as a Canadian, as a woman': writers share first-hand stories
Azmina Kassam explores issues of identity in her personal essay in 'The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth'
A group of Canadian Muslim women have come together to create an anthology of first-hand stories exploring the diversity, and intersection, of the Islamic faith and Canadian nationality.
The contributors say that too often, Muslim women are spoken for by others and their own voices are muffled. The new book The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth is an attempt to change that by telling the stories and experiences of 21 women.
Vancouver's Azmina Kassam is one of those "Muslimah" contributors — which is the feminine word for Muslim — and she said that writing down her story was as much a chance to share her experiences as it was to explore her own identity.
"When I was approached, I thought 'What a wonderful opportunity to share with other women my story,'" Kassam told CBC's host of North By Northwest Sheryl MacKay. "The story for me was also about going into 'What is my identity? What is it to be Canadian?'"
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.4294051
Driving change
Saudi Arabia will finally allow women to drive
But bigger changes are needed in the ultraconservative kingdom
THE roads in Riyadh are about to undergo a historic change. On September 26th Saudi Arabia announced the end of its decades-old ban on female drivers. It is the only country in the world to have such a stricture, which became a symbol of the ultraconservative kingdom’s repression of women.
For many Saudi women, the change is long overdue. Dozens of them got behind the wheel in Riyadh in 1990 to demand more rights. Some were prosecuted or lost their government jobs. The protests resumed in 2008 and peaked soon after the Arab uprisings in 2011. “We have lived to see this day after 27 years,” said Hessa al-Sheikh, one of the original activists.
They found a supporter in the youthful crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman (or MBS, as he is called), who has an expansive plan to change Saudi society. One piece is loosening the kingdom’s social restrictions. Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has been ruled according to a strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law. The legal code has also incorporated many tribal customs that were later cloaked in religion. And puritanism was pushed hard as a response to a double political shock in 1979: the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca by Sunni extremists; and the Islamic revolution in Iran, which became ruled by radical Shia clerics.
More...
https://www.economist.com/news/middle-e ... lydispatch
Saudi Arabia will finally allow women to drive
But bigger changes are needed in the ultraconservative kingdom
THE roads in Riyadh are about to undergo a historic change. On September 26th Saudi Arabia announced the end of its decades-old ban on female drivers. It is the only country in the world to have such a stricture, which became a symbol of the ultraconservative kingdom’s repression of women.
For many Saudi women, the change is long overdue. Dozens of them got behind the wheel in Riyadh in 1990 to demand more rights. Some were prosecuted or lost their government jobs. The protests resumed in 2008 and peaked soon after the Arab uprisings in 2011. “We have lived to see this day after 27 years,” said Hessa al-Sheikh, one of the original activists.
They found a supporter in the youthful crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman (or MBS, as he is called), who has an expansive plan to change Saudi society. One piece is loosening the kingdom’s social restrictions. Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has been ruled according to a strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law. The legal code has also incorporated many tribal customs that were later cloaked in religion. And puritanism was pushed hard as a response to a double political shock in 1979: the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca by Sunni extremists; and the Islamic revolution in Iran, which became ruled by radical Shia clerics.
More...
https://www.economist.com/news/middle-e ... lydispatch
Islam in Hiking Sandals—and Red Spike Heels
Crossing Central Asia’s remote and rugged Pamirs, one dance step at a time.
Walking across the world—if you happen to be a man, and particularly if your route winds through conservative rural societies—can be a chronically masculine experience.
Over the past four and a half years, while covering nearly 6,000 miles on foot through three subcontinents on the Out of Eden Walk, I have struggled to recruit women guides along my trail.
Twenty-four of my local walking partners so far have been male: a colorful band of brothers that has included Ethiopian camel nomads and a retired Saudi special forces general, a Palestinian photographer and a cross-dressing Israeli singer, a Georgian high school student and a blacklisted Kazakh divorce judge. By contrast just seven women have joined my global storytelling trek out of Africa. Almost all were visiting friends or fellow journalists. And most have walked along for relatively short lengths of time. True, my route has spanned societies where the sexes don’t often mingle causally. But a global fact remains: At the launch of the 21st century, whether threading the busy sidewalks of the Arab world, or plodding the frozen paths of remote Christian Orthodox villages in the Caucasus, we still live, by and large, in a deeply gender-divided planet.
So it’s been a welcome surprise in the high cold Pamir range of Tajikistan, easily the most rugged and wild landscape I’ve traversed to date, to work with tough women who think nothing of pounding out 25 miles a day—not in hiking boots but in sandals.
Furough Shakarmamadova and Safina Shoxaydarova, both 23, are lifelong friends and pioneers.
They are among the first generation of trained female hiking guides in their isolated community of Shia Muslim mountaineers called Pamiris.
........
If these women are extraordinary, it’s partly because Pamiri culture is special.
They are followers of Ismailism, a tolerant branch of Islam led by the 49th Agha Khan, a spiritual and temporal leader descended from the Prophet Mohammed. (The current imam, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, is a Harvard graduate.) Ismailis are scattered across more than 25 countries. They emphasize self-reliance, community service, and political neutrality. More than most Muslim sects, they promote gender equality: A recent imam advised families that if they could only educate just one child, let it be a girl. In Tajikistan, the minority Ismailis are often blue-eyed and speak languages rooted in ancient eastern Iran. When Alexander the Great marched through, he married his only wife, Roxanne, here.
The last I saw of Shoxaydarova she was, as usual, walking.
Draped in traditional finery, she paraded with her husband out of her grandfather’s house in Khorog to pounding dance music, followed by relatives carrying a bow-wrapped wedding bed. She and Shakarmamadova plan to open the first woman-owned trekking company in Tajikistan.
Are you fluent in another language?
More...
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/proj ... 20509329=1
Crossing Central Asia’s remote and rugged Pamirs, one dance step at a time.
Walking across the world—if you happen to be a man, and particularly if your route winds through conservative rural societies—can be a chronically masculine experience.
Over the past four and a half years, while covering nearly 6,000 miles on foot through three subcontinents on the Out of Eden Walk, I have struggled to recruit women guides along my trail.
Twenty-four of my local walking partners so far have been male: a colorful band of brothers that has included Ethiopian camel nomads and a retired Saudi special forces general, a Palestinian photographer and a cross-dressing Israeli singer, a Georgian high school student and a blacklisted Kazakh divorce judge. By contrast just seven women have joined my global storytelling trek out of Africa. Almost all were visiting friends or fellow journalists. And most have walked along for relatively short lengths of time. True, my route has spanned societies where the sexes don’t often mingle causally. But a global fact remains: At the launch of the 21st century, whether threading the busy sidewalks of the Arab world, or plodding the frozen paths of remote Christian Orthodox villages in the Caucasus, we still live, by and large, in a deeply gender-divided planet.
So it’s been a welcome surprise in the high cold Pamir range of Tajikistan, easily the most rugged and wild landscape I’ve traversed to date, to work with tough women who think nothing of pounding out 25 miles a day—not in hiking boots but in sandals.
Furough Shakarmamadova and Safina Shoxaydarova, both 23, are lifelong friends and pioneers.
They are among the first generation of trained female hiking guides in their isolated community of Shia Muslim mountaineers called Pamiris.
........
If these women are extraordinary, it’s partly because Pamiri culture is special.
They are followers of Ismailism, a tolerant branch of Islam led by the 49th Agha Khan, a spiritual and temporal leader descended from the Prophet Mohammed. (The current imam, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, is a Harvard graduate.) Ismailis are scattered across more than 25 countries. They emphasize self-reliance, community service, and political neutrality. More than most Muslim sects, they promote gender equality: A recent imam advised families that if they could only educate just one child, let it be a girl. In Tajikistan, the minority Ismailis are often blue-eyed and speak languages rooted in ancient eastern Iran. When Alexander the Great marched through, he married his only wife, Roxanne, here.
The last I saw of Shoxaydarova she was, as usual, walking.
Draped in traditional finery, she paraded with her husband out of her grandfather’s house in Khorog to pounding dance music, followed by relatives carrying a bow-wrapped wedding bed. She and Shakarmamadova plan to open the first woman-owned trekking company in Tajikistan.
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https://www.nationalgeographic.org/proj ... 20509329=1
When women ruled the Muslim world
Were it not for the timely intervention of women down the centuries, many an Islamic dynasty would have torn itself apart. By Mohamed Yosri
The ancient East knew many female leaders who were successful rulers of kingdoms, yet authority in the Islamic world was the exclusive preserve of men. Sons, brothers and grandsons were the only ones with a recognised right to inherit power. Nevertheless, Islamic history is riddled with severe crises that threatened to destroy a number of dynasties had it not been for the intervention of women, who assumed guardianship of the young caliphs and kings as a way of protecting the caliphate and realising their own ambitions of power.
So how were these women able to scale the ladder – commanding armies, running states and kingdoms – in the face of cruelty, tyranny and violence?
More...
https://en.qantara.de/content/guardians ... nopaging=1
Were it not for the timely intervention of women down the centuries, many an Islamic dynasty would have torn itself apart. By Mohamed Yosri
The ancient East knew many female leaders who were successful rulers of kingdoms, yet authority in the Islamic world was the exclusive preserve of men. Sons, brothers and grandsons were the only ones with a recognised right to inherit power. Nevertheless, Islamic history is riddled with severe crises that threatened to destroy a number of dynasties had it not been for the intervention of women, who assumed guardianship of the young caliphs and kings as a way of protecting the caliphate and realising their own ambitions of power.
So how were these women able to scale the ladder – commanding armies, running states and kingdoms – in the face of cruelty, tyranny and violence?
More...
https://en.qantara.de/content/guardians ... nopaging=1
Muhammad Was A Feminist
The prophet Muhammad would be appalled by how current Islamic Fundamentalists are treating women under their control. This suppression is done in the name of Islamic Law, known as Sharia. But the current suppression of women is shaped by cultural and history. It has little basis in the Quran and it is certainly not consistent with anything we know about what Muhammad taught or how he treated women. Of all the founders of the great religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam and Judaism — Muhammad was easily the most radical and empowering in his treatment of women. Arguably he was history’s first feminist.
This is of critical importance because if there is one single thing that Arabs and Muslims could do to reform and re-vitalize their crisis ridden cultures, it would be to liberate their women and provide them with the full rights women are enjoying in more and more countries around the world. Women’s equality is key to a real Arab Spring.
Among the founders of the great religions, Confucius barely mentioned women at all and assumed in all his teachings that they we subordinate to men within a patriarchal order. Buddha taught that women could become enlightened but had to be pressured three times before allowing women to become nuns, and then only on the condition, as he put it, that the highest nun would be lower than the lowest monk. In the Gospel accounts, Jesus did not explicitly comment on the status of women, although he did associate with women of ill repute and with non Jewish women. Moses was thoroughly patriarchal and there is virtually nothing in the Torah that indicates specific concern about women’s rights.
Muhammad was fundamentally different. He both explicitly taught the radical equality of women and men as a fundamental tenet of true spirituality, and he took numerous concrete measures to profoundly improve the status and role of women in Arabia during his own lifetime. Muhammad was sensitized to the plight of women because he was born poor and orphaned at a very early age. He was also illiterate. He knew as few did what poverty and social exclusion meant.
Confucius was born into the gentry scholar class of ancient China. Buddha was born a wealthy prince in Nepal. Jesus was born the son of a carpenter with royal lineage and within a tightly knit Jewish community in Palestine. Moses was born into a Hebrew family and raised in the palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Muhammad had none of these advantages. Thus while other religious leaders seemed strangely silent about the oppression of women, Muhammad dramatically raised the status of women as a matter of religious conviction and state policy. Consider the following:
During seventh century Arabia, female infanticide was commonplace. Muhammad abolished it. A saying in the Hadith (the collection of sayings of Muhammad) records that Muhammad said that the birth of a girl was a “blessing.” Women in Arabia at that time were essentially considered property and had absolutely no civil rights. Muhammad gave them the right to own property and they were extended very important marital and inheritance rights.
Prior to Muhammad, the dowry paid by a man for his bride was given to her father as part of the contract between the two men. Women had no say in the matter. Muhammad declared that women needed to assent to the marriage and that the dowry should go to the bride, not the father; furthermore, she could keep the dowry even after marriage. The wife did not have to use the dowry for family expenses. That was the responsibility of the man. Women were also given the right to divorce their husbands, something unprecedented at that time. In a divorce, the woman was empowered to take the dowry with her.
Women were extended inheritance rights as well. They were only given half as much as their brothers because the men had more financial responsibilities for family expenses, but with Muhammad, women became inheritors of property and family assets for the first time in Arabia. At the time, this was considered revolutionary.
Muhammad himself was often seen doing “women’s work” around the house and was very attentive to his family. His first marriage to Khadija was monogamous for the entire 15 years they were married, something rare in Arabia at that time. By all accounts, they were deeply in love and Khadija in fact was the first convert to Islam. She encouraged Muhammad from his very first encounter with the angel Gabriel and the recitation of the first suras that were to become the Quran.
After Khadija’s death, Muhammad married 12 wives. One was Aisha, the daughter of his closest friend and ally Abu Baker. The rest were nearly all widows, divorced women, or captives. He preached consistently that it was the responsibility of men to protect those women who had met with misfortune. This was one of the reasons polygamy was encouraged. Even with female infanticide, women in seventh century Arabia far outnumbered men because so many men were killed in the inter-tribal warfare of the day. Several of Muhammad’s wives were poor and destitute and he took them in, along with their children, into his household.
In his Farewell Sermon delivered shortly before he died in 632, Muhammad said to the men, “You have certain rights over women but they have certain rights over you.” Women, he said, are your “partners and helpers.” In one of the sayings of the Hadith, Muhammad says, “The best men are those who are best to their wives.”
His wife Aisha took a leadership role after his death in bringing together the Hadith and another wife played a leading role in gathering together the suras that comprise the Quran. Each of the 114 suras that comprise the Quran with the exception of sura 9 begin with the words Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim. Translated most commonly as “In the Name of God, all compassionate, all merciful,” the deeper meaning of this phrase is “In the Name of the One who births compassion and mercy from the womb.” This invocation of the feminine aspect of Allah is key to an Islamic Renaissance.
Finally, there is nothing in the Quran about women wearing the veil, the Hejab. That was certainly the custom in Arabia at that time and Muhammad’s wives wore the Hejab to designate their special status as “Mothers of the Believers,” but the only thing the Quran says directly is that women should dress “modestly.” Muhammad said the same thing to men. For him, modesty of dress was expressive of modesty of the heart. Muhammad himself, even when he was supreme leader, never wore anything more than simple white woolen attire.
So radical were Muhammad’s reforms that the status of women in Arabia and early Islam was higher than any other society in the world at that time. Women in 7th century Arabia had rights not extended to most women in the West till recent centuries over 1,000 years later. The fact that women have ended up in such a degraded position in many contemporary Arab/Muslim counties is a tragedy and needs to be rectified if the Islamic culture and civilization is to flourish again as it did during the Abbasid Caliphate from the 8th - 13th centuries when Islamic civilization was a shining light to the world. Liberating women would have profound effects politically, economically, culturally, artistically, and religiously. It would take the Arab Spring to a whole new level, which is what is so desperately needed in those countries that suffered the first Arab Spring as a stillbirth.
It is time for Islam to liberate women fully and do so upon the example of Muhammad and the authority of the Quran that holds compassion and mercy as the first and foremost attributes of Allah.
Written with Banafsheh Sayyad, author, Dance of Oneness
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-garr ... 38112.html
The prophet Muhammad would be appalled by how current Islamic Fundamentalists are treating women under their control. This suppression is done in the name of Islamic Law, known as Sharia. But the current suppression of women is shaped by cultural and history. It has little basis in the Quran and it is certainly not consistent with anything we know about what Muhammad taught or how he treated women. Of all the founders of the great religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam and Judaism — Muhammad was easily the most radical and empowering in his treatment of women. Arguably he was history’s first feminist.
This is of critical importance because if there is one single thing that Arabs and Muslims could do to reform and re-vitalize their crisis ridden cultures, it would be to liberate their women and provide them with the full rights women are enjoying in more and more countries around the world. Women’s equality is key to a real Arab Spring.
Among the founders of the great religions, Confucius barely mentioned women at all and assumed in all his teachings that they we subordinate to men within a patriarchal order. Buddha taught that women could become enlightened but had to be pressured three times before allowing women to become nuns, and then only on the condition, as he put it, that the highest nun would be lower than the lowest monk. In the Gospel accounts, Jesus did not explicitly comment on the status of women, although he did associate with women of ill repute and with non Jewish women. Moses was thoroughly patriarchal and there is virtually nothing in the Torah that indicates specific concern about women’s rights.
Muhammad was fundamentally different. He both explicitly taught the radical equality of women and men as a fundamental tenet of true spirituality, and he took numerous concrete measures to profoundly improve the status and role of women in Arabia during his own lifetime. Muhammad was sensitized to the plight of women because he was born poor and orphaned at a very early age. He was also illiterate. He knew as few did what poverty and social exclusion meant.
Confucius was born into the gentry scholar class of ancient China. Buddha was born a wealthy prince in Nepal. Jesus was born the son of a carpenter with royal lineage and within a tightly knit Jewish community in Palestine. Moses was born into a Hebrew family and raised in the palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Muhammad had none of these advantages. Thus while other religious leaders seemed strangely silent about the oppression of women, Muhammad dramatically raised the status of women as a matter of religious conviction and state policy. Consider the following:
During seventh century Arabia, female infanticide was commonplace. Muhammad abolished it. A saying in the Hadith (the collection of sayings of Muhammad) records that Muhammad said that the birth of a girl was a “blessing.” Women in Arabia at that time were essentially considered property and had absolutely no civil rights. Muhammad gave them the right to own property and they were extended very important marital and inheritance rights.
Prior to Muhammad, the dowry paid by a man for his bride was given to her father as part of the contract between the two men. Women had no say in the matter. Muhammad declared that women needed to assent to the marriage and that the dowry should go to the bride, not the father; furthermore, she could keep the dowry even after marriage. The wife did not have to use the dowry for family expenses. That was the responsibility of the man. Women were also given the right to divorce their husbands, something unprecedented at that time. In a divorce, the woman was empowered to take the dowry with her.
Women were extended inheritance rights as well. They were only given half as much as their brothers because the men had more financial responsibilities for family expenses, but with Muhammad, women became inheritors of property and family assets for the first time in Arabia. At the time, this was considered revolutionary.
Muhammad himself was often seen doing “women’s work” around the house and was very attentive to his family. His first marriage to Khadija was monogamous for the entire 15 years they were married, something rare in Arabia at that time. By all accounts, they were deeply in love and Khadija in fact was the first convert to Islam. She encouraged Muhammad from his very first encounter with the angel Gabriel and the recitation of the first suras that were to become the Quran.
After Khadija’s death, Muhammad married 12 wives. One was Aisha, the daughter of his closest friend and ally Abu Baker. The rest were nearly all widows, divorced women, or captives. He preached consistently that it was the responsibility of men to protect those women who had met with misfortune. This was one of the reasons polygamy was encouraged. Even with female infanticide, women in seventh century Arabia far outnumbered men because so many men were killed in the inter-tribal warfare of the day. Several of Muhammad’s wives were poor and destitute and he took them in, along with their children, into his household.
In his Farewell Sermon delivered shortly before he died in 632, Muhammad said to the men, “You have certain rights over women but they have certain rights over you.” Women, he said, are your “partners and helpers.” In one of the sayings of the Hadith, Muhammad says, “The best men are those who are best to their wives.”
His wife Aisha took a leadership role after his death in bringing together the Hadith and another wife played a leading role in gathering together the suras that comprise the Quran. Each of the 114 suras that comprise the Quran with the exception of sura 9 begin with the words Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim. Translated most commonly as “In the Name of God, all compassionate, all merciful,” the deeper meaning of this phrase is “In the Name of the One who births compassion and mercy from the womb.” This invocation of the feminine aspect of Allah is key to an Islamic Renaissance.
Finally, there is nothing in the Quran about women wearing the veil, the Hejab. That was certainly the custom in Arabia at that time and Muhammad’s wives wore the Hejab to designate their special status as “Mothers of the Believers,” but the only thing the Quran says directly is that women should dress “modestly.” Muhammad said the same thing to men. For him, modesty of dress was expressive of modesty of the heart. Muhammad himself, even when he was supreme leader, never wore anything more than simple white woolen attire.
So radical were Muhammad’s reforms that the status of women in Arabia and early Islam was higher than any other society in the world at that time. Women in 7th century Arabia had rights not extended to most women in the West till recent centuries over 1,000 years later. The fact that women have ended up in such a degraded position in many contemporary Arab/Muslim counties is a tragedy and needs to be rectified if the Islamic culture and civilization is to flourish again as it did during the Abbasid Caliphate from the 8th - 13th centuries when Islamic civilization was a shining light to the world. Liberating women would have profound effects politically, economically, culturally, artistically, and religiously. It would take the Arab Spring to a whole new level, which is what is so desperately needed in those countries that suffered the first Arab Spring as a stillbirth.
It is time for Islam to liberate women fully and do so upon the example of Muhammad and the authority of the Quran that holds compassion and mercy as the first and foremost attributes of Allah.
Written with Banafsheh Sayyad, author, Dance of Oneness
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-garr ... 38112.html
Muslim Women, Caught Between Islamophobes and ‘Our Men’
Excerpt:
For Muslims, however, the reports have instead served as a reminder that we Muslim women are caught between a rock and a hard place — a trap presenting near-impossible obstacles for exposing sexual violence.
The rock is an Islamophobic right wing in other cultures that is all too eager to demonize Muslim men. Exhibit A is President Trump, who has himself been accused of sexually harassing women and was caught on tape bragging about it. Nevertheless, he has used so-called honor crimes and misogyny (which he ascribes to Muslim men) to justify his efforts to ban travel to the United States from several Muslim-majority countries.
An ascendant right wing in European politics meanwhile jumps to connect any reports of misconduct by Muslim men to their Muslimness and to Islam as a faith rather than to their maleness and the power with which patriarchy rewards it around the globe. Witness the aftermath of a sexual assault against women in Cologne, Germany, on New Year’s Eve two years ago, in which the men’s faith and ethnic backgrounds were highlighted as explanations of the assaults.
“Many Muslim women have been reluctant to discuss this Tariq Ramadan case because in part they don’t want to feed into elements of the media’s Islamophobic and racist framing of these allegations,” Shaista Aziz, an Oxford-based freelance journalist, told me. “This does nothing to encourage women to report sexual violence.”
The hard place is a community within our own faith that is all too eager to defend Muslim men against all accusations. Mr. Ramadan’s defenders have dismissed the complaints against him as a “Zionist conspiracy” and an Islamophobic attempt to destroy a Muslim scholar. Too often, when Muslim women speak out, some in our “community” accuse us of “making our men look bad” and of giving ammunition to right-wing Islamophobes.
But they get it wrong. It is the harassers and assaulters who make us “look bad,” not the women who have every right to expose crimes against them. Mr. Ramadan’s case is also a reminder of the veneration of Muslim male scholars that gives them incredible and often unchecked power.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/19/opin ... .html?_r=0
Excerpt:
For Muslims, however, the reports have instead served as a reminder that we Muslim women are caught between a rock and a hard place — a trap presenting near-impossible obstacles for exposing sexual violence.
The rock is an Islamophobic right wing in other cultures that is all too eager to demonize Muslim men. Exhibit A is President Trump, who has himself been accused of sexually harassing women and was caught on tape bragging about it. Nevertheless, he has used so-called honor crimes and misogyny (which he ascribes to Muslim men) to justify his efforts to ban travel to the United States from several Muslim-majority countries.
An ascendant right wing in European politics meanwhile jumps to connect any reports of misconduct by Muslim men to their Muslimness and to Islam as a faith rather than to their maleness and the power with which patriarchy rewards it around the globe. Witness the aftermath of a sexual assault against women in Cologne, Germany, on New Year’s Eve two years ago, in which the men’s faith and ethnic backgrounds were highlighted as explanations of the assaults.
“Many Muslim women have been reluctant to discuss this Tariq Ramadan case because in part they don’t want to feed into elements of the media’s Islamophobic and racist framing of these allegations,” Shaista Aziz, an Oxford-based freelance journalist, told me. “This does nothing to encourage women to report sexual violence.”
The hard place is a community within our own faith that is all too eager to defend Muslim men against all accusations. Mr. Ramadan’s defenders have dismissed the complaints against him as a “Zionist conspiracy” and an Islamophobic attempt to destroy a Muslim scholar. Too often, when Muslim women speak out, some in our “community” accuse us of “making our men look bad” and of giving ammunition to right-wing Islamophobes.
But they get it wrong. It is the harassers and assaulters who make us “look bad,” not the women who have every right to expose crimes against them. Mr. Ramadan’s case is also a reminder of the veneration of Muslim male scholars that gives them incredible and often unchecked power.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/19/opin ... .html?_r=0
Women need to play a role in ‘restoring’ Saudi Islam
In a wide-ranging interview with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman (a.k.a. "MBS") discussed, among other topics, the recent anti-corruption drive and liberalization of Saudi society. Call it a kinder, gentler form of authoritarianism – with a progressive touch. Notably, MBS refused to address his country's interference in Lebanese politics or its unconscionable scorched-earth policy in Yemen.
Nonetheless, Mr. Friedman was effusive of MBS's plans to veer Saudi Islam to a "moderate, balanced Islam that is open to the world and to all religions and all traditions and peoples." The Prince calls it a "restoration" of the faith to its origins – namely the Prophetic period in the early 7th century. This has the potential to reverse the puritanical strain (Wahhabism) currently at the heart of Saudi society, where, for example, a woman is under male guardianship from cradle to grave.
The late Sunni scholar Abdul Halim Abu Shaqqa chronicled in his comprehensive study of the Koran and authentic traditions of Prophet Muhammad, Muslim women were far more engaged in society during the Prophetic era. They had more rights and opportunities to build a vibrant society, in partnership with men, than many contemporary Muslim cultures (including Saudi Arabia).
Mr. Friedman believes this "restoration" project "would drive moderation across the Muslim world." In fact, most of the Muslim world has soundly rejected Wahhabism. Yet, the deeply entrenched patriarchy of Saudi society finds parallels in many Muslim countries.
While MBS has promised to grant Saudi women more liberty, his top-down approach towards "restoration" of Islam raises a number of questions.
Will the man who allowed women to drive, allow them a place to drive the "restoration" as well? Or will it be a vehicle steered exclusively by men, with women seated as passengers, while men alone navigate women's role in society?
Women's voices and perspectives will be essential if there is to be any meaningful reform of contemporary Muslim cultural practices.
More...
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion ... e37138759/
In a wide-ranging interview with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman (a.k.a. "MBS") discussed, among other topics, the recent anti-corruption drive and liberalization of Saudi society. Call it a kinder, gentler form of authoritarianism – with a progressive touch. Notably, MBS refused to address his country's interference in Lebanese politics or its unconscionable scorched-earth policy in Yemen.
Nonetheless, Mr. Friedman was effusive of MBS's plans to veer Saudi Islam to a "moderate, balanced Islam that is open to the world and to all religions and all traditions and peoples." The Prince calls it a "restoration" of the faith to its origins – namely the Prophetic period in the early 7th century. This has the potential to reverse the puritanical strain (Wahhabism) currently at the heart of Saudi society, where, for example, a woman is under male guardianship from cradle to grave.
The late Sunni scholar Abdul Halim Abu Shaqqa chronicled in his comprehensive study of the Koran and authentic traditions of Prophet Muhammad, Muslim women were far more engaged in society during the Prophetic era. They had more rights and opportunities to build a vibrant society, in partnership with men, than many contemporary Muslim cultures (including Saudi Arabia).
Mr. Friedman believes this "restoration" project "would drive moderation across the Muslim world." In fact, most of the Muslim world has soundly rejected Wahhabism. Yet, the deeply entrenched patriarchy of Saudi society finds parallels in many Muslim countries.
While MBS has promised to grant Saudi women more liberty, his top-down approach towards "restoration" of Islam raises a number of questions.
Will the man who allowed women to drive, allow them a place to drive the "restoration" as well? Or will it be a vehicle steered exclusively by men, with women seated as passengers, while men alone navigate women's role in society?
Women's voices and perspectives will be essential if there is to be any meaningful reform of contemporary Muslim cultural practices.
More...
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion ... e37138759/
Pakistani Women Seize Film Dispute as Chance to Discuss Rape and Injustice
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani film about a rape victim who fights to bring her politically powerful attacker to justice has rankled Pakistan’s censors but emboldened women to speak out about sexual assault in a country where the discussion of such topics is discouraged.
The film — which overcame an initial ban imposed because of its subject matter — has inspired Pakistani women to tap into the spirit of the viral #MeToo campaign to expose sexual harassment and create their own public platform for victims and their supporters.
With the Pakistani film industry struggling to survive and wary of issue-oriented projects, the film’s release has provided a timely opportunity to talk about a difficult topic.
In the film, “Verna,” Pakistan’s most popular and highest-paid actress, Mahira Khan, plays a teacher who is abducted and raped repeatedly by the son of a regional governor. After failing to get justice from the police or the courts, the teacher takes matters into her own hands.
Pakistan’s Central Board of Film Censors banned the film for its “edgy content,” which the board said was “maligning state institutions.” But a public outcry, fueled by extensive news coverage and a social media campaign, #UnbanVerna, bore fruit when an appellate board lifted the ban. The film opened on Nov. 17 and has done moderately well at the box office.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/worl ... d=45305309
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani film about a rape victim who fights to bring her politically powerful attacker to justice has rankled Pakistan’s censors but emboldened women to speak out about sexual assault in a country where the discussion of such topics is discouraged.
The film — which overcame an initial ban imposed because of its subject matter — has inspired Pakistani women to tap into the spirit of the viral #MeToo campaign to expose sexual harassment and create their own public platform for victims and their supporters.
With the Pakistani film industry struggling to survive and wary of issue-oriented projects, the film’s release has provided a timely opportunity to talk about a difficult topic.
In the film, “Verna,” Pakistan’s most popular and highest-paid actress, Mahira Khan, plays a teacher who is abducted and raped repeatedly by the son of a regional governor. After failing to get justice from the police or the courts, the teacher takes matters into her own hands.
Pakistan’s Central Board of Film Censors banned the film for its “edgy content,” which the board said was “maligning state institutions.” But a public outcry, fueled by extensive news coverage and a social media campaign, #UnbanVerna, bore fruit when an appellate board lifted the ban. The film opened on Nov. 17 and has done moderately well at the box office.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/worl ... d=45305309
Iran and Saudis’ Latest Power Struggle: Expanding Rights for Women
BEIRUT, Lebanon — They call each other meddlers, warmongers, religious hypocrites, zealots and sponsors of terrorism. Now Iran and Saudi Arabia, the archrivals of the Middle East, are competing in a surprising new category: gender equality.
They appear to be vying over who can be quicker to overhaul their repressive rules for women.
Tehran’s police chief announced this week that the so-called morality police who patrol the capital would no longer automatically detain and punish women seen without the proper hijab head-covering in public, an offense commonly called “bad hijab.” They will be given counseling instead.
In Saudi Arabia, one of the most restrictive countries for women, the authorities this week allowed female contestants at an international chess tournament to play without the full-body garb known as an abaya. That decision is the latest in a string of liberalizing moves by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the young Saudi ruler, which includes letting women drive.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are on opposite sides in many ways — in their divergent branches of Islam, the wars in Syria and Yemen, Lebanese politics and relations with the United States, for example. They have clashed over oil production, religious pilgrimages and who is a terrorist. But both countries are responding to domestic and international pressure over women’s rights.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/worl ... d=45305309
BEIRUT, Lebanon — They call each other meddlers, warmongers, religious hypocrites, zealots and sponsors of terrorism. Now Iran and Saudi Arabia, the archrivals of the Middle East, are competing in a surprising new category: gender equality.
They appear to be vying over who can be quicker to overhaul their repressive rules for women.
Tehran’s police chief announced this week that the so-called morality police who patrol the capital would no longer automatically detain and punish women seen without the proper hijab head-covering in public, an offense commonly called “bad hijab.” They will be given counseling instead.
In Saudi Arabia, one of the most restrictive countries for women, the authorities this week allowed female contestants at an international chess tournament to play without the full-body garb known as an abaya. That decision is the latest in a string of liberalizing moves by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the young Saudi ruler, which includes letting women drive.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are on opposite sides in many ways — in their divergent branches of Islam, the wars in Syria and Yemen, Lebanese politics and relations with the United States, for example. They have clashed over oil production, religious pilgrimages and who is a terrorist. But both countries are responding to domestic and international pressure over women’s rights.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/worl ... d=45305309
Educating women, developing society
Over a century ago, Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah had an unprecedented vision for the region of South Asia: to provide exceptional, educational opportunities to students, particularly girls, to help spur development.
When Nusrat Nasab looks back at her achievements, she marvels at how the history and vision of the Ismaili Imamat facilitated her own success. Nasab comes from Gulmit, a small town in northern Pakistan known both for its absolute beauty and extreme isolation.
Laying the foundations of what would become the Aga Khan Development Network’s education system, Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah launched the establishment of Aga Khan Schools, the first of which began in 1905 in Mundra and Gwadar in South Asia. In the 1940s, the proceeds from the 48th Imam’s Diamond Jubilee were mobilised to establish a number of additional schools — in the remote, mountainous areas of northern Pakistan and in western India. Today, there are more than 200 Aga Khan Schools and educational programmes operating across a network of 10 countries around the world, including Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. These schools, operated by the Aga Khan Education Services, have an enrolment of over 75,000 students and employ some 3,000 teachers.
Nusrat is a graduate of the Diamond Jubilee middle school in Gulmit. But at the age of six, her life changed — she lost her left arm in an accident. She wanted to continue her education at the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, a residential institution for girls in Hunza, which was 30 miles away.
“My family was against sending me to a residential school thinking that I would not get the appropriate care,” said Nusrat. But a community leader gave assurance to Nusrat’s father, advising that “the Imam has established this school for girls like your daughter”. This was a life-changing experience for her. “All along, I kept thinking that if I do well, more girls will get such opportunities. We became ambassadors of the school.” Nusrat was part of the first graduating class. Now, almost three decades later, thousands of other girls like her have since graduated and assumed leadership and entrepreneurial roles in their communities.
Nusrat persisted in her dedication to learning. After securing scholarships from the Aga Khan Education Service and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, Nusrat was awarded a Master’s degree in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia in the UK.
“My daughter was only two years old when I got the scholarship to pursue my Masters. My mother insisted that I leave my daughter behind (with her) and concentrate on my studies. The immense support that I had from my family helped me achieve my goals,” Nusrat said.
Having served as the Executive Officer for Focus Humanitarian Assistance in Pakistan for many years, Nusrat now works as the Head of Emergency Management at the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat based in Tajikistan.
Nusrat’s journey from a small town in northern Pakistan to taking on leadership roles in various Jamati and AKDN institutions truly reflects the impact of the work undertaken by the Network in this region to help women achieve their true potential.
More...
https://the.ismaili/our-stories/educati ... ng-society
Over a century ago, Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah had an unprecedented vision for the region of South Asia: to provide exceptional, educational opportunities to students, particularly girls, to help spur development.
When Nusrat Nasab looks back at her achievements, she marvels at how the history and vision of the Ismaili Imamat facilitated her own success. Nasab comes from Gulmit, a small town in northern Pakistan known both for its absolute beauty and extreme isolation.
Laying the foundations of what would become the Aga Khan Development Network’s education system, Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah launched the establishment of Aga Khan Schools, the first of which began in 1905 in Mundra and Gwadar in South Asia. In the 1940s, the proceeds from the 48th Imam’s Diamond Jubilee were mobilised to establish a number of additional schools — in the remote, mountainous areas of northern Pakistan and in western India. Today, there are more than 200 Aga Khan Schools and educational programmes operating across a network of 10 countries around the world, including Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. These schools, operated by the Aga Khan Education Services, have an enrolment of over 75,000 students and employ some 3,000 teachers.
Nusrat is a graduate of the Diamond Jubilee middle school in Gulmit. But at the age of six, her life changed — she lost her left arm in an accident. She wanted to continue her education at the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, a residential institution for girls in Hunza, which was 30 miles away.
“My family was against sending me to a residential school thinking that I would not get the appropriate care,” said Nusrat. But a community leader gave assurance to Nusrat’s father, advising that “the Imam has established this school for girls like your daughter”. This was a life-changing experience for her. “All along, I kept thinking that if I do well, more girls will get such opportunities. We became ambassadors of the school.” Nusrat was part of the first graduating class. Now, almost three decades later, thousands of other girls like her have since graduated and assumed leadership and entrepreneurial roles in their communities.
Nusrat persisted in her dedication to learning. After securing scholarships from the Aga Khan Education Service and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, Nusrat was awarded a Master’s degree in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia in the UK.
“My daughter was only two years old when I got the scholarship to pursue my Masters. My mother insisted that I leave my daughter behind (with her) and concentrate on my studies. The immense support that I had from my family helped me achieve my goals,” Nusrat said.
Having served as the Executive Officer for Focus Humanitarian Assistance in Pakistan for many years, Nusrat now works as the Head of Emergency Management at the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat based in Tajikistan.
Nusrat’s journey from a small town in northern Pakistan to taking on leadership roles in various Jamati and AKDN institutions truly reflects the impact of the work undertaken by the Network in this region to help women achieve their true potential.
More...
https://the.ismaili/our-stories/educati ... ng-society
The Keys to the Kingdom: Saudi Women Learn to Drive
Excerpt:
It is hard to overstate how much the right to drive will change the lives of Saudi women. Women were long kept out of public life in Saudi Arabia, segregated from men in most settings, limited to a small number of professions or encouraged to stay home, and forced to rely on private drivers or male relatives to pilot them around.
But much has changed for Saudi women in recent years as they have been allowed to work in new fields and appointed to high-profile positions, and have graduated in ever-increasing numbers from universities. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, has spoken of the importance of increasing women’s role in the work force as part of his effort to diversify the economy away from oil.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/worl ... 3053090306
Excerpt:
It is hard to overstate how much the right to drive will change the lives of Saudi women. Women were long kept out of public life in Saudi Arabia, segregated from men in most settings, limited to a small number of professions or encouraged to stay home, and forced to rely on private drivers or male relatives to pilot them around.
But much has changed for Saudi women in recent years as they have been allowed to work in new fields and appointed to high-profile positions, and have graduated in ever-increasing numbers from universities. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, has spoken of the importance of increasing women’s role in the work force as part of his effort to diversify the economy away from oil.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/worl ... 3053090306
Women’s History Month on Archnet
Today, the 8th of March, is International Women’s Day. Since 1975 the day has been designated by the UN as
a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. (http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/)
To mark the day, Archnet highlights the role of women in Islamic architecture and in the built environment of Muslim societies more generally.
Click around the sliding tiles on our homepages to see monuments of Islamic architecture that were built through the generosity of female patrons; projects by pioneers such as Yasmeen Lari, the first female architect in Pakistan, addressing contemporary problems such as refugee housing; mosques designed by women, and much more.
Most of these materials can be found in the Women in Architecture project. In 2013, Directors Shiraz Allibhai of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Sharon C. Smith, Program Head of the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT, launched the project shortly after the roll out of the redesigned Archnet in 2013. A documentary video produced by the Center for the Study of the Built Environment on “Arab Women in Architecture” was the kernel from which the project grew. Consistent with Archnet’s mission, the focus was soon expanded beyond the Arab world to focus on Muslim societies in the broadest sense. Today it contains projects from all corners of the world.
In 2016 the collection was greatly expanded by the addition of resources on Women in Turkish Architecture complied by Meral Ekincioglu. In addition, collection is continually enriched by the archives of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. In the most recent cycle, women led or played a significant role in four of the six projects to receive the award, a pattern consistent with the prominent role of women throughout all 13 cycles of the Award.
A growing number of countries have designated the entire month of March as “Women’s History Month,” so Archnet will continue to highlight to role of women on the site and in our social media throughout this period.
We invite you to explore our resources, and to send us your feedback. Watch this space to find out when new resources are added. Should you wish to contribute resources to this project, please see the “How to Contribute” page.
https://libraries.mit.edu/akdc/2018/03/ ... n-archnet/
Today, the 8th of March, is International Women’s Day. Since 1975 the day has been designated by the UN as
a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. (http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/)
To mark the day, Archnet highlights the role of women in Islamic architecture and in the built environment of Muslim societies more generally.
Click around the sliding tiles on our homepages to see monuments of Islamic architecture that were built through the generosity of female patrons; projects by pioneers such as Yasmeen Lari, the first female architect in Pakistan, addressing contemporary problems such as refugee housing; mosques designed by women, and much more.
Most of these materials can be found in the Women in Architecture project. In 2013, Directors Shiraz Allibhai of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Sharon C. Smith, Program Head of the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT, launched the project shortly after the roll out of the redesigned Archnet in 2013. A documentary video produced by the Center for the Study of the Built Environment on “Arab Women in Architecture” was the kernel from which the project grew. Consistent with Archnet’s mission, the focus was soon expanded beyond the Arab world to focus on Muslim societies in the broadest sense. Today it contains projects from all corners of the world.
In 2016 the collection was greatly expanded by the addition of resources on Women in Turkish Architecture complied by Meral Ekincioglu. In addition, collection is continually enriched by the archives of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. In the most recent cycle, women led or played a significant role in four of the six projects to receive the award, a pattern consistent with the prominent role of women throughout all 13 cycles of the Award.
A growing number of countries have designated the entire month of March as “Women’s History Month,” so Archnet will continue to highlight to role of women on the site and in our social media throughout this period.
We invite you to explore our resources, and to send us your feedback. Watch this space to find out when new resources are added. Should you wish to contribute resources to this project, please see the “How to Contribute” page.
https://libraries.mit.edu/akdc/2018/03/ ... n-archnet/
Can Muslim Feminism Find a Third Way?
RABAT, Morocco — Last month, Asma Lamrabet, a well-known Moroccan feminist, resigned from her position at the Mohammedan League of Scholars, where she headed a center of women’s studies in Islam. She was pushed to resign, she explained in a statement, by the backlash over her support for a demand that remains controversial in the Arab and Muslim world: an equal share for women.
In Muslim countries, laws governing inheritance are derived from verses in the Quran; men generally receive larger, sometimes double, the shares that women get. Distant male relatives can supersede wives, sisters and daughters, leaving women not just bereaved but also destitute.
Raising the issue of inheritance and inequality has long been considered blasphemous. When Tunisia’s modernizing first president, Habib Bourguiba, did so in 1974, he was targeted by a fatwa from a Saudi cleric and forced to backtrack.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/opin ... dline&te=1
RABAT, Morocco — Last month, Asma Lamrabet, a well-known Moroccan feminist, resigned from her position at the Mohammedan League of Scholars, where she headed a center of women’s studies in Islam. She was pushed to resign, she explained in a statement, by the backlash over her support for a demand that remains controversial in the Arab and Muslim world: an equal share for women.
In Muslim countries, laws governing inheritance are derived from verses in the Quran; men generally receive larger, sometimes double, the shares that women get. Distant male relatives can supersede wives, sisters and daughters, leaving women not just bereaved but also destitute.
Raising the issue of inheritance and inequality has long been considered blasphemous. When Tunisia’s modernizing first president, Habib Bourguiba, did so in 1974, he was targeted by a fatwa from a Saudi cleric and forced to backtrack.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/opin ... dline&te=1
Shenila Khoja-Moolji – Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia
An Islam and the Humanities lecture and book talk, in Forging the Ideal Educated Girl, Shenila Khoja-Moolji traces the figure of the ‘educated girl’ to examine the evolving politics of educational reform and development campaigns in colonial India and Pakistan. She challenges the prevailing common sense associated with calls for women’s and girls’ education and argues that such advocacy is not simply about access to education but, more crucially, concerned with producing ideal Muslim woman-/girl-subjects with specific relationships to the patriarchal family, paid work, Islam, and the nation-state. Thus, discourses on girls’/women’s education are sites for the construction of not only gender but also class relations, religion, and the nation.
More...
https://watson.brown.edu/events/2018/sh ... cts-muslim
*******
INTERVIEW: ‘THE NATION FORGES ITSELF THROUGH ITS DISCOURSE ON WOMEN.’ — DR SHENILA KHOJA-MOOLJI
https://www.dawn.com/news/1434447
********
Book Review
NON-FICTION: THE ‘IDEAL’ MUSLIM GIRL
https://www.dawn.com/news/1434448/non-f ... uslim-girl
An Islam and the Humanities lecture and book talk, in Forging the Ideal Educated Girl, Shenila Khoja-Moolji traces the figure of the ‘educated girl’ to examine the evolving politics of educational reform and development campaigns in colonial India and Pakistan. She challenges the prevailing common sense associated with calls for women’s and girls’ education and argues that such advocacy is not simply about access to education but, more crucially, concerned with producing ideal Muslim woman-/girl-subjects with specific relationships to the patriarchal family, paid work, Islam, and the nation-state. Thus, discourses on girls’/women’s education are sites for the construction of not only gender but also class relations, religion, and the nation.
More...
https://watson.brown.edu/events/2018/sh ... cts-muslim
*******
INTERVIEW: ‘THE NATION FORGES ITSELF THROUGH ITS DISCOURSE ON WOMEN.’ — DR SHENILA KHOJA-MOOLJI
https://www.dawn.com/news/1434447
********
Book Review
NON-FICTION: THE ‘IDEAL’ MUSLIM GIRL
https://www.dawn.com/news/1434448/non-f ... uslim-girl
Video: Skate Girls of Kabul
To commemorate International Day of the Girl Child, we look back at the Skate Girls of Kabul photography exhibition, created by artist Jessica Fulford-Dobson, and curated by Marianne Fenton. The exhibit was showcased at the Ismaili Centre Toronto, Aga Khan Museum, and Aga Khan Park in Autumn 2017, and at the Ismaili Centre Dubai in Spring 2018.
Today, 11 October marks International Day of the Girl Child. First declared by the United Nations in 2011 to support and empower young women across the world, the occasion provides an opportunity to highlight, discuss, and take action to advance the rights and possibilities for girls everywhere.
https://the.ismaili/culture-diversity/v ... irls-kabul
To commemorate International Day of the Girl Child, we look back at the Skate Girls of Kabul photography exhibition, created by artist Jessica Fulford-Dobson, and curated by Marianne Fenton. The exhibit was showcased at the Ismaili Centre Toronto, Aga Khan Museum, and Aga Khan Park in Autumn 2017, and at the Ismaili Centre Dubai in Spring 2018.
Today, 11 October marks International Day of the Girl Child. First declared by the United Nations in 2011 to support and empower young women across the world, the occasion provides an opportunity to highlight, discuss, and take action to advance the rights and possibilities for girls everywhere.
https://the.ismaili/culture-diversity/v ... irls-kabul
The Prophet prescribed a prayer to his daughter to help her in times of difficulty
Posted by Nimira Dewji
One of the most important female figures for the roles of women is Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and his first wife Khadija. She was born around 604 CE in Mecca, the youngest of three sisters: Zaynab, Ruqayya, and Umm Kulthum.
Fatima was reportedly close to her father. When the Prophet emigrated (hijra) to Medina in 622 CE initiating the first year of the Muslim calendar, Fatima joined him shortly thereafter. She is revered not only as the Prophet’s daughter, but also the source of transmission of a number of hadiths. Fatima reportedly “dedicated herself to justice and service for the happiness and security of others” (Suleman). She is also depicted as “pious, ascetic, and, in Shia spirituality, as a benevolent and compassionate intercessor imbued with spirituality” (Hermansen).
Known as al-zahra (the radiant), Fatima’s name, or her titles, are found in coins and other objects, and were reportedly mentioned in the blessings of the Ahl al-Bayt that were included in the khutba (a sermon delivered in a mosque at Friday prayers) upon the Fatimid conquest of Egypt. Al-Azhar University was named after her by the Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Muizz (d.975), who founded it in 972.
Fatima al-Zahra
Clay plate with calligraphic inscription “Ya Fatima al-Zahra.” Photo: Wikipedia.
The Fatimids were a major dynasty of Ismaili Imam-Caliphs in North Africa (from 909) and later in Egypt (973–1171) who derived their name from the Prophet’s daughter, tracing their ancestry to Fatima and Ali.
Fatima married the Prophet’s cousin, Ali, the first Imam of the Shia. Qadi al-Numan (d.974), the Fatimid jurist and chief missionary, reported that the union of Fatima and Ali was divinely ordained to the Prophet through Angel Gabriel. Al-Nu’man also reported a number of hadiths in which the Prophet named Fatima as ‘the foremost lady of the whole community of believers’ or ‘the first of the women of Paradise.’
Several documents attest to the hardship of Fatima’s domestic life as the daughter of the Prophet and wife of Ali. A few writers mention her blistered hands from grinding corn and tending to her children. Whenever the Prophet visited her at home, he kissed her hands. On one occasion, Fatima asked her father for domestic help to ease her burden, but the Prophet denied her a housemaid. Instead he prescribed a prayer to recite.
The Prophet said:
Tasbih“O Fatima, I shall give you something better than that…After every prayer, declare God’s greatness [Allahu akbar] thirty-three times; and praise him [al-hamdu lillah (Praise be to God)] thirty-three times; and extol Him [subhana ‘llah (Glory be to God)] thirty-three times. Thereafter end by saying la ilaha illa’llah (there is no deity other than Allah).”
(Published in People of the Prophet’s House p. 183)
Fatima recited this tasbih after every prayer, which subsequently was named after her. The recitation of the tasbih Fatima is practised today by both Shi’i and Sunni Muslims, often for the purpose of alleviating personal difficulties.
Suleman notes that the “Tibb al-a’imma, a manual of Islamic medicine compiled in the ninth century and attributed to the early Shi’i Imams, also prescribes the recitation of Fatima’s tasbih, together with specific Qur’anic verses, for the treatment of the weakness of the body, and cites the authority of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (d. 765).”
Sources:
Marcia K. Hermansen, “Women, Men and Gender in Islam,” The Muslim Almanac Ed. Azim A. Nanji, Gale Research Inc. 1998
Delia Cortese and Simonetts Calderini, Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam, Edinburgh University Press, 2006
Fahmida Suleman, “The Hand of Fatima: in search of its origins and significance,” People of the Prophet’s House Ed. Fahmida Suleman, Azimuth Editions in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2015
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2018/ ... ifficulty/
Posted by Nimira Dewji
One of the most important female figures for the roles of women is Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and his first wife Khadija. She was born around 604 CE in Mecca, the youngest of three sisters: Zaynab, Ruqayya, and Umm Kulthum.
Fatima was reportedly close to her father. When the Prophet emigrated (hijra) to Medina in 622 CE initiating the first year of the Muslim calendar, Fatima joined him shortly thereafter. She is revered not only as the Prophet’s daughter, but also the source of transmission of a number of hadiths. Fatima reportedly “dedicated herself to justice and service for the happiness and security of others” (Suleman). She is also depicted as “pious, ascetic, and, in Shia spirituality, as a benevolent and compassionate intercessor imbued with spirituality” (Hermansen).
Known as al-zahra (the radiant), Fatima’s name, or her titles, are found in coins and other objects, and were reportedly mentioned in the blessings of the Ahl al-Bayt that were included in the khutba (a sermon delivered in a mosque at Friday prayers) upon the Fatimid conquest of Egypt. Al-Azhar University was named after her by the Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Muizz (d.975), who founded it in 972.
Fatima al-Zahra
Clay plate with calligraphic inscription “Ya Fatima al-Zahra.” Photo: Wikipedia.
The Fatimids were a major dynasty of Ismaili Imam-Caliphs in North Africa (from 909) and later in Egypt (973–1171) who derived their name from the Prophet’s daughter, tracing their ancestry to Fatima and Ali.
Fatima married the Prophet’s cousin, Ali, the first Imam of the Shia. Qadi al-Numan (d.974), the Fatimid jurist and chief missionary, reported that the union of Fatima and Ali was divinely ordained to the Prophet through Angel Gabriel. Al-Nu’man also reported a number of hadiths in which the Prophet named Fatima as ‘the foremost lady of the whole community of believers’ or ‘the first of the women of Paradise.’
Several documents attest to the hardship of Fatima’s domestic life as the daughter of the Prophet and wife of Ali. A few writers mention her blistered hands from grinding corn and tending to her children. Whenever the Prophet visited her at home, he kissed her hands. On one occasion, Fatima asked her father for domestic help to ease her burden, but the Prophet denied her a housemaid. Instead he prescribed a prayer to recite.
The Prophet said:
Tasbih“O Fatima, I shall give you something better than that…After every prayer, declare God’s greatness [Allahu akbar] thirty-three times; and praise him [al-hamdu lillah (Praise be to God)] thirty-three times; and extol Him [subhana ‘llah (Glory be to God)] thirty-three times. Thereafter end by saying la ilaha illa’llah (there is no deity other than Allah).”
(Published in People of the Prophet’s House p. 183)
Fatima recited this tasbih after every prayer, which subsequently was named after her. The recitation of the tasbih Fatima is practised today by both Shi’i and Sunni Muslims, often for the purpose of alleviating personal difficulties.
Suleman notes that the “Tibb al-a’imma, a manual of Islamic medicine compiled in the ninth century and attributed to the early Shi’i Imams, also prescribes the recitation of Fatima’s tasbih, together with specific Qur’anic verses, for the treatment of the weakness of the body, and cites the authority of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (d. 765).”
Sources:
Marcia K. Hermansen, “Women, Men and Gender in Islam,” The Muslim Almanac Ed. Azim A. Nanji, Gale Research Inc. 1998
Delia Cortese and Simonetts Calderini, Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam, Edinburgh University Press, 2006
Fahmida Suleman, “The Hand of Fatima: in search of its origins and significance,” People of the Prophet’s House Ed. Fahmida Suleman, Azimuth Editions in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2015
https://nimirasblog.wordpress.com/2018/ ... ifficulty/
Bare Epitome
As we slowly get ready to wrap 2018 away, Bare Epitome decided to honour two young women as the Faces of the Year. It took us over a year to find the perfect faces for bare Epitome. Faces who have shown strength, commitment and power to dream. Faces that are motivating and inspiring thousands. Faces that are revolutionizing women football in Pakistan. Less known compared to other celebrities but they are working day in and day out for the betterment of women in Pakistan, enmbracing the true essence of empowerment.
We are proud to present, our faces of the year, the founders of the Gilgit Baltistan Women's Football League Karishma Inayat and Sumaira Inayat!
The sisters that have taken Pakistan and the world of Football by storm!
#BareEpitome #BE #BYAB #BecauseYouAreBeautiful #FacesofTheYear #GBWFL #womenempowerment #football
Video:
https://www.facebook.com/bareepitome/vi ... 449638948/
As we slowly get ready to wrap 2018 away, Bare Epitome decided to honour two young women as the Faces of the Year. It took us over a year to find the perfect faces for bare Epitome. Faces who have shown strength, commitment and power to dream. Faces that are motivating and inspiring thousands. Faces that are revolutionizing women football in Pakistan. Less known compared to other celebrities but they are working day in and day out for the betterment of women in Pakistan, enmbracing the true essence of empowerment.
We are proud to present, our faces of the year, the founders of the Gilgit Baltistan Women's Football League Karishma Inayat and Sumaira Inayat!
The sisters that have taken Pakistan and the world of Football by storm!
#BareEpitome #BE #BYAB #BecauseYouAreBeautiful #FacesofTheYear #GBWFL #womenempowerment #football
Video:
https://www.facebook.com/bareepitome/vi ... 449638948/
The women carpenters of Hunza Valley
A unique project in Pakistan’s Hunza Valley to renovate and maintain the Altit Fort in a sustainable manner, using locally grown timber, has led to the employment of women as carpenters as an essential part of the work
The 800-year-old Altit Fort perches high above Pakistan’s Hunza Valley, while the River Hunza flows peacefully below. The fort was in danger of toppling off the cliff altogether before its owner donated it to the Aga Khan Cultural Service-Pakistan (AKCSP) in 2001. The non-profit organisation carried out extensive repairs and the restoration, which was funded by the Norwegian government, was such a success that the fort won a Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Award in 2011.
Photos and more at:
https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/2017/12 ... za-valley/
A unique project in Pakistan’s Hunza Valley to renovate and maintain the Altit Fort in a sustainable manner, using locally grown timber, has led to the employment of women as carpenters as an essential part of the work
The 800-year-old Altit Fort perches high above Pakistan’s Hunza Valley, while the River Hunza flows peacefully below. The fort was in danger of toppling off the cliff altogether before its owner donated it to the Aga Khan Cultural Service-Pakistan (AKCSP) in 2001. The non-profit organisation carried out extensive repairs and the restoration, which was funded by the Norwegian government, was such a success that the fort won a Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Award in 2011.
Photos and more at:
https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/2017/12 ... za-valley/
Princess and Pir
Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro takes us to the tombs of Sindh’s female mystics from the Kalhora and Talpur eras
Excerpt:
Mai Shahar Bano, the daughter of Mian Noor Muhammad (1719-1753) and sister of Ghulam Shah Kalhoro (1757-1772) held Abdul Hameed Buchari in great in veneration. Mai Shahar Bano also built the shrines of Abdul Hameed Buchrai and his son Muhammad Sharif and the mosque at Makan Sharif.
She was a pious and generous woman who built many mosques, madrasahs and tombs over the graves of Sufi saints in Sindh. Not much has been written and researched on the role of women in Sufism in Sindh. Many royal women from the Kalhora and Talpur dynasties were known for their devotion to Sufism, welfare and philanthropy. Mai Khairi, the mother of Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur, the founder of the Talpur dynasty, built many mosques and madrasahs in Sindh. She was a devout follower of Syed Ishaque Bokhari. She built an impressive mosque in Nasarpur town for his murshid Syed Ishaque Bokhari. Mai Khairi’s mosque was one of the most imposing structures of the Talpur period (1783-1863) in Nasarpur town. The mosque was decorated with Nasarpur ceramics. Both the interior and exterior were tastefully decorated. It is believed that Mai Khairi commissioned the most celebrated Kashighars of Nasarpur. But unfortunately, the ceramics and other forms of decoration were lost when the mosque was renovated one decade ago.
Mai Jaman, a wife of Mian Noor Muhammad Kalhoro was also renowned for piety and built a number of mosques in the Sanghar district. She was believed to have commissioned eight mosques in different villages in Sanghar district. All the mosques carried her name and are locally called ‘Mai Jamanjun Masjidoon’(the mosques of Mai Jaman).
Apart from royal women, there is a long list of those women who belonged to the middle class but their devotion to Sufism was unmatched. They built mosques near the shrines of sufi saints. Some women enrolled themselves as disciples of eminent Sufis and became famous female Sufis themselves, later on. In the main bazaar of Nasarpur is located the shrine of Bibi Nurbhari who belonged to Dabgaran caste. This is still a popular shrine in Nasarpur town. Almost in every district of Sindh, there are two or three popular female shrines. In the purlieus of Karachi, there are most popular female shrines which belong to Mai Garhi and Mokhi respectively.
Photos and more...
https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/princess-and-pir/
Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro takes us to the tombs of Sindh’s female mystics from the Kalhora and Talpur eras
Excerpt:
Mai Shahar Bano, the daughter of Mian Noor Muhammad (1719-1753) and sister of Ghulam Shah Kalhoro (1757-1772) held Abdul Hameed Buchari in great in veneration. Mai Shahar Bano also built the shrines of Abdul Hameed Buchrai and his son Muhammad Sharif and the mosque at Makan Sharif.
She was a pious and generous woman who built many mosques, madrasahs and tombs over the graves of Sufi saints in Sindh. Not much has been written and researched on the role of women in Sufism in Sindh. Many royal women from the Kalhora and Talpur dynasties were known for their devotion to Sufism, welfare and philanthropy. Mai Khairi, the mother of Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur, the founder of the Talpur dynasty, built many mosques and madrasahs in Sindh. She was a devout follower of Syed Ishaque Bokhari. She built an impressive mosque in Nasarpur town for his murshid Syed Ishaque Bokhari. Mai Khairi’s mosque was one of the most imposing structures of the Talpur period (1783-1863) in Nasarpur town. The mosque was decorated with Nasarpur ceramics. Both the interior and exterior were tastefully decorated. It is believed that Mai Khairi commissioned the most celebrated Kashighars of Nasarpur. But unfortunately, the ceramics and other forms of decoration were lost when the mosque was renovated one decade ago.
Mai Jaman, a wife of Mian Noor Muhammad Kalhoro was also renowned for piety and built a number of mosques in the Sanghar district. She was believed to have commissioned eight mosques in different villages in Sanghar district. All the mosques carried her name and are locally called ‘Mai Jamanjun Masjidoon’(the mosques of Mai Jaman).
Apart from royal women, there is a long list of those women who belonged to the middle class but their devotion to Sufism was unmatched. They built mosques near the shrines of sufi saints. Some women enrolled themselves as disciples of eminent Sufis and became famous female Sufis themselves, later on. In the main bazaar of Nasarpur is located the shrine of Bibi Nurbhari who belonged to Dabgaran caste. This is still a popular shrine in Nasarpur town. Almost in every district of Sindh, there are two or three popular female shrines. In the purlieus of Karachi, there are most popular female shrines which belong to Mai Garhi and Mokhi respectively.
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Mystic women of Sindh
Sindh is a land of Sufis, saints, mystics, myths, mysteries and heroes (soorma). Many tales of generosity and bravery of men are narrated by roving minstrels in different towns and villages of Sindh. But equally, there is a long list of generous, brave, patriotic and pious women whose names are still preserved in the memories of oral historians, poets and sometime even painted on walls of funerary monuments in Sindh.
In Tharparkar, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan and many other districts of Sindh, one hears the names and tales of many brave women.
More...
https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/myst ... -of-sindh/
Sindh is a land of Sufis, saints, mystics, myths, mysteries and heroes (soorma). Many tales of generosity and bravery of men are narrated by roving minstrels in different towns and villages of Sindh. But equally, there is a long list of generous, brave, patriotic and pious women whose names are still preserved in the memories of oral historians, poets and sometime even painted on walls of funerary monuments in Sindh.
In Tharparkar, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan and many other districts of Sindh, one hears the names and tales of many brave women.
More...
https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/myst ... -of-sindh/
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Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... O8O2tZwe38
While every effort is made to ensure that the videos are of a high standard, there is naturally bound to be a diversity of views, ideas, and interpretations. As such, the opinions expressed in these videos must be understood as belonging to their speakers/creators alone.