tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85238488962747019312024-03-05T04:09:11.154-08:00Islam and GenderZufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-91072918278895013772012-09-23T11:10:00.001-07:002013-01-01T13:48:45.059-08:00Gender Interaction in Islam and Muslim HomosexualsI've often wondered what the Islamic injunctions are on lesbian Muslims'
interactions with other (Muslim) women. When around female homosexuals,
can heterosexual Muslim females show their hair and other body parts
that're allowed to be seen by other women? What exactly is their legal
status in Islamic thought? I know they're not "supposed to exist," so no
discussion of female homosexuality exists in early/medieval
scholarship, but what about today? Would they be treated as "males"
(God, this sounds so wrong to say! But I promise I have a point. Just
read on. Thankz.), since they, like heterosexual males, can be attracted
to females, or are they still treated as females? But speaking of
attraction ... actually, turns out, Islamic scholarship allows people to
be attracted to or to desire someone of the same sex--just don't act
upon that desire. We'll talk about this in another blog entry, though.
For now, dear qrratu, please just stick to this issue of homosexuality
among Muslims and how they are to "behave" around others, especially of
members of the same sex and/or gender.<br />
<br />
According to the Islamic rules on gender interaction, women are required
to cover only from navel to knee when around other women. Men have to
cover from navel to knee wherever they are, whether around women or men.
But the idea behind the women's ruling is that they may have to nurse a
child in the company of other women, so to forbid them from showing
their chests, too, would cause them unease in such situations. They
therefore do not have to cover their chest even when not breastfeeding.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8523848896274701931" name="more"></a>A teacher of mine once shared something very
interesting with her students in a class on Islamic Law, during a
discussion on gender interactions and how the classical/medieval rules
are dealt with in contemporary times with new situations and questions,
especially that of modern media<b style="color: red;"> (</b>how is
gender interaction supposed to work online, for example? Does a female
need a chaperone when chatting with an unrelated male online? Or when
emailing him? What about when Muslims seek their marriage partners
online: do their online "hang-outs" need to be chaperoned, since
mainstream (Sunni) Islam prohibits women and men to be alone with each
other even during their meetings to determine whether they want to spend
the rest of their lives with each other? Things like this.<span style="color: red;">)</span>
She said that she had gone to a Muslim camp, and, of course, the males
and the females had separate tents to stay in. And there was at least
one lesbian Muslim there, who didn't keep her sexual identity a secret
any longer. (Most of them do.) But unfortunately, there were too many
questions for the other women to let her stay with them, so she had to
leave. The questions included: "Can we show our hair in front of her?
Should she be sleeping in the men's tent or the women's tent? How do we
behave around her? Should we give the lesbian her right to stay with us
and enjoy the camping experience at the expense of making every other
woman here uncomfortable?" And, of course, she wouldn't be allowed in
the men's tents because she's not a man or a male. They had to kick her
out of the camp so that everyone could be comfortable. <br />
<br />
Basically, how are orthodox/mainstream Islamic rules regarding gender
interactions negotiated by Muslim homosexuals, especially Muslim female
homosexuals? I imagine the answer(s?) might be one (some?) of the
following:<br />
<br />
<b>1.</b> Psssh - there's no such thing as lesbian Muslims! They don't
exist, dude. [But we know they exist. Whether you approve of their
sexuality or not isn't the point here; it's their interactions with
other women that is of interest to me. Besides, you didn't answer the
question.]<br />
<br />
<b>2.</b> No, lesbian Muslims may not interact with or hug other women
because they (the lesbians) have the tendency to fall in love with other
women, and when people fall in love--the same way that when men and
women fall in love-- it results in something called "fitna" (social
chaos, disorder in society!), which is precisely why men and women are
not allowed to interact with each other in "Islam" unless they are being
chaperoned by some adult(s).<br />
<br />
<b>3. </b>Yes, lesbians may interact with and even hug other (Muslim) women because, even if they <i>do </i>fall in love with the heterosexual women, it's not like they can have babies! So there'll technically be no <i>fitna</i>.
That occurs only and only when the "lovers" are of opposite sexes.
Besides, male sexuality is stronger, more dangerous than female
sexuality, and the main reason women and men don't mingle--or are not
supposed to--is because of men's hypersexuality. But, <i>obviously</i>,
there's no such thing is female hypersexuality, so there's no issue
here. [Yet, we know this is totally untrue, this claim about "men's
sexuality being more dangerous than female sexuality." For evidence,
please click <a href="http://orbala.blogspot.com/2012/07/womans-inherent-power-why-society.html">here</a>.]<br />
<br />
I hope everyone noted that all of these potential answers imply that
lesbians, whether Muslims or not, are just ready to jump on any woman
available to them. But unfortunately, these potential responses do
actually reflect the reality of the way that answers are framed by
Muslim clerics and even scholars. For more on how people always imagine
homosexuals indulging in sexual activities and thoughts but basically
never imagine the same when heterosexuals are in question, please click <a href="http://orbala.blogspot.com/2012/02/heteros-and-homos-and-no-one-in-between.html">here</a>.
No, folks, homosexuals aren't always looking for opportunities to sleep
around! They're normal people like you and me and other heterosexuals,
and it's extremely offensive to them when we center our thoughts and
responses that address them or issues about them on our false belief
that they are more sexually active than heterosexuals. But this is
beside the point. We should discuss this another time--do remind me,
please.<br />
<br />
The same questions can be asked about male homosexual Muslims: how are
they supposed to interact with other (Muslim) men? I imagine it's not as
tough, though, because a man's outer piety cannot be judged to the same
extent or as badly as a woman's. (Men don't have to wear a
headcovering, and men don't have most of the restrictions that women
have when interacting with others or in public; so the issue of "how do I
behave around this Muslim gay?" may not arise to the extent that it
does and can for women.)<br />
<br />
What is also interesting is that this discussion, these questions, would
in a very important way question mainstream Islamic concepts of <i>hijab</i>, <i>pardah</i>
(basically hijab, but more importantly the privatization of women's
bodies and sexualities), gender segregation, and other normative
practices--and, I hope, compel us to ask the deeper meaning behind these
issues, why they're important and why practice them, and what they mean
or how they are understood in today's constantly-changing world with
new questions that are emerging on an almost-daily basis.<br />
<br />
As of now, I haven't heard any Muslim televangelists (who often happen
to be men) and preachers on this issue, but I'd be interested to hear
what they have to say. Not so I can follow their rules and shun my
homosexual Muslim friends from my life or treat them like they're
something beyond this world, but because I'm interested in the
discussions about Muslim homosexuals and the sort of questions being
asked and the way they are being answered. I imagine it's pretty bad,
though, and my heart goes out to any gay and lesbian Muslims out there.
I'm sorry that we don't treat you like real humans.... <br />
<br />
I was supposed to write on this issue of Islam and homosexuality years
ago! And I'm SO sorry I haven't done that yet, y'all. But coming up on
this subject: a discussion of this amazing book called <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226729893/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0226729893&linkCode=as2&tag=freedfromthef-20">Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800</a> </i>by
Khaled El-Rouyaheb. There is SO much information here, all of it so
fascinating, much of it so shocking to the Muslim mind who was taught
one thing about Islam but then some of the same Muslim scholars (all of
whom are males) who developed Islamic law, all these rules on how we're
supposed to be around other people and what a woman can and cannot do,
are saying other things too ... it's just too interesting not to read,
y'all. So, yeah, inshaAllah, the next post on homosexuality among
Muslims or in Islam will be on this. <br />
<br />
Thanks for reading!Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-79391352872910945262012-07-02T21:04:00.004-07:002012-07-02T21:05:06.668-07:00The Quran's Audience as Essentially Male<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
Last year, I blogged on <a href="http://orbala.blogspot.com/2011/01/women-as-hunnaand-men-as-kum-qurans.html">the issue of the Quran’s “audience,”</a> which
I argued was males only, women are never directly addressed in there, women are
only talked “about” never “to,” and when a guideline/message is being given to
women, men are asked to convey it to them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
So for the past several months, I’ve been trying to find some Muslim scholars who
address this issue, and someone recommended Farid Esack in a discussion on a
different topic, and so I decided to read him. I was so, SO delighted and
relieved to see that he brings up this problem of audience (he argues that the
Qur’an’s “essential audience is male”), although he only mentions it and doesn’t
discuss what all it actually means, or what it <i>could </i>mean for Muslim
female readers of the Qur’an.<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8523848896274701931" name="more"></a></span><span style="font-size: small;">
As Esack notes, this problem of the essential audience of the Qur’an
should pose significant problems for scholars committed to gender justice; yet,
this topic has received little to no attention from Muslim feminists/scholars [<span style="line-height: 115%;">(“Islam
and Gender Justice: Beyond Simplistic Apologia." In <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0791447863/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0791447863">What Men Owe to Women: Men's Voices from World Religions</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=freedfromthef-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0791447863" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" /></i>, eds. John Raines and
Daniel C. Maguire, p. 195).</span>
It is therefore important to engage this issue a little further and discuss its
spiritual implications for the female reader of the Qur’an, as well as its
significance for Muslim women activists. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I, too, believe that the issue of
the gender of the Qur’an’s audience has been marginalized, despite its
relevance to Muslim women readers of the Qur’an and Muslim women practitioners
of Islam. I want to first explain what this claim entails.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">In the Qur’an, women are
always addressed by the <i>hunna </i>(they (feminine))<i> </i>pronoun while the
men are addressed by the <i>kum </i>(you (general but often masculine, based on
the textual context) pronoun. Islamic feminism has not only not attempted to
answer this question, but it seems to have neglected to bring it up in any
discussions of gender and the Qur’an, other than in Farid Esack’s works
(discussed below). Wadud and Barlas discuss God’s gender and point out that
because the Qur’an avows that ‘there is none like unto [God],’ the Qur'an
establishes that God is Unique, hence beyond representation, and also beyond
gender since gender is nothing but a representation of sex”(Asma Barlas, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0292709048/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0292709048">Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=freedfromthef-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0292709048" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" /></i>, p.100). They, like other scholars, address the issue of God’s gender as being
neutral, and many Islamic feminist scholars argue that even when the Qur’an
seems to be addressing only men—that is,
using male pronouns—it is in fact addressing all genders, because the Arabic <i>kum</i>
can mean “you all (masculine)” or “you all (general”) while <i>kunna</i> means
“you all (feminine).” As Mohammad Ashrof writes, </span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">all the injunctions of the Qur'an are equally applicable, whenever
human or people etc. are mentioned, to both men and women. Many Qur'anic verses
subsume women and men in the broad terms of 'human being' or 'people' ('insan',
'nas'). Though these words take masculine pronouns in Arabic, and are often
translated into English as "mankind" or "men," in Arabic
they are gender-neutral and apply to/include women as well, as with the term
"humankind" in English (</span><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/817835456X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=817835456X">Islam and Gender Justice</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=freedfromthef-20&l=as2&o=1&a=817835456X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" /></i> p.87).<span style="color: black;"> </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Thus, unless the Qur’an
otherwise implies that it is speaking directly to men only, it can be assumed
that it is addressing all Muslims. Yet, verses such as 4:19 pose a dilemma, for
it reads: “</span>O you who have
believe, it is not lawful for you [<i>kum</i>] to inherit women [<i>al-nisaa</i>]
by compulsion. And do not make difficulties for them [<i>hunna</i>] in order to
take [back] part of what you [<i>kum</i>] gave them unless they [feminine]
commit a clear immorality. And live with them [<i>hunna</i>] in kindness. For
if you [<i>tum</i>] dislike them [<i>hunna</i>] - perhaps you [<i>antum</i>]
dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good.” Although this is not the
only verse in which such a conversation between God and the (male) reader takes
place, this can be seen as representative of the Qur’an’s approach at
presenting guidelines: it uses men as a medium through which it conveys
messages to women, never directly speaking to women but speaking <i>to </i>men <i>about</i>
women. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;">
Now, I will discuss two main possible reasons
why the Qur’an never directly addresses women and, at the same time, explain
why these reasons are problematic and are in fact not convincing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
The first reason of the Qur’an’s non-address to women may be due to the social
views that the pre-Islamic Arab society held of women. However, this
explanation humanizes (read: masculinizes) God: the speaker of the Qur’an is
not just any male, certainly not a <i>ghair mahram </i>(unrelated) male<b> [[</b>A
<i>mahram </i>male is anyone whom a Muslim woman is prohibited from marrying,
such as her brother, father, son, grandfather; the opposite of <i>mahram </i>is
a<i> ghair-mahram</i>, someone whom a woman would be able to marry, such as a
cousin, a far relative, or a stranger]], but it
is God, the genderless Creator. Thus, to suggest that the Qur’an does not
address women directly because it may have raised problems for Arab males, as
they heard their wives, daughters, sisters being addressed directly with the
pronoun “you” by a “stranger” also implies that God is a male who is not to refer
to women directly. Is it really possible that the Arabs would have found this—the
act of their God referring to women directly—unacceptable? <br />
<br />
Second, the Qur'an/Islam brought many radical social changes in the Arab
society not just regarding its views of women, such as the burial of daughters,
but also regarding the religious ideals of the society, such as forbidding the worship
of idols. It therefore begs the question of why the Qur’an did not attempt to
change the idea that women can never be directly addressed by speakers. [In
other words, it seems to have been selective in which views/ideals to change,
and this selection was likely not arbitrary.] Additionally, such a claim destabilizes
the popular Muslim claim that the Qur'an is for all times, all societies, as
not all societies and certainly not in all times have societies found women to
be private entities who are never to be addressed by un-related male members of
the community. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This problem of
the essentially male audience leads to a more profound theological, ethical,
and spiritual question: what does God's non-address of women suggest about the spiritual and ethical
relationship with God that the Qur’an expects of its readers in general but its
female readers in particular? Can women truly attain closeness with God the way
men can? This is not to insinuate that the relationship that men are
theoretically able to form with God is necessarily better and should be the
standard against which women’s relationship with God is measured, but it is to
point to the lack of an immediate link between God and His female readers of
the Qur’an. Women are not the direct audience of the Qur’an the way men are,
and a message has to be conveyed to women through a medium. The Qur’an’s non-address
of women may be understood as grounds for the belief that women are inherently
spiritually lacking, thus explaining why the Qur’an never directly addresses
them. Yet, this cannot be assumed because the Qur’an does not present women as
spiritually lacking or spiritually inferior to men; it in fact insists that the
only measure of superiority among people is their piety (49:13). As for Muslim
women activists, the Qur’an’s non-address to women raises another issue: if a
woman is not the direct recipient, the direct audience of her Creator’s Word
and needs a medium (a male) through which God can communicate with her, would
the Qur’an support her direct involvement in society? That is, does she need a
medium for her activism as well? If they clearly need an intermediary between
themselves and God, must they not have one also when making demands on society
or when calling for social changes in their society per their current status?</span> </div>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-533704250641895092012-03-25T11:33:00.000-07:002012-03-25T11:33:07.989-07:00Why Muslim Women Are Re-interpreting the Qur'an (event)How I wish I could attend this talk/book-signing! Anyone in or around San Francisco is encouraged to attend, if convenient or possible for them.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Join us at the ACCC [<a href="http://www.arabculturalcenter.org/">Arab Cultural and Community Center</a>] for a thought provoking presentation and discussion with Cornell University's research fellow, Nimat Hafez Barazangi on why Muslim/Arab Women are reinterpreting the Quran. <br />
Summary: Muslim/Arab women have remained a passive force in changing the reality of the approximately 800 million Muslim/Arab women and the prevailing unjust practices in Islamic/Arabic thought. By reflecting on some historical reform movements, Nimat will use examples from contemporary events to argue that passive views and unjust practices concerning Muslim/Arab women remain because the premises and foundations of reform have not changed.<br />
Nimat Hafez Barangi is a research fellow at Cornell University. Her forthcoming book: Woman's Identity and the Qur'an: A New Reading (The University Press of Florida, December 2004) was labeled by one of the reviewers as "the most radical book in the last 14th centuries of Islam". She edited Islamic Identity and the Struggle for Justice (University Press of Florida 1996, 2000) translated into Arabic, Dar Al Fikr, 1999) in which she also contributed "Vicegerncey and Gender Justice, and has published about thirty articles, essays, and book reviews.</blockquote><div id="eb_details" style="width: 100%;"> <div id="detail_left"> <h3> Event Properties </h3><table cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr> <td style="width: 30%;"> <strong> Event date:</strong> </td> <td> March 29, 2012 06:00 pm </td> </tr>
<tr> <td> <strong>Event End Date:</strong> </td> <td> March 29, 2012 08:00 pm </td> </tr>
<tr> <td> <strong>Capacity</strong> </td> <td> Unlimited </td> </tr>
<tr> <td> <strong>Price</strong> </td> <td class="eb_price"> <span class="eb_free"> Free</span> </td> </tr>
<tr> <td> <strong>Location</strong> </td> <td> <a class="location_link" href="http://arabculturalcenter.org/index2.php?option=com_eventbooking&task=view_map&location_id=20&tmpl=component&format=html" rel="gb_page_center[600, 480]" title="Arab Cultural and Community Center">Arab Cultural and Community Center</a> </td> </tr>
</tbody> </table></div><div id="detail_right"> </div></div><br />
SOURCE: <a href="http://arabculturalcenter.org/index.php/events?task=view_event&event_id=220">arabculturalcenter.org </a>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-46832919815200542932012-03-10T09:56:00.001-08:002012-03-10T09:59:53.720-08:00Maulvi Begum Sahib: The eunuch who found her calling as a Qur'an teacher<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><b><b class="location">SUKKUR: </b>Seventy-year-old Jameela has come a long way from playing as a child with eunuchs to teaching 450 children the Holy Quran every day.</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/342204-JameelaPHOTOEXPRESS-1330285561-117-640x480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/342204-JameelaPHOTOEXPRESS-1330285561-117-640x480.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/342204-JameelaPHOTOEXPRESS-1330285561-117-640x480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Born a transgender in March 1941, Jameela never fit in at home or at school, so when an elderly eunuch, Pasham Fakir, offered to take her away she ultimately yielded and followed him.<br />
She continued to live in what she later called ‘sin’ until May 1972, when her brother died in a robbery. “This proved to be a turning point in my life because I started learning the Holy Quran,” Jameela told <i>The Express Tribune</i>.<br />
<br />
She was born in Syed Mohammad Yakoob Shah’s household in Pishin, Balochistan. “My father had two wives: my mother was from a Syed family, while my stepmother was from a non-Syed family,” she said. “My mother died when I was four and my aunt looked after me for two years after which my father sent me to live with my stepmother in Ranchore Lines, Karachi.”<br />
<br />
Jameela’s stepmother sent her to an all-girl middle school near their house, but the young eunuch left school when she was in class three because she used to get teased for her “attitude and strange style of walking.”<br />
After dropping out of school, she helped her stepmother with domestic chores. “When I was 10 years old, a eunuch named Pasham Fakir came to our house and asked my mother to hand me over to him but my mother refused.”<br />
<br />
She said that Pasham kept coming back for her and they used to talk outside the house. “Then one day I just went him without telling my mother,” she said dolefully.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Pasham took Jameela to his house in Garhi Yaseen near Shikarpur and she began her ‘training’ as a eunuch.<br />
“I lived with him for three years but I wanted to get away because I didn’t like his company,” said Jameela. “Luckily, the fakir took me to Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai’s shrine for the annual Urs celebrations, where eunuchs come together from every part of the country.”<br />
<br />
This is where Jameela met her new guru, Fakir Ameer Zadi, also known as Saboo. “He looked quite decent so I told him I wanted to go with him,” she said. Saboo talked to Pasham and after paying Rs5,000, Saboo adopted Jameela.<br />
<br />
Saboo took Jameela to Sukkur, where he lived in a double-storey house in Makrani Muhalla. With his permission, Jameela purchased a house at Takkar Muhalla for Rs4,000 in 1970. “I knew how to read Urdu, even though I had dropped out of school. One day I was reading the newspaper when I came across news of my elder brother Syed Muhammad Rasool’s death,” she recalled, her eyes filling up with tears. Rasool used to run a car showroom on Tariq Road, Karachi, and was murdered during a robbery.<br />
Jameela said she rushed to Karachi to reunite with her family but they had left with her brother’s body for Pishin. “His death was a turning point in my life. A female neighbour taught me how to read the Holy Quran. With Allah’s grace, things just fell into place for me after this.”<br />
<br />
In 1975, Jameela began teaching her neighbour’s child, four-year-old Aasia, the Quran. “Since she proved to be a brilliant student, other neighbours started sending their children to my house to learn,” she said. The number of students grew day by day and now Jameela has a total of 450 students, who she teaches in seven different shifts without any charge.<br />
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“I started teaching when I was 31 years old and at that time people used to call me Khala (aunt) Jameela. Then it became Amma (mother) Jameela and now that I am 70 years old, they call me Nani (grandmother) Jameela.”<br />
Jameela added that her neighbours have always respected her, irrespective of their age or gender.<br />
A student’s mother sends Jameela two meals a day and offers to wash and iron her clothes. Since she teaches her students free of charge, their parents give her money and clothes as gifts. Jameela said she was lucky enough to perform Hajj four times and Umrah once.<br />
“I teach in groups for an hour each and the children start coming at 10 am until 5:30pm,” she said. There is no age limit for female students but Jameela said that she does not take boys older than 10 because she does not believe in intermingling between “big boys and girls.”<br />
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“Allah created me the way I am, but nowadays being a eunuch has become a profession,” she regretted, adding, “teenage boys turn into fake eunuchs by taking hormonal injections and this is a big sin.” If you meet 1,000 eunuchs, Jameela added, you will seldom find a real fakir.<br />
<i>Published in The Express Tribune, February 27<sup>th</sup>, 2012.</i>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-11163625503957151462011-09-02T14:28:00.000-07:002011-09-02T14:28:18.025-07:00The Challenges of Verse 4:34The post below is on verse 4:34, the challenges it's posed, its different translations and meanings, and how, in <b>4:34</b>, the term <b>nushooz</b> magically means "disloyalty/ill-conduct" (because it relates to women!) but in verse <b>4:128</b>, the exact same word means "desertion" (because it relates to men!) -- in verse <b>58:11</b>, it means "desertion" as well. "Desertion" is the actual meaning of the Arabic <b>nushooz</b>, too, you see... well, that's what appears to make the most sense. I may discover many years later that I'm wrong, but I know for sure I'm right for now. <br />
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I have been studying it for the past 5 years, and I still haven't made a solid conclusion about it. I want us to look at different interpretations and different translations of the verse, since it actually implies that man is the head of the woman. I want us to see how we justify the beating/hitting of women, oftentimes saying, "Oh, the man is allowed to beat his wife but only lightly! it's not like you can abuse her just like that!" etc.<br />
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Here are some of the translations of verse 4:34 (NOTE: Anything in parenthesis is the translator's explanation, understanding and is not necessarily a part of the original Arabic text.)<br />
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- Men are the {<b>qawwam</b>} of women, because Allah has given the one more than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are {<b>qanitat</b>}, and guard in the husband's absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear {<b>nushuz</b>}, admonish them first, then refuse to share their beds, and finally {<b>adriboo</b>} them; but when they {<b>ataa</b>:} to you, then seek not against them means of annoyance: For Allah is Most High, great above you all. <b><a href="http://www.flw.ugent.be/cie/bogaert/bogaert4.htm">Source</a></b><br />
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(Note that in the above version, the original Arabic terms have been kept to show that it's these words that have been mistranslated, misinterprets, or are still open to interpretation -- or are used to justify violence against women or the inferiority of women.)<br />
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- Men are (meant to be righteous and kind) guardians of women because God has favored some more than others and because they (i.e. men) spend out of their wealth. (In their turn) righteous women are (meant to be) devoted and to guard what God has (willed to be) guarded even though out of sight (of the husband). As for those (women) on whose part you fear ill-will and nasty conduct, admonish them (first), (next) separate them in beds (and last) beat them. But if they obey you, then seek nothing against them. Behold, God is most high and great. <b><a href="http://www.themodernreligion.com/women/dv-4-34-shafaat.html">Source</a></b><br />
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- Men shall take full care of women with the bounties which God has bestowed more abundantly on the former than on the latter, and with what they may spend out of their possessions. And the righteous women are the truly devout ones, who guard the intimacy which God has [ordained to be] guarded. And as for those women whose ill-will you have reason to fear, admonish them [first]; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them. Behold, God is indeed most high, great.” (<b>Translator: Laleh Bakhtiar</b> - female.)<br />
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- Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For Allah is Most High, great (above you all). (Translator: Yusuf Ali)<br />
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- Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great. (Translator: Pickthal)<br />
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- Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great. (Translator: Shakir)<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/004.qmt.html">Source</a></b> for the above three translations.<br />
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- Men are the support of women as God gives some more means than others, and because they spend of their wealth (to provide for them). So women who are virtuous are obedient to God and guard the hidden as God has guarded it. As for women you feel are averse, talk to them suasively; then leave them alone in bed (without molesting them) and go to bed with them (when they are willing). If they open out to you, do not seek an excuse for blaming them. Surely God is sublime and great. (Translator: Ahmed Ali)<br />
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More available at <a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/fse/Pages/adifficultverse.html#anchor_othertranslations"><b><b>this link</b></b></a>.<br />
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So, note how the term "nushooz" has been translated when it comes to women (disobedience, disloyalty, ill-conduct, etc.) ... EVEN though it literally means "to rise, to go above, to desert, give up" (see, for example, verse 58:11 of the Quran: "O you who believe! When you are told to make room in the assemblies, (spread out and) make room: (ample) room will Allah provide for you. And when you are told "inshuzoo" (to rise up), Allah will raise up to suitable ranks and degrees those of you who believe and who have been granted knowledge. Allah is well-acquainted with what you do.")<br />
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Annnnd <b>guess what "nushooz" means when it comes to men</b>, though. Somehow, it means "desertion" or "oppression"... as in, if the husband is being oppressive to his wife, or if he deserts her, etc. (I must say, beating your wife is oppressive. In which case verse :128 has a great suggestion for women who are being treated like that by their husbands.)<br />
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4:128 reads: "If a wife fears cruelty or nushooz on her husband's part, there is no blame on them if they arrange an amicable settlement between themselves; and such settlement is best, even though men's souls are swayed by greed. But if you do good and practice self-restraint, God is well-acquainted with what you do."<br />
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One must ask ... why the translation of the Arabic word "nushooz" when it comes to men and when it comes to the command/suggestion of giving up or yielding a position, but when it comes to women, it somehow magically means ill-conduct or disloyalty?<br />
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Yet, nothing in the Quran makes it obvious that the woman has to obey her husband. She's told, just like men are told, that she must be obedient to God, just as men are to be obedient to God. "Qaanit" doesn't necessarily mean obedience to man/husband: It's the same term used when God is saying that "obedient men and obedient women ... for them is reward promised by God."<br />
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Earlier scholars of Islam interpreter it to mean obedience of woman to her husband, clearly because women in most, if not all, societies are told to obey their husbands. It made sense to them, and we can't condemn them for having written volumes on the concept of obedience in Islam (of a woman to her husband).<br />
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But today, thankfully, scholars are re-evaluating the implications of verse 4:34 and are trying to figure out what exactly it means.<br />
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<a href="http://www.seekingilm.com/archives/65">This link</a> gives explanations of classical scholars, their commentary, on the same verse. It's really interesting how the author writes at the end, "Therefore, due to all of the statements and interpretations of the word “nushooz”, one can objectively state that nushooz includes the refusal of a woman to answer the husband’s call to her bed."<br />
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I'm like, ummm... okay, but this isn't from God; it's from men, humans. Why should their views be binding?<br />
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Anyway, just a little wonder. While the Quran doesn't make it obvious that man is the head of the woman, humans' translations and interpretations do;we see what the woman is viewed as when we read commentaries of every Quranic verse that pertains to women. In most cases, it's disturbing. Woman meaning wife, of course, since mothers are always giving a sublime position. Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-72229533465634172112011-03-11T18:11:00.001-08:002012-03-04T16:11:17.837-08:00Freedom from the Forbidden - a poemI shared this on my <a href="http://qrratugai.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-am-eternal.html">other blog</a> once, but I think it's more relevant for this blog. So here I go.<br />
Peace. <br />
<br />
<b>Freedom from the Forbidden</b><br />
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There’s this knot in my chest,<br />
A voice in my head,<br />
Telling me to abandon all traditions<br />
To speak the truth, to seek the truth<br />
To cross every imaginary boundary ever drawn<br />
To break the wall between divine guidelines and man-made laws <br />
To make it known that I have risen to the glory I owe myself<br />
<br />
What—was it not so they could control my sexuality?<br />
Limit my mobility and silence my voice? <br />
Forbid me natural inclinations? <br />
Deny me what’s permitted to man, whom they’ve deemed my lord<br />
In history’s slanted pages, in invisible ink <br />
I understand it now<br />
Because I have risen to the glory I owe myself<br />
<br />
That’s why they once asked themselves if I was a human, like man.<br />
That’s why God is a “He”– but they tell us “He” has no gender!<br />
That’s why I’m circumcised, and my feet are bound!<br />
That’s why I look pretty only when I’m thin!<br />
And why polygyny is a man’s right but polyandry a sin!<br />
That’s why I need the permission of a man to marry my Beloved!<br />
That’s why I can’t marry but a Muslim man<br />
That’s why Triple <i>Talaq</i> is for men only – but they tell us divorce is a big deal!<br />
That’s why I must cover my hair, lest I wish to be raped!<br />
That’s why they say God is the head of man, man the head of woman!<br />
That’s why the jurists termed the dower “price of the vulva”!<br />
Hear me out once: <br />
The fine line between divine guidelines and man-made laws no longer exists!<br />
They tell us women must have no desires, no fantasies!<br />
What—do they think me a doll? <br />
Must I describe what I feel upon seeing my Beloved? <br />
Because I can do today what I was forbidden yesterday <br />
Since now, I have risen to the glory I owe myself<br />
<br />
For how much longer must I let them define my womanhood for me?<br />
Why must I let them tell me what it means to be natural,<br />
What it means to be woman?<br />
Heaven lies beneath the mother’s feet, they tell us<br />
Not beneath the woman’s feet.<br />
What—Is this meant to be a privilege?<br />
Should I be grateful? <br />
No – It is there just to silence me.<br />
But this centuries-old silence has deafened me!<br />
And I have finally risen to the glory I owe myself<br />
<br />
The infinite well of silence has finally dried up!<br />
I was deaf and mute before<br />
But I am living now, and I will live forever<br />
I am eternal. <br />
And I have risen to the glory I owe myself<br />
~ Me<br />
~ Jan. 5<sup>th</sup> 2010Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-33486881424711185632011-01-21T09:56:00.000-08:002011-01-21T09:57:38.803-08:00Women's Fatwas?<span style="font-size: small;">I just found this while looking for something on women's authority and Islam. I was shocked by the answer that Soad Saleh, "one of the world's leading female scholars of Islam," gave to the woman who told her about her situation with her husband. Take a look. Why do you think she insists what she insists? Do you find it upsetting? Do you think it's still good that women are at least allowed to speak on public TV and issue such fatwas, even if they don't necessarily support women's empowerment?</span> <br />
<blockquote style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Soad Saleh, one of the world’s leading female scholars of Islam, fields requests for religious advice each week from callers across the Arab world. Seated at a gilded table on the set of her Egyptian satellite TV show, <i>Women’s Fatwa</i>, Saleh provides religious rulings on a wide range of subjects. How many months can a man be away from his wife if he is working in another country? Under what conditions is polygamy acceptable? How can a financial dispute between sisters be settled? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">During one episode in late March, a young Egyptian woman named May called in. Six months ago, when she married her husband, he promised she could continue working as an engineer. Now he is insisting she stay at home. He has even locked her in the house while he is at work to prevent her from leaving. She doesn’t want a divorce, because she fears people will blame her. What should she do?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Saleh paused briefly, looking traditional but stylish in her periwinkle hijab, or headscarf, and simple rimless eyeglasses. “You probably agreed to marry this man because he is committed to his house and responsibilities,” she said. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">“Yes,” May said.</span> </blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Being committed, according to Islam, does not mean you pray in the mosque and then oppress your wife at home. Being committed means that you follow Allah’s rules in managing your relations with people,” Saleh said. But she does not urge May to leave her husband, instead urging her to be patient. “You have to wait until you deliver your children,” she said, “and then, God willing, you will get busy raising your babies.”</span></blockquote><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Click<b> <a href="http://www.tbsjournal.com/Otterman.html">here</a></b> to read more.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-61930775038227487042011-01-11T22:39:00.000-08:002016-08-05T12:26:55.892-07:00The Quran on Marriage: Can Muslim Women Marry Christians and Jews?<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Pre-post: the post below is a "lay person's" view with Qur'anic references to repudiate the claim that Muslim women are not allowed to marry men from the People of the Book (Christians and Jews). However,</span> for those interested in reading about this from the perspective of a respected Imam, someone with an authoritative position, please check out the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1451656009/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=am2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451656009">Moving
the Mountain: Beyond Ground Zero to a New Vision of Islam in
America</a>
by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. In Chapter 4, titled "The Modern American
Muslim Woman," he discusses the issue of the marriage of Muslim women to
men of the People of the Book and offers a very rational viewpoint.<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">------------------ </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">So, I'm sure we're always reminded that as Muslim women, we are not allowed to marry non-Muslim (non-Muslim here means Christian and Jewish) men because the Quran says so. I won't talk about non-Christians and non-Jews in here because that's an entirely different topic because the Quran tells both men and women that they may not marry the <i>mushrikeen</i> (polytheists or those who join partners with God. I know, I know what's going through your mind right now: "Oh, but Christians have the Trinity! That's polytheism right there!" k, patience, please).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">So, when I realized that I was actually allowed to think, I started thinking about this and couldn't stop asking why this is so. Yes, everyone knows that the Quran makes it very clear that men <i>may </i>marry women from the People of the Book (Christians and Jews), and our male scholars, with all due respect to them, have decided that because God didn't specify whether or not women can marry men from the People of the Book, God actually meant that women <i>can't</i>. 'Course, this is the same case with polygamy: While men are specifically allowed to have more than one wife if they can treat them equally, even though another verse tells them that they cannot treat women equally even if they so wish to, women are never Quranically prohibited from marrying more than one man. But polygamy another time. For now, let's stick to marriage to Jews and Christians.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The main verses in question are <b>2:221</b> and <b>5:5</b>. I'll give the Arabic first, then Yusuf Ali's full translation. </span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">2:221:</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">وَلَا تَنكِحُوا <span style="color: #990000;">الْمُشْرِكَاتِ</span> حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنَّ ۚ وَلَأَمَةٌ مُّؤْمِنَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِّن مُّشْرِكَةٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَتْكُمْ ۗ وَلَا تُنكِحُوا ا<span style="color: #990000;">لْمُشْرِكِينَ</span> حَتَّىٰ يُؤْمِنُوا ۚ وَلَعَبْدٌ مُّؤْمِنٌ خَيْرٌ مِّن مُّشْرِكٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكُمْ ۗ أُولَٰئِكَ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى النَّارِ ۖ وَاللَّهُ يَدْعُو إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ وَالْمَغْفِرَةِ بِإِذْنِهِ ۖ وَيُبَيِّنُ آيَاتِهِ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Yusuf Ali: </span></b>Do not marry <b style="color: #990000;">unbelieving women (idolaters)</b>, until they believe: A slave woman who believes is better than an unbelieving woman, even though she allures you. <b style="color: #990000;">Nor marry (your girls) to unbelievers </b>until they believe: A man slave who believes is better than an unbeliever, even though he allures you. Unbelievers do (but) beckon you to the Fire. But Allah beckons by His Grace to the Garden (of bliss) and forgiveness, and makes His Signs clear to mankind: That they may celebrate His praise. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Maybe it's just me, who knows, but the verse above says the exact same thing to both men and women: Do not marry the <i>mushrikeen </i>until they believe. Yet, whenever we ask why Muslim women can't marry non-Muslim men, it never crosses the answerers' minds that we might mean the Jews or Christians, and they give us, mind you, the second part of the verse above! They completely -- and I mean completely! -- ignore the first part of the verse. Why? Oh, because then that'd prove their point wrong, and <b>they don't want to believe that men could possibly ever be denied what they've been taught women are denied. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Islam-qa.com does this, too. This ever most-authentic source on everything Islam-related uses this to say why women are not allowed to marry non-Muslim men, including Jews and Christians because apparently they, too, are <i>mushrikeen</i> -- but only when it comes to Muslim women marrying their men, not Muslim men marrying their women! <span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
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<span style="color: black;">“And give not (your daughters) in marriage to <b>Al Mushrikun (atheists)</b> till they believe (in Allah Alone)” (Al-Baqarah: 221) </span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Why do they so conveniently ignore the part where God says the exact same thing to men? Could it also be because no one ever asks, "Why can't a Muslim man marry non-Muslim women?" </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.islamawakened.com/Quran/2/221/default.htm"><b>This site</b></a> compares the translations of verse 2:221.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">As for verse <b>5:5</b>, it reads:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">الْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ ۖ وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَّكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَّهُمْ ۖ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ<span style="color: #990000;"> وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ</span> إِذَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ مُحْصِنِينَ غَيْرَ مُسَافِحِينَ وَلَا مُتَّخِذِي أَخْدَانٍ ۗ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِالْإِيمَانِ فَقَدْ حَبِطَ عَمَلُهُ وَهُوَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Yusuf Ali:</b> </span></span>This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them.<b style="color: #990000;"> (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the People of the Book</b>, revealed before your time,- when ye give them their due dowers, and desire chastity, not lewdness, nor secret intrigues if any one rejects faith, fruitless is his work, and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).</div>
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Feel free to compare this translation to a plethora of others at <a href="http://www.islamawakened.com/Quran/5/5/default.htm"><b>this site</b></a>. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
So, the above verse, talking clearly to men, tells men that they can marry chaste women from the People of the Book--without saying anything to women or whether women can marry chaste men from the people of the book. <span style="font-size: small;">Well, <span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">neglecting to permit something is not equivalent to denying or prohibiting it. So, just because the Quran doesn't say women can do it doens't mean they can't. We can't expect to find a clear "NO" to everything in life. If something's not clearly forbidden, we shouldn't be saying, "Hmmm... it doesn't say we can do it, so that means we can't." </span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Those who insist that Muslim women are not allowed to marry non-Muslims (all non-Muslims) say that Christians count as polytheists because the Quran has explicitly stated that those who say Jesus (pbuh) is God's son are disbelievers (verses 5:73 and 9:30); the Quran also says that the Jews imitate the disbelievers by saying that Uzair (Ezra) is the son of God (verse 9:30). </span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If we're going to say that Christians and Jews are disbelievers, then how do we explain the Quran's permission to men to marry Christian/Jewish women while at the same time telling both women and men that they may not marry disbelievers? Is this a contradiction, </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">or does one verse abrogate the other?<b> If one is abrogated by the other, which one is it, and how does one conclude that?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">In a society and in an era in history in which marriage is overall seen as a kingdom where the husband is dominant, it'd make sense to disallow women to marry men from other religions because then women (wives) are the subjects and men (husbands) are the king. No, its making sense doesn't make it fair or right. But if the marriage is seen more as something that needs hard work to be kept intact and hard work required by both partners, not just the wife, then it makes no sense. Neither does it make sense if the woman is seen as a full human with full rights in marriage, as her husband's full partner and not as his subject. If they're supposed to be garments of each other like the Quran says they are, then they'd work together and decide together what values the kids will hold, what they'll call themselves, how they'll identify themselves, and so on. If we Muslims are going to continue maintaining that the Quran forbids women from marrying all non-Muslim men (when it actually doens't), then we should stop denying that men and women are garments of each other and that women are full humans. What's the point of such beliefs when our practices and actions are the opposite?</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><b></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><b><br />
</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Now, obviously, the hadiths would be the one to say that Muslim women simply cannot marry ANY non-Muslim man. In that case, Muslim sources should just stop citing Quranic verse 2:221-- and incomplete, at that -- because that verse forbids women the exact same thing it forbids men. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Conclusion: Either <i>all </i>Muslims--whether men or women--are forbidden from marrying <i>all </i>non-Muslims (whether Jews/Christians or not), or then women are allowed what men are because the Quran never denies women what it explicitly permits men. The only reason Muslim women are taught that they may not marry non-Muslim men (Christians/Jews) is so that they are kept restrained. For God's sake, wake up, women, and study the Quran yourself and ask questions! For how much longer are you going to let others tell you what GOD said when you have equal access to the exact same God today that your rulers do?</span></span></div>
Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com117tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-74886258534441056572011-01-09T21:10:00.000-08:002011-01-09T21:10:20.540-08:00"Forbidden" - a poemI have dug inside me,<br />
A well – a deep, infinite well. <br />
In it lives with me My God<br />
The God of both women and men,<br />
The God of the oppressed and the liberated, <br />
The God of the cursed and the blessed<br />
<br />
There with me, my feelings dwell,<br />
Far from the fondness of human thought, <br />
Unwelcome elsewhere<br />
The feelings I’m forbidden to relish,<br />
The secrets I’m forbidden to reveal,<br />
The questions I’m forbidden to raise,<br />
The mistakes I’m commanded to regret,<br />
But I don’t. For I have no regrets.<br />
Only mistakes to learn from. <br />
<br />
There, I speak the unspeakable<br />
I quarrel with My God, <br />
And My God allows me this –<br />
And there, I think the forbidden<br />
And My God hears me, too,<br />
There, I demand answers,<br />
And My God answers me, too,<br />
My God hears the shattering of my voices <br />
And pacifies my frustrated nerves <br />
There, I heave sighs suppressed elsewhere,<br />
And screams ignored elsewhere,<br />
But I must scream,<br />
For the forbiddance of speaking has boiled my brain,<br />
And the ludicrousness of the ulama, the “learned,” vexes me,<br />
And the labels of heresy and blasphemy grieve my soul<br />
But I must tell my stories.<br />
<br />
And I tell my God,<br />
Why have you forbidden me these natural thoughts?<br />
Why am I nothing but a dangerously seductive being, who<br />
Incites sordid feelings in men?<br />
You must forgive me, Dear God, for I mean no harm,<br />
But you must permit me to ask –<br />
Why do you objectify me when You created me Yourself?<br />
They tell me You’re all-powerful; <br />
But then why did you make me the reason men behave so despicably<br />
When they see my face, or my hair,<br />
Or my ankles,<br />
Or my eyes?<br />
<br />
And My God smiles at me <br />
And tells me<br />
“Don’t confuse My guidelines with the orders of men.”<br />
Just as the well starts to flood, and I<br />
Develop confidence and valor<br />
And my spirit ascends the seventh heaven,<br />
And my heart glows with peace<br />
And my mind enfolds the universe <br />
<br />
I have become a woman.<br />
A woman at last. <br />
And I’m going to tell my stories. <br />
<br />
~ Me<br />
~ March 1, 2010 <br />
<br />
Also available on my <a href="http://qrratugai.blogspot.com/2010/03/forbidden.html">blog</a>.Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-70627152701113377392010-12-28T17:51:00.000-08:002010-12-28T17:56:45.941-08:00Female Mosques and Female Imams in ChinaI just came across this happy news through <a href="http://unsettledsoul.wordpress.com/2010/12/28/chinas-female-mosques-imams/#comment-1204">Unsettled Soul's</a> blog. <br />
<br />
<blockquote>In a country with about 21 million Muslims, women also have their own mosques to worship in </blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3WLkMsrIQDcFjI-70H6QKqVeeoE_jaJOeeRw1HnRz3RGzS1fiOORCR2sBOoDjy7ai-TTtdfcLbU2l6RVs-h80vXieINTaOlsgfZX5Ef0Rir3iZMyvmzX1cIN3Ght_utUreMzFwaRwymm/s1600/women-imams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="206" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3WLkMsrIQDcFjI-70H6QKqVeeoE_jaJOeeRw1HnRz3RGzS1fiOORCR2sBOoDjy7ai-TTtdfcLbU2l6RVs-h80vXieINTaOlsgfZX5Ef0Rir3iZMyvmzX1cIN3Ght_utUreMzFwaRwymm/s400/women-imams.jpg" /></a></div><blockquote>China distinguishes itself in the Muslim world with a long tradition of female imams.<br />
<br />
These imams or ahong – a Persian derived word – perform many of the same duties their male counterparts do. They lead prayers and teach the Qur'an but can’t lead funeral rituals or wash male corpses. <br />
<br />
"In a country with about 21 million Muslims, women also have their own mosques to worship in – another practice different from other countries," said Shui Jingjun, of the Henan Academy of Social Sciences who co-authored a book on the subject. Women administered these mosques and women serve as the imams there.<br />
<br />
In many other countries women attend the same mosques as men but pray behind partitions or in separate rooms. Many women’s mosques in central China began in the late 17th century as Qur'anic schools for girls. Then about 100 years ago, they evolved into women’s mosques. <br />
<br />
Female imams can earn as little as $40 a month which is one-third of what’s earned in other jobs. This wage is not enough for women who need to support their families. This worries third-generation imam Sun Chengying who has been practicing for 21 years.<br />
<br />
“I haven’t had any students since 1996,” she said. “Women don’t want to be imams anymore, because the salaries in the mosques are too low. No one is willing to do it.”<br />
<br />
But the state-controlled Islamic Association of China has given political help to establish some women’s mosques in northwest China, where historically there were no such mosques.<br />
<br />
While most Muslims in central China support female mosques, some Muslims who live closer to China’s border with Pakistan and Afghanistan don’t approve.<br />
<br />
"Educating Muslim women is an important job," said Guo Baoguang of the Islamic Association of Kaifeng. But Baoguang admitted he was criticized for organizing religious education forums for Muslim men and women to participate in together.<br />
<br />
Guo dismissed comments that women shouldn’t take part in social activities and should be restricted to the home.<br />
<br />
“Given the fast development of China’s economy, and as its political status rises, I think Chinese Islam will become more important in the Islamic world,” Guo said. “The development Chinese Islam has made, like the role played by Chinese women, will be more accepted by Muslim elsewhere in the world.”<br />
<br />
While Muslims may debate about whether women can be imams, Morocco became the first country in the Arab world to officially sanction training female religious leaders in 2006.</blockquote><br />
Original Source: <b>ILLUME<a href="http://www.illumemag.com/zine/articleDetail.php?China-s-Female-Imams-13219Chinese"></a></b>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-53274366380843033462010-12-27T16:48:00.000-08:002012-07-04T11:30:48.262-07:00The Prophet's Wives: Khadija and AishaI've recently been coming across some interesting perspectives on the two honorable ladies, Khadija and Aisha (God be pleased with them), and what they represent.<br />
<br />
Leila Ahmed discusses the two and what they represent greatly in her book <span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300055838/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300055838">Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate</a></span>, but the first time I read about them was in "Women, Islam, and Patriarchalism" by Ghada Karmi in the book <span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0863722032/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0863722032">Feminism and Islam</a>: </span><i>Legal and Literary Perspectives</i>, edited by Mai Yamani. In the article/chapter, Ghada Karmi questions the claim that the status of women before Islam was horrific. She uses the example of the Prophet’s first wife, Khadija, to prove that, while some women may have been oppressed, it certainly was not the case with Khadjia; she was, after all, a businesswoman, proposed to the Prophet for her own hand, was fifteen years older than the Prophet, and did not have any co-wives, as did the Prophet’s wives whom he married after Khadija. Karmi also reminds he readers that while Aisha’s role as a political leader was not controversial during the transition from jahiliya ("time of ignorance") to early Islam, it became so only in the minds of later scholars of Islam. ('Tis truuuuuuue!!) <br />
<br />
So, Aisha represents the transition from women's liberation through Islam to their oppression during the later eras of Islam. However, let's not the following also: Aisha represents the woman after Islam and Khadjia represents the woman before Islam. <br />
<br />
Now it all makes sense, but I'd never thought of the two like this. Makes for an interesting study of classical women's texts!<br />
<br />
In the next blog, I'm gonna paste and excerpt from Leila Ahmed's (or is it Fatima Mernissi's? Not sure yet) text on women/feminism and Islam, a conversation between the Prophet and a woman from the "jahiliya." It made me realize what all we've done to the "jahiliya" period just to claim that before Islam, women were oppressed and so terribly treated that had it not been for Islam, women would be treated like dirt -- all over the world. Uh, wrong.Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-16530491019108087252010-12-24T21:56:00.000-08:002010-12-29T17:31:38.945-08:00My Response to "A Woman's Reflection on Leading Prayer"I once read an article called <a href="http://www.islaam.net/main/display.php?id=1388&category=152">A Woman's Reflection on Leading Prayer</a>, and I would like to share my response to it here.<br />
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But before I explain why I disagree with her (like more than strongly), it seems that we're more for <i>choice</i>, right? (The author herself doesn't say anything like "it's haraam to lead!" If it was haraam, she wouldn't have to write that article; it would be understood, and there'd be no point in debating it.) As in, if a woman doesn't want to "be like a man" (lol?), then she doesn't have to lead men in prayers, right? But if she wants to do so, then she can? (Um... no, I don't think that to lead someone in prayer or in any other way is to be like a man -- to me, <b>that shows that we subconsciously see men as better leaders than women by nature</b>. And I don't think men are better leaders than women naturally; it varies from person to person.<br />
<br />
As can be noted, I completely disagree with the author, Yasmin Mogahed. It’s the typical perspective that most Muslims hold, so nothing new there, really. I wish men and women who are against female imams would come up with more creative reasons and explanations, since this is getting just too redundant and I don't find it cogent at all.<br />
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Allow me to explain -- though, before that, I'd like to request my readers that if you agree with Yasmin and disagree with me, refute my *justifications*, not my conclusion.<br />
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Clearly, author Yasmin believes that the <b>only</b> people who can have “equal rights” are those who *look* the same, are born the same. This, too, is a typical perspective; nothing new. But why do we have to define equality to mean sameness? Equality does not equal sameness. Why do we have to look the same in order to have equal rights? If we're gonna use this argument, even then it's flawed. All men are men, yes. And all men are equal, since all of them look the same, right? Wrong. They might be "equal" but they do not look the same at all. The only thing they have in common with each other is their reproductive organs, nothing more. An example would be ... oh, I don't know - I guess that Chinese man doesn't look like a South Asian man?<br />
<br />
Certainly, we all agree that there are basic rights that ALL humans should have, regardless of their gender and class, right? Those might include the right to education and the right to work if one wants and the right for one to choose one's partner and so on. <b>The problem is, who defines “basic” rights?</b> Who said working falls under "basic" rights? Who said education has to fall under “basic rights”? <b>And what law is there that says leading doesn’t fall under it?</b> What if, to me and millions of others, being able to lead men in prayer should be a basic rights *available* to women? (And, no, not just leading children and other women but leading men as well. If men can lead women in prayers, what is it ABOUT women that says they should not or cannot?)<br />
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Also, I don't think that doing things that men do (if women are just as capable of doing them as men are) should mean that women want to be like men, or that they see men as superior. <br />
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Something else I’d like to know is ... what IS it about women that screams, “I am not allowed to lead prayers *because* I am a woman”?<br />
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And what does this have to do with westernization? I mean, did you guys know that in 1991, a British priest denied his position – as respected as he was all over Britain – because, he said, “I fear that women are now denying God’s commands, which clearly state that women may NOT become priests. I cannot lead such a corrupt society.” (I read this in one of Karen Armstrong’s books; don’t remember the title of the book, though, sorry.) So, really, it has nothing to do with the west, because even the west is still against it.<br />
<br />
Now on some comments in the article.<br />
<br />
<blockquote><i>For 1400 years there has been a consensus of the scholars that men are to lead prayer.</i></blockquote><br />
So? Author Yasmin forgets that this “consensus” was done by a group of CERTAIN men *who mattered*. Why does it have to become "Islamic" just because they decided on it? And you seriously mean to tell me that no one disagreed with them, that every single person in the group actually agreed to that? I guess that means that if you got someone in the circle who wants to say, “Wait, wait, why shouldn’t women be allowed to lead men in prayer again?” he’s kicked out of the circle. <br />
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At leas the author realizes that there’s nothing WITHIN Islam that says women can’t lead prayers; it’s the interpretations of scholars, and not just any scholars but male scholars. No, I do not deny the scholarship of the male scholars like Abu Hanifa by any means, but I’m only trying to remind us that women were never allowed to present THEIR stance on ANY issue in Islamic thought. I find that rather unfair and incomplete. <br />
<br />
Besides, can we say that the REASON they denied women the right to lead men in prayers is that it was absolutely forbidden in practically all religions and cultures? Women just weren’t allowed.<br />
<br />
The author above also seems to think that only men can join the army. Umm... she must be reminded that Aisha led the Battle of Camel (against Ali). What do we call that? Not just JOINING the army: even leading it, too!<br />
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<blockquote><i>The one who leads prayer is not spiritually superior in any way.</i></blockquote><br />
But, oh, I disagree – I think the one who leads the prayer IS considered spiritually superior. Think about it: Will we pick just ANYONE form the street and ask him to be our imam? Would we choose someone we know drinks, sleeps around, doesn't respect elders, rarely prays, etc., etc.? No, we’re going to choose someone whom we KNOW to be a righteous, good practicing Muslim. That, to me, shows that the person has to be (outwardly) better spiritually in the community.<br />
<br />
<blockquote><i><br />
Had it been the role of women or had it been more divine, why wouldn't the Prophet have asked Ayesha or Khadija, or Fatima-the greatest women of all time-to lead? These women were promised heaven-and yet they never lead prayer.</i></blockquote><br />
Just because the Prophet didn’t ask Khadija or Aisha to lead prayer doesn’t mean it’s forbidden. Not a good argument to tell me why a woman shouldn't lead prayers. It's all contextual. Perhaps it has to do with the social norms of a time (not that I believe that breaking a norm is un-Islamic at all, though, but just saying that the Prophet's not saying women CAN lead men in prayers doesn't mean they can't). We’re forgetting that our scholars, as knowledgeable and brilliant as many of them have been, were products of their society. This doesn’t mean they were wrong; it means that there was only so much they could say that would be against the norms of the societies that bred them. You see, there's nothing in the Quran that tells us that women can't marry Christians or Jews; the Quran is silent on women's marrying men from the people of the book -- it says MEN can, but it doesn't say women can't. Does that mean women can't? For over 1400 years, it's agreed upon that Muslim women cannot marry Christians/Jews. (More on this in an upcoming post.)<br />
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<blockquote><i>On the other hand, only a woman can be a mother. And God has given special privilege to a mother. The Prophet taught us that heaven lies at the feet of mothers. But no matter what a man does he can never be a mother. So why is that not unfair? </i></blockquote><br />
Wait, did I really just read, "Why is it not unfair that a man can't be a mother?" . . . What?! He gets to be the father, and the woman gets to be the mother. What's the point? Or is the author asking why it's not unfair that heaven lies beneath the feet of the mother but not those of the father? That calls for an interesting discussion, but here's what I can say at the moment: <b>The woman goes through a hell of pain to give birth; the man doesn't go through ANY pain whatsoever leading a group of people in prayer.</b> Again, there’s nothing inherent about a woman that denies her the position of leading prayer – but there’s everything inherent about a woman that gives her the position of motherhood. So when the dear author above says that women are honored with the position of motherhood, it doesn't tell me ANYTHING about why a woman/mother can't lead prayers. The Great Amina Wadud, for example, doesn’t deny her motherhood; on the contrary, she is a proud and loving mother of several children (I'd know because I'm on her FB friends list.) Also ... there's a HUGE difference between a "mother" and a "wife" (or just a woman in general). You can't compare wife to mother, really. We all know that Islam highly respects mothers, even hadiths respect them and all scholars agree on the position of *mothers* in Islam -- but it's the position of wives that they do not agree on. So, for the author to say, "God has honored the woman by making her a mother" is not a good enough argument because just as a woman can be a mother, a man can be a father. So, what about men (who can be fathers) says that they can lead women in prayers while women (who can be mothers) can't lead men in prayers?<br />
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But just because the woman goes through monthly pain of menstruation and the extreme pains of labor during birth doesn’t mean she can’t lead men in prayer. I guess what I'm asking for is ... biological proof that the woman should not lead men in prayers. (I'll explain the whole feminine figure thingie and a woman's voice being "naturally hotter, sexier, more seductive" than men's later.)<br />
<br />
And there’s also nothing inherent about a man that MAKES him a leader, be it a leader of a congregational prayer or of a household or of a country or of a community. So when this author says:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><i><br />
Given my privilege as a woman, I only degrade myself by trying to be something I’m not – and in all honesty – don’t want to be: a man</i></blockquote><br />
it seems to me that she's saying that men are NATURALLY better leaders that women are. How is leading people in prayer being man-like? Aren’t you giving a man the honorable position of leading while utterly forbidding it on the woman?<br />
<blockquote><i><br />
Then, after working, we were expected to be superhuman—the perfect mother, the perfect wife, the perfect homemaker—and have the perfect career.</i></blockquote><br />
Okay, so don’t work. Why do people make it seem like feminism demands that all women work? Not at all. Feminism demands that women be given choices, that they be allowed to speak for their own selves and make their own decisions when they want. It doesn’t say that any woman who doesn’t work is oppressed or uneducated or illiterate. There's a difference. In the same way, (some Muslim) women want to be ALLOWED to lead prayers if they want to do it; they are not saying that we should be obligated to do it.<br />
<br />
Feminism doesn’t say that women should be the perfect homemaker and perfect housewives: in fact, it is completely against the idea of reducing women to domestic life. Feminism honors the woman by saying, “Woman, you have SO much more to offer this world; not only do you have the natural ability to give birth, but you also have the intellect to excel in business, commerce, scholarship, the arts, the sciences, and so on. Why not discover your skills and put them to use if you want?”<br />
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No woman should feel obligated to work – <b>but my belief is that no man should either.</b> We need to stop with our double-standards. <br />
<blockquote><i><br />
It took women in the West almost a century of experimentation to realize a privilege given to Muslim women 1400 years ago.</i></blockquote><br />
Aaaannd ... exactly what privilege would that be? And what if I disagree that it’s a “privilege” to be at home all day long (especially if you don’t want your life that way)? What if you WANT to lead men in prayer but are forbidden so by a select group of people (by people, I mean men)? <br />
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I could go on and on with the millions of holes I find in this author’s arguments against feminism and women leading prayers, but more some other time.<br />
<br />
One thing though … if someone wants to argue that the reason women shouldn’t lead men in prayer is that when they bend down for ruku and sajda, their backs show, I must ask ... but men’s backs show as well; what are women supposed to do then? Or are women like precious little barbie dolls and therefore don't have any desires or feelings -- or, no wait! They're not allowed to have desires! Shucks. And if it’s her voice, what about the man’s voice? I am sure most girls are likely to say, “No, no, men’s voices aren’t THAT hot! Who gets turned on by them?!” Well, I disagree: Many orators of the Quran have voices that have the power to KILL a woman because they’re so damn hot that one could listen to it ALL day long. If you find this disgusting, then allow me to say: I find it disgusting that women are not allowed to lead prayers just because their voices are SOMEHOW ‘naturally hotter’ than men’s, OR that the reason we don’t have any female orators is that men might get turned on by their voice. <b>That’s not disgusting?</b><br />
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And what DO we make of the woman when we deny her these positions of leadership just because of her shape? Sorry, but I find that degrading because it reduces the woman to a sexual object. (More on this in another blog post.)<br />
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<blockquote>If given a choice between stoic justice and compassion, I choose compassion. And if given a choice between worldly leadership and heaven at my feet-I choose heaven. </blockquote><br />
<b>1.</b> The author acknowledges that the fact that women are not allowed to lead men in prayer is unjust! <br />
<b>2.</b> She fails to explain what the leading of women has to do with "compassion" and/or why a woman who leads prayer is no longer compassionate (what?). <br />
<b>3.</b> She implies that you either get to have heaven lie beneath your feet OR lead prayer. Since when did this become the case? And, again, the whole heaven deal applies only to mothers, not to just women in general :)Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-49441381001042409852010-12-17T19:40:00.000-08:002012-07-31T23:12:59.039-07:00The Hijab as the Solution to Rape?About a year ago, I realized something: <b>We're told to wear the
hijab in order to avoid being molested, and I, along with many other
Muslim women, have actually fallen for this! </b> We are also told that
we are demanding respect by wearing the hijab. For some 21 years of my
life, I was totally okay with this, believed it to be true, thought it
made the most perfect sense in the world, and even accepted the head
scarf as a commandment of God. Boy, was I wrong -- so, SO wrong.<br />
<br />
Of
course, I'm all for choice. As long as you choose to cover your hair
(and anything else, for that matter, be it the face), it's all good. But
I fear many Muslim women wear the hijab claiming it's out of choice but
at the same time believing that it's *mandatory*. I'm not sure if
that's a choice any longer, but I mustn't get into the whole philosophy
of choice just yet. For now, I can say this much:<br />
<br />
Why
do I have to cover my hair to demand respect? Can I not demand it so in
the millions of other ways available to me as options? Sure, if that's
the only way <i>you </i> can get respect from others and it actually
works for you, by all means hold strongly to it. But it doesn't work for
everyone; even if it does work, it's not the only option. Only a man
raised to believe that a woman whose hair isn't covered is inviting
molestation or rape or troubles of other sort would assume that the
woman has no respect for herself or her body just because her hair is
not covered.<br />
<br />
One way to view the hijab, especially for
the reasons I stated above (respect, not inviting rape, etc.), is this:
"People, the ONLY way men will respect me is if I wear the hijab, and so
here I am." In other words, "I don't know how else to prove my worth to
people, and the only way that I've been taught is by covering my hair."<br />
<br />
So, yeah, many Muslim females falsely believe that by wearing the hijab, you're demanding respect and telling society, "You BETTER accept me for what I am. I'm not giving this up just to please you." What we don't think about is .. are we saying something else, something different, the opposite, when we choose not to wear the hijab? I mean, <i>what</i> about a non-hijabi woman screams, "People, feel free to disrespect me!" Why're we assuming that the non-hijabi Muslim woman has "given up" the hijab to please whomever?<br />
<br />
Besides, here's something else we say when we wear the hijab: "I'm nothing but a dangerously sexy and naturally seductive being -- all because I was born a female -- and so the only way to make myself be seen as a NON-seductive individual is if I cover my hair/face."<br />
<br />
No, no - don't get me wrong. That's not all there is to the hijab; I'm just reminding you that your way of seeing the hijab isn't the only way. And neither mine nor yours is the correct, or the only correct, way. But both are equal in value, and both views need to be acknowledged. <br />
<br />
I find both ways insulting -- the view that the ONLY way men will leave me alone is if my hair is covered and the view that I'm a naturally seductive being. For God's sake, there's SO much more to a woman than just her body. And the niqab and hijab actually tend to objectify the woman at least as much as, if not more than, they "humanize" her by portraying her as a human rather than a sex object. Every Islamic/Muslim forum you ever go to talks about hijab; every debate on Muslim women revolves around women's hijab. Like, yo! Is there NOTHING more to my humanness, my womannness, my Muslimness, my identity than the piece of cloth I choose or am forced to wear on my head? <br />
<br />
We're also told that wearing the hijab reduces our chance of being raped/molested/teased otherwise. But, but, but, but . . . but here's the problem with that: By covering ourselves so much, are we REALLY helping solve the problem of those hungry beasts who are looking for women to rape? Or are we submitting to their beliefs and wishes and placing on women ALONE the burdens of morality and peace and stability in our society, which we share with our male counterparts as well? <b>Are there any other solutions to the problems of hungry beasts, or is this the only one?</b> <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8IJlwtdgUPMvlFq03bN0T5He3C_vQI_U_9bQqXJgDEMmwnjrhsvhArm6vVdt1EvuBjTs2VGnGB8J1JNcirqX1dxFKLnXspCAw10GI9qp5y2frA73YjiFoACVNg0ylpHzmEVr016n1RnB4/s1600/424839_374480499239829_162379530449928_1268298_1749510409_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8IJlwtdgUPMvlFq03bN0T5He3C_vQI_U_9bQqXJgDEMmwnjrhsvhArm6vVdt1EvuBjTs2VGnGB8J1JNcirqX1dxFKLnXspCAw10GI9qp5y2frA73YjiFoACVNg0ylpHzmEVr016n1RnB4/s320/424839_374480499239829_162379530449928_1268298_1749510409_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>We may not realize it, but it's time we do: When we tell the woman to wear the hijab so she can avoid being molested, we're evading the REAL problem of our society: criminals, rapists justifying their evil actions against women who choose not to cover. Hungry men roaming around, looking for a female whose hair is uncovered (no, really?) so they can rape her. And what are we doing, folks? We're JUSTIFYING rape! We're saying, "That woman deserved to be raped. She should've covered her hair, and then nothing would've happened. Let's make all girls cover their hair. Problem of rape solved!" Oh, I don't think so. I've read some conflicting statistics on the rates of rape in Muslim societies where women have to cover their hair as well as in non-Muslim societies where women don't have to cover their hair, so I really don't know which stats to trust. But for those of us, like Zakir Naik, who think that AMERICA represents the ultimate non-Muslim society in which women don't have to cover their hair, that America's high rape rate represents EVERY non-Muslim society's rates, I'm not convinced! America isn't all there is, you see. There's Canada, too, and Iceland and Germany and Japan and Mexico and Brazil . . . and the list is never-ending.</div>
<br />
My intention is not to make women take the hijab off. No. What they do with their lives, whether by choice or compulsion, is entirely their business -- or maybe the business of those who are in charge of them. But I want only that we see how many different ways our dress code can be seen, and I don't want us to accept any unless and until we've understood more than what we are used to. That way, our ultimate decision was made upon serious contemplation and not just imitation of someone else's beliefs or understanding/interpretation.<br />
<br />
But do understand that if your wearing the hijab has anything to do with your sex/gender/physiology, you are essentially <a href="http://orbala.blogspot.com/2012/07/on-sexualization-and-objectification-of.html">sexualizing yourself</a> and bring more attention to your sexual parts than repelling attention from them.Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-70313624942866287382010-12-08T20:24:00.001-08:002010-12-14T22:48:03.749-08:00"Am I Pretty?"I found this on <a href="http://unsettledsoul.wordpress.com/">Sarah's blog</a>, and I'm grateful! It's already touched the lives of many who have seen this!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M6wJl37N9C0?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/M6wJl37N9C0?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-91829908237240233092010-12-03T20:11:00.000-08:002010-12-03T20:11:12.641-08:00Female Giving a KhutbaSomething very, VERY interesting -- and uplifting -- I'd like to share here.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/religion/Staff/shaikh.php">Sa'diyya Shaikh</a> giving a <i>khutba </i>(the Friday sermon).<br />
<br />
Click <b><a href="http://vimeo.com/16589126">here</a></b> to watch.Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-15594919462392409162010-11-20T20:02:00.000-08:002010-11-20T20:04:29.123-08:00Second Paper: The Prophet's Wives<div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I promised to share my assignments here -- no, not my responses but the actual prompts. The Fatwa one was the third paper we had to write, but it was just so exciting I couldn't resist sharing it with y'all. In this blog entry, I'm gonna talk about assignments 1 and 2; in the next entry, ka khairee (InshaAllah), I'll talk about what we've been discussing these days -- and that has to do with homosexuality, Quranic verses on homosexuality, and classical jurists' interpretations. Do come back 'cause I've got lots of surprises to share. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Assignment 1 </b>-- Your sexuality. What do you consider yourself? Who are you? How do you know what you are? When did you discover or realize what you are?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">And other questions like this. Initially, I was like, what the heck - I'm a female, duh. I know I'm female, end of story. But as I discussed it with my sister (she's also in the class with me), we both realized how thought-provoking and important these questions are. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Assignment 2 -- the Prophet's Wives.</b> I need my teacher's permission to paste exactly what he wrote, but I'm gonna paraphrase it. The prompt starts off with how important the wives of the Prophet (Prophet Muhammad, pbuh) were in the establishment of Islam. Author Barbara Stowasser in her book <i>Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretations </i>elucidates their importance very well. Quoting her from pp. 85-86: </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">"Just as God’s last prophet Muhammad begins a new chapter of sacred history so do his consorts signify a new beginning of the female example in Islam. AS historical figures who lives yield examples for the righteous, their Islamic importance eclipses that of even the most unblemished women of the Qur’an-recorded past, and it was their precedent that serves as a foundation of later shari`a legal structures."</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Our teacher gave us four of the Prophet's wives, and we had to write on ONE of them, whoever we found most interesting. We had to write a four-page essay describing who this wife is, why she's important, and what position she held/holds in Islamic scriptures (Quran and hadiths). </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">End of prompt.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Me, I chose <b>Zaynab bint Jahsh</b>. She was formerly Zayd's wife (Zayd was the Prophet's cousin), and hadiths give some very interesting anecdotes of the Prophet's encounter with her, especially when he saw her in a particular state for the first time and had to turn his head and praise God for the beauty He had bestowed on her. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">In a future entry, I will explain why exactly Zaynab interests me. I love her! I really do. A very bold woman she was, like Umm Salama. (<b>Umm Salama</b> one day told <b>Umar</b> to mind his business when he came to each of the Prophet's wives, advising them on HOW to treat the <b>Prophet of God </b>and how never to disobey him, etc., etc. Umm Salama was basically like, "What the hell. If our husband had a problem with us, he'd tell us himself. Don't mind our business." All of the wives applauded her for her boldness. Some hadith reports say that the Prophet loved her for her intelligence and beauty.) Aisha is also very interesting ... especially for the kinds of things she is reported to have said to <b>Abu Hurairah</b>. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Anyway, more on this another time, along with specific references to hadiths. The next blog entry is gonna be on homosexuality and the Quran.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><br />
Peace!</span></div>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-63441091222416379322010-11-15T17:44:00.001-08:002010-11-15T17:44:18.510-08:00The Misunderstood Role of the Hijab<div class="BodyText">A conversation with a professo recently made me realize something that I'd always known and believed but hadn't yet discovered for myself: When you wear a hijab, you are expected to be abnormal.<br />
<br />
A hijabi girl is not allowed to smoke, drink, talk to non-related males; she must walk properly, dress properly, and be perfect and "modest" (whatever this term means) in every other way. But why? Why does she have to be burdened with all of this? If she would do these things without the hijab on, why can't she do them <em>with</em> the hijab on, too? People often say, "What's worse is when a hijabi smokes -- or wears tight jeans or hugs males or laughs loudly in public," etc. But why deny her these things just because her hair is covered? And why are we even assuming that she is wearing the hijab out of personal choice? Why are we ever shocked when we see a hijabi girl holding a boy's hand (a boy who's not her husband)? If she smokes, why is she not expected to smoke if she has the hijab on, for example? Or if she holds her partner's hand in public, why should she be forbidden from holding it in public with the hijab on? </div><div class="BodyText"><br />
</div>Of course, like everything else, this can be viewed in different ways, both negative and positive. One way could be that when a female wears the hijab, she starts to represent not only Islam but all Muslims. Hence, she must behave like an ideal Muslim female -- or else. Another way could be that wearing the hijab, deemed a symbol of modesty and virtue, means that she is striving to become a better Muslim, which implies that she must avoid everything that she is expected to avoid. As a result, since smoking is not something that "good girls" do, hijabi girls, who are normally seen as "good girls," should not smoke. If a female does not wear the hijab, however, then she may do so, since she is not laden with the burden of representing an entire faith, or over a billion people worldwide. <br />
<br />
None of this is to suggest that I am calling for hijabi women to start drinking, smoking, dating, wearing indecent clothing, misbehaving, etc. But <span class="BodyText2">why such serious expectations with one choice? </span>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-61701755103644448272010-10-23T12:50:00.000-07:002010-10-23T12:50:17.353-07:00Imagine You Are a Jurist<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"></span><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I promised to share here what my last essay-assignment was. After this, I'll share the ones before that! All have been quite stimulating so far, and I'm looking forward to the future ones as well.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, during the last couple of weeks, we've been reading texts on Islamic jurisprudence and sexual ethics. We were heading towards Muslim jurists' views on conception and abortion, the laws on what a woman should do in various scenarios. Before that, our professor had us imagine that we, the students, are jurists in the medieval times and a good, practicing Muslim woman comes to us and asks if premature withdrawal is permissible or not because she and her husband are poor and have several children, and she does not think they should have anymore because they cannot afford them. Her husband claims premature withdrawal is the best method of preventing pregnancy and that using condoms (made of cured sheep's intestine) are forbidden according to Islam. So, she wants to know if it's Islamically acceptable to use condoms and whether or not premature withdrawal is allowed.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We give a response based on Islam (the Quran, hadiths, and jurists' opinions). Some time passes, and she comes back, unhappy, saying that she followed our advice but just found out that she is 2.5 months pregnant. She asks us 1) if she can have an abortion, and 2) if yes, then does she need her husband's permission?</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">SO! Exciting stuff! And everything we said was to be supported by the Quran, hadiths, and other jurists' opinions, which means we couldn't say, "No, of course you can do XYZ! Who said you can't?" etc... which is where one of the main challenges lies in being a jurist, I see now.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We were not allowed to read up on abortion and conception in Islam, save for the material he sent us that we could use to make our decision. In the next blog post, I will share what all those are -- ranging from Quranic verses to hadith reports to jurists' statements. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-7318440504576165282010-10-16T23:09:00.000-07:002012-07-04T11:35:54.804-07:00Important Texts for a Gender/Islam Course<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I'm taking a class called Gender, Sexuality, and Islam. I want to post my ENTIRE syllabus here for that class! But I first need to ask my teacher's permission, I'd think.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Required Texts:</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Ahmed, Leila. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300055838/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300055838">Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i>(Yale University Press, 1992).</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Ali, Kecia. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00592ABB2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00592ABB2">Sexual Ethics in Islam</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=freedfromthef-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00592ABB2" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2007).</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Kugle, Scott. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1851687017/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1851687017">Homosexuality in Islam: Islamic Reflection on Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> (Oxford: Oneworld Publication, 2010).</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Mernissi, Fatima. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0863564410/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0863564410">Beyond the Veil</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=freedfromthef-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0863564410" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" />: Male-Female Dynamics in Muslim Societies by Fatima Mernissi (also titled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201632217/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0201632217">The Veil And The Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation Of Women's Rights In Islam</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=freedfromthef-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0201632217" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" />) </span><span style="font-size: small;">(Perseus Books, 1991; originally in French, 1987).</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Stowasser, Barbara. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QTD476/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000QTD476">Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretation</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=freedfromthef-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000QTD476" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> (New York: Oxford U Press, 1994).</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Wadud, Amina. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S9CIUY/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004S9CIUY">Qur'an and Woman:Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=freedfromthef-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004S9CIUY" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" /></span><span style="font-size: small;"> (Oxford University Press, 1999). </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Recommended Texts:</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Barlas, Asma. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0292709048/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0292709048">Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i>(University of Texas Press, 2002). </span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Spellberg, D. A. <i>Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of 'Aisha Bint Abi Bakr</i> (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994).</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Supplementary Texts:</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Abou el-Fadl, Khaled. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1851682627/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1851682627">Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> (Oxford: Oneworld, 2001).</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Haeri, Shaela. <i>The Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage in Iran </i>(Syracuse University Press, 1989).</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Hambly, Gavin (ed.), <i>Women in the Medieval Islamic World </i>(St. Martin's Press, 1999).</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Musallam, Basim, <i>Sex and Society in Islam: Birth Control before the Nineteenth Century </i>(Cambridge University Press, 1983). </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Safi, Omid (ed.), </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00550O2WW/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=freedfromthef-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00550O2WW">Progressive Muslims</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>: On Gender, Justice, and Pluralism</i> (Oxford: Oneworld, 2003).<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Ruth Vanita (ed.), <i>Queering India: Same-Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society </i>(Routledge, 2002).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the next blog post, I will share what our last three assignments have been about. They're really interesting and stimulating topics, and I hope that those who hear about them will try doing them on their own.</span></div>Zufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8523848896274701931.post-43853874934482857512010-10-16T17:41:00.000-07:002010-10-16T17:41:29.210-07:00IntroductionGreetings of peace to all readers!<br />
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This blog is for me to share with others what I learn about the concept of gender (and sexuality) in Islam and to present my reviews of the literature I read on the topic. I find this discipline within Islamic Studies very fascinating and enlightening, and, as far as I see it, many Muslims are unaware of the classical and medieval -- or even modern and contemporary -- debates that our scholars have held for decades and beyond to attempt to come to an understanding on what "Islam" says about the rights and roles of of women, men, homosexuals, and other minorities (e.g., intersex people). In a future blog post, I will explain why I have enclosed the term "Islam" in quotations.<br />
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Feel free to leave comments, questions, feedback, etc., and I look forward to intellectual discussions with all those who are interested.<br />
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Good day/night to all!<br />
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- SerenityZufashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17924331713924700659noreply@blogger.com0