Women in Islamic nations call for greater reform
Thursday, March 15, 2007
AT A meeting held at Londons Chatham House on February 14, Sheikha Mozah al-Mesned, wife of the emir of Qatar, said that there needs to be a major reciprocal awakening in order to arrive at a better understanding between Islam and the West.
Sheikha Mozah had been invited by Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, to speak about the conflict between Islam and the West. Her speech was tellingly entitled From Illusions of Clashes to an Awakening of Alliances: Constructing Understanding between Islam and the West.
The Sheikha — who is the consort of the emir of Qatar, chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, president of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs and vice chairperson of the Supreme Education Council — began her speech by rejecting the faulty terminology of Islam and the West, and stated her objective to deconstruct the current paradigm of the clash of civilizations by emphasising common goals and an awakening of alliances.
She also underlined the importance of both political and cultural solutions to current tensions and warned that in order to build an alternative reality there needs to be an engagement in critical thinking.
Sheikha Mozah highlighted the positive exchanges that existed between Muslim and European civilizations in the past, as well as conflicts that took place. The challenge for now, she said, is to establish a global ethic and to confront the problem of political disenchantment, especially among the young. She added that the answer lies in educational reform, although education without new avenues for political mobilisation, is no guarantee for non-violence. She also said that the media was greatly to blame for prioritising violence.
Credit should be given to When asked about the situation of women in Qatar, she simply answered by pointing out two young women sitting in the front row and said, "These two women are ministers in Qatar. I need not say more."
The emancipation and empowerment of women in Qatar would never have been achieved without, firstly, Sheikha Mozah's philanthropic and effective role in pushing Qatari women forward, and secondly, Qatari people's readiness for and compliance with these changes.
The Qatari example is unprecedented in the region given the time and scale of such profound changes. Qatar's major accomplishment lies primarily in achieving an equilibrium by preserving its Islamic identity whilst adopting a progressive policy — a policy that grants women equal rights as citizens.
The success of women in countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Qatar makes many women in neighbouring Saudi Arabia look at their own meagre achievements, especially in the public arena. Women in Saudi Arabia, who have made significant contributions in the areas of business, education and culture, still lack recognition and equal remuneration, and struggle for visibility. Even in the medical fields, where Saudi women have habitually flourished, women are persistently denied positions of power.
What strikes observers at this point is the idea that if Gulf countries share the same religion, values and traditions as Saudi Arabia, why is the women issue so peculiarly problematic for Saudis?
As is commonly reported, religion dominates almost every aspect of life in Saudi Arabia making it almost impossible for women to question their rights for fear of being stigmatised, ostracised and accused of being liberal and secular.
We can, however, question some of the misrepresentations of Islam and the prevailing social practices that have filtered through society, such as forced marriages, forced divorces, violence against women, guardianship and biased divorce and child custody laws.
It is crucial to modify social and cultural patterns by means of drawing a line between religion and social practices.
In Muslim Women's Rights in the Global Village; Challenges and Opportunities, Azizah al-Hibri writes, Women in most Islamic countries strive for more understanding and adherence to Islamic principles; they believe that existing laws and practices are not conducive to a happy home life or a just society.
What women are demanding in the majority of Islamic countries, therefore, is a rethinking of their position in society and the proper observation of both the rights and obligations of men and women in Islam.
It is vital at this point to scrutinise the milieu of Islamic radicalism which has prevailed in the Kingdom during the past few decades, and which has created a purely patriarchal society that sees women as a symbol of Islam to be secluded and protected from an evil world.
Boundaries are never established gratuitously and cause an aberration in the dynamics of society, as the writer of Beyond the Veil observes: Society does not form divisions purely for the pleasure of breaking the social universe into compartments. The institutionalised boundaries dividing the parts of society express the recognition of power in one part at the expense of the other.
As a nation we tend to think of ourselves in terms of binary opposites: Man/woman, good/bad, superior/inferior. In other words, people have been seduced into the trap of binary thinking.
The Kingdom must internalise moderation and normalise life for current and future generations by committing its energies, instead, to real and urgent reform.
Basma A Al Mutlaq has a PhD in Comparative and Feminist Literature in the Middle East from SOAS, London University.Arab News
Sheikha Mozah had been invited by Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, to speak about the conflict between Islam and the West. Her speech was tellingly entitled From Illusions of Clashes to an Awakening of Alliances: Constructing Understanding between Islam and the West.
The Sheikha — who is the consort of the emir of Qatar, chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, president of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs and vice chairperson of the Supreme Education Council — began her speech by rejecting the faulty terminology of Islam and the West, and stated her objective to deconstruct the current paradigm of the clash of civilizations by emphasising common goals and an awakening of alliances.
She also underlined the importance of both political and cultural solutions to current tensions and warned that in order to build an alternative reality there needs to be an engagement in critical thinking.
Sheikha Mozah highlighted the positive exchanges that existed between Muslim and European civilizations in the past, as well as conflicts that took place. The challenge for now, she said, is to establish a global ethic and to confront the problem of political disenchantment, especially among the young. She added that the answer lies in educational reform, although education without new avenues for political mobilisation, is no guarantee for non-violence. She also said that the media was greatly to blame for prioritising violence.
Credit should be given to When asked about the situation of women in Qatar, she simply answered by pointing out two young women sitting in the front row and said, "These two women are ministers in Qatar. I need not say more."
The emancipation and empowerment of women in Qatar would never have been achieved without, firstly, Sheikha Mozah's philanthropic and effective role in pushing Qatari women forward, and secondly, Qatari people's readiness for and compliance with these changes.
The Qatari example is unprecedented in the region given the time and scale of such profound changes. Qatar's major accomplishment lies primarily in achieving an equilibrium by preserving its Islamic identity whilst adopting a progressive policy — a policy that grants women equal rights as citizens.
The success of women in countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Qatar makes many women in neighbouring Saudi Arabia look at their own meagre achievements, especially in the public arena. Women in Saudi Arabia, who have made significant contributions in the areas of business, education and culture, still lack recognition and equal remuneration, and struggle for visibility. Even in the medical fields, where Saudi women have habitually flourished, women are persistently denied positions of power.
What strikes observers at this point is the idea that if Gulf countries share the same religion, values and traditions as Saudi Arabia, why is the women issue so peculiarly problematic for Saudis?
As is commonly reported, religion dominates almost every aspect of life in Saudi Arabia making it almost impossible for women to question their rights for fear of being stigmatised, ostracised and accused of being liberal and secular.
We can, however, question some of the misrepresentations of Islam and the prevailing social practices that have filtered through society, such as forced marriages, forced divorces, violence against women, guardianship and biased divorce and child custody laws.
It is crucial to modify social and cultural patterns by means of drawing a line between religion and social practices.
In Muslim Women's Rights in the Global Village; Challenges and Opportunities, Azizah al-Hibri writes, Women in most Islamic countries strive for more understanding and adherence to Islamic principles; they believe that existing laws and practices are not conducive to a happy home life or a just society.
What women are demanding in the majority of Islamic countries, therefore, is a rethinking of their position in society and the proper observation of both the rights and obligations of men and women in Islam.
It is vital at this point to scrutinise the milieu of Islamic radicalism which has prevailed in the Kingdom during the past few decades, and which has created a purely patriarchal society that sees women as a symbol of Islam to be secluded and protected from an evil world.
Boundaries are never established gratuitously and cause an aberration in the dynamics of society, as the writer of Beyond the Veil observes: Society does not form divisions purely for the pleasure of breaking the social universe into compartments. The institutionalised boundaries dividing the parts of society express the recognition of power in one part at the expense of the other.
As a nation we tend to think of ourselves in terms of binary opposites: Man/woman, good/bad, superior/inferior. In other words, people have been seduced into the trap of binary thinking.
The Kingdom must internalise moderation and normalise life for current and future generations by committing its energies, instead, to real and urgent reform.
Basma A Al Mutlaq has a PhD in Comparative and Feminist Literature in the Middle East from SOAS, London University.Arab News
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