Illustration by JASON CHEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff
By Naseem Sayani
Last week was Islamic Awareness Week and as such there were
activities and forums planned throughout the week meant primarily
to educate the greater UCLA community. It was my attendance at one
such event that sparked this response. The forum was called
“Illiterate, Barefoot, and in the Kitchen? Breaking the
stereotypes of women in Islam.” It showcased three speakers
““ one a fellow student, one from the law profession and the
last from academia. All three spoke very well and expressed their
arguments thoroughly; however I feel many of the statements they
made were somewhat narrow-minded.
To start, the first speaker stated that she had been wearing her
hijab (the Muslim head covering meant as a form of modesty) since
she was nine-years old. Furthermore, she asserted that she had
chosen to do so by her own accord with seemingly no outside
influence. I find this hard to believe.
I myself, am a Muslim woman, and yet I have never known anyone
who at the tender age of nine had either a complete understanding
of the hijab and all its social implications, or the amount of
independence from family and cultural influence necessary to really
decide for themselves.
I do not want this to come across as negating the importance of
the decision, however I do not feel that she can so absolutely say
that she made the decision on her own. A Muslim community is a very
“inclusive” one to grow up in and thus decisions at a
young age can rarely be independently made (this can be said for
any youngster’s life).
And if she had decided not to wear the hijab, would her family
have conceded? Do Muslim women with orthodox upbringing really make
that decision on their own? Or are they “programmed,”
rather, to make the “right” decision? Sometimes I
wonder.
The second speaker had done a great deal of work with human
rights groups, and had focused primarily on the interpretation of
Islamic law by Western society. Accordingly, her discussion began
by recounting her involvement in a trial of a young woman in
Nigeria who had been charged with “zinah” (committing
adultery). The girl claimed it was rape, and part of the
speaker’s role was to discuss how this connected to the wider
issue of women’s status.
She stated that Muslim women in Nigeria live in an Islamic law
community. She claimed that to the Western eye, these laws appear
oppressive in that they do not accord these women with the same
rights we have here. The speaker’s position on this was that
there wasn’t any “oppression” experienced in
those women’s lives and that in fact they feel liberated in
their lifestyles.
In reference to the girl, the problem of her situation was not
that she was oppressed, but rather that a
“technicality” of the Islamic law did not allow her the
means to prove that it was in fact rape. She was eventually taken
to court, charged with “zinah” and consequently
punished with 100 lashes.
How did the girl arrive at her compromised position and who
bears the burden of responsibility? Though the speaker did not
provide a clear enough picture of the sequence of events leading to
the girl’s trial, the argument remains that
“rape” as we understand it is not addressed in the
Qu’ran, and consequently, is not reflected in communities
that strictly follow Islamic law.
Now, if basic female rights ““ control over sexuality, over
when and to whom she “gives” herself, and over the
consequences of that interaction (consented or not) ““ are not
in a woman’s control, wherein lies the
“liberation” the speaker spoke of? Is it in the
ambiguity of the law in reference to the treatment of rape
situations such that it cannot be proven save a certain number of
witnesses? Or rather is it in the girl’s inability to exert
influence over her situation and prove her story?
The speaker did not address these issues. She did not question
the girl’s obvious lack of control over her life, purpose and
future. Nor did she question the trial itself. Should the girl be
on trial charged with “zinah?” Or should the man who
raped her be on trial for taking away a young Muslim girl’s
virginity without her consent?
Additionally, in reference to the burden of responsibility, if
the girl had not become pregnant, would her situation have even
come to light? And why does the burden of proof center around
whether or not she committed adultery, rather than on whether or
not the man raped her? And how many others live a life like hers?
She clearly became a helpless victim of her social surroundings and
was powerless against it.
I do not think it’s appropriate to stand up in support of
Islamic law, when basic human rights are being so obviously denied,
and when a woman, regardless of her birthplace, has to worry about
forced interactions with ruthless men, or about being charged with
a crime she had no control over.
The final speaker, presenting herself as a Third World feminist,
proceeded to discuss her view of Western feminist ideals, and
consequently portrayed them to be too “radical” or
“extreme” for any Third World feminist to harness. I
found it interesting that she seemed to lose sight of the fact that
without the Western feminist movement and people like Simone De
Beauvoir, Gayle Rubin, Catherine McKinnon, or Uma Narayan, she
would not have attained the education she has now, nor would she
have been able to stand up in front of a room full of students
““ male and female ““ and express her ideas.
Much of the struggle for women’s liberation was brought to
light during the ’60s when radical feminism was born. I think
it would be an interesting project to see where women in this
country would be if those women had not taken the world by storm,
and if they had not grabbed everyone’s attention so
universally.
The forum was interesting in the sense that it reinforced,
essentially, the very stereotypes it was attempting to dispel, and
also brought more of my own thoughts on Islam to light. I have
grown up in a Muslim community, and will raise my children in a
Muslim community. But the one I lived in, and one they will live in
will be fathoms apart.
Much of the strength the Muslim people need to attain will come
not through supporting any and all variations of our faith blindly,
or by attacking the thoughts of the Western world as
“radical” or “extreme,” but by questioning
the roots of these variations and trying to uncover where the line
is between practicing the faith in the truest sense, and taking
advantage of the cultural tenants attached to it.
The next forum hosted in the name of Islamic Awareness Week
should focus on issues like human rights in Islamic law regimes,
and the status of women within those regimes versus the status of
their counterparts in the West. It should include not only orthodox
Muslim speakers and presenters, but also those from the more
liberal end of the spectrum, along with those on the outside who
may have a more objective viewpoint.
We can only learn from each other, and the more opinions we
have, the better position we will be in to the initiate the change
that so obviously has to be undertaken.