It is again Mother's Day, and this year on Mother's Day, I paused to reflect on what I have heard about the status of women during my visits at UM-F with my mother (now an alumna). A few years ago, the MSA at UM-F presented various speakers and served up some delicious cuisine to UM-F and the general public. I myself am a convert to Islam. Even so, a few thing were said that not only embarrassed me, but also angered me. What angered me was a brief but dishonest reference to a historical figure named Ibn Taymiyyah, who died 1328 CE. The claim that was made about this man is that he was the "shaykh of Islam". While Ibn Taymiyyah was a good scholar, he deviated from mainstream Islam, especially in his doctrine. For example, he claimed literal body parts for God and ascribed Him location ("Al `Aqidah al Wasitiya"), whereas Islamic belief is that God does not resemble created things in the least. This is specified in the Creeds of early Islamic scholars ("Al Fiqh al Akbar", Abu Hanifah; "Al `Aqidah at-Tahawiyyah", at-Tahawi) and is based on the Qur'an and sayings of Prophet Muhammad. While Ibn Taymiyyah was mentioned in lieu of a saying of his regarding the rights of women in Islam, it would certainly have been better to refer to the Qur'an, the sayings of Prophet Muhammad or his family and contemporaries, or one of the early scholars from the first three centuries of Islamic history, which ended in the 11th century CE. The second falsehood that was ebarrassing for me that was mentioned was that some women in Afghanistan wear the burqah by choice. It is possible that an Afghanis woman said ths - especially if there were men around to hear her. However, reports from human rights organisations do not collaborate. "At present, women ... want to go to school and not to cover themselves with burqa or chadori. ... I cannot tell you specific things because women are not present everywhere..." -Herat resident, September 13, 2002 http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/afghnwmn1202/Afghnwmn1202-01.htm#P133_17658 "All women still wear the chadari [burqah] because of this." (Human Rights Watch interview, A.P., Mazar-i Sharif, Afghanistan, February 19, 2002) http://hrw.org/backgrounder/wrd/afghan-women-2k2.htm At about 10:00 a.m., I was traveling with a friend, N, who was in the car with me. We had a male driver and one male colleague with us. Another car, which was black and had three male occupants, was traveling alongside us and it veered in front of our car forcing us to stop. They told my male colleague to get out of the car and asked him why the two women had uncovered their faces and were not wearing a chadari. My colleague replied that we are like his sisters and that he works with us. One of the men said, 'It doesn't matter that the Taliban are no longer here, because the Mujahidin are here.' ... Now I wear a chadari even in the car." (Human Rights Watch interview, N.W., Kabul, Afghanistan, March 10, 2002) http://hrw.org/backgrounder/wrd/afghan-women-2k2.htm It is enough for me to know that Prophet Muhammad spoke often of the high rank of women in Islam to the extent that he said that Heaven lies at the feet of a mother and that a mother deserves three times as much respect as a father, and that he said that one should show favour to one's daughters and that a family is especially blessed if the first child is a daughter. I would rather take my information from reliable scholars such as those with Sunni Path (http://www.sunnipath.com) or the maraja` of Shi`ah Islam (http://www.al-islam.org) than from someone who had abandoned basic Islamic beliefs or unverified reports that contradict reports from our international human rights organisations. -Tabitha Groat, daughter of alumna Mary Groat Houston, TX 77074 713 774 9369 (do not publish telephone) abaleada@juno.com http://abaleada.blogspot.com
A Letter to the Editor
Published: Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Updated: Monday, August 16, 2010 09:08
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