International Women’s day: Celebration or Commiseration

NB: This video contains Wrong/Unislamic concepts 




TV discussion: Women in the West & Muslim world



International Women’s day: Celebration or Commiseration

The 8th March 2010 saw the 100th anniversary of International women's day in which women come together globally to celebrate the political, social and economic inroads that women have made in the last century. It is an official holiday in China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The UN gave it official recognition in 1975. At the turn of the 20th century women began to see the fruits of their battle to gain the right to vote; and following a conference for working women in 1910 in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin, (leader of the Women's Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) spearheaded the launch of a day for the recognition of women's rights.

Women globally have made some progress since the industrial revolution when scores of women entered the work place. The discussion of women's rights began to take shape in the early 1800s when women were denied the right to vote, denied the right to own property, they were denied entitled entitlement to inheritance, denied education and were generally employed as home helps and paid a meagre wage.

The Enlightenment saw the ‘rights for women’ movement become political. John Stuart Mills the political theorist wrote: “We are continually told that civilization and Christianity have resorted to the woman her just rights. Meanwhile the wife is the actual bondservant of her husband; no less so, as far as the legal obligation goes, than slaves commonly so called.”

By 1915 most European states had given women the right to vote. The United States and Britain had had passed laws which protected the property of women from their husbands and their husband's creditors. The fight for education for women saw the emergence of the first university for women in the US in 1821, in 1841 women were formally allowed to teach at universities. In 1873 mothers were granted guardianship for children in cases of divorce.

In the 1970’s Equal Pay Act’s and the Sex Discrimination Act’s were passed across the Western world. The National Organisation for Women was founded in 1966 in the US. The organisation lobbied aggressively to secure equal pay for women. Women now make up 50% of the degrees earned at college, compared to the figure of less than 20% at the turn of the 20th Century. Also in the US, 36% of all doctors are women.

It is these successes many around the world come out and celebrate every March 8th. However, a closer scrutiny at the real situation draws a much dimmer picture. Richard H. Robbins in his award winning book Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, he noted: “the informal slogan of the Decree of Woman became: women do two thirds of the world's work, receive ten per cent of the world's income and own 1 per cent of the means of production.”

Globally the statistics and facts released every year about the emancipation of women suggest that women have regressed to the position that they were in prior to the Enlightenment era. Two thirds of all children denied school are girls around the world and of the world's 876 million illiterate adults, 75% are women.

Domestic violence is the biggest cause of injury and death of women world wide, ironically the UN officially commemorates an International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on the 25th November each year. In the US only nearly 45% of domestic violence is reported to the police. The FBI estimates that only 37% of all rapes are reported to the police. Of these, 21.6% were younger than the age of 12.

In the workplace, a recent survey by the Fawcett Society found that of the 2,742 board seats available in the top 350 companies listed on the London stock exchange, only 242 were occupied by women, and most of those were non-executive directorships. Those who have entered London’s prestige’s City have found they are potentially only an object of desire for men and not much else. A survey by the BBC News Online (Laddism in the City, 10/4/2001) showed the plight of many women working in the city; many say they are “touched up by both colleagues, contacts or competitors…and think objecting could be bad for business”. ‘Team building’ meetings and ‘client facing’ often take place in strip clubs or seedy bars and, as one women put it, opting out is not an option; “You had to be part of the gang… they see it as seriously affecting their profits (if you miss these events)".

In the Muslim world women in Bangladesh suffer from acid battery attacks at an alarming rate; women in Pakistan are raped for daring to make an allegation of rape. Tribal laws saw Mukhtar Mai in 2002 gang-raped on orders of a tribal council for acts allegedly committed by her brother.

The feminist movement has gone full circle. German writer and TV newsreader Eva Herman recently wrote that "Let's just say it loud, we women have overburdened ourselves - we allowed ourselves to be too easily seduced by career opportunities." She recommends women exchange the cold sphere of work for the “colourful world of children” and discover their “destiny of nurturing the home environment.”

Regardless of the introduction of laws and global women's organisations, women remain disadvantaged. Some argue that the Gender Equality movement has further entrenched the problems that women suffer since they are now expected to be equal to a man, work as hard as a man, and commit as much as a man. This notion is contradictory since "gender" points to the biological differences between men and women, "gender equality" eliminates gender from the discussion entirely. A research paper by Professor Jacqueline Adhiambo-Oduol concluded that: “A built-in tension exists between this concept of equality, which presupposes sameness, and this concept of sex which presupposes difference. Sex equality becomes a contradiction in terms, something of an oxymoron.” (Adhiambo-Oduol. J. ‘The socio-cultural aspects of the gender question, US International University-Africa, Dec 2001).

Islam on the other hand is not gender based. It came as a mercy to mankind and not to cause a battle of the sexes, which will always bring about an imbalance. Whilst women were struggling with the right to vote, women in Madina during the time of Muhammed (saw) and subsequently were entitled to vote and had an obligation to assume a political voice. It was a woman who accounted Umar ibn Khattab (the second rightly guided khaleefah) when he attempted to set a limit on the dowry that women could request. Aisha (ra) was revered for her extensive knowledge, often giving rulings to the shahabah when there was a dispute.

Women are permitted to be employees and employers. She can trade, be a teacher, nuclear physicist, own and sell property and enter into various economic transactions. Annemarie Schimmel, the influential German Orientalist and scholar stated: "Islamic progress meant an enormous progress; the woman has the right, at least according to the letter of the law, to administer the wealth she has brought into the family or has earned by her own work."

It was Fatima al Fihri under the Khilafah that built the first university in 841 CE. A well educated woman herself, she opened the al-Qarawiyin in Fez, Morocco. Amongst other subjects, the sciences were also taught at the university.

Women faced the protection of their honour under the khilafah. It was khaleefah Mutassim who sent an entire army to the Roman Empire upon hearing that a Muslim woman had been dishonoured by a Roman soldier.

Upon understanding the real protection and nurturing that a Khilafah state would bring men and women alike, is it any wonder that there is an overwhelming call for its return. The vast majority of those polled in a Gallup survey in 2005 said that they would want to see Shari’ah as the sole source of legislation. It is only the Khilafah that will ensure the rights of all citizens, men and women, Muslim and non- Muslim. History pertains to that fact. Islam is as applicable today as it was before the destruction of the Khilafah in 1924. Allah (swt) tells us as much in surat al Maidah:

الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلاَمَ دِينًا

"This day I have perfected your deen for you and completed my favour upon you chosen Islam as your deen".  (TMQ Maidah 5:3).

Source: HTB

French Niqab Ban: Islam v Capitalism

A parliamentary committee in France has recommended a ban on the Burqa – the full-face veil. The committee's 200-page report has proposed a ban in hospitals, schools, government offices and on public transport i.e. a ban in public places. According to French domestic intelligence services in a report in July 2009, they concluded that only 367 women in France wore the Burqa! But that's too many for the French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He says the veils are unwelcome in France. France has been battling with the Muslim dress for the last decade.

In 2004 The Stasi commission proposed the banning of all religious symbols in public education establishments. The Commission was set up by then president Jacques Chirac to look at the application and strength of secularism in France. The banning of the Hijab in schools proved to Muslims and non-Muslims that France had a problem with Islam.

Why does France have a problem with a piece of cloth? Why is France considering legislating against what in reality is a personal decision by Muslim women to cover themselves? Across Europe anti-Muslim sentiment is running very high with nations such as Switzerland – the most insular country in the world banning the construction of Islamic symbols. There are a number of issues that need to be understood in order to comprehend the reasons why Europe is going to such extreme lengths against the Ummah.

- Capitalism has evolved into what it is today after a centuries long struggle to remove the authority of the church. Many thinkers, philosophers and writers lost their lives in the struggle to remove the arbitrary nature of the Christian Church in order to be free. The dogma of the church resulted in many of its adoptions that contradicted reality to be enforced upon the masses; any deviation from this was considered blasphemy, punishable by being burnt at the stake. This intense struggle eventually led to an intellectual revolution in Europe. European philosophers, writers and intellectuals made considerable efforts for comprehensive change in European ideas with the aim of uniting Europeans under secular liberal democratic thought i.e. Capitalism. Many movements were established and played a great part in the emergence of new opinions about life. One of the most significant events that occurred was the change of the political and legislative systems to the nation state. The spectre of a despotic monarchy gradually disappeared to be replaced by republican systems based on representative rule and national sovereignty. This had the effect of triggering the awakening of

Hence Europeans go to great lengths to explain the ‘hard fought for’ values and that any compromise with Freedom, democracy and equality is a betrayal of European history.

- The first attempt to undermine Capitalism was by the Soviet Union who emerged as a powerful nation after WW2. The Soviet Union represented an alternative way of life, with an alternative set of values and at the centre of its belief system was: communism cannot coexist with any ideology. From the moment the Cold War began, Western governments attempted to subvert Communism to create a climate of fear within their own populations, which would allow regime change and military deployments alongside the diversion of massive funds towards military industry rather than domestic industry. The possibility of a nuclear attack by the red menace was used as a basis for an aggressive attitude towards the Communist Bloc. This was exemplified by the American hysteria through McCarthyism in the early 1950’s and it’s obsession vis-a-vis Vietnam and Cuba in the early 1960’s. The West defended Capitalism though creating a number of false images of the Communist bloc. Whilst the outcome of this struggle is history, the methods used by the West are critical to understand and was encapsulated by Elaine Sciolino on the 21st January 1996, in the New York Times: ‘The Red Menace is Gone. But Here’s Islam. the Green Menace.’

- After World War II Britain needed a pool of new labour and began advertising for jobs in its colonies. As the European continent needed reconstruction a number of other European nations imported migrants from their colonies. As a result of such migration European nations today face a catch 22 situation. On the one hand, they need more immigrants from the developing world to guarantee the sustainability of their economic systems due to their ageing populations. On the other hand, every additional immigrant in Europe is turning the average European into a more nationalist and less tolerant person. As noted in a 2004 report by the RAND corporation: "the sheer number of immigrants required to offset population aging in the EU and its member states would be unacceptable in Europe's current socio-political climate."

- The 1990's witnessed a number of landmark events that contributed to the politicisation of the Ummah in Europe. Events such as the reaction to the publication of the Satanic Verses in the UK, the first Gulf war and Bosnia. Other conflicts such as those in Algeria, Chechnya, Dagestan, Kashmir and Gujarat increased activism while stoking tension. Then came the attacks on New York and Washington where Muslims found themselves unwittingly the minority group at the very centre of European politics. The bombings in Madrid and Britain turned the Ummah in Europe into Islamic extremists. This was epitomised by hostility towards, and suspicion of, Muslims.

When Muslims with European passports were found to be fighting with the Taliban against European forces a debate began on the loyalty of Muslims in Europe to their host countries. Muslim European citizens were now seen as a people apart with a vision very different to what Europe had. 9/11 brought Muslim identity, values and loyalty into question and Muslim minorities all over Europe found themselves bearing the brunt of violence and victimisation as suspicion of them rose to disproportionate levels.

- The post 9/11 climate heralded the end of multiculturalism as a model to absorb minorities, integration into Europe’s values and beliefs became essential. The climate created by the West included open attacks on Islam, such as the women’s dress, Shari’ah, Ummah and Khilafah. Journalists, writers and government ministers justified the attacks on Islam through the use of freedom of speech. When Jyllands-Posten published pictures of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW,) Flemming Rose editor of Jyllands-Posten commented: “The modern, secular society is rejected by some Muslims. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their own religious feelings. It is incompatible with contemporary democracy and freedom of speech, where one must be ready to put up with insults…..” André Gerin, the Communist Party legislator and mayor of Vénissieux, a Lyon suburb who initiated the motion to outlaw the wearing of the Burqa in France made it very clear what his issue is with the Ummah, which resonates across Europe, he said “The burqa is the tip of the iceberg, Islamism really threatens us.” Islam is the problem in Europe; all the various attempts at attacking Islam and banning symbols of Islam are in reality the West’s attempts at defending Capitalism. The Hijab, Niqaab and Burqa for the West represents Islam, hence wearing them is not just a mark of separation, but for many liberals, an open challenge to Capitalism – hence the hostility towards them. The French parliamentary report that recommended the Niqab ban makes this point very clear: “The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable. We must condemn this excess," the report said. The commission called on parliament to adopt a formal resolution stating that the face veil was "contrary to the values of the republic" and proclaimed that "all of France is saying 'no' to the full veil".

- The West defeated Communism through subversion by creating a variety of lies against it with their own populations that would justify actions which would otherwise be considered unpalatable. They then exhausted the USSR through a long arms and space race which destroyed its economy. The West presented their economic system as the ideal system to allocate resources and won many communists to this concept, even though wealth inequity could be seen across the West. In this same vain the West is attempting to protect its ideology through subverting Islam. The West has successfully presented the Khilafah as inherently violent and linked the call for Khilafah with violence amongst its own population. It continues to propagate many of the Islamic rules as outdated and oppressive, such as the women’s dress. In this way the debate is restricted to Islam and for Muslims to explain Islam; this ensures no discussion takes place about Capitalism’s validity, just as the strategy was with communism.

- The French established a strong state in the centre of Europe through the French revolution. The Enlightenment began in France and as a result new ideas on the role of the king and the powers of the state emerged. Many French philosophers and intellectuals gained social, political and philosophical influence on a global scale, including Voltaire, Denis Diderot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose essay The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right and Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu described the separation of powers and were all a catalyst for government and societal reform throughout Europe. However today many consider French culture to be dead. Whilst France at the dawn of Capitalism was leading change in Europe, today most thinkers, new ideas and philosophers come from the US, this has created a very insecure France who has become very pessimistic about the future of the nation. This was the very reason the Stasi commission was created, to look at what has gone wrong with France.

- The French like much of Europe feel their way of life, which they already believe is in decline is being challenged by Islam through the wearing of Islamic symbols and through remaining loyal to the Ummah over France. In defending their ideology France has resorted to legislating against Islam rather than have anything in the way of an intellectual debate with Islam. The same can be seen across the Western world, the hatred of Islam can be seen by the constant attacks on aspects of Islam and lack much intellectual depth. Europe is going to extreme lengths to halt the wave of Islam in Europe through banning aspects of Islam, through forcing some to sign up to a code of values as in Germany in order to gain citizenship or as in the UK the need to swear allegiance to the queen to gain British citizenship.

- The attacks on Islam should be seen in a positive light by the Ummah across the world. The West is attempting to defend its deen of capitalism when a coordinated attack has not even been launched by the Ummah. Their attempts at defending capitalism rest on attacking, lying and subverting Islam in the hope of halting the wave of Islamasation that is sweeping across the Muslim world. The politasation of the Ummah will eventually lead to the Khilafah because political ideas always end with a revolution and government – this was the experience of the West. The emergence of the Khilafah is their worst nightmare, this is why the more Islamic the Ummah responds to global issues, the more intense their defence of their ideology takes place.

- The Ummah needs to stand for Islam, for all the lies the west label upon Islam they conveniently overlook the crisis they find themselves in. In the US one person is murdered every 31 minutes, raped every 1.9 minutes, assaulted every 36.9 seconds and one home is burglarised every 18 seconds. Both the US and the UK have the world’s highest rate of teenage pregnancies. 2 out of every 5 people are considered obese in Europe. Whilst Sarkozy attempts to protect Muslim women in France 3.2 million French citizens officially suffer from depression, 25,000 women in France are victims of rape every year, 400 women die every year in France due to violence, men are paid 11% more than women for the same jobs and 5400 women commit suicide every year in France. After over 200 years of capitalism Western societies are drowning in a sea of debt and social breakdown. Capitalism needs to explain why the world should adopt it, it currently has a very weak case considering its problems in convincing the Ummah to abandon Islam, this is why its defence of Capitalism is not through elaborating on its details but by debating the apparent floors in the alternative.

- The West has been able to enlist some Muslim in their attempt to undermine Islam, who unfortunately due to a variety of reasons aid the west in their campaign to demonise Islam. In January 2009 the grand Mufti of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Tantawi, said he would seek an official ban for the face veil in schools. It should be clear that the niqaab is one opinion in Islam with regard the women’s dress in public life. Allah (swt) says in the qur’an:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُل لِّأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاء الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا

"Oh Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the woman of the believers to draw their cloaks all over their bodies. That will be better, that they should be known so as not to be annoyed." [Al- Ahzab: 59]Whilst there are a number of different interpretations of this ayah, when reconciled with other evidences the Burqa is one opinion, it is therefore an Islamic opinion. However this is not the argument of France or the West. Their argument is that the Niqab represents Islam and therefore is a challenge to those who believe in western values. Responding by denying the Burqa doesn’t just aid the West but is a betrayal to Allah (swt) when the West is clearly in a battle with Islam.

Various surveys, think tank reports and policy makers have all accepted that Muslims globally have rejected western values. A Gallup survey in 2006 concluded Muslim women tended to regard Western culture as morally corrupt and obsessed with sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. This represents a glaring failure on the part of the West faces no challenge to its global supremacy. This means the battle for hearts and minds and physical occupation represents a last ditch effort to salvage the emergence of an alternative system of governance. Thus defending Islam should always be undertaken from the perspective of a position of strength rather then a position of weakness.

It is in this context France is attempting to ban parts of Islam

Source: Adnan's Global Issues

Dr. Aafia's unjust conviction and impotence of Pakistan's government

French proposals on niqab, Religious Apartheid by Secularists

London 28th January 2010 - On Tuesday 26th January, a French cross-party parliamentary committee called for its parliament to pass a resolution denouncing the face veil worn by some Muslim women, stating that the veil was “contrary to the values of the republic”.


Its report said, “The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable. We must condemn this excess.” The Commission also unashamedly recommended that parliament refuse citizenship, residency papers, and access to public services such as schools, hospitals, public transport, and all government institutions including welfare offices to anyone wearing the Muslim face veil.

Andre Gerin, chair of the commission said the report should not “lead to a debate about religion” but instead focus on the “scandalous practices” of terrorism and extremism that “hide behind the full veil”. Earlier in the month, President Sarkozy used his New Year’s speech to once again attack the niqab, saying, “The full veil is not welcome in France because it runs contrary to our values and contrary to the ideals we have of a woman’s dignity.”

Women’s Media Representative of HTB commented, “France has gained a reputation for forcing women to uncover, then stigmatising and criminalising those who don’t. Muslim women are therefore relieved that their dresscode be described as “contrary to the values” of this xenophobic, secular Republic.”

“The French President and parliamentary commission may want Muslim women to expose their faces, but through these recommendations and inflammatory comments, the ugly face of secular fundamentalism is clear for all to see. The denial of medical treatment, access to education, limitation of freedom of movement, refusing child benefit payments, and consequently rendering to second class status women who hold an alternative view to secular philosophy, reflects the religious apartheid and fascist nature of this extremist ideology.”

“Coming a few weeks before France’s regional elections, the publishing of this report is an obvious piece of electioneering, reflecting French politicians scrambling desperately for popularity amongst the Islamophobic sector of French society. It demonstrates that secular politics has no qualms in stigmatising, and whipping up frenzy and hysteria about its religious minorities or playing on irrational fears regarding Islam and Muslims in order to bag a few extra votes. It appears that France’s secular politicians are more than willing to use the Muslim woman as political fodder to feed their rankings amongst their electorate, masquerading as an altruistic concern for the security of their citizens or well-being of Muslim women.”

“As for Sarkozy’s ‘ideals of a woman’s dignity’, French taxpayers money would surely have been better spent on a commission investigating the degrading impact that prostitution and the pornography industry – both running freely in France under the premise of freedom of expression and ownership - have upon the ‘dignity’ of all women within the society.”

“Mr. Gerin is right that this report should not lead to a debate on religion. It should however, lead to a thorough debate about secularism and whether it can continue to claim to champion the cause of civilized, tolerant, and a ‘rights for all’ society. It should be a debate that questions the strength of an ideology that feels threatened by a piece of cloth, and that struggles to accommodate the basic rights of its minorities, or that resorts to state force rather than force of argument to ensure acceptance of its values. It should be a debate that focuses on the ‘scandalous practices’ of unadulterated religious racism and political opportunism that ‘hide behind’ this French obsession with the Muslim woman’s dress.”

Soruce: HTB Women

Does Islam make Women Outdated?

TV: Dr Nazreen on the murder of Marwa Sherbini 'hijab martyr'

NB:

Egyptian niqab ban reflects dying throes of a desperate and failing regime

On Sunday 3rd January, the Egyptian Administrative Court, upheld the government’s decision to ban students from wearing the face veil while taking examinations at all government-run universities across the country.

The ban was initially ordered last October by the Minister of Higher Education, Hani Hilal, who argued that it would prevent cheating in exams due to students sitting exams disguised as others by wearing the niqab. He also ordered that niqab-wearing female lecturers should not be allowed into classes and that face veils should not be permitted in university hostels, attributing a ban to security reasons. Muslim women who wear the niqab, now face the prospect of having to sacrifice their education and career aspirations if they wish to hold on to their Islamic convictions.

The Egyptian regime and establishment, has repeatedly demonstrated that it cares very little for the rights or dignity of Muslim women. Its track-record, as documented by various human rights organisations, includes numerous arrests, torture, and rape of women related to Islamic activists by its security services.

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz, Women’s Media Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain commented, “This decision by the Egyptian Administrative Court is simply the latest chapter of Mubarak’s fight against the rising tide of Egyptian Muslims embracing Islam as a spiritual, social, and political ideology. The concoction of flimsy excuses such as security or cheating to justify outlawing face veils does little to deflect attention from the real cause of such bans - the Egyptian regime’s contempt for Islam. Niqab bans reflect the dying throes of an autocratic and failing government trying desperately to hold onto power against an unstoppable wave of opposition to secular dictatorship and support for Islamic rule within the country.”

“While Egyptian women grapple with rising levels of sexual molestation, an economy in meltdown, increasing poverty, and an illiteracy rate of over 50% of the country’s female population, the Egyptian government pathetically chooses to focus on face veils as a political priority. Unable to deal with the real issues blighting the country and in line with its familiar apathetic approach to the needs of its people, it seems intent on placing yet another obstacle in the path of its women seeking a good education, increasing their misery. It is not Islam that is the bane of the lives of women in the Muslim world as claimed by many in the West but autocratic regimes funded and supported by Western governments, that have adopted as their mission to be the vanguards of oppression and injustice meted out against their citizens. Egypt is simply the latest in a line of Muslim countries, including Turkey and Tunisia that have placed restrictions on women adorning their Islamic dress in public life.”

“Judicial decisions that uphold bans that strip Muslim women of their basic religious rights, only serve to convince them further that terms such as ‘freedom’ or ‘gender equality’ enshrined in their constitutions are inept in securing their basic rights of citizenship. It is therefore not surprising that so many Muslim women are turning in support of the Islamic Caliphate, understanding that it alone can protect their dignity, secure their Islamic obligations, and guarantee their rights. It is a state where women will be provided full access to education, where there is zero tolerance to the exploitation or abuse of women, and where the Muslim woman can wear her Islamic dress with pride, honour and under the full protection of the law.

Source: HTB
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