Malaysia: Within Islam's embrace, a voice for Malaysia's women
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WUNRN Sometimes it seems that Zainah Anwar — articulate, a little brassy, a presence wherever she goes — single-handedly keeps the flame for women's rights alive in Malaysia, a country that portrays itself as the model of a progressive Muslim society.
Islamic authorities in Malaysia recently ordered that a well-known Malaysian Hindu be buried as a Muslim, against the wishes of his wife.
With the acid touch that has made her an accomplished campaigner, Ms. Zainah calls the officials in the government religious departments "those Taliban-minded bureaucrats." Then skittering back from the precipice of real trouble, she notes that nearly 50 percent of Malaysian women work, some in top jobs, including the governor of the Central Bank.
Ms. Zainah, one of her nation's best known figures, is a founder of Sisters in Islam, sassily known as SIS, which has for nearly 20 years lobbied for justice for women, always within the framework of Islam and the words of the Koran.
In doing so, her group confronts the conundrum that is Malaysia: a relatively prosperous, politically stable nation of 24 million yet one where powerful Islamic Affairs Departments in the 13 states and a federal jurisdiction that includes the capital, Kuala Lumpur, run Shariah courts that administer Islamic affairs, including matters of marriage, divorce and death.
"I want an Islam that upholds the principles of justice, equality, freedom and dignity," she said. "There is nothing contradictory between wanting these principles to guide and govern your life and being a good Muslim."
In her latest victory, Ms. Zainah forced the government to step back from amendments to the family law that made it easier for men to practice polygamy and to divorce.
Her group fought the amendments not only because they represented a backward step, but also because the governing party of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi insisted that the women in the Senate who personally opposed the new amendments vote in their favor.
"Senators were told to vote against their conscience," said Ms. Zainah, 51, who attended graduate school in the United States. "Can you imagine, in the debate, one minister apologized to her daughter for having to vote with the party whips. She was in tears."
The Parliament passed the amendments just before the end of the year, and Ms. Zainah began a strong opposition campaign that was covered in the news media. In mid-January, the government announced that the cabinet would review the measures. Ms. Zainah and members of other women's groups and the bar association were invited to join a broad commission to find a compromise.
"The cabinet ordered the attorney general — and not the religious department — to find solutions," she said triumphantly. "They recognized that the religious department and its obscurantist apparatchiks are the source of the problem." It was the first time, she said, that the forces of progress were sitting in the same room "on equal terms" with Islamic clerics and scholars.
As satisfying as the win might be, it illustrated the extent of the opposition Ms. Zainah and her supporters still face.
The politics of Islam in Malaysia are defined by the hand of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who governed for 22 years before stepping aside in 2004. He left a country that, in contrast to many others in Southeast Asia, gives the impression of actually working — big roads, new factories — and that recovered smartly from the regional economic downturn of the late 1990's.
In order to keep at bay the leading Islamic party, Parti Islam se-Malaysia, Mr. Mahathir poured resources into the religious bureaucracy, giving it powers in the states and at the federal level on all matters to do with Islam. Malaysia is an Islamic state, unlike neighboring Indonesia, which rejected Islam as part of its Constitution at independence from the Dutch.
When Mr. Abdullah took over as Mr. Mahathir's successor in 2004, he was seen as a reformer who would soften the increasingly rigid Islam of the religious courts. But so far, Mr. Abdullah has taken few steps to curb the powers of the religious leaders.
Instead, the government closed a provincial newspaper, The Sarawak Tribune, on Feb. 9 after it published the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and made it an offense to own or copy the cartoons.
But Ms. Zainah said she believed that Mr. Abdullah would be forced to moderate the policies of the religious leaders to save Malaysia's reputation. She also said the prime minister, who is chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, is genuinely progressive.
In an embarrassing incident last month, Islamic religious authorities insisted on giving a Malaysian celebrity an Islamic burial, even though his family testified that he remained a Hindu until his death. The man, known simply as Moorthy, was the first Malaysian to scale Mount Everest. After Muslim authorities took away his body for burial, his wife appealed to a civil court. Her plea was refused.
But soon after, the prime minister announced that the attorney general would consult with a cross section of society to establish a new policy on the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam.
"A model progressive Muslim country," Ms. Zainah observed, "cannot show the world that it makes laws that discriminate against women and that allows its religious authorities to snatch away the body of a dead man from his grieving Hindu family."
As Ms. Zainah, a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, goes into battle, she holds some formidable cards. Chief among them are candor, not caring what others think and a refusal to be intimidated. She has not married, and said, "I don't want to be a slave to a man."
Another advantage: Ms. Zainah is close to two progressive women with powerful connections, Marina Mahathir, the daughter of the former prime minister, and Nori Abdullah, the daughter of the current prime minister. "He gets an earful from her," Ms. Zainah said, referring to Mr. Abdullah and his daughter.
At the end of a conference here on Islam and the West organized by New York University and the Malaysian government, the former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, asked to see Ms. Zainah and her colleagues.
What did she think of Mr. Khatami? "He failed to deliver," she said after their encounter. "When you govern in the name of Islam and fail to deliver on the aspirations of the people, Islam is seen to have failed. You bring disrepute to the religion. They found out Islam does not, after all, have the answers."
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: February 19, 2006 in The New York Times
Ms. Zainah, one of her nation's best known figures, is a founder of Sisters in Islam, sassily known as SIS, which has for nearly 20 years lobbied for justice for women, always within the framework of Islam and the words of the Koran.
In doing so, her group confronts the conundrum that is Malaysia: a relatively prosperous, politically stable nation of 24 million yet one where powerful Islamic Affairs Departments in the 13 states and a federal jurisdiction that includes the capital, Kuala Lumpur, run Shariah courts that administer Islamic affairs, including matters of marriage, divorce and death.
"I want an Islam that upholds the principles of justice, equality, freedom and dignity," she said. "There is nothing contradictory between wanting these principles to guide and govern your life and being a good Muslim."
In her latest victory, Ms. Zainah forced the government to step back from amendments to the family law that made it easier for men to practice polygamy and to divorce.
Her group fought the amendments not only because they represented a backward step, but also because the governing party of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi insisted that the women in the Senate who personally opposed the new amendments vote in their favor.
"Senators were told to vote against their conscience," said Ms. Zainah, 51, who attended graduate school in the United States. "Can you imagine, in the debate, one minister apologized to her daughter for having to vote with the party whips. She was in tears."
The Parliament passed the amendments just before the end of the year, and Ms. Zainah began a strong opposition campaign that was covered in the news media. In mid-January, the government announced that the cabinet would review the measures. Ms. Zainah and members of other women's groups and the bar association were invited to join a broad commission to find a compromise.
"The cabinet ordered the attorney general — and not the religious department — to find solutions," she said triumphantly. "They recognized that the religious department and its obscurantist apparatchiks are the source of the problem." It was the first time, she said, that the forces of progress were sitting in the same room "on equal terms" with Islamic clerics and scholars.
As satisfying as the win might be, it illustrated the extent of the opposition Ms. Zainah and her supporters still face.
The politics of Islam in Malaysia are defined by the hand of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who governed for 22 years before stepping aside in 2004. He left a country that, in contrast to many others in Southeast Asia, gives the impression of actually working — big roads, new factories — and that recovered smartly from the regional economic downturn of the late 1990's.
In order to keep at bay the leading Islamic party, Parti Islam se-Malaysia, Mr. Mahathir poured resources into the religious bureaucracy, giving it powers in the states and at the federal level on all matters to do with Islam. Malaysia is an Islamic state, unlike neighboring Indonesia, which rejected Islam as part of its Constitution at independence from the Dutch.
When Mr. Abdullah took over as Mr. Mahathir's successor in 2004, he was seen as a reformer who would soften the increasingly rigid Islam of the religious courts. But so far, Mr. Abdullah has taken few steps to curb the powers of the religious leaders.
Instead, the government closed a provincial newspaper, The Sarawak Tribune, on Feb. 9 after it published the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and made it an offense to own or copy the cartoons.
But Ms. Zainah said she believed that Mr. Abdullah would be forced to moderate the policies of the religious leaders to save Malaysia's reputation. She also said the prime minister, who is chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, is genuinely progressive.
In an embarrassing incident last month, Islamic religious authorities insisted on giving a Malaysian celebrity an Islamic burial, even though his family testified that he remained a Hindu until his death. The man, known simply as Moorthy, was the first Malaysian to scale Mount Everest. After Muslim authorities took away his body for burial, his wife appealed to a civil court. Her plea was refused.
But soon after, the prime minister announced that the attorney general would consult with a cross section of society to establish a new policy on the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam.
"A model progressive Muslim country," Ms. Zainah observed, "cannot show the world that it makes laws that discriminate against women and that allows its religious authorities to snatch away the body of a dead man from his grieving Hindu family."
As Ms. Zainah, a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, goes into battle, she holds some formidable cards. Chief among them are candor, not caring what others think and a refusal to be intimidated. She has not married, and said, "I don't want to be a slave to a man."
Another advantage: Ms. Zainah is close to two progressive women with powerful connections, Marina Mahathir, the daughter of the former prime minister, and Nori Abdullah, the daughter of the current prime minister. "He gets an earful from her," Ms. Zainah said, referring to Mr. Abdullah and his daughter.
At the end of a conference here on Islam and the West organized by New York University and the Malaysian government, the former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, asked to see Ms. Zainah and her colleagues.
What did she think of Mr. Khatami? "He failed to deliver," she said after their encounter. "When you govern in the name of Islam and fail to deliver on the aspirations of the people, Islam is seen to have failed. You bring disrepute to the religion. They found out Islam does not, after all, have the answers."
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: February 19, 2006 in The New York Times
Related info/URLs:
Related information
http://www.feminismeislamic.org/eng/participants03.htm
Sisters in Islam: A Voice for Everyone
http://www.forusa.org/fellowship/sept-oct-04/anwar.html
Ending the Patriarchy
TIME March 10, 2003
To claim their rights, Muslim women cannot leave it to men to define Islam.
By Zainah Anwar
I am a Muslim woman. I believe in God and the prophet Muhammad. I pray, I fast, I read the Koran, I've been to Mecca for umrah (the mini-hajj pilgrimage) and hope to go on the big one soon. I also love the Beatles, I dance, swim, dive, hug and kiss my bosom buddies male and female. I am a feminist and I am an activist. I see no contradiction in being a Muslim and being a modern person who leads a joyous and meaningful life inside and outside the home.
In my world of Islam, I witness both the progressive and the regressive. There are women who are better educated than men and men who are better educated than women. There are husbands who maintain their wives and wives who maintain their husbands. There are men who love to cook and stay home, and women who prefer to eat out and hang out. But I also encounter women who yearn for husbands to share the housework and child rearing, just as they, as wives, share the financial burdens of the family. I meet women who cannot accept that their husbands have taken second wives, women who cannot believe that God has given the husband the right to beat his wife, women who cannot fathom how they, as long-suffering dutiful wives, are only entitled to one-eighth a share of their deceased husband's estate while other family members get more.
But the mullahs tell me of a different world of Islam. The mullahs say all men are superior to all women and therefore women cannot be regarded as equal to men. They tell me that a Muslim man has the right to divorce his wife at will, the right to take second, third and fourth wives, the right to demand obedience and the right to beat his wife if he thinks she is misbehaving. They say I cannot question these rules as they are God's law.
As a thinking and believing woman, I cannot accept such pronouncements made in the name of my faith and my God. What the mullahs are doing is using God and religion to justify patriarchy—and they don't like it when someone questions what they preach. Last year, a group that called itself the Ulama Association of Malaysia tried to get me charged for insulting Islam. They claimed that I, and the group I represent, Sisters in Islam, question the word of God when we assert that polygamy is not a right in Islam, and that the mullahs do not possess a monopoly on understanding, interpreting and codifying religion into law.
What I and my sisters are actually guilty of is asserting that there are deep differences between the revealed word of God and human (read: male) interpretation of the message. For centuries, men interpreted the Koran and codified Islamic rules that defined for us what it is to be a woman and how to be a woman. The woman's voice, the woman's experience, the woman's realities have been largely silent and silenced. This absence of the female voice in the interpretation of the Koran is mistakenly equated with the voicelessness of the Koran itself on female concerns. And this voicelessness is perpetuated these days by men who not only isolate Koranic verses from the sociohistorical context in which they were revealed but also isolate them from the context of the contemporary society we live in today.
Where Koranic verses appear to discriminate against women, I read it within the sociohistorical context of revelation. It is not God's intent to perpetuate injustice and discrimination. But how justice was served in 7th century Arabia was specific to that time, place and circumstance. Thus asking a woman to assist another woman as a witness in a contractual transaction was never meant to lead to the eternal principle of two women equals one man but to ensure that justice was done at a time when few women were managing their own businesses.
Women can no longer leave it to a God appropriated and defined by men to solve the problems and conflicts they face in their daily lives. So what is the choice before me? Rejecting religion so that I can live my life as a feminist is not an option. I am a believer, and I want to find solutions from within my own faith. So I have gone back to the Koran to search for answers. The Koran I read talks about love, mercy and equality, justice, freedom and dignity. It talks about equal responsibility of men and women in this world and equal rewards in the afterlife. The Koran says, "Be you male or female, you are members, one of another." In the final verse revealed by God on the relationship between men and women, it says we are "each other's protecting friends and guardians." I do not read of the superiority or inferiority of either sex in the Koran I know.
The more I read the Koran, the stronger my faith becomes. It is this conviction in a God who is just that gives me the courage to speak out and to try to end the injustice women suffer in the name of religion.
Zainah Anwar is executive director of Sisters in Islam, an ngo fighting for women's rights within an Islamic framework.
http://www.feminismeislamic.org/eng/participants03.htm
Sisters in Islam: A Voice for Everyone
http://www.forusa.org/fellowship/sept-oct-04/anwar.html
Ending the Patriarchy
TIME March 10, 2003
To claim their rights, Muslim women cannot leave it to men to define Islam.
By Zainah Anwar
I am a Muslim woman. I believe in God and the prophet Muhammad. I pray, I fast, I read the Koran, I've been to Mecca for umrah (the mini-hajj pilgrimage) and hope to go on the big one soon. I also love the Beatles, I dance, swim, dive, hug and kiss my bosom buddies male and female. I am a feminist and I am an activist. I see no contradiction in being a Muslim and being a modern person who leads a joyous and meaningful life inside and outside the home.
In my world of Islam, I witness both the progressive and the regressive. There are women who are better educated than men and men who are better educated than women. There are husbands who maintain their wives and wives who maintain their husbands. There are men who love to cook and stay home, and women who prefer to eat out and hang out. But I also encounter women who yearn for husbands to share the housework and child rearing, just as they, as wives, share the financial burdens of the family. I meet women who cannot accept that their husbands have taken second wives, women who cannot believe that God has given the husband the right to beat his wife, women who cannot fathom how they, as long-suffering dutiful wives, are only entitled to one-eighth a share of their deceased husband's estate while other family members get more.
But the mullahs tell me of a different world of Islam. The mullahs say all men are superior to all women and therefore women cannot be regarded as equal to men. They tell me that a Muslim man has the right to divorce his wife at will, the right to take second, third and fourth wives, the right to demand obedience and the right to beat his wife if he thinks she is misbehaving. They say I cannot question these rules as they are God's law.
As a thinking and believing woman, I cannot accept such pronouncements made in the name of my faith and my God. What the mullahs are doing is using God and religion to justify patriarchy—and they don't like it when someone questions what they preach. Last year, a group that called itself the Ulama Association of Malaysia tried to get me charged for insulting Islam. They claimed that I, and the group I represent, Sisters in Islam, question the word of God when we assert that polygamy is not a right in Islam, and that the mullahs do not possess a monopoly on understanding, interpreting and codifying religion into law.
What I and my sisters are actually guilty of is asserting that there are deep differences between the revealed word of God and human (read: male) interpretation of the message. For centuries, men interpreted the Koran and codified Islamic rules that defined for us what it is to be a woman and how to be a woman. The woman's voice, the woman's experience, the woman's realities have been largely silent and silenced. This absence of the female voice in the interpretation of the Koran is mistakenly equated with the voicelessness of the Koran itself on female concerns. And this voicelessness is perpetuated these days by men who not only isolate Koranic verses from the sociohistorical context in which they were revealed but also isolate them from the context of the contemporary society we live in today.
Where Koranic verses appear to discriminate against women, I read it within the sociohistorical context of revelation. It is not God's intent to perpetuate injustice and discrimination. But how justice was served in 7th century Arabia was specific to that time, place and circumstance. Thus asking a woman to assist another woman as a witness in a contractual transaction was never meant to lead to the eternal principle of two women equals one man but to ensure that justice was done at a time when few women were managing their own businesses.
Women can no longer leave it to a God appropriated and defined by men to solve the problems and conflicts they face in their daily lives. So what is the choice before me? Rejecting religion so that I can live my life as a feminist is not an option. I am a believer, and I want to find solutions from within my own faith. So I have gone back to the Koran to search for answers. The Koran I read talks about love, mercy and equality, justice, freedom and dignity. It talks about equal responsibility of men and women in this world and equal rewards in the afterlife. The Koran says, "Be you male or female, you are members, one of another." In the final verse revealed by God on the relationship between men and women, it says we are "each other's protecting friends and guardians." I do not read of the superiority or inferiority of either sex in the Koran I know.
The more I read the Koran, the stronger my faith becomes. It is this conviction in a God who is just that gives me the courage to speak out and to try to end the injustice women suffer in the name of religion.
Zainah Anwar is executive director of Sisters in Islam, an ngo fighting for women's rights within an Islamic framework.
Submitted on Wed, 03/01/2006 - 00:00
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