Nigeria, Boko Haram Reach Cease-Fire, Agree to Free Schoolgirls
New Age Islam News Bureau
18
Oct 2014
Indonesian bride and groom pray during their Muslim wedding ceremony at a mosque. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)
• Women MPs
Want Help from Men in Fighting Teenage Pregnancies
• Muslim Hijabi
Hipsters Fusing Fashion with Faith
• Pakistani
Girl Kept As Slave in Cellar Awarded $160,000
• Muslims
Fume As Nigeria Court Upholds School Hijab Ban
• Muslim
Women Attack Border Police near Temple Mount
• Debate
on Interfaith Marriage Highlights Indonesia’s Separation of Religion and State
• Synod on
Family: Marriage and Divorce Family Law in Morocco, Lebanon
• Female
British Muslims as Vulnerable To Radicalisation as Men, Study Shows
'• Won’t Even Let Us Kill Ourselves': Ordeal of Enslaved Yazidi Women
• The Real
Story of Narin and the Kurdish Female 'Lions' Terrorising Islamic State
• Cash-Strapped
Young Afghans Turn to Low-Cost Mass Weddings
• How a
Women's Muslim Aussie Rules Team Stood Tall
• USAID
Pledges $216 Million for Afghan Women’s Empowerment Program
• English
Hospitals' First Data on FGM A "Major Milestone"
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/nigeria,-boko-haram-reach-cease/d/99598
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Nigeria,
Boko Haram Reach Cease-Fire, Agree to Free Schoolgirls
18 Oct,
2014
The
Nigerian government says militant group Boko Haram has agreed to a cease-fire
and the release of 219 schoolgirls kidnapped by the militants in April from the
town of Chibok.
Top
Nigerian presidential aide Hassan Tukur told VOA's Hausa service the militants
have agreed in principle to free the schoolgirls. Tukur said the details still
need to be worked out, but said he has no reason to doubt Boko Haram's
sincerity.
Tukur
added that Boko Haram has assured the government the girls are in good
condition and that overall, he is cautiously optimistic that a peace process
with Boko Haram will succeed.
The two
sides reached the cease-fire deal Friday, after talks in Saudi Arabia that
involved President Idriss Deby of Chad and high-level officials from Cameroon.
Nigeria's
highest-ranking military official, General Alex Badeh, announced the the truce
Friday, referring to Boko Haram by its formal Arabic-language name. He ordered
all of the country's military chiefs to abide by the deal.
"I
wish to inform this audience that a cease-fire agreement has been concluded
between the federal government of Nigeria and al-Sunna lil-Daʿawah
wa al-Jihad," said Badeh.
Boko
Haram leaders "have announced a unilateral cease-fire," said Tukur.
"The Nigerian government has responded accordingly, and we are now
monitoring to see if the cease-fire is holding and I hope it will hold."
Tukur
said the negotiations in the past had not yet "yielded any positive
results, but I am cautiously optimistic that this time around ... we will be
able to achieve some success."
Negotiated
release
Tukur
and Danladi Ahmadu, who calls himself the secretary-general of Boko Haram, told
VOA's Hausa-language service the schoolgirls will be released Monday in Chad.
The
girls are alive and "in good condition and unharmed," Ahmadu said.
The
sources said the girls will be handed over to Deby for transfer to Nigerian
authorities. They also said Nigerian and Boko Haram delegates will meet in the
Chadian capital, N'Djamena, to discuss Boko Haram's demands, such as the
release of imprisoned militants.
The
cease-fire marks a possible end to the five-year insurgency in which several
thousand Nigerians have been killed.
Nigerian
leader criticized
Jonathan
has been criticized at home and abroad for Nigerian troops' inability to quell
violence by the militants, seen as the biggest security threat to Africa's top
economy and leading energy producer.
Criticism
intensified in mid-April, when dozens of Boko Haram fighters stormed a
secondary school in the remote northeastern village of Chibok, kidnapping
around 270 girls. Fifty-seven managed to escape.
In a
video, the Boko Haram leader known as Abubakar Shekau threatened to sell the
other girls as slave brides, vowing they would not be released until militant
prisoners were freed from jail.
Boko
Haram has said it is fighting to establish an Islamic state in Muslim-majority
northern Nigeria.
The
group has launched scores of attacks in the past five years, targeting markets,
bus stations, government facilities, churches and even mosques. Militants recently took over some towns in
the northeast for what Shekau said in another video would be an Islamic
caliphate.
The
Nigerian military says that Shekau was actually an impostor and that the real
Shekau was killed several years ago. It
says the impostor was killed last month during a battle in the town of Konduga.
http://www.voanews.com/content/exclusive-boko-haram-negotiating-cease-fire-abducted-girls-release-with-nigeria/2486781.html
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Women MPs
Want Help from Men in Fighting Teenage Pregnancies
18 Oct,
2014
MPs
under the umbrella body Network of African Parliamentarians and Ministers on
Maternal Health (NAWMP) Uganda chapter have embarked on a campaign to engage
men in the fight against teenage pregnancies countrywide.
The MPs
contend that men and boys perpetuate teenage pregnancies saying if they are
engaged the country will reduce on the number of unwanted pregnancies.
In a
statement to commemorate the Safe motherhood day cerebrated today, the NAWMP
chairperson also the Mityana Woman MP Sylvia Namabidde noted that there was
need to bring men on board in the fight against teenage pregnancies since they
are the ones who impregnate the young girls.
“Previous
effort has been directed at skilling girls in pregnancy prevention with less
effort directed to the males who are their partners. The information imparted
to the girls has yielded little, leaving many vulnerable girls exploited by the
males.” Said Namabidde.
Quoting
the 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) by Uganda bureau of
Statistics, Namabidde said in Uganda one in four girls between the ages of 15
and 19 is either pregnant or already has her first child.
Statistics
indicate that the eastern region of Uganda ranks highest with the number of
teenage pregnancies at 30.6%, followed by central with 30.3%., Karamoja with
29.7%, West Nile (26.6%) and Northern Uganda at 25.6%.
The
Bukooli MP Peter Okeyoh attributed this to poverty and lack of food among the
causes of child pregnancies. “Busoga has the highest number of teenage
pregnancies in Uganda. These people grow sugar cane for sugar production,
leaving no land for food production. This leads children to attend schools
without lunch which gives men advantage to deceive the poor girl with money to
buy what to eat, and entice them into sex, causing child pregnancies," he
said.
The
Yumbe Woman MP advised the Muslim community, to desist from marrying off their
daughters who are below 18 years. she said
“Since
the girls' reproductive organs are premature they can not hold the pregnancy to
term and in instances where they can, some complications like obstructed labour
has led to death and obstetric fistula," she said.
The
former Ntenjeru North MP, Sarah Nyombi, also a member of (NAWMP) said:
“Parliament needs to devise means to discourage some cultures that advocate
underage marriage. Girls should be given all opportunities to develop socially
and economically, by completing schools and attaining at least professional
training in various specializations," she added.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/660805-women-mps-want-help-in-fighting-teenage-pregnancies.html
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Muslim Hijabi
Hipsters Fusing Fashion with Faith
18 Oct,
2014
FASHION-CONSCIOUS
Muslim women from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles who wear the Islamic headscarf,
known as the Hijab, have had to get creative.
By
fusing both their sense of fashion with their faith, this growing group is
reinterpreting traditional notions of what it means to dress conservatively.
They’re
spawning a new market for niche fashion brands and finding unexpected
supporters among some mainstream brands, as well as from conservative Christian
and Orthodox Jewish women who also dress modestly.
“We want
to be current in fashion and adhere to the tenets of our faith,” said Ibtihaj
Muhammad, who owns Louella, a fashion brand catering to women who combine
modest dressing with fashion. The Los Angeles-based brand has sold nearly 4,000
pieces since its launch three months ago.
Muhammad,
a professional athlete and member of the United States fencing team, said she
struggled trying to find long-sleeved, floor-length dresses to wear when she
traveled on speaking tours on behalf of Team USA and the State Department.
Her
line, which include floor-length sheer cardigans and dresses, ranges from $45
for a colorful, Picasso-inspired print cardigan to $100 for a pink lace,
empire-cut dress. Though there are countless Muslim-owned companies around the
world making clothes that cater to women who wear the Hijab, many are selling
traditional black-flowing robes known as abayas.
“I just
got tired of spending money and chasing this idea of this perfect modest
dress,” she said. Some mainstream designers also have started to cater to this
growing demand for stylish modest wear. This summer, DKNY released a collection
during Ramadan that sold exclusively in the Arabian Gulf. Karl Lagerfeld also
brought his Chanel Cruise Collection this year to Dubai, unveiling designs
inspired by the rich culture and patterns of the Middle East.
Still,
the market is ripe for more investment said Albert Momdijan, founder and CEO of
Dubai-based Sokotra Capital. “The Muslim population is the second largest
population in the world with roughly 1.8 billion people so it’s a large
population that you definitely cannot ignore. And 50 percent are below the age
of 25,” he said. “It’s a young population, it’s a growing population and it’s a
large addressable market.” The hipster Hijabi movement is the by-product of a
young generation of Muslim women coming of age.
It grew
organically and continues to take on new meaning by the women who embrace it.
Summer Albarcha coined her photo-sharing Instagram account “Hipster Hijabis” in
2012, when the teenager from St. Louis, Missouri was just 16. She now has
almost 23,000 people following her on Instagram. Her loyal following prompted
New-York based label Mimu Maxi, run by two Orthodox Jewish women, to send her
one of their popular maxi skirts to model.
The
collaboration caused a stir, with many Jewish customers blasting Mimu Maxi for
featuring a Muslim woman in Hijab. Albarcha says the experience only reaffirmed
the universal struggle women of all faiths and backgrounds have when trying to
find stylish conservative pieces to wear.
“It came
out that our ideas of wanting modest fashion and in promoting it is something
really similar and something we have in common between our religions,” she
said. “We should both be working together to embrace this idea and expand it.”
There
are also challenges from within the Muslim community, as well. Women in Hijab
wearing eye-catching styles often find themselves at odds with conservatives
who say Hijab should be about covering a woman’s beauty and concealing it from
strangers.
“People
are resistant to change and people like to keep things the same,” said fashion
blogger Maria Al-Sadek. “It’s just like a stigma to be stylish and resemble
Western wear sometimes.”
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20141018221571
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Pakistani
Girl Kept As Slave in Cellar Awarded $160,000
18 Oct,
2014
LONDON:
A deaf and mute girl smuggled to Britain and kept as a slave for almost a
decade must be paid $160,000 by her captors, a court ruled on Wednesday.
Trafficked
from Pakistan aged 10, the victim was repeatedly raped by Ilyas Ashar, 85, who
along with his wife Tallat, 69, forced her to work as their servant.
She was
discovered in the cellar of their five-bedroom house sleeping on a cot bed by
investigators looking into allegations of money laundering.
Now in
her 20s, she learned a form of sign language to testify at the trial last year.
“The
money will in no way make up for what she went through over a number of years,
but it will help her move on with her life and continue her inspiring recovery
from these awful events,” said Salford Chief Superintendent Mary Doyle.
“I
believe today’s outcome also gives hope to any victim of trafficking.
It
reminds us that there are people out there willing to bring people to this
country purely to be exploited but, with the correct use of the law, the
perpetrators can be brought fully to justice.”
The
court calculated the Ashars should pay the victim 101,300 pounds: what she would
have been paid if she had earned the minimum wage working for the couple for 12
hours a day, every day since 2003 except for ten days off.
The two
also must also pay back benefits to the state that they wrongfully claimed for
the girl.
The
victim could not read or write but was taught to write her name by the Ashars
so that they could claim social benefits on her behalf.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1138532/girl-kept-as-slave-in-cellar-awarded-160000
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Muslims
Fume As Nigeria Court Upholds School Hijab Ban
World
Bulletin/News Desk
18 Oct,
2014
A
Nigerian court on Friday said the Lagos local government had acted correctly in
banning Muslim headscarves (Hijab) at public schools, a ruling that drew the
ire of the city's Muslim community, which has vowed to appeal the decision.
"The
prohibition of the wearing of Hijab over school uniforms within and outside the
premises of public schools was not discriminatory," Justice Modupe
Onyeabor of a Lagos high court ruled on Friday.
She held
that the ban did not violate constitutional articles guaranteeing freedom of
religion, thought and worship, as had been claimed by the plaintiffs, the
Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN).
The
judge said that Section 10 of the national constitution made Nigeria a
"secular state," stressing the government's obligation to maintain
neutrality at all times.
She said
the Lagos government had been correct in seeking uniformity of the students'
dress code.
"The
non-Hijab wearing students will feel inferior to those who are putting on Hijab,"
the judge asserted.
"The
values of plurality and respect for the rights of others who have subscribed to
a non-faith-based educational system cannot be breached. In that effect, the
issue is resolved in favor of the respondents and the suit is accordingly
dismissed," she added.
But MSSN
President Kaamil Kalejaiye told Anadolu Agency that the contentious ruling
would be appealed.
"We
appreciate all the individuals and societies that attend the hearing, [and] we
shall proceed to the court of appeal to secure our right [as is] guaranteed by
the Nigerian constitution," Kalejaiye said after the ruling.
The
lawyer for the plaintiffs, Gani Adetola-Kazeem, reiterated this rationale in a
post-ruling statement.
"We
are simply not satisfied with the court decision. The angle through which the
court has looked at the issue is quite at variance with the provisions of the
constitution. We will definitely appeal," the lawyer said.
The
ruling comes at a critical time for Nigeria's ruling All Progressive Congress
(APC), which already faces a possible backlash from Lagos State's sizable
Muslim community.
Muslims
in Lagos recently launched a "no Hijab, no vote" campaign ahead of
2015 state elections, in which candidates' religions often determine the
outcome.
"The
slogan of Muslims for Lagos 2015 is 'No Hijab, No Vote.' The Hijab here is a
symbol of respect for the way of life of Muslims and a commitment by
politicians to accept the legitimate demands of Muslims," Ishaq Akintola,
director of Muslim Rights Concern, a local NGO, told a press briefing last
month.
"These
demands will be tabled before candidates when they meet leaders of Islamic
organizations," he said.
Along
with the current case, a number of legal challenges over the Hijab are pending
in courts across Nigeria's south-western region. Two female nurses who were
recently sacked – in part because they wore the Hijab – are also in court
seeking redress.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/146454/muslims-fume-as-nigeria-court-upholds-school-Hijab-ban
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Muslim
Women Attack Border Police near Temple Mount
18 Oct,
2014
Restrictions
on Muslim men entering Temple Mount not enough, footage reveals: Muslim woman
savagely beats policewoman.
Shocking
footage of Arab women attacking a female Border Patrol officer near the Temple
Mount has emerged, showing the extent of violent Arab rioting and lawlessness
near Judaism's holiest site.
The
footage, posted on Tuesday, the day before the penultimate day of the eight-day
Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacles) holiday, shows Muslim women attacking a
female Border Police guard and pulling her hair as she escorts visitors through
the neighborhood.
The post
spreading the footage on an Arab-language Facebook page claims that the attack
is the other way around - with the soldier attacking the Arab woman - but the
cameraman stands behind a throng of Muslim women rushing aggressively towards a
police crew. Other posts on the page clearly depict a group of Muslim women
attacking Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem's Old City.
This is
just one incident of this kind being highly publicized in Arab media.
A photo
of a Jewish man shouting at a Muslim woman at the Old City, published a few
days ago, is being circulated worldwide.
On close
examination, one can see that the woman is holding a Book of Psalms that she
appears to have snatched from the man. Another photo shows a Muslim woman
tugging his shirt. A part of her dress appears to also be visible in the first
photo.
A video
of the altercation also shows the Muslim woman apparently snatching the prayer
book from the man, at approximately 5 seconds into the video.
Palestinian
Arab incitement against Jews on the Temple Mount has reached a head, after
Hamas recently vowed to "shed blood" on the site, provoking an
escalation in the already-frequent riots.
Arab
rioting has become a norm on Judaism's holiest site. The site is under the
jurisdiction of the Jordanian Waqf, which heavily restricts access to Jews and
bans all Jewish worship on the Mount.
Last
week, rioting became so bad that Israeli police were forced to lock a band of
terrorists in the mosque itself - as they lobbed a heavy cache of rocks and
other projectiles at the forces.
To
maintain order, police have ordered restrictions on access to the Mount on
Friday - but only against Muslim men over the age of 50, not against women.
Clearly, gender is not a factor in Arab rioting on the Mount as seen in the
video, and incidents have continued regardless.
A
similar restriction on Wednesday was not enough to prevent Arab rioting from
succeeding in blocking Jewish entry to the site for Hoshana Raba.
Despite
this, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed to "maintain the status
quo" on the Mount.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/186239#.VEIaC7DF84U
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Debate
on Interfaith Marriage Highlights Indonesia’s Separation of Religion and State
18 Oct,
2014
The
recent filing of a judicial review to the Constitutional Court, arguing that
interfaith marriage should be allowed in Indonesia, has re-triggered the
voicing of some diverse views on Indonesia’s founding principles.
Many
opinions have angrily accused the judicial review petitioners of trying to
install secular values in a religious country.
Other opinions have argued that since Indonesia is not a religious state
then marriages should not be dictated by religious law. So is Indonesia a
secular state or a religious state? The answer is: neither.
The
question has actually been solved long ago and reiterated by the Constitutional
Court itself in 2008 when denying the request of a citizen to have the Sharia
law apply to Muslims. It said: “Indonesia is not a religious state that is only
based on one particular religion, nor is it a secular state that pays no
attention to religion and wholly submits religious affairs to individuals and
communities. Indonesia is a state based on belief in One Supreme God and
protects the religious practices of every faithful citizen.”
Former
Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud M.D. said in a speech on Pancasila
and the Constitution in 2010 that “the state must protect citizens who wish to
practice their religion properly. But
the state must not impose or enact that religious law.”
The
following sentence in the above-mentioned 2008 Constitutional Court decision
further clarified things a bit: “Islamic law can be a source of national law,
but Islamic law cannot be the only source, because apart from Islamic law there
is traditional adat law, western law and other sources of legal traditions
which may all contribute to national law.”
So far the
conclusions are that people are free to practice their religion and the state
will protect that freedom (this is in line with both religion state and secular
state concepts); the state is not going to impose religious law on the people
(this is not a religion state concept); and the state can absorb certain
religious law traditions into the national law and impose that national law
(this is not a secular state concept).
Now, go
back and read point 3 again. Imagine the sheer amount of political and democratic
variables that could enter the process of national lawmaking. Indonesians have
all been made more educated recently of the complexity of lawmaking processes
in the country, I am sure. We have
witnessed how laws become enacted by result of compromise, negotiation,
lobbying of interests, and political momentum. Laws are by no means the
absolute truth. Likewise, the absorption of certain religious laws into the
national laws are a reflection of that quirky dynamic lawmaking process. Which is why we see inconsistencies
everywhere?
Let’s
take the much-revered Marriage Law as an example, enacted since 1974.
The
clause being challenged at the Constitutional Court is Article 2, Paragraph 1,
which says “Marriage is valid if performed according to the applicable
religious laws of the couple”. Article 2, Paragraph 2 then says the marriage
must afterwards be registered to the civil state for formal validity.
Because
Islam — specifically the Office of Religious Affairs, or KUA, which holds a
monopoly on all Islamic marriage procedures — prohibits interfaith marriages,
the majority of Indonesians cannot get married to a person of a different
religion. Catholicism, Christianity, Buddhism, Balinese Hinduism, and
Confucianism arguably allow interfaith marriages with certain conditions, or at
least have shown examples of permitting it depending on the particular church,
temple, or priest’s willingness.
In the
first paragraph, we see that religious law is absorbed into the national law.
But let’s look at other clauses.
Another
one speaks of polygamy.
Article
4, Paragraph 2, sets out at least five requirements that would allow a man to
take more than one wife. In this case, a man is allowed to practice polygamy
only if his wife is unable to perform her duties as a wife, if she suffers an
incurable disability or disease, if she cannot give birth to descendants, if
the wife agrees, and, last, if the
husband is financially capable and can guarantee fair treatment towards his
wives.
This
polygamy clause is actually not in line with the relevant religious law that
allows polygamy, namely the Islamic law.
Under
the Islamic law, there are only four nebulous requirements for a man to
practice polygamy. The first requires him to treat his wives fairly, while the
second is for him to steadfastly perform his faith to Allah. The man is also
required to equally satisfy his wives, and, last, to equally support his wives
financially.
Here it
is clear that the Marriage Law imposes its own version of regulation on
polygamy (which fortunately is a technically harder requirement to fulfil than
the Islamic law version).
Another
clause speaks of divorce.
Article
39 allows divorce as long as, one, the Court has tried and failed to reconcile
the couple and, two, there is sufficient reason to conclude that the couple
cannot reconcile. The divorce clause
makes no mention of religion, and thus does not take into account the fact that
divorce is prohibited under Catholicism. Therefore, in practice Catholic
couples in Indonesia cannot be divorced by the church, but can get divorced
through civil state law.
One last
example out of many is the clause on children born out of wedlock. Article 43, Paragraph 1 used to say that “a
child born out of wedlock only has a legal connection to the mother and the
mother’s family.” This construction is exactly the same as Clause 100 of the
Indonesian Compilation of Islamic Law.
As a consequence, the illegitimate child is not entitled to livelihood,
inheritance or guardianship from the father.
However,
after a judicial review by the Constitutional Court in 2010, the article now
says that “a child born out of wedlock has a legal connection to the mother,
and the mother’s family, and the father as evidenced by science and technology
and/or other evidence that can prove a blood connection.” Apparently this clause now has stepped away
from the original source of Islamic law that inspired it in the first place.
So as we
can see, at least the polygamy clause, the divorce clause and the clause on
illegitimate children, pretty much make a separation between religion and
state. Does that mean that Indonesia has become a secular state because of
these three clauses? No it does
not. It simply means that in these
cases, religious law has not managed to permeate state law, or, in other words,
state law has decided that the religious law in question is not — or no longer
— appropriate for enactment into state law.
With
that in mind, a similar fate could easily be imagined for interfaith marriages,
without needing to get rattled about secularism.
Just as
Muslims can choose to forego a state-registered marriage in favour of a Nikah
siri, or religious marriage arrangement, in order to avoid the state’s stricter
polygamy requirements, then Muslims should also be able to choose to forego
religious marriages in favour of a state-registered marriage. Just as Catholics can choose to ignore the
Catholic rules on divorce in order to get a state divorce, then Muslims should
also be able to choose to forego a religious marriage in order to get a valid
state marriage.
In a
country where interfaith marriages are so visibly common (achieved through
various legal avoidance schemes), there is in fact a societal demand for the
practice to be protected by our national laws. The good news is, it would still
be perfectly in line with our country’s founding principles.
http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/blogs/debate-interfaith-marriage-highlights-indonesias-permeable-separation-religion-state/
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Synod on
Family: Marriage and Divorce Family Law in Morocco, Lebanon
18 Oct,
2014
(Vatican
Radio) Muslims, Christians and Jews
share many family values and “can learn a lot from each other’s
experiences.” That is according to
Nouzha Guessous, a professor at the University of Casablanca and consultant on
human rights and bioethics.
Guessous,
who helped draft Morocco’s 2004 Family Code, took part in the October 1
interfaith conference in Rome “Women and the Family: between Tradition and
Modernity” looking ahead to the Synod on
the Family. The conference, organized by
the International Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Education and
the Italian Women of Faith Network of Religions for Peace, brought together
Muslim, Catholic and Jewish women, who discussed how their sacred texts contain
the answers to how challenges to the family and to dialogue can be addressed in
modern society.
In an
interview with Vatican Radio about Morocco’s advances in women’s rights and
family law, Guessous argues that societies in the Arab world have implemented
Islamic principles under a “patriarchal interpretation of the sacred texts, not
only the Koran, but also the Hadith, which are the Prophet’s sayings.”
Listen
to Tracey McClure's interview with Professor Guessous:
Rethinking
a distorted message
Guessous,
who is a medical biologist by training, says since the 19th century, “There is
a large movement of rethinking the way that we use our religious heritage and
the way that cultures - Muslim cultures - have more or less distorted the
original message of the holy Koran.” She
says today, there is a need to “rethink” the message imparted by Islam’s sacred
texts and be “aware that the rules that were settled in the 7th century can no
more fit in the 21st century.” “We must go back to the Koran to see that the
founding principle of the Koran is equality between men and women, with
respectful relationship; they are both equal before God and they should be
equal in the daily life.”
“Rethinking”
this principle helped bring about the latest reforms to Morocco’s Family code
which was originally based on the Maliki school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence
(8th century) . It was first codified
after the country gained independence from France in 1956 and was revised in
1993.
The
reforms introduced in 2004 make polygamy acceptable only in rare circumstances,
and only with the permission of a judge and a man's first wife. They also raise
the age of marriage for girls from 15 to 18 and give wives "joint
responsibility" with their husbands in family matters.
Guessous
says new measures regarding divorce were also introduced “not to make divorce
easier, but to make it fairer than it was.”
Prior to the reforms, men could unilaterally claim divorce. And women
who sought a divorce often had to suffer for up to ten years in “very bad
situations” which included physical abuse.
They were prevented from divorcing she says, because they could not
prove that violence had been committed.
Now, Guessous explains, “a man cannot divorce his wife without having
the authorization of the court” and without first “trying to find some way of
negotiation, reconciliation between the two spouses and trying to find some
kind of agreement” before a divorce is pronounced. The wife now also has the
right to seek compensation in cases of abuse.
In
addition, adult women, she notes, are no longer required to seek a man’s
authorization to marry. “They can do it
by themselves or they can, for social reasons, let their father or someone else
do it for them. So this was a way of
recognizing that adult women can take a marriage contract (as they can) do in
social life: they can buy, sell, work -
they can do all kind of civil contracts, but they couldn’t do their marriage
contract.”
The
whole philosophy of family law has changed to one of partnership
What is
important, Guessous says, is that “the whole philosophy of the family law has
changed.” “The new family law is based
on partnership between the two spouses: respectful partnership, reconciliation,
negotiation – rather than on obedience and hierarchy as was the case in the old
code from 1957 to 2004. So I think that
this was important because it could be the entry point of what I call cultural
deconstruction and reconstruction of some stereotypes in the relationship
within the family. And this is the way
to strengthen the families, and to make people be harmonious in their marital
life and to give to children a good and safe atmosphere. I think it’s important
not only for peace in the family, but for peace in the whole society.”
Raising
the age for girls’ marriage to 18, Guessous adds, creates “more opportunities
for girls to go to school and to get some profession and to be able to be
autonomous financially. Because I think
that the main question for women, even to benefit from the rights contained in
the law, is to be able to be financially autonomous . If they are not able to be financially
autonomous, they cannot seek divorce if their husband wants definitely to be
polygamous for example…. Regulating the legal age of marriage is something that
was important but the implementation was not so good. Still, people get exceptional authorization
to marry their daughters earlier because of poverty, of ignorance of the law or
simply because they don’t want to be in some kind of family and community
scandal if their girls have a boyfriend… In Morocco, like in all other
countries, this is something that happens.”
Marriage
and Divorce in Lebanon
On the
sidelines of the Synod in Rome last week, Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai,
Patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, told reporters that Lebanon’s
different faith confessions, not the state, govern marriage and divorce in
their own communities. Explaining that
civil marriages and civil divorces do not exist in Lebanon, he said they are
considered religious issues subject to each faith group’s own regulations and
procedures.
“In that
way,” he noted, “the law protects marriage and the family. There are no laws contrary to natural or
divine law. The state does not legislate
anything having to do with marriage.”
He
pointed out that one side effect of such a system can be seen in the example of
a Catholic couple which wants to divorce.
They can join another denomination such as the Orthodox churches which
recognize divorce and second marriages. Citing another problem, the Patriarch
said that when a Christian marries a Muslim but remains Christian, he or she
cannot inherit the property of the Muslim spouse.
Christians,
Muslims and Jews: learning from each other
We asked
Professor Guessous if Christians, Muslims and Jews can learn from each other in
terms of supporting the family?
“Definitely,”
she responds. “Islam came after Christianity and Judaism. So I think that we have this common heritage
which is humanity’s common heritage. And
definitely, in the three religions, the family is something that is very
important and I think that we share (many) more values than the values that are
different… Definitely, speaking about families we share definitely the same
values so we have to learn a lot from the experience of each other.”
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/10/16/synod_moroccan_muslims_rethink_family_law_for_modern_times/1108721
-----------
Female
British Muslims as Vulnerable To Radicalisation as Men, Study Shows
18 Oct,
2014
British
Muslim women and girls are just as vulnerable to becoming radicalised as their
male peers, according to the author of a study into the early stages of the
process.
The news
comes amid reports of girls as young as 14 travelling to Syria from the west,
to marry Islamist fighters, bear their children and join their communities.
A study
from the Queen Mary University of London has found that suffering from
depression, being financially comfortable, well-educated and socially isolated
were common factors among those sympathetic to acts of terrorism, identified by
researchers as the first of two stages of early radicalisation. The second, it
said, was contact with radical, unorthodox beliefs.
Those
whose families had lived in the UK for generations were more vulnerable than
migrants, the report found.
As many as
500 British fighters have travelled to Syria and Iraq, it has emerged, while
academics say as many as 10% of them could be women.
Professor
Kamaldeep Bhui, professor of cultural psychology and epidemiology at Queen Mary
University, said that gender did not play a significant role in the risk of
radicalisation: “Women are no less likely in our analysis to have sympathies”
with terrorism, Bhui said. If anything, they were more likely to show such
sympathy, but “not significantly so” he said. “There is an increasing epidemic
of girls” he added.
Academics
said as many as 60 British females have fled to Syria to join Islamic State
(Isis), mainly between the ages of 16 and 24. They include Aqsa Mahmood, 20, a
woman from Glasgow who fled to Syria in November last year. Twin sisters Zahra
and Salma Halane, 16, left their home in Chorlton, Manchester, in July without
their parents’ knowledge to follow their brother to Syria. And in August, Amal
El-Wahabi, 27, a mother of two from north London, and wife of a fighter, became
the first Briton to be convicted under terror laws of funding jihadi fighters
in Syria. Her friend, Nawal Msaad, 27, who tried to smuggle £15,000 in
rolled-up banknotes in her underwear, on a flight to Turkey form Heathrow, was
cleared of the same offence.
At a
briefing organised by the Science Media Centre, at the Wellcome Collection in
London, Bhui said that parents worried about their children should look out for
signs of depression or disaffection and warned that those who indulged in
fantasy worlds or alternative identities were more at risk.
He
interviewed 600 Muslims aged 18-45 from the Bangladeshi and Pakistani community
in Bradford and London and asked detailed questions about their lives and their
views on terrorism, in order to find out what drives Britons to go abroad to
fight. He calculated their risk of radicalisation according to a score of
sympathy or condemnation of a series of protests against injustice, from
non-violent to terrorism and suicide bombing.
“The
group who sympathised were younger, in full-time education and generally
wealthy,” he said. “They were more likely to be depressed and socially
isolated.”
He found
that those who expressed sympathy with terrorist ideologies were more likely to
be middle class, with a household income of £75,000, and likely to be
disaffected or depressed, with a smaller social network than those who
condemned terrorist acts, he said.
Bhui
said that these individuals, when they come into contact with “unorthodox
thinking, connect with it”. He said that mosques could act as a “protective
factor”. Those in the Bangladeshi community were more likely to condemn
terrorism, in the group he surveyed, he said.
Interestingly,
Bhui said that migrants were less likely to become radicalised because they are
poorer, busier with the need to earn money and they remembered the problems of
their homeland. “Those who are having a hard life, who are migrants, are too
busy to have fantastic thoughts about attacks,” he said.
The
numbers of those who had sympathy with terrorism were small, he said, with 2.5%
showing sympathy and 1.5% having sympathy for the most extreme acts of violence
and terrorism.
He
described government moves to strip Britons who travel Iraq or Syria to join
Isis of their citizenship as a disaster. He said: “My personal view is that it
would be a disaster, because you are criminalising them. Some of those kids are
15 to 18, young and probably inexperienced and police in Wales took a different
stance. They didn’t want to criminalise. I would be happy to work with them.”
The
Guardian
http://uknews24.net/news/female-british-muslims-as-vulnerable-to-radicalisation-as-men-study-shows
-----------
'Won’t
even let us kill ourselves': Ordeal of enslaved Yazidi women
18 Oct,
2014
Hundreds
of women and girls belonging to the Yazidi religious minority have been
enslaved by Islamic State militants, who are selling them, forcing them to
marry and convert to Islam, ruining not only their lives, but also the lives of
their families.
On the
Iraqi-Syrian border, RT’s Paula Slier contacted Amira, a woman whose life
turned into a nightmare after her sister was captured by Islamic State (IS,
formerly ISIS) jihadists about a month ago.
The
27-year-old managed to call her and revealed that the jihadists “are hurting
us, exploiting us, many of us are being sold”. Women can’t do anything to save
themselves. What’s more, the militants even “won’t let us kill ourselves."
The
family fears that that it would be impossible to find the woman even if the
jihadists are suppressed: "We are not sure if she is alive.”
"My
life is ruined, my mother’s, my family’s. I don’t think we can ever go back to
a normal life, not after losing our sister," Amira said.
Human
Rights Watch (HRW) has recently released a report, confirming abuses against people
belonging to Yazidi community, a minority Kurdish religious group, by the IS
militants. HRW said it successfully tracked down 16 Yazidis who escaped
slavery, and also interviewed two detained women via phone.
The
women shared stories of multiple rapes and forced religious conversions, with
some of the victims just children – militants just picked up “those they
desired, sometimes with force.” They revealed that it was a common practice for
IS to separate its captives into categories, depending on their age and sex.
The IS
militants recently published online justifications to all sorts of crimes its
fighters may do in the name of Allah: "We will … enslave your women, by
the permission of Allah, the Exalted."
A
special attention of the IS militants went to Yazidi, whom they regard as devil
worshippers.
“After
capture, the Yazidi women and children were then divided according to the
Sharia amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar
operations.”
A
religious sect with around 1 million followers, Yazidi has roots in
Zoroastrianism, an ancient Mesopotamian religion, and some influences of
Christianity and Islam. Hundreds of thousands of people had to leave their
homes in a town of Sinjar in western Iraq to save themselves from IS militants.
http://rt.com/news/196512-isis-yazidi-women-slavery/
-----------
The Real
Story of Narin and the Kurdish Female 'Lions' Terrorising Islamic State
18 Oct,
2014
Besieged
since September 15, the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani in Syrian Kurdistan has
mounted an all-out resistance to Isis (Islamic State) backed by state power and
superior weaponry. This resistance, like our earlier struggle against Jabhat
al-Nusra, has been empowered, if not led, by Kurdish female fighters.
Ever
since Kurdistan was divided among Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran in the 1920s,
self-defence against occupiers and aggressors has been a natural part of its
people's daily lives. Throughout all those years, Kurdish female fighters have
fought side-by-side with men.
During
the 1925 Sheikh Said and 1938 Dersim resistance movements against the Turkish
regime, for instance, women armed themselves and fought alongside men. Telli
Xanim, a guerrilla and the wife of the Kurdish general Yado, a commander of the
1925 Sheikh Said resistance, is an idol of female Kurdish fighters today.
Similarly, Zerîfe Xanim, the wife of Elîsêr, a Kurdish poet and politician who
commanded the 1938 Dersim resistance, fought and died alongside her husband.
Among
other leading symbols of Kurdish national female heroism are Margaret Shello,
who at the age of 20 joined the ranks of the Peshmerga in their fight against
the Iraqi Ba'ath regime, and Leyla Qasim, a Kurdish freedom fighter who was
hanged by the Iraqi Ba'ath regime at age 22 while studying at Baghdad University.
The
story of Narin Afrini
Today,
due to the current escalation of the Isis attacks against the Kurds in Kobani,
a new chapter of heroism is being written by Kurdish female fighters of the YPJ
(Women's Protection Unit) which is affiliated with the People's Protection Unit
(YPG), an armed group which is an official part of the autonomous
administration of Syrian Kurdistan.
One of
the most important figures of this resistance, and a subject of global
curiosity, is the leader of the YPJ (Women's Protection Unit), Narin Afrini.
Otherwise known as Maysa Abdo, she is the military commander of all YPJ female
fighters in Kobani.
Kadar
Sheikhmous, an independent Kurdish political consultant from the Kurdish region
of Qamishli and co-founder of the Shar Development Organisation, told IBTimes
UK: "Neither [Narin nor Maysa] is her real name, they are pseudonyms for
the same person. And the photographs that are circulating of her are not her.
"She
is a 40-year-old fighter who has been fighting for 20 years in the ranks of
HPG/PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party.] Before going to Kobani, she was fighting in
Cezire, in the region of Qamishli, and she has been deployed in Kobani for a
year and a half now.
"Ever
since Isis started its attacks, the checkpoints of the YPJ [Women's Protection
Unit] in Kobani have not withdrawn and have stayed in their positions. They
have resisted many fierce attacks by Isis and shown competent armed force...
many army brigades in both Syria and Iraq couldn't stand such attacks."
Lions
with bullets in their pockets
Regarding
the character of the female fighters, Sheikhmous says: "Most of these
women were civilians before the outbreak of the war; some of them were
university students. [Now] they always keep one bullet in their pockets so they
don't get arrested by Isis."
Kenan
Fani Dogan, a Kurdish political refugee, activist and blogger based in
Stockholm, said that "the Kurdish society has always perceived female
fighters as a symbol of bravery and valour.
"There
is a common Kurdish saying about that: "Şêr şêre çi jine, çi mêre'', which
means 'a lion is a lion – be it a female or male.' This mentality has developed
even more today with Kurds who lean to and support the women's liberation and
their right to have leading roles in all aspects of life.
"Both
women politicians and fighters are hugely respected by the society. Kurds
believe that women can take on all tasks including fighting and that the
women's liberation and equal participation in social life will help liberate
and develop the whole society.
"This
is the same for female fighters in Kobani, as well. It is a great opportunity
for Kurds that Kurdish women have skills more advanced than those of men, both
in political administration and armed resistance. Kurdish female fighters have
the support and admiration of all sections of the Kurdish society.
"I
can even say that despite Kurds' political dividedness over many issues, their
trust in and respect of their female fighters is the main subject that they
entirely agree on. And I hope that female Kurdish fighters will set an example
for all women to shatter the persecution imposed on them."
Kejê
Bêmal, a Kurdish human rights activist and writer based in Antalya, told IB
Times UK that "Contrary to what is believed, Kurds come from a matriarchal
culture so female Kurdish fighters are not a new phenomenon in the Kurdish
history. As a natural outcome of living in an occupied land, Kurds - with their
children, men and women - have a fighting spirit in a defensive manner.
"Kurdish
women have never left the men alone in their fights. The primary reason for
that is that during wars, women are seen as spoils of war. So Kurdish women
have tried to defeat that ill fate and defend themselves by fighting alongside
men."
omen are
the equals of men - and they can drag us forward
Hatice
Cevik, an administrator of the Ankara branch of the pro-Kurdish Peace and
Democracy Party (BDP) and an activist of the Democratic and Free Women Movement
which is affiliated with the BDP, told IBTimes UK that gender equality is one
of the most important principles of their party.
"Women
are leading figures in our political movement. Our stance is that men and women
are completely equal," she said.
"We
have the biggest respect for the YPJ [Women's Protection Unit] because to us, the
revolution in Rojava Kurdistan [Syrian Kurdistan] is a female revolution. All
of the values we have embraced so far are realized in Rojava Kurdistan.
"Not
all women fighting in Rojava Kurdistan right now were fighters before the war
got started. They were women working or studying. Some of them were housewives.
But now all of them have joined the YPJ forces and are resisting Isis. This
resistance is our honour. Women in Kobani are fighting for their freedom and
Kurdish men are also proud of that."
Kemal
Bulbul, the head of the Pir Sultan Abdal Alevi Cultural Association, and a
columnist of the pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem newspaper in Turkey, said that the
female fighters in Syrian Kurdistan have the potential to lead the way for a
new women's liberation movement in the Middle East.
"I
believe that what Kurdish female fighters have been doing in Kobani will create
a new women's enlightenment for the whole region. In many countries in the
Middle East, women are severely persecuted.
"When
ISIS took over Mosul, it proclaimed that women should only go outside if
absolutely necessary. In such a region, Kurdish female fighters and politicians
have become the leading figures of their society. And that is a female
renaissance, a female revolution in the Middle East."
There
are still some countries which discuss whether women may drive cars or vote.
The struggle of Kurdish women in Kobani can shake the system of such backward
countries. And this is one of the reasons why Isis, the AKP government and Arab
states oppose the self-rule of Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan."
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/frontline-isis-real-story-narin-afrini-kurdish-female-lions-terrorising-islamic-front-1470119
-----------
Cash-strapped
young Afghans turn to low-cost mass weddings
18 Oct,
2014
The crowd
bursts into applause as a hundred couples enter the hall, hand in hand, grooms
in simple black suits and brides in modest white dresses, red flowers in hand.
Expensive,
lavish weddings have boomed in war-torn Afghanistan in recent years, but some
young couples are now bucking the trend and saving money by getting hitched in
low-cost mass events.
A sign
at the entrance of the hall where the happy couples tied the knot in the
large-scale ceremony arranged by religious charity Abul Fazel read: “Blessed is
the woman who is easily maintained.”
There
was no dancing and the guests were entertained with poetry, stage shows, songs
by young girls -- and a few topical jokes aimed at Afghanistan’s turbulent
political year.
“Put in
all your energy and clap hard so they can come in all at once -- we don’t want
a second round of applause like the second round of elections,” a presenter on
stage told the cheering guests as the couples were entering the hall.
“We want
to finish everything in the first round happily, because there won’t be any
John Kerry to solve your problems later,” the presenter joked.
ntervention
by Kerry, the US Secretary of State, helped end Afghanistan’s tense election
standoff and ushered in a power-sharing “marriage” of sorts between new
President Ashraf Ghani and his poll rival Abdullah Abdullah.
The
Taliban banned showy weddings during their hardline 1996-2001 rule, but since
the US-led invasion ousted them, billions of dollars have flooded Afghanistan’s
economy and the taste has grown for more and more extravagant weddings.
Showy
limousines, huge wedding halls, multiple receptions and parties with hundreds
of guests have become almost compulsory.
A single
wedding day at a hall in Kabul can now cost between $10,000 and $20,000 -- a
gigantic sum in one of the world’s poorest countries.
For the
country’s small, rich elite this may not be a problem, but less fortunate
couples find themselves under huge pressure to keep up.
For
those who are postponing marriage because they feel unable to put on a big enough
show, the cheaper mass alternative is highly appealing.
“I was
engaged for two years, I really could not afford a big wedding party. And then
I heard about this organisation through media. I registered and today I am
getting married,” Mujtaba Rahimi, 24, a journalist sitting beside his bride
told AFP.
“It is
not an extravagant party, it is more spiritual. I hope more couples are wedded
through such weddings and this becomes common in Afghanistan,” he said.
In
Afghanistan, a country battered by nearly 40 years of war and whose economy is
still largely reliant on foreign aid, it is the groom who traditionally pays
for the wedding.
It also
falls to the groom to pay for parties before and after the big day itself,
buying jewellery for the bride and paying huge amounts as dowry.
Musa,
29, a civil servant who had been engaged for three years but could not afford a
big wedding party, said people should be encouraged to cut wedding costs as the
high cost of weddings prevent youth from getting married.
“Expensive
marriages prevent people from marrying. The young couples should find other
ways to marry such as mass weddings. I ask all the youth to stop spending
thousands only for one night,” he said.
Hassan
Nazeem, from the charity organisation that hosted the mass wedding, said it had
cost around $66,000 to organise, including home appliances as gifts for the
newly-weds, and the party for around 3,000 guests.
He said
the scheme was growing in popularity.
“This is
the second time that we are holding such weddings. Last time 44 couples were
wedded in a mass wedding. This time it is 100 couples all from poor families,”
he said.
“We make
announcements through mosques and elders. And then the couples who cannot
afford for their wedding parties come and register to get married,” he added.
And it
was not only the money-saving grooms who enjoyed the mass service. Shy bride
Fatima, 19, her face covered by a veil, gave her approval.
I’m very
happy today to get married. I hope these kind of weddings continue to happen so
that young couples can start their new life,” she said.
Sayed
Baqir Kazimi, another organiser, said mass weddings and straightforward
marriages would reduce “moral crimes” -- code for extra-marital sexual
relations, deeply taboo in highly conservative Afghanistan.
“One of
the problems that our youth face these days is the expensive weddings that will
even force them to become criminals. Easy and inexpensive weddings are the only
solution for this problem.” he said.
The
matrimony industry has boomed since the fall of the Taliban, who even banned
music from weddings.
But
where government efforts to clamp down on outlandish weddings have had little
impact, the mass wedding movement seems to be making a dent.
“We
already have around 200 other couples on our waiting list.” Nazeem said.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/art-and-culture/2014/10/16/Cash-strapped-young-Afghans-turn-to-low-cost-mass-weddings.html
-----------
How a
women's Muslim Aussie Rules team stood tall
18 Oct,
2014
Australian
Football is a prolific producer of underdog stories and this year one quietly
unfolded deep in what Collingwood Chairman Eddie McGuire once dismissed as “the
land of the falafel”.
I had
read about the Auburn Giants Australian Football team, the first to be made up
of Muslim women, and assumed it would disband when the grant money ended or the
girls lost interest and fled back to their soccer DNA – an assumption that
proved to be false.
The
Giants were originally an offshoot of the Auburn Tigers men’s Muslim team,
which recently folded, leaving the ladies to carry the torch for Auburn’s civic
pride.
Earlier
in the year I had stumbled upon a video which showed the Auburn Giants
celebrating a win after a GWS Giants curtain raiser game at Spotless Stadium.
In a unique post match celebration, the Lebanese drums banged amongst joyous
whooping with each player taking turns to show her best Arabic dancing moves;
it was certainly a sight to behold in an Australian football dressing room.
I
decided to check out their last game of the season at Blacktown Sports Park
where they were playing the Southern Power who were undefeated on 15-0 and one
game away from a perfect regular season.
It
turned out to be a tale of two cities. Southern Power proudly represent the
Sutherland Shire, the land of Cronulla, Scott Morrison and Puberty Blues: their
players were mostly Anglo, strong, tall and athletic.
The
Auburn Giants charged onto the field, proud players from the diverse City of
Auburn, a land of 100 tongues and 1,000 dishes with a Turkish mayor and a
population that according to the last census was 42% Muslim. The Giants,
despite their name, were smaller than Southern Power, mostly Lebanese – the
team also included Fijian, Anglo and Chinese players – some in black or white Hijabs
and others in tracksuit pants or long shorts, now acceptable as part of the new
inclusive AFL uniform rules. A lone pram sat empty on the sidelines and a young
baby was smothered in hugs and kisses by the interchange players.
Unfortunately,
with Giants players down injured, the game descended into a mismatch with
Southern Power winning 92-0. Pedigree had trumped passion.
The
Giants coach, Christian Kunde, was philosophical. “It was really great to see
they didn’t give in. One thing I have tried to instil in them is to crack on no
matter what. That’s what they did today.”
He had
reason to be positive. The Giants won four games in their first three years of
existence and this year they had won seven to make the finals. No wonder the
girls were so upbeat and seemingly immune to the loss.
Kunde
became the Giants coach almost by accident. He had volunteered to be the club
doctor for 2014 but after an advertisement for a permanent coach failed to
attract interest, he took on the position. His coaching model is unique: he
phones and emails in the drills for each week’s training from Albury, where he
is based on a clinical attachment. He drives eight hours each weekend to visit
his family home on the Central Coast and down the M1 to coach the Giants.
I asked
Kunde what his biggest challenges were. He said they were still getting a mixed
reaction from some of the players’ families, and added that racism was still a
problem. “We’ve lost 10 or 15 players who have left the game due to racism,” he
said.
The
following week the Giants got their first taste of finals football as they took
on the UTS Shamrocks in the women’s second division elimination semi-final.
Blacktown Sports Park was bleak, the sky gunmetal grey and spitting angry rain
with spectators of both teams up close and personal in the dry covered area.
The
first quarter was all Giants as they came out with finals intensity. Their No6,
Lael Kassem, was everywhere, smothering and running the ball: football poetry
in a white Hijab. Kassem co-founded the team, her love of Australian football
passed on by osmosis from her nine brothers.
After a
head clash, the Giants’ No5, Amna Karra-Hassan, was bleeding from the cheek but
waved the stretcher away. She is a perfect example of the new generation of
Australian Muslim leaders. She works for the Australian federal police as a
community liaison officer and serves on the Youth Advisory Council for the
Community Relations Commission.
Karra-Hassan
is another co-founder of the Giants, and the story of getting the team
sanctioned by the community is a triumph of persistence. Wishing to be
respectful to her religion and elders, Karra-Hassan followed the appropriate
processes to establish the team, which included engaging the local imams to
gauge whether participation was acceptable.
The
applicability of the Islamic legal concept of Maslaha (for common good) was
discussed and it was finally agreed that a women’s team would bring benefit to
the community by removing players from wasting time or negative influences.
Uniforms could be adapted for modesty and casual interactions with men managed
through scheduling, including the absence of night games. The club was to be
founded and run independently of men, which meant that they had to learn fast
about how to run a footy club. With these guidelines in place, the Imams gave
her approval and in 2011 the adventure began.
And here
they were, the co-founders in torrential rain, side by side, fighting a muddy
arm wrestle with the UTS Shamrocks. They were joined by Amna’s sister Liali
Karra-Hassan, number 32 also in a white Hijab and team captain.
Kunde
shook his head: “Liali’s got a grade two ankle ligament tear and can’t change
direction. She was in a moonboot last week and shouldn’t be playing but she
insisted. She’s hardcore, like all personal trainers. She introduced the ice
water punishment at training for any major skill errors.”
Liali
and Lael had both been selected to play in the Sydney AFL Women’s
representative team this year, a huge leap forward for a community that did not
have a single player five years ago.
The
second quarter kicked off and quickly reverted to rugby style trench warfare,
both teams ferreting for the ball in puddles. Brave and limping slightly, Liali
sailed through the pack to collect a loose ball.
“That’s
over 20 possessions today, on one leg!” Kunde said with a wince and a smile.
“We have four of our top five players out. One with a broken leg, another with
a broken arm, but other girls have stepped up in new positions.”
The
security guard for the game was standing next to me in fresh fluro. “Mate, I
can’t believe it,” he said out the side of his mouth. “I’m a Leb and I never
seen this – Lebo women playing footy. Part of me says no good, another part
says, why not?”
The
siren sounded with the Shamrocks victorious 47 to 14. The Shamrocks had finally
ground down their exhausted opponents and peppered seven unanswered goals. The
fairytale was over.
As the
brutal battle for Australian sporting hearts and minds moves into its next
phase, the AFL’s most important future asset is not the next draft pick from
country Victoria but new immigrant converts like this group of women with Phar
Lap-sized hearts. If you get a chance next season, check out this merry band of
sister pioneers, who have overcome great barriers to play a game they have grown
to love. It’s an Australian story.
http://www.newsrt.co.uk/news/how-a-women-s-muslim-aussie-rules-team-stood-tall-2694543.html
-----------
USAID
pledges $216 million for Afghan Women’s Empowerment Program
18 Oct,
2014
The
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) pledged $216 million
for a major women’s empowerment program for Afghanistan.
USAID
following a statement said the funds will be spent through Promoting Gender
Equity in National Priority Programs (“Promote”) which will seek to advance
opportunities for thousands of Afghan women to help them become leaders in the
political, private, and civil society sectors.
The
statement further added that Promote programs will help 75,000 young Afghan
women become leaders in their fields over the course of the five-year program.
USAID is providing $216 million to Promote, with other donors possibly
contributing an additional $200 million.
The
Promote program’s main goal is to strengthen Afghanistan’s development by
boosting female participation in the economy, helping women gain business and
management skills, supporting women’s rights groups and increasing the number
of women in decision making positions within the Afghan government, the
statement said.
“Young
Afghans are the future of their country, and our aim is for the young women who
participate in this program to be the future leaders of all sectors of Afghan
society,” said Mission Director Bill Hammink.
According
to the USAID statement, the Promote program was designed in consultation with
the Afghan Government, civil society, and the private sector. Promote will be
implemented in partnership with the Afghan Government and a consortium of
Afghan organizations.
http://www.khaama.com/usaid-pledges-216-million-for-afghan-womens-empowerment-program-6848
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English
hospitals' first data on FGM a "major milestone"
18 Oct,
2014
(Thomson
Reuters Foundation) - England published for the first time the number of
patients in English hospitals who had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM),
data hailed by the government as a "major milestone on the road to ending
FGM ... in the United Kingdom."
More
than 1,700 patients treated in English hospitals in September had been
subjected to FGM, the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), a
Health Department body, said.
The
patients included 467 newly identified as having undergone FGM and 1,279
already known to have undergone FGM in the past, it said, citing National
Health Service figures.
It did
not say how many of the patients were in hospital as a direct result of
undergoing FGM - the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia,
which can cause haemorrhage, shock, complications in childbirth, fistula or
death.
Jane
Ellison, a minister in Britain's Department of Health, said understanding the
scale of the problem was "essential to tackling it effectively".
"That
is why, for the first time ever, hospitals are reporting information on FGM - a
major milestone on the road to ending FGM in one generation here in the
UK," Ellison said in a statement as the figures were released.
"This
data will help us care for women who have had FGM, and prevent more girls from
having to suffer this traumatic experience."
About
60,000 girls under 14 years old and born in England and Wales may be at risk of
FGM or may already have been cut, the rights group Equality Now and City
University London estimated in July.
An
estimated 140 million girls and women worldwide are thought to have undergone
FGM or be likely to undergo cutting, a tradition practised widely in African
and some Muslim countries.
Many
countries are now trying to stop the practice, a custom stretching back
generations in some communities.
English
hospitals now report monthly the number of female patients they have newly
identified as having been subjected to FGM and the number treated who were
previously recorded as having suffered the practice, the HSCIC said.
Patients
are included in the figures whether they are being treated for an FGM-related
problem or for another reason, it said. The data do not include hospitals in
Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, joined with England in the United Kingdom.
HSCIC
Chairman Kingsley Manning said that having accurate data about the crime was an
important step in helping prevent it being carried out in the future.
FGM has
been a criminal offence in Britain since 1985, but new legislation in 2003
introduced a maximum prison sentence of 14 years and made it an offence for
British citizens to carry out or procure FGM abroad, even in countries where it
is legal.
"The
information will support the Department of Health in their FGM prevention
programme, and we hope to expand the dataset over time so that it provides a
more complete picture across a wider variety of care settings," Manning
said. (Reporting By Kieran Guilbert, editing by Tim Pearce)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/16/foundation-england-fgm-idUSL6N0SB26O20141016
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/nigeria,-boko-haram-reach-cease/d/99598