Women Can Offer Namaz, But No Inter-Mingling Of Sexes at Masjids: All India Muslim Personal Law Board toSC
New
Age Islam News Bureau
09
February 2023
•
‘No Escape’ For Afghan Girls Forced Out Of Education and Into Early Marriage
•
Single Women and Widows in Afghanistan Are Struggling To Find Their Next Meal
under the Taliban
•
Houthis Step up Their Oppression of Yemen’s Women
•
Women of Villages Mobilize To Bake Bread for Quake Victims in Türkiye
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
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Women
Can Offer Namaz, But No Inter-Mingling Of Sexes at Masjids: All India Muslim
Personal Law Board to SC
Feb
9, 2023
NEW
DELHI: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has told the Supreme
Court that under Islam, there is no gender discrimination at religious places
and Muslim women are also allowed to enter masjids to offer namaj while ruling
out inter-mixing of genders at mosques, saying it would not be “in conformity
with Islamic texts and principles”.
“Considering
the religious texts, doctrines and religious beliefs of the followers of Islam,
it is submitted that entry of women into mosques for offering namaz, inside
mosques, is permitted. Thus, a Muslim woman is free to enter into a masjid for
prayers. It is her option to exercise her right to avail such facilities as
available for prayers in a masjid,” an affidavit filed by advocate MR Shamshad
for the Board said.
Responding
to petitions in the SC on women’s right to enter the Sabarimala temple and
mosques, and entry of Parsi women who marry outside the community into agiaris,
AIMPLB said there is no gender discrimination at Islamic religious place but
contended that women are differently placed in Islam. “It is further submitted
that Islam has not made it obligatory on Muslim women to join five times
prayers in congregation, nor is it obligatory for women to offer weekly Friday
namaz in congregation, though it is so on Muslim men. The Muslim woman is
differently placed because, as per the doctrines of Islam, she is entitled to
the same religious reward for praying as per her option, either in Masjid or at
home,” the affidavit said.
Countering
the submission made by some petitioners that inter-mixing of gender be allowed
in mosques also as it is permitted in Mecca and Medina where women perform Haj
along with their male counterparts, the Board said the holy sites and places of
worship at Mecca and Medina are differently placed in Islam.
“There
are no religious texts authorising free inter-mingling of genders in any
masjid. It is submitted that the Masjid An-Nabawi in Medina has separate spaces/chambers
for men and women inside the mosque… Moreover, at Masjid An-Nabawi, there is
segregation even at the Rawdah, with different timing allotted for men and
women to do the ziyarat,” it said.
Source:
Times Of India
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‘No
Escape’ For Afghan Girls Forced Out Of Education and Into Early Marriage
Zahra
Joya and Rukhshana Media reporters
Thu
9 Feb 2023
Despite
being outlawed, instances of forced marriage have risen sharply after the
dismantling of women’s education rights and economic autonomy. Photograph:
Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images
---------
It
is six weeks since the Taliban closed the door on girls’ education across
Afghanistan and Zeina’s last vestiges of hope for her future died.
A
very different kind of life now lies ahead for the 20-year-old, a life of
domestic drudgery, boredom and seclusion that she has no power to change.
Since
the Taliban took control in August 2021, Zeina had managed to convince her
frightened family to let her stay at school. She held on to the belief that she
would somehow find a way to finish her education and achieve her dream of
getting a master’s in medicine. This dream has now ended.
“When
the schools were closed [by the Taliban], my father told me that he can’t bear
the poverty anymore,” she says. “He had to marry me off to someone. If the
schools were not closed, this would not have happened. I wanted to finish my
studies and be able to make something of my life for myself and my family, but
all of these dreams have come to nothing.”
Zeina’s
entire life has been defined by war and violence. Born in Badghis province,
three years ago her family were displaced to Herat to escape increasing
violence and fighting between the Taliban and the forces of the former Afghan
government.
Life
as refugees has been difficult for Zeina’s family. Already, Zeina had faced
pressure from her father to marry because of the debt and poverty they were
facing. Now, just weeks after the closure of all secondary schools and
universities for girls, Zeina’s marriage has already been arranged.
Her
father has spent most of her 200,000 afghani (£1,840) dowry, using 150,000 to
pay off his debts.
Now,
as she prepares for her wedding day, Zeina is struggling with depression and
anxiety. But there is no way out for her.
“I’m
stuck in a vortex of fate,” she says. “There is no escape.”
Since
the education ban, reports of schoolgirls and university students across the
country being forced into marriage have increased.
In
December 2021, a decree by the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah
Akhundzada, outlawed forced marriage and required women’s consent to matrimony.
Yet
a prosecutor for the former Afghan government, who did not want to be named for
security reasons, says this is not being enforced and the number of forced
marriages has risen markedly since the Taliban attacked girls’ right to
education.
“We
are witnessing forced marriages in the provinces and Kabul. The very dire
economic situation across the country causes more girls to get married off by
their families,” she says. “During the previous government, when girls were
attending schools and universities, the rate of forced marriages had decreased.
Now they are rising again.”
Mozhgan
Ahmadi*, 18, was a seventh-grade student in the Shaidayee district of Herat
before the Taliban took over. After the schools closed, her father accepted an
offer of 700,000 afghani (£6,420) for his daughter’s marriage to a local man
working as a well-digger.
Mozhgan
says that, at first, she hoped her future husband would support her wish to
finish school if the Taliban ever eased restrictions, but he refused.
“I
have begged my family so much that they allowed me to go to school, but
according to my fiance, a girl should not study at all,” she says. “She should
always be at home and take care of her family and children.”
Last
year, an Amnesty International report, Death in Slow Motion: Women and Girls
Under Taliban Rule, also found that rates of child, early and forced marriage
in Afghanistan appear to have surged under Taliban rule as the militant group
methodically dismantled the rights and economic autonomy of women across the
country.
Source:
TheGuardian
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Single
women and widows in Afghanistan are struggling to find their next meal under
the Taliban
Jorge
Silva/Reuters
---------
Jamila*,
a widow living in Herat, lost her husband in a suicide attack about eight years
ago. She has an 18-year-old daughter who is blind and a 20-year-old son who
lost both legs in a mine blast.
Jamila
used to be a housemaid and bake bread for people in their homes. With this
income she was able to feed her daughter and son, according to research carried
out by Ahmad*, a former lecturer at the University of Herat.
Since
the Taliban gained control of the country, Afghanistan has been on the brink of
universal hardship. As many as 97% of people are now estimated to be living in
poverty, up from 72% in 2018.
The
recent Taliban ban on women working in international and national organisations
and women moving about public spaces has also affected women being able to find
employment.
Because
of the current situation Jamila has lost her clients and is now struggling to
cope. She could not pay her rent and the landlord asked her to leave her home.
She now lives in a small room that a kind family gave her in their yard. She
has no source of income.
Previously
about 10% of educated women in Afghanistan worked in national or international
organisations to support their children. If less educated, they had a range of
formal and informal jobs including working as housemaids, baking bread, washing
clothes, cleaning bathrooms and babysitting, and in rural communities rearing
small livestock and growing wheat, maize and vegetables.
Jamila
said that previously under the former government her family received a monthly
salary from the State Ministry for Martyrs and Disabled Affairs, which pays
families of military veterans or those killed in the fighting, and that gave
them enough money for bread.
The
new government (the Taliban) has now stopped this salary…they don’t believe our
lost ones are martyrs.
My
son also had a job with the municipality office in a city parking lot, taking
care of vehicles and collecting money from people parking their vehicles there.
There were many handicapped people doing this kind of job. But now all of them,
including my son, have lost their jobs.
The
Taliban has appointed their own personnel in these parking areas. We have very
few options left. A neighbour now drops my son near a bridge in the city where
he begs people to help him with coins. He brings him back here in the evening.
With the coins he brings, we can get only bread to survive until the next day.
Jamila
is not an exception. She is one of thousands of women who have lost their jobs
as a result of the new decrees. Many are acutely malnourished and don’t know
where their next meal is coming from.
Single
women and widows have practically no way of earning money. On-the-ground
reports reveal that many households are supported by women as male members of
their family were either killed or injured in the ongoing conflict.
It
is not just food, but also shelter, water, fuel and warmth that contribute to
survival, especially in bitterly cold temperatures. Ahmad, the former lecturer
in Afghanistan, said:
Since
Covid-19, my wife and I have tried to raise funds from friends to help poor
families (especially widows). Very cold weather has been forecast for the
western zone of Afghanistan in February.
There
has been snow and the temperature has dipped to -25 degrees Celsius at night
early in 2023. One of my friends, who is in the US, helped us with some money
locally to buy charcoal to help poor widows like Jamila cook food and warm up
their rooms. My wife is also very frustrated and helpless in the current
situation.
But,
the plight of women-headed households, lacking adult males, is especially dire.
In the absence of any social connection, they are increasingly food insecure,
with few options to feed and care for their children.
This
follows Taliban decrees banning women from education at the secondary and
university level and not allowing them to travel without a mahram (male close
relative as chaperone). The Taliban also ordered the closure of all beauty
salons, public bathrooms, and sports centres for women, important sectors of
employment for women.
Overall,
the dire situation in Afghanistan has increased the incidence of extreme hunger
and malnutrition for both men and women, but women without husbands are being
pushed into even more extreme poverty.
According
to UN resident and humanitarian coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov, “a staggering 95%
of Afghans are not getting enough to eat, with that number rising to almost
100% in female-headed households”.
The
January 2023 high-level UN delegation led by Deputy Secretary-General Amina
Mohammed called on the Taliban authorities to reverse the various decrees
limiting women’s and girl’s rights for the sake of peace and sustainable
development. While the backlash against women’s rights needs to be urgently
addressed, the crisis of food and nutrition security facing single women,
widows and separated women, is not being recognised by many outside the
country.
According
to the 2015 Demographic Health Survey, only 1.7% of Afghan households were
headed by women. The January 2022 report from the UN World Food Programme
places this at 4%.
As
a former employee of the Afghanistan Central Statistical Organisation,
responsible for population data collection in four districts of Bamiyan province,
told us: “It is very difficult to collect accurate population data.” She said
that previous data concerning women-headed households was now likely to be
invalid.
While
women’s rights are under attack in Afghanistan, the full effect of the ban on
women’s work and mobility on single women, widows and separated women, is yet
to be fully recognised. While appeals for help to the United Nations by
teachers, professionals and civil society activists are rising by the day,
negotiations are not progressing, and the delivery of humanitarian assistance
is becoming increasingly challenging.
It’s
difficult to estimate how long local communities, themselves struggling to
survive, can keep women-led households and their families alive.
**All
names in this article have been changed for security reasons.
Nitya
Rao is Professor of Gender & Development, University of East Anglia.
Source:Scroll
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Houthis
step up their oppression of Yemen’s women
FATIMA
ABO ALASRAR
February
08, 2023
The
Houthis aim to reinforce a sense of political and cultural domination. (AFP)
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A
group of high-level Houthi leaders convened a meeting last month with the
proprietors of abaya shops across the city of Sanaa to present them with a
series of directives dictating the required design of women’s attire. The new
regulations mandated that only loose-fitting Abayas be sold. They should
feature black colors only and be devoid of any frills (embroidery, lace, etc.)
The production and sale of colorful, high-waisted or shortened versions of the
abaya were strictly prohibited. The burqas to be sold were required to cover
the entire face, leaving only a narrow slit for the eyes.
This
imposition of restrictions on the attire of Yemeni women, who were already
abiding by a conservative dress code, was met with criticism by women’s groups
and civil society organizations. The measure, seen as intrusive and oppressive,
has raised serious concerns about its potential impact on the fundamental
rights of Yemeni women. The regulations come hot on the heels of the already-limiting
Houthi decree requiring male guardianship, known as mahram, further curtailing
the mobility and autonomy of Yemeni women.
These
developments paint a bleak picture of the state of women’s rights under the
militia and the discrimination women face through these excessive regulatory
practices. They also perpetuate stereotypes and injustices that have often
limited the ability of Yemeni women to make decisions about their own lives,
including in areas such as marriage, education and employment.
In
a recent briefing to the UN Security Council, UN Humanitarian Coordinator
Martin Griffiths decried the impact of mahram policies on female staff, whose
work was adversely affected and at times came to a complete halt. What these
restrictions do is obliterate any sense of individuality through conformity.
The abaya, which is not traditional Yemeni dress, now becomes a uniform
representing the current political structure in the country. It also becomes a
way of separating conformists from nonconformists, allowing the militia to
punish those who do not comply.
Placing
restrictions on women’s dress is a tactic often advanced by fundamentalists and
nonstate actors, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan and Daesh in Iraq and
Syria. These groups have imposed strict dress codes on women to exert control
and create a more fanatical and regressive society, with the aim of building a
sense of cultural separation between their territory and the outside world. The
Houthis, whose ultimate objective is rebuilding Yemen as a theocratic state
akin to that of Iran, are instituting their own traditions and image to support
their vision.
While
many women in Yemen wear the abaya, its imposition in the form that the Houthis
have mandated is a clear method of political oppression that deprives women of
their choice and freedom. The Houthis aim to reinforce a sense of political and
cultural domination, in which they use their authority and military power to
dictate what women should wear and how they should present themselves in public.
These methods create a sense of cultural separation on multiple levels, whether
between the genders or between Yemeni women and other Arab women in the region.
But
the Houthis’ focus on women’s dress should not only be seen as affecting women
— it should be measured for its impact on Yemeni society. The Houthis have set
their sights on the reinvention of Yemeni society by reinforcing their own
cultural and traditional norms.
Moreover,
the timing of this restriction, which comes after eight years of conflict,
represents a clear act of solidarity with the directives issued in the Islamic
Republic of Iran on compulsory hijab and chastity laws, which have come under
increasing criticism from the Iranian public and the international community
after the death of Iranian-Kurdish woman MahsaAmini, who was brutally murdered
for incorrectly wearing her hijab. The Islamic Republic has been funding and
arming the Houthis throughout this conflict and advancing a transnational
fundamentalist ideology in the region that has adversely affected Yemenis.
There
is fear that prosecution will ensue for anyone who falls outside of these
directives, including women with social media accounts whose faces are visible
to the public. In 2021, Yemeni model Entesar Al-Hammadi was subjected to
arbitrary arrest by the Houthi authorities, which charged her with the vague
and nonsensical offense of “indecency.” This was in response to her decision to
display her personal style through the use of colorful clothing in photographs
shared on social media.
Her
arrest was accompanied by a systematic campaign of harassment, which involved
false accusations of prostitution and physical and verbal abuse. Ultimately,
Al-Hammadi was sentenced to five years in prison in a sham Houthi trial. Her
experience highlights the alarming trend of the use of social media as a tool
for repression, as her personal profile and online presence were targeted by
the Houthi militia.
The
general coverage of the conflict in Yemen has often fallen short when
addressing the sociocultural dynamics that are impeding people from living
their lives with dignity and without fear of intimidation.
As
the Middle East is moving gradually with the promotion of democratic values and
the advancement of women’s rights, the actions of the Houthis stand out as a
jarring reminder of the existence of regressive forces that seek to undermine
gender equality. This unfortunate reality should serve as a catalyst for the
international community to confront the larger issue of women’s rights in Yemen
and advocate for an end to these human rights violations.
•
Fatima Abo Alasrar is a Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2247476
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Women
of villages mobilize to bake bread for quake victims in Türkiye
FEB
09, 2023
The
40 floor furnaces in Türkiye's Van bake thousands of staple bread to be
dispatched to the earthquake zone as relief for victims who were severerly
affected by the great disaster. Citizens mobilized for the aid campaign
initiated by Van's Özalp District Governorate and municipality. The women
kneaded the dough and burned the floor furnaces to bake bread with 650
kilograms of flour bought with money sent by a benefactor. A group of women
already delivered 2,500 loaves of bread to the authorities.
A
woman named SongülDurmaz stated that she has been baking bread for earthquake
victims for two days and quoted, "May Allah help them. We are doing our
best. Together with my mother and aunt, we baked nearly 2,500 loaves of
bread."
Mehmet
Tak, who contributed to the process by buying 650 kilograms of flour with the
money sent by a benefactor, said, "We distributed this flour to families
in the Özalp district center and rural areas, and they fired up nearly 40 floor
furnaces to prepare them."
Not
only Van but also women in Türkiye's Muş bake bread for the earthquake victims.
The
loaves of bread, that were put in cartons, were delivered to the authorities in
the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) Logistics Warehouse by
the village head HüseyinSevinç.
Stating
his deep sorrow, Sevinç said: "As villagers, we donated clothes and tried
to provide food, but we heard from the news, there is an urgent need for bread.
We baked village bread, which is relatively non-staling compared to other
breads. The women of our village prepared over 2,000 loaves of bread, and we
will deliver them to the earthquake-affected zone via AFAD officials."
"I
would like to thank our village's prudent women. All of them undertook a
different task, it has been a team effort and it will contiune until we heal
our wounds there. These floor furnaces will never go out so that our brothers
and sisters there do not go hungry under heavy snow and chilling cold. We will
continue providing bread for them," he added.
ŞükranÖzkılıç,
one of the female bakers, said, "We lit this floor furnace for earthquake
victims. We are baking hot bread. We will send the bread to the
earthquake-affected zone."
Another
women, HayriyeSevinç said, "We know that everyone is helping there, but we
wanted to send village bread too. Let us also contribute. This bread lasts
longer."
Source:
DailySabah
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