Zainah Anwar: Arab Spring opens window of opportunity for women in Mideast

[NY_BX 397]

Zainah Anwar: Arab Spring opens window of opportunity for women in Mideast

Publication Date: April 29, 2012.

Source: Sunday's Zaman.

In many countries of the Middle East, women are wondering what the Arab Spring means for them. Some observers are concerned that the power vacuum will leave the door open for Islamist groups to take power and force changes opposing women’s rights.

Zainah Anwar, a leading Malaysian social activist and intellectual, is not one of them. She is even excited about the prospects that the Arab Spring could have for women.

“A window of opportunity has opened up,” said Anwar, who is one of the founding members of Sisters in Islam (SIS), an activist group struggling for the rights of Muslim women. “Islamist parties will of course use religion to justify things against women, but women’s groups need to raise their voices and challenge extremist voices.”

Anwar refers to her Malay experience while explaining what women’s rights activists have done in her country to achieve that goal. “In Malaysia, we decided that it is not enough to use universal human rights principles in that regard because we are operating in a society where religion is a source of law, and religion is important to the women that we are trying to help,” she told Sunday’s Zaman in İstanbul, where she participated in the 12th forum of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), held on April 19-22.

“There is that window of opportunity in the Arab world to build that culture of public space in Islamic matters,” she said.

Anwar indicates that there are so many juristic tools in Islam. For example, the concept of “maslaha” favors the public interest or social benefit and the concept of “istihsan” uses juristic preference to seek ease and convenience, and to adopt tolerance and moderation.

“With those tools, we can build wider public support,” she added. Anwar is one of the pioneers of “Musawah,” an initiative launched in 2009 to build a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family. In her own family, Anwar was brought up with religion. “I believe in a just Islam, a just God. I don’t believe God is unjust to women,” she said and she has been critical of some women’s rights activists who want to stay away from debates related to religion.

“My option was that I could reject my religion, like many feminists do, or I could find out what the religion really says. I decided to find out for myself. Did God say those unjust things about women? I read the Quran to find out.”

She started reading the Quran in the 1980s with Amina Wadud, an American scholar of Islam with a progressive focus on the interpretation of the Quran and a woman who led Friday prayers in the US.

At the time, women’s rights activists were campaigning against domestic violence in Malaysia. But it was not without difficulties, Anwar explained: “The law faced opposition from religious figures who said it cannot apply to Muslims. Malaysia is 60 percent Muslim, 40 percent non-Muslim. So we were having a Domestic Violence Act for non-Muslims because some people said that in Islam men have a right to beat their wives!”

The objections were centered on two issues; first, it was argued that domestic violence was a family matter and should therefore come under the jurisdiction of Islamic family law. Second, there was a belief that Muslim men are allowed to chastise their wives and therefore domestic violence should not be criminalized for Muslims.

“Eventually, we campaigned and argued that the Domestic Violence Act should encompass all,” she said. The law was passed in 1994, and even then, there was a delay in the implementation of the act because some religious authorities still did not want it.

However, Malaysia became the first Muslim country and the only Asian country with a Domestic Violence Act recognizing domestic violence as a crime and providing the victim of abuse with protection. Since the implementation of the act in June 1996, police statistics show that there is greater public awareness that domestic violence is a crime.

In the meantime, Anwar’s questions continued: “What does the Quran say about polygamy? Words on polygamy were very explicit: Marry many women but marry only one if you don’t have the ability to treat them all justly and this will be best for you. In what context was the verse written? At the time it was in the context of war and it was for the protection of orphans. So this part of the verse should be used for public policy because there is so much injustice otherwise. The Quran does not advocate for men to beat their wives.”

Malay women’s rights groups also compared family law texts to show that there is no “divine law.” “It is man-made law, human constructed. How come in one Muslim country the minimum age of marriage is 16, and in another 18? Why is divorce law of one country different from that in another? If there is one Islamic law, why is there a difference? The source may be divine but human interpretation is not divine, it is man-made. And it can be changed according to changing circumstances. We debated all of those issues to educate Muslims.”

As Anwar continues her work to make sure women and men believe in equality and justice, she sees Turkey as far more progressive than Malaysia: “Laws are far more progressive with regard to women in Turkey than in Malaysia. Before we could not use Turkey as a model but now the Justice and Development Party [AK Party] is in power. That is very important because they are Islamic and they did not reverse the laws. We can use Turkey as a model now.”

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Zainah Anwar: Arab Spring opens window of opportunity for women in Mideast

Publication Date: April 29, 2012.

Source: Sunday's Zaman.

In many countries of the Middle East, women are wondering what the Arab Spring means for them. Some observers are concerned that the power vacuum will leave the door open for Islamist groups to take power and force changes opposing women’s rights.

Zainah Anwar, a leading Malaysian social activist and intellectual, is not one of them. She is even excited about the prospects that the Arab Spring could have for women.

“A window of opportunity has opened up,” said Anwar, who is one of the founding members of Sisters in Islam (SIS), an activist group struggling for the rights of Muslim women. “Islamist parties will of course use religion to justify things against women, but women’s groups need to raise their voices and challenge extremist voices.”

Anwar refers to her Malay experience while explaining what women’s rights activists have done in her country to achieve that goal. “In Malaysia, we decided that it is not enough to use universal human rights principles in that regard because we are operating in a society where religion is a source of law, and religion is important to the women that we are trying to help,” she told Sunday’s Zaman in İstanbul, where she participated in the 12th forum of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), held on April 19-22.

“There is that window of opportunity in the Arab world to build that culture of public space in Islamic matters,” she said.

Anwar indicates that there are so many juristic tools in Islam. For example, the concept of “maslaha” favors the public interest or social benefit and the concept of “istihsan” uses juristic preference to seek ease and convenience, and to adopt tolerance and moderation.

“With those tools, we can build wider public support,” she added. Anwar is one of the pioneers of “Musawah,” an initiative launched in 2009 to build a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family. In her own family, Anwar was brought up with religion. “I believe in a just Islam, a just God. I don’t believe God is unjust to women,” she said and she has been critical of some women’s rights activists who want to stay away from debates related to religion.

“My option was that I could reject my religion, like many feminists do, or I could find out what the religion really says. I decided to find out for myself. Did God say those unjust things about women? I read the Quran to find out.”

She started reading the Quran in the 1980s with Amina Wadud, an American scholar of Islam with a progressive focus on the interpretation of the Quran and a woman who led Friday prayers in the US.

At the time, women’s rights activists were campaigning against domestic violence in Malaysia. But it was not without difficulties, Anwar explained: “The law faced opposition from religious figures who said it cannot apply to Muslims. Malaysia is 60 percent Muslim, 40 percent non-Muslim. So we were having a Domestic Violence Act for non-Muslims because some people said that in Islam men have a right to beat their wives!”

The objections were centered on two issues; first, it was argued that domestic violence was a family matter and should therefore come under the jurisdiction of Islamic family law. Second, there was a belief that Muslim men are allowed to chastise their wives and therefore domestic violence should not be criminalized for Muslims.

“Eventually, we campaigned and argued that the Domestic Violence Act should encompass all,” she said. The law was passed in 1994, and even then, there was a delay in the implementation of the act because some religious authorities still did not want it.

However, Malaysia became the first Muslim country and the only Asian country with a Domestic Violence Act recognizing domestic violence as a crime and providing the victim of abuse with protection. Since the implementation of the act in June 1996, police statistics show that there is greater public awareness that domestic violence is a crime.

In the meantime, Anwar’s questions continued: “What does the Quran say about polygamy? Words on polygamy were very explicit: Marry many women but marry only one if you don’t have the ability to treat them all justly and this will be best for you. In what context was the verse written? At the time it was in the context of war and it was for the protection of orphans. So this part of the verse should be used for public policy because there is so much injustice otherwise. The Quran does not advocate for men to beat their wives.”

Malay women’s rights groups also compared family law texts to show that there is no “divine law.” “It is man-made law, human constructed. How come in one Muslim country the minimum age of marriage is 16, and in another 18? Why is divorce law of one country different from that in another? If there is one Islamic law, why is there a difference? The source may be divine but human interpretation is not divine, it is man-made. And it can be changed according to changing circumstances. We debated all of those issues to educate Muslims.”

As Anwar continues her work to make sure women and men believe in equality and justice, she sees Turkey as far more progressive than Malaysia: “Laws are far more progressive with regard to women in Turkey than in Malaysia. Before we could not use Turkey as a model but now the Justice and Development Party [AK Party] is in power. That is very important because they are Islamic and they did not reverse the laws. We can use Turkey as a model now.”

What about what happens to divorced women overseas? What about the rights of the mother in divorce, child custody? What about the rights of illegitamate children, who cannot be put in the family book and there for cannot have citizenship in these countries, including receiving a passport etc. For example, if a girl is born in Morocco and her father does not register her, she cannot receive a moroccan passport, there for travel outside or receive the rights of citizenship. The family law of many of these countries is not changed by a regime change. There is a lot more to liberty and freedom than who is the president

[Ihavequestions 419]

What about the rights of illegitamate children, who cannot be put in the family book and there for cannot have citizenship in these countries, including receiving a passport etc.

There are no illegitimate children in this part of the world because nobody has sex outside of marriage.

Instead, there are orphans.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

There are no illegitimate children in this part of the world because nobody has sex outside of marriage.

Instead, there are orphans.

unless their moms are americans like my daughter. I asked her jackass dad to register her in the family book so that she could have the right to live or go to school in morocco some day and he told me he couldnt because we were not married. So I said, so I guess my daughter does not exist...THANK GOD her mom is American. What if I was a moroccan? Who cares about who is president when that nonsense is going on

[NY_BX 397]

There are no illegitimate children in this part of the world because nobody has sex outside of marriage.

Instead, there are orphans.

I wouldn't go so far of saying "nobody" (unless you were being sarcastic). Highly unlikely, yes, but drop it to a 0% is unrealistic.

There may be a case or 2 of "illegitimate children"; it's just unheard of.

That said, the orphans situation is unfortunately worse.

[NY_BX 397]

unless their moms are americans like my daughter. I asked her jackass dad to register her in the family book so that she could have the right to live or go to school in morocco some day and he told me he couldnt because we were not married. So I said, so I guess my daughter does not exist...THANK GOD her mom is American. What if I was a moroccan? Who cares about who is president when that nonsense is going on

....case in point.

Sorry this happened to you.

[NY_BX 397]

What about what happens to divorced women overseas? What about the rights of the mother in divorce, child custody? What about the rights of illegitamate children, who cannot be put in the family book and there for cannot have citizenship in these countries, including receiving a passport etc. For example, if a girl is born in Morocco and her father does not register her, she cannot receive a moroccan passport, there for travel outside or receive the rights of citizenship. The family law of many of these countries is not changed by a regime change. There is a lot more to liberty and freedom than who is the president

You are so right! We're seeing that everywhere. It takes lobbyists, extreme cases taken to court, community organizing... (and a whole lot more) to change laws anywhere in the world. And if you live in a country where religious beliefs are the absolute reason why laws exist, is next to impossible to be even smell liberty and freedom.

[Ihavequestions 419]

I wouldn't go so far of saying "nobody" (unless you were being sarcastic). Highly unlikely, yes, but drop it to a 0% is unrealistic.

There may be a case or 2 of "illegitimate children"; it's just unheard of.

That said, the orphans situation is unfortunately worse.

Who do you think the orphans are? They are, with few exceptions, illegitimate children!

It's up to dad to register births. He's not going to register the birth of an illegitimate child and admit he committed a crime by having an illicit relationship.

A "case or 2" my A$$.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Who do you think the orphans are? They are, with few exceptions, illegitimate children!

It's up to dad to register births. He's not going to register the birth of an illegitimate child and admit he committed a crime by having an illicit relationship.

A "case or 2" my A$$.

makes you wonder how the dads sleep at night...I lost all interest in him building a relationship with a daughter he wont claim.....the dad can register a child born overseas outside of marriage in morocco but then everyone who looks in the book {relatives}can see who is where..I told him he needs to be concerned about taking his wife that dcf'd for him in the late 90's out of the book since they still are not divorced yet..someone he doesnt speak to can be in the damn book but his kid, who he pays child support for and hes on her birth certificate isn't but his kid didnt give him a gc...shes in second grade now by the way...I am glad there is no other requirement for being american when you are born here other than being born here...thank god by a twist of fate she was born here to an american mom...shed be an orphan ...... freaking hypocrites

the father can give his nationality to any kid he will claim... its just his word and thats it... so can a mom ( they did this so kids with saudi dads that have moms that are 2nd and 3rd wives can be legal

Edited May 24, 2012 by Beauty for Ashes

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Who do you think the orphans are? They are, with few exceptions, illegitimate children!

It's up to dad to register births. He's not going to register the birth of an illegitimate child and admit he committed a crime by having an illicit relationship.

A "case or 2" my A$$.

he could say it was a 3rd marriage...loool

I wouldn't go so far of saying "nobody" (unless you were being sarcastic). Highly unlikely, yes, but drop it to a 0% is unrealistic.

There may be a case or 2 of "illegitimate children"; it's just unheard of.

That said, the orphans situation is unfortunately worse.

shes being sarcastic LOL

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

....case in point.

Sorry this happened to you.

its ok...It does kind of suck that 8 years later that having a relationship with his only child and hes in his freaking 40s is less important than looking good in front of people...she may end up being the only kid he ever has but as far as I am concerned, as nice as I have been through the years, I have lost interest in her having a relationship with him over this issue. In any western country, she would be a dual national regardless of marital status and could have dual citizenship but because of his atttitude, she wouldnt be afforded what she could be afforded.. such as attending graduate school there or inheriting from him there or even being a part of his extended family. If you are going to hide your kid in plain sight, just be upfront about it so she doesn't waste her time in the future missing him or wanting him to be a part of her life..

[Mithra 1,185]

Out of wedlock children are shameful and shame/honor is huge. We as Americans can't understand this. We can't put our ideas on ppl who have this honor/shame thing so deeply imbedded in themselves. There's really no point in even trying. I told you about my old friend and her daughter, Kat. She completely stopped trying to have her daughter's father in her life. Didn't bother with his culture either. Today she's a gorgeous, intelligent 18 yr old girl who is about to graduate from high school. Her father missed out on her life. His loss. This girl is well rounded and happy without any involvement from her sperm donor of a father. I wouldn't bother with your daughter's father. If you want to expose her to his culture that's fine but I wouldn't worry about any of the other stuff. Being half Moroccan (or any other kind of MENA) isn't a form of prestige IMO. It's a nationality/ethnicity. Personally, I don't look at my kids as being half Arab - they're my kids. I don't get a sense of pride because my kids are half Arab. My pride comes from being their mother because of the wonderful, intelligent kids they are not what kind of blood is flowing through their veins.

Edited May 24, 2012 by Mithra

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Out of wedlock children are shameful and shame/honor is huge. We as Americans can't understand this. We can't put our ideas on ppl who have this honor/shame thing so deeply imbedded in themselves. There's really no point in even trying. I told you about my old friend and her daughter, Kat. She completely stopped trying to have her daughter's father in her life. Didn't bother with his culture either. Today she's a gorgeous, intelligent 18 yr old girl who is about to graduate from high school. Her father missed out on her life. His loss. This girl is well rounded and happy without any involvement from her sperm donor of a father. I wouldn't bother with your daughter's father. If you want to expose her to his culture that's fine but I wouldn't worry about any of the other stuff. Being half Moroccan (or any other kind of MENA) isn't a form of prestige IMO. It's a nationality/ethnicity. Personally, I don't look at my kids as being half Arab - they're my kids. I don't get a sense of pride because my kids are half Arab. My pride comes from being their mother because of the wonderful, intelligent kids they are not what kind of blood is flowing through their veins.

This is kind of funny because he called 2 days ago wanting her to skype or chat with him...Its not prestige but when kids are any other ethnicity , its less humiliating for the father (etc) I know kids who are half all kinds of things and they don't live separated from their dad or moms culture because of shame..it has less to do with pride than it does with having an idea of who you are...BUT you were married to their dad so they will never experience that rejection.. I do understand your point completely...it is however extremely hypocritical though to want a relationship then not claim the child legally

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Out of wedlock children are shameful and shame/honor is huge. We as Americans can't understand this. We can't put our ideas on ppl who have this honor/shame thing so deeply imbedded in themselves. There's really no point in even trying. I told you about my old friend and her daughter, Kat. She completely stopped trying to have her daughter's father in her life. Didn't bother with his culture either. Today she's a gorgeous, intelligent 18 yr old girl who is about to graduate from high school. Her father missed out on her life. His loss. This girl is well rounded and happy without any involvement from her sperm donor of a father. I wouldn't bother with your daughter's father. If you want to expose her to his culture that's fine but I wouldn't worry about any of the other stuff. Being half Moroccan (or any other kind of MENA) isn't a form of prestige IMO. It's a nationality/ethnicity. Personally, I don't look at my kids as being half Arab - they're my kids. I don't get a sense of pride because my kids are half Arab. My pride comes from being their mother because of the wonderful, intelligent kids they are not what kind of blood is flowing through their veins.

He hasn't completely rejected her in that he sends her things and calls her..its a belief system that I thought I really understood but now I know I never did.. Kind of like watching a movie and not seeing any of the hidden things or clues and you think you watched it.. ( like 6th sense) then watching it again and realising you really did not see it. I know that makes no sense. I think if he wasnt still in contact with her, the rejection of not registering her would make sense..but then again I had a pollyanna view of the entire situation until recently so you can just blame me for being a dumb #### LOL

[Mithra 1,185]

Yeah if he doesn't want to claim her but wants to spend time with her that's sh!tty. She may not realize what kind of man he is now because she's young but she will. I never said a bad word about my ex in front of my kids but they found out on their own what kind of man he is. They found out how stingy, cheap, dishonest and hypocritical he is just by growing up and seeing his behavior. I hope when your daughter does realize what kind of man her dad is, it doesn't hurt her too much.