By: Islam Web

Muslim women’s concerns and reality across the world constituted the subject matter of the reports and studies presented by the young female delegations that took part in the International Forum for Muslim Girls. From 45 countries across the world, the participants’ ages ranged from 16 to 20 years old. The discussions mainly revolved around how to coexist with the latest developments of the globalization era, the ways how to present the true image of Islam with its genuine civilization to the world, and the means of refuting the misconceptions about Islam, be they from anti-Islam people or those Muslims who ignorantly undermine the image of this great religion. The sessions and lectures also discussed the lack of well-studied plans to help Muslim women abroad, a matter that makes them feel as if they are alone facing a great number of pressures and temptations.

Muslim Women of Andalusia

ʿAa’idah Romiro is a 20-year-old Muslim young woman from Spain. She fluently speaks the classic Arabic Language as she learnt exactly like her parents who embraced Islam too. The family then travelled to Holy Makkah to learn the Islamic religion and stayed therein for nine years. In Makkah, her father became a professor of Islamic Shariah while her mother worked as a teacher of recitation and Tafsir (interpretation of the Quran). She says, "Islam easily spread among the people of Andalusia; they embraced it and became acquainted with its customs and traditions that have existed up till now though it is still facing obstacles and damages resulted from the Spanish inquisition – these entities that did its best to defame the image of Muslims, to the extent that they transformed mosques into churches, destroyed the Islamic culture, and drove Muslims away from Andalusia". Commenting on the problems of Muslim girls in the West, ʿAa’idah added, "The problem of girls in the Western counties is that they learn Islamic religion and behavior from the members of their families and in small groups of Muslims, in some cases, in mosques and associations found here and there in large cities.

But, when girls go to school and become in contact with their Christian or secular classmates, they have to choose one of two options: first, Islam and the Islamic behavior which they must protect and adhere to; second, their classmates in the Western society that incites corruption and stirs up misconceptions."

That is why she affirmed the necessity of building Islamic schools and institutes in the European and Western counties, taking into account that these schools and institutes should be accredited by the official government authorities. "I think Islamic associations and organizations should unite with each other under one word, so that the Muslim girl would not feel isolation in the Western society and firmly believe that her religion is her crown and adds great honor to her", said ʿAa’idah.

ʿAa’idah then added, "No matter how progressed the Western society on the scientific and technological levels is, corrupt spreads in all its aspects". She meanwhile highlighted some Islamic contributions to support Muslims in Europe. She continued, "Spain now does not care about Arabic Language at all though it remained under the umbrella of Islam for eight centuries. Similarly, it pays no attention at all to Islam, to the extent that the Spaniards know nothing about it. It furthermore does its best to defame it and portray Muslim women as backward and ignorant".

ʿAa’idah finally pointed out that Western governments impose restrictions on marriage and polygyny, maintaining that they do not accept polygyny and even view the second wife as a prostitute, which is why they prevent man from marrying a second wife. 

Personal Status Code

Maryam Khinijar, a Moroccan young woman, points out that her country is about to apply the National Action Plan to integrate women into development within the next four years. In her opinion, this very project will totally eradicate the last formidable fortress of Islam, that is, "Personal Status Code".

Khinigari adds, "This project portrayed the Islam-based conditions experienced by Moroccan women as a form of deterioration, backwardness and injustice". That is why Maryam confirms that this project is not national in the very sense of the word as it addresses the issues of family from a narrow ideological perspective. Besides, many of the national authorities know nothing about it and Muslim scholars were not consulted over it. This project furthermore did not seek the opinions of citizens and gave the judge the sole right to issue divorce. On that, Khinijar said, "If divorce is seen as an act of personal freedom that should be restricted due to its negative impact, shouldn’t this be applicable to alcohol as a first priority, especially its devastating impact is not exclusively restricted to the family but to the entire society, as well? Isn’t alcohol one of the means of practicing violence against women?"

As far as this project is concerned, Maryam states, "One of the ideas of that project is to divide the property equally between the couple after divorce. It also sets the minimum age of marriage for girls at 18". Maryam, on her part, views this as an act of psychological and social prosecution. Strangely enough, while the project calls for applying these items, it encourages illegal relations among male and female teenagers, promotes the spread of sexual culture among schools’ students, and calls upon the partners of illegal sexual relations to use the condoms, to the extent that they distributed them for free in small shops; isn’t this an explicit call for unlawful sex that is declared as shameful and most hateful by the Holy Quran? Shouldn’t we consider the 360 cases for single girls delivering babies in Ibn Ruchd Hospital in Casablanca over one year and in one city as a dangerous indicator and a national catastrophe?

Heart of Africa

Fatimah Az-Zaharaa’ is from the Republic of Chad where Muslims constitute 85% of the population. She affirms that even though the French colonialism imposed French as the official language of the state, Arabic is the most commonly used language across Chad. Out of its strength and spread on a large scale, the Chadian constitution states that Arabic and French are the two official languages of the republic. Fatimah points out that though Chad lies in the heart of Africa with no coasts at all, Islam entered it since the time of Migrations. Besides, it witnessed the rise of a number of Islamic dynasties, such as Kanem Empire, Bornu Empire, Wadai Empire, and the Sultanate of Bagirmi. Under all these empires, Arabic was the official language and Islam was the constitution. But, when the country fell prey to colonialism in 1900 C.E., monarchy was removed and French was imposed as the country’s official language.

Fatimah states also that Chad, apart from its southern region, was not affected by the missionary movement. As for the southern region, the missionaries supplied the inhabitants therein with material support and built hospitals and health centers. On that, she adds, "Chadian girls have a distinctive feature; they adhere to the Islamic attire and commit to good manners. This is actually the result of the fact that they are brought up in Muslim families, and thus they stay in Al-Khalwah (i.e. religious school) where they learn the recitation of the Glorious Quran and Islamic Shariah knowledge after which they join the elementary schools to complete their education". She finally adds that Chadian girls used to travel to Sudan, Libya, Nigeria, Syria, and Algeria to study, not to mention their important role in the economical field.

Poverty and Ignorance

Munaayah Abu Bakr a young woman from Ghana, affirms that women of Ghana suffer from poverty and ignorance, to the extent that they, by thirties, used to be married thrice. In general, women in this country, Abu Bakr stresses, imitate the Western lifestyles. She maintains that no respect is shown at all to Muslim women, believing that ignorance is the primary reason for that. 

Kaltham Kraserova a Russian young woman, says, "Muslims represent a minority in Russia. But, Islam will spread in this country through exerting considerable efforts. Corruption and addiction of alcohol spread among youth of different ages. We fear for our future because there would be none adhering to religion. I study in the Islamic Institute in Kazan (Tatarstan) republic. In Russia, there is only one place where Muslim girls could receive knowledge. We should care about knowledge since the first verse of the Quran urges us to do so, "Recite in the name of your Lord who created." [The Quran, 96:1]  

On her part, Nora Zakay, an Albanian young woman, adds, "Muslims constitute 87% of the population of Albania. They are in a dire need to the support of their Muslim brothers since no Muslim delegation visited Albania since the end of the war three years ago (1999)".

As-Sufur (i.e. Women’s Unveiling of Their Adornments) by the State’s Decree

Khalidah Ar-Rumaythaa’ a Turkish young woman, says, "I cannot enter the school while wearing the Hijab (proper Islamic dress). In addition, Muslim women are prevented from wearing it at all levels in schools, universities, and government circles. Two years ago, more than 1,000 women were fired from their jobs by virtue of the government decree on banning the Hijab. My mother and paternal uncle’s wife are cases in point; the first was forced to leave her work in the school while the second – a nuclear engineer – was fired. In this way, Muslim women in Turkey, especially veiled ones, do not get their due rights in education and work".

Testimonies 

Amal Al-Bo’inin, a Qatari young woman, wonders whether anything of the world’s so-called civilization remains in this century. She meanwhile maintains that crushing of man and overloading him with the burdens of life constitute the point of interest of this civilization. Amal then adds, "Women may experience the largest part of enduring the loads outside/inside houses. Under the pretext of political development, today’s women appear as a burden in the liberated societies in Europe. In truth, Muslim girls, be they Arabic or European, represent the point of interest of politicians. For example, when the Muslim Turkish girl "Islam Ameen" was sent by a high school to receive practical training in one of the famous malls branches in Copenhagen, the mall administration rejected her under the pretext that she wore the Hijab. The girl thus filed a complaint to the Danish Ministry of Employment that sent, in turn, a warning to that mall in particular, and to other malls, not to put the issue of Hijab as one of the hiring requirements. But the mall did not respond positively to that warning, which is why she (Islam) did not stand handicapped and filed a suit before courts until she won the case."

Source: Zahrat Al-Khaleej