Alimas of yestercenturies

Tired of the spiel about oppressed, honor-killed, veiled Muslim women that has become wearisomely familiar?

Those that have invested time, effort, and an open mind have come to some real conclusions about who Muslim women really are.

"Mohammad Akram Nadwi, a 43-year-old Sunni alim, or religious scholar, has rediscovered a long-lost tradition of Muslim women teaching the Koran, transmitting hadith (deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) and even making Islamic law as jurists," according to a New York Times article.

Akram, a scholar at the Oxford Center for Islamic studies in Britain, has found 8,000 female hadith scholars dating back 1,400 years and filling 40 volumes of his biographoical dictionary.

A particularly fascinating entry is that on Umm-Darda, a prominent jurist in seventh century Damscus. She constantly debated with male scholars in th mosque, taught hadith and fiqh there, and tutored the caliph of Damascus.

Similarly, Aiysha, the wife of Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) is known to have transmitted over 2210 hadiths to Muslims (Dr. Khalid Mahmood Sheikh, A study of Hadith, p.17)

Muslim female scholars were already engaged in such constructive pursuits long before European women were formally admitted into high-ranking universities. Women at the University of Oxford were only admitted membership in 1920. The University of Cambridge allowed women full membership as late as 1947.

The modern counterparts of these alimas (female religious scholars) continue to study today in Al Azhar University women's college. Graduates inculde the prominent Egyptian scholars Souad Saleh (highest ranking woman in Al Azhar) and Abla Al Kahlawy.

A tribute to Monia Mazigh

Maher Arar discussed the lessons that can be learnt from his ordeal, in an inspiring and moving speech today at the University of British Columbia.

While diplomatically addressing Canada's strengths and weaknesses in dealing with national security cases, Arar did not cast himself as a hero. He repeatedly mentions that his return to Canada after torture in Syria was due to the tireless efforts of his wife.

Monia Mazigh has been a model of strength, courage, and determination. While her husband was unjustly detained in Syria, Mazigh collaborated with human rights groups and the media to pressure the government for his release. "Monia was behind me from day one," Arar said today.

Mazigh did not let her anxiety, grief, and responsibilty as a single mom deter her from launching a campaign to seek justice. "I decided that I was not going to keep quiet. We shouldn't be terrorized, shouldn't be scared," she said in a news report.

Since Arar's release, the press coverage has focused on him- justifiably so. But it is important to remember that his story may have not been told were it not for his wife's efforts.

I write this as a tribute to the woman who helped fight this battle.

While Arar and his family were able to achieve justice, my thoughts go out to the countless and anonymous victims of the "war on terror." How many more Monia Mazighs are out there trying to bring back husbands, brothers, fathers, or relatives from the abyss of political dungeons? Their struggles may not be commemorated or priviliged in press coverage, but their stories do matter. One hopes that the Arar case will set a precedent to avoid future tragedies.

Who are you Sint Ayt Ess?

On Saturday afternoon I treated myself to a taste of Vancouver's cultural scene: I watched "Adrift on the Nile" a modern theatrical adaptation of "Tharthara fawq al Nile" by Egyptian Nobel prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz.

The lead actor asked the audience about the first thing that came to their minds when they thought of Egypt. Most replies were predicatable: pyramids, sphinx, sand, smart people, Nile, camels, and blue skies. Of course, the number one favourite choice was mummies. I smiled, thinkng of home, of steaming plates of koshari and kabab, of my grandmother's smile as she rose to pray at dawn.

But indeed, last night a report announced the discovery of coffins dating 5,000 years back to the Middle Kingdom period. One of the intricately painted wooden sarcophagi was designed for a woman named Sint Ayt Ess. The artifact is important because few discoveries have yielded objects from the Middle Kingdom.

Sint Ayt Ess.

The woman's name continued to ring in my head. Who was she, this ancient guide to the Middle Kingdom? Was she a priestess or a weaver? A wife or a widower? What life did she lead and how did she die?

She may not have been as famous or glamorous as Queen Hatshepsut, but I connected with her nonetheless, this unknown ancient woman. She managed to spend a deathtime hidden from tomb robbers, from the grabbing hands of foreign diggers, from x-ray tests in a neon-lit lab, from the gawking sight of an easily distracted world, and a paragraph in international media. But now probing tools have undug her death. Even in the tomb there is no rest.

Sint Ayt Ess.

Putting Islamic sex education on the agenda

Over half of men and women in the Middle East are sexually unsatisfied, according to a poll reported today by Al Arabiya.net. As with any poll, its methodology, approach, purpose, and source must be critically analyzed. But interestingly, pollsters said that the research was difficult to conduct because only one out of four people were willing to speak to them. Others were simply reluctant to talk openly about their sexual health.

But the "Middle East" is not homogenous in its opinions, reactions, and attitudes.

A TV show discussing normal and abnormal penis size and its effect on sexual relationships sparked a heated debate in the public sphere, according to another report by Al Arabiya.net. The Kuwaiti TV show "Sirat al Hob" is presented by Fawziya Dre'e, a veiled Muslim woman, who interviewed a venereal diseases specialist.

The TV show elicited a range of opinions varying from scandalous, scientific, welcome debate, religiously immodest, and unnecessary discussion.

The airing of such a discussion stands on the opposite side of the continuum to those individuals who chose not to participate in the sexual health poll.

However, both opposites demonstrate the need for a sound understanding of the etiquette of sex discussions, awareness, and knowledge.

The answer? A re-introduction and reaffirmation of sex education from an Islamic perspective.

There is a difference between cultural and religious approaches to sex discussions. While some regions are either markedly conservative or liberal, Islam encourages a modest, respectful, and informed dialogue about sexual relationships/health.

Sheikh Mohammed Hussain was asked about developing a sex education curriculum from an Islamic perspective. He advices that Islamic sex education informs young people about sexuality in a scientific and moral manner, that does not lead them to indulge their desires in a haram way. The degree of knowledge imparted depends on the age and education stage of the students.

According to Sheikh Abdul Majeed Subh, a prominent Azharite scholar, "“Those who think that sex education is not allowed in Islam are completely wrong. The books of Islamic jurisprudence expose several topics promoting sexual awareness...All these rulings are dealt with in the books of Islamic jurisprudence in a moral and scientific manner."

Thus the supposed conservatism of Muslim and Arab societies about sexual matters becomesa negative cultural practice in the light of Islamic openness and informed discussions about sex.

Ms. President Islamically approved

The Grand Mufti of Eygpt, Dr. Ali Goma'a, has declared a fatwa that women in contemporary Islamic countries have the right to become heads of state and lead the nation, according to shar'iah law.

The Mufti reiterated this decision after Egyptian and international media mistakenly reported the opposite of the edict.

The Mufti's reasoning was that a head of state does not have the same obligations of the Calipha to lead Muslims in prayer, a role that only men can undertake.

In the light of this edict, it will be interesting to see whether Islamic preacher Souad Saleh will be granted her application to become Egypt's deputy mufti for women's affairs in Dar al-ifta (Egypt's highest religious council). She has been waiting for eight years.

Further, it is curious to note media reactions after Dr. Gomaa's reiterate his correct statement. Few mainstream American, British, or Canadian media picked up the story or made it prominent. This hush over the fatwa is ironic, given their usually zealous and repetitive criticism of Islam's lack of "democracy" and "equality." Media coverage of Islam's elevation of women's political rights is essential at a time when town councils still have some Jahiliya-like image of Islamic practises.

To beat or not to beat

Having opted to work the women's issues, rights, and status beat for a news writing class, I was stuck trying to defend the validity of the beat.

In newspapers around the Arab world, such as Al Ahram in Egypt and Al Khaleej in the United Arab Emirates, the women's page is very much alive and kicking. However, Canadian newspapers killed their women's section in the 1980s.

Is there a place for the women's beat in today's newspapers? Is the male-dominated newsroom culture determing what is newsworthy? How should an ideal, "new and improved" version of the beat look like?

Armed with a list of questions and a knot of confusion, I interviewed the Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham. She was the antithesis of the women's beat: Bramham writes passionately about women's issues, among other things, but insists against such a beat. She believes that relegating stories that affect women to the back of the newspaper meant creating an excluded space for women. It meant that women and their ideas were "ghettoized" and not included in the front page along with important news on politics and business. It was an artificial separation from the public spehere.

Her views were interesting but I continued to reflect on the type of women's issues stories found in Arabic newspapers. They were mainly thoughtful pieces about major issues that affected women. The strength of the women's page was that it asserted its presence: it was a thematic reminder that women's issues are not to be ignored or isolated to a few stories in the newspaper. It was a reminder of women's presence in society and a vent to air their views and concerns.

Perhaps Bramham and I had different thoughts on what constituted a "women's page" in the newspaper. Perhaps she was thinking of "soft" stories like cooking tips, household advice, and social events. I was thinking of stories on inspiring women who were legends of their time, the dilemmas of modern women, fatwas issued by women for women, and the latest on women's rights around the world.