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Protesters display messages and artwork on completion of first month of the gangrape and murder of a student at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday. PTI photo
‘For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.’ – Virginia Woolf
There seems to be a structural resemblance among fundamentalists of all hues, evident from their comments in the wake of the 16 December gangrape in New Delhi of a 23-year-old woman who subsequently died from her injuries. Just like RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat had opined that rapes happen in India and not in Bharat, the Jamaat-e-Islami has also submitted an 11 point recommendation to the Justice JS Verma Committee, which the government has constituted to suggest changes required in existing laws to provide better security to women in India. Two points out of the 11 that the Jamaat-e-Islami, a politico-religious organisation whose ultimate goal is to bring khilafa (creating God’s kingdom) on Earth, has proposed are worth our attention. (For details look up: http://jamaateislamihind.org/eng/ban-co-education-live-in-relationships-to-prevent-rapes-jamaat-e-islami-hind/).
First, (3) Co-education should be abolished and proper education facilities meant for women only should be available at all levels of education.
Second, (4) Educational institutions should prescribe sober and dignified dress for girls.
How should one look at this take from the Jamaat? It has its roots in history. The Jamaat is afraid of gharabzadgi, an Iranian concept prevalent in the 1960s – 70s, which is often translated as ‘Westoxication’, “Westitis”, “Westmania”, etc. These terms denote an illness, a virus, a plague from the West, which has a devastating effect on any culture or community. It is a very common perception among these patriarchs and self-proclaimed guardians of a community that women are most vulnerable to this gharabzadgi. Therefore, through women, the warp and weft of the social fabric would be easily contaminated and then this gharabzadgi will wreak havoc on the Muslim culture. They also want to make us understand about the ‘evils’, which Europe and the US owe to the desegregation of the sexes, and the shamelessness and immodesty of contemporary Western culture. To score points over the West they place Islamic rights and stereotyped roles for women in opposition to the eroticised other — in this case the Western civilisation. As per their understanding, the female body provokes men and arouses them sexually and hence endangers moral behaviour so women must not take part in the public sphere. Therefore, the best way to arrest crimes against women is to house arrest them, either by imposition or by coercion. Such mentality and mindset makes legitimate, in many areas of the Islamic world, women’s surveillance by the family, community, and the state.
Hi Fahad,
The article of yours while heavy on modernity and openness is emblematic of so many ills of today. Succintly put, this as so many of the pseudo modernists, miss the woods for the trees. While I am no fan of the jamaat, i checked through your link the 10/11 points which they have articulated and it seems to me that apart from point no 3 are others are perfectly tenable and in fact would go a long way in upping the ante against this societal violence.In particular , since you are a period based modernist , I request you to go through Point 1 first part. Pt 7 and Pt 9 are more modern than modern can be.
Hence my appeal to you and others likewise is that rather than using a broad stroke to paint everything that is ancient or sounds ancient, let us have a holistic view and be discreet in our judgement. Jumping on the bandwagon is easy. Knowing on what to jump on is the deal.
Apologies for anything offensive!
Only Muslims would come up with an idea as draconian and ridiculous as separate education for women and men. Why cant you just see women as equal to men? Why should they have to study separately? NO modern country in the entire world (other than Islamic countries but you can hardly call them modern) practices separate education. A sense of respect and equality and self worth ( for girls in co-ed) arises from co education. And not to mention cultivating healthy relationships amongst the sexes.
And finally, if you want send your kids to a madraasa or separated education GO RIGHT AHEAD- just don’t enforce your outdated and conceited beliefs on others. The key issue here is FREEDOM of CHOICE!
Miss Shalini, I respect your anger for those guys who talk about separate schools for boys and girls.However your sentence ‘only Muslims would come up’ is problematic. One can not lump all Muslims together. we should try to look at the diversity in every community. The same is true for Hindu community. We can not say that the whole Hindu community subscribe to the idea of Hindutva.
Cool down on your selective hatred lady….its visible
Cool down on your selective hatred lady….its visible.
However lady, no matter how much you curse the Muslim world for its alleged “ill treatment” of women,the fact remains that Muslim women are yet to see their bodies become a commercial commodity that sells. Also, the dignity,respect that a woman enjoys in the Muslim world is unparalleled(regardless of the isolated incidents of abuse here and there). We believe that paradise lies at the feet of our mothers and our Prophet taught us that bringing up a daughter and educating her guarantees a place in Paradise for a Muslim. Now we may disagree about how to get them educated. We prefer to educate them in dignity unlike your “modern” societies where commercialization of their bodies has become rampant. When our women go out fully covered,they go out with dignity and no one dares to pass lewd remarks on their figure and all. Now I have an adivce to you and your ilk. Before commenting on the state of Muslim women,spread awareness among your own co-religionists and family members not to try to bury their daughters when they come to know of the birth of a female child in advance. Also mam, allowing women to go around half nude,etc is not freedom in real sense. Its the,what we call “numaish” ……….but ofcourse as you said “The key issue here is FREEDOM of CHOICE!”.
I wonder how you people reject the concept of separation of sexes in school even after knowing that there is no need of co-ed. Had there been a requirement of mixing of boys and girls, it would have been a good argument. Why boys need girls during class?
The question of dress if an obvious one. Why do not schools allow bikinis ? If we go by freedom of actions in this sense, no one can stop a boy from being going to school nude. The father of atheistic humanism n founders of freedom of action n speech from est themselves are of the opinion that freedoms shud be pegged to morality. If Jamaat is of the opinion that girls should be covered like Nuns in Christiandom, n most of theistic communities , what is the problem in accepting it as a liberal opinion rather than dragging it into discourses of illogical nature. Liberalism also gives Jamaat a right to express its opinion.
Moreover the most liberal societies like USA, UK, France are going through the worst women rights violations in terms of illegal sex trade , forced prostitution, domestic violence, violence against women in forces, murders, rapes etc…How can we be so sure about those ideologies that has ruined the nations?
People with a fascist bent always rant about curbing people’s right to choice and human freedom. While using the same idea of freedom, they join the chorus of those championing Muslim women’s right to wear scarf or hijab in secular countries. The same people quote Indian Constitution and talk of minorities’ rights here in India. While they keep silent when minorities are victimized in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Iran. The same people eulogize activists and intellectuals, such as Arundhati Roy, when they write against victimization of Muslims. But the same people go into a sulk when these activists or intellectuals criticize Muslim fundamentalism. Can’t these people (fundamentalists) see the inconsistency of their stance? Mr. Zak and Mr. Zubair should know that the idea of freedom is sacrosanct and non-negotiable. Ranting or emotional outpouring in favor of backwardness and against women empowerment won’t get us anywhere. The dream of women empowerment cannot be realized until women are economically empowered. And quality education is a prerequisite for a better place in the job market. How despicable and unintelligent they are who think that the half of humanity belongs to the kitchen! Shit, man!
Miss Sadia, first of all i pity your knowledge and perception of Islamic way of life. Regarding your emotional speech and biased analysis, i respect it as i expect no better from a liberal mind.All your judgements are in itself in contradiction with the idea of liberalism n freedom of speech. How dare u judge anyone when u believe in absiolute freedom of speech. I have a right to say whatever i want.
Anyway my question to u is:
1. Who decides what is right and what is wrong?
2.If a girl feels sexually exploited while showing her cures n body parts and owing to that she covers herself, who are you to dictate her ?
3. What are your beliefs and what are trhe basis of those beliefs?
4. If you are an atheist/liberal/feminist, who decides right and wrong for u?
5. If you decide it by ur grey-matter, u shud know that others too have the same?Why cannot they dcide for themselves?
6. Rapes are more common in communities where pornography, freesexx and intermingling of gender is very high…how ur intelligence cannot recognise the facts?
Regarding empowerment:
1. Islams first martyr was a woman
Islam’s first revert was a woman
Islam’s first person to support Prophet(saw) was a woman
Islam’s first scholar was a woman
Islam first decided to have women judges over men in times of Omar(ra)
Islam is the first way that gave property rights to women
Islam first gave women right to choose their spouses??
What are u talking mam?
Only Muslims would come up with an idea as draconian and ridiculous as separate education for women and men. Why cant you just see women as equal to men? Why should they have to study separately? NO modern country in the entire world (other than Islamic countries but you can hardly call them modern) practices separate education. A sense of respect and equality and self worth ( for girls in co-ed) arises from co education. And not to mention cultivating healthy relationships amongst the sexes.
And finally, if you want send your kids to a madraasa or separated education GO RIGHT AHEAD- just don’t enforce your outdated and conceited beliefs on others. The key issue here is FREEDOM of CHOICE!
According to the science of evolution, empathy allows humans to survive as a group because it motivates them to help a member in pain. However, we can see that a section of our society is devoid of this basic human trait. Instead of mourning and showing solidarity with people protesting against the brutal gang rape of a girl, who succumbed to her injuries, people of Jamaat-e-Islami did their best to prove their moral superiority in their speeches and writings.
Jamaat-e-Islami’s 11 recommendations to Justice Verma suggest that girls ask for trouble by not wearing “sober and dignified dress,” by opting for a co-ed school, and by being unmarried for too long.
Here I’m reminded of what M, in a fit of rage, says in Casino Royale: “Have you ever seen such a bunch of self-righteous arse-covering prigs?”
I can remember that when deadly tsunami hit Asia on Dec. 26 killing more than 200,000 people, Jamaat-e-Islami’s mouthpiece “Radiance” wrote that tsunami was God’s punishment as Thailand had become thigh-land, and people were frolicking and sunbathing on the beaches, including in Bangkok. Haven’t you yet concluded Jamaat-e-Islami is comprised of moral lepers.
The problem u is that u r biased n blind…What Jamaat was trying to give is a permanent solution so that hundreds of rapes every month can be stopped. Better u give liberty n reject these points for urself.
Now let us come to point u made regarding sunami…How blind , how biased, …
Didn’t u check the same website….
Haven’t u been to Oakhla Jamaat’s office ..?There u could see a modern hospital built for poor, n a lot but alas , Dumb,deaf, blind,,,
Helen Keller rightly exclaimed… Hearing they hear n ot seeing they see not…
Look this>>>
http://archive.is/UAQA
http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?50074-Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind-Appeals-HELP-THE-HAPLESS-VICTIMS-OF-TSUNAMI
Jamaat Islami hands over new houses to Tsunami victims in TN
Submitted by admin4 on 4 January 2009 – 11:22pm
India News
Indian Muslim
By TwoCircles.net news desk,
New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu Relief Committee (TNRC), a service organization of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, handed over 38 houses to the victims of Tsunami in the village of Kottaikuppam near Puducherry on January 3.
TNRC has been doing relief and rehabilitation work in the state since Tsunami hit the Indian coastlines on December 26, 2004. Soon after the disaster TNRC sprung into action and established 100 temporary shelters in Nagapattinam, which was the worst affected town in Tamil Nadu. It also provided Relief Kits comprising of rice, foodgrains, bucket, utensils, soaps, blankets, mattresses etc to 7000 families. The group also worked on rehabilitation projects.
Villupuram Collector R.Palanisamy (extreme right) and H. Abdur Raqeeb, General Secretary, Islamic Foundation Trust (3rd from left)
At January 3 programme, Dr. R. Palaniswamy, Villupauram District Collector, handed over the keys of the newly constructed houses to the victims. A. Shabbir Ahmed, president of JIH (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry), said that TNRC was providing assistance to victims of natural disasters, including earthquakes and the tsunami, and communal riots.
Addressing the gathering H. Abdur Raqeeb, General Secretary, Islamic Foundation Trust (IFT) and member Central Advisory Committee of JIH lauded the efforts of TNRC. He hoped a model colony would emerge shedding light of hope and wisdom to the whole of the Kottaikuppam as well as the state. He urged t the beneficiaries to have a resolve to educate all their children.
As part of long-term plans of TNRC under its innovative and progressive livelihood scheme 500 families were provided with assistance both in cash and kind. TNRC gave top class fibre boats with high power engine and world class fishing nets to 16 families in Pulicat, a fishing village near Chennai. Similarly TNRC established a dairy farm with fifteen fat cows in pudupattinam as a part of its rehabilitation schemes.
The greatest achievement of TNRC stands in the form of Samarasam Nagar in Nagore where it built 100 beautiful houses. Each and every house had been constructed in 400 sq. feet area in a 1300 sq. feet plot. It comprises a drawing room, a hall, a bed room, kitchen, toilet and bathroom with stair case to the terrace. The Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage department (TWAD) has constructed an elegant overhead tank with a capacity of 30,000litres of drinking water and has provided a street pipe for every fifteen (15) houses. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has provided prompt domestic connection and has also erected twenty eight street lamp posts.
Villupuram Collector R.Palanisamy handing over the keys of permanent houses built by TNRC at Chinna Kottakuppam in district
Why most of school uniforms are designed in such a way that a male child is fully covered but a female child’s legs are left off. And as we see from west soon this skirt becomes shorter and shorter to what End? You say women freedom I disagree! It is a direct attack on women’s modesty. What has women empowerment has to do with wearing less clothes?
You like coeducation… because??
Today it will be a surprise if you can find a girl who does not have a boyfriend(I mean romantically involved not just a friend) from the class. You say what’s wrong with it? Well I say they are immature because of their age and if left alone they are naturally inclined to follow basic human instincts and so come the issue of teen pregnancies!
What kind of society will these kids make, where extra marital affair is okay simply because they had done so before and it is no big deal. It is anybodies guess what will a husband or wife in a relation will do once they find out about it. Well there you go the perfect recipe for divorce and that leads to a broken family, broken families makes a broken society and a broken society gives you a weak nation.
Now who needs our nation to be weak?? Who benefits from it?
I am following this debate since its beginning. And I must pay thanks to Fahad for writing such a good piece. The thing is that our understanding and perception of whole thing is constrained by our culture and circumstances. There can’t be one plane in such a rich and varied world— in every sense of the word. So there are various planes from where we see things and here lies the complications which give rise to complexity and obfuscation . Therefore our perception is biased against other culture and biased for our culture. To put it differently our opinions are very much ethnocentric as well as temporocentric (related to a specific time).
However I would hasten to add that Jamaat’s 11 points suggestion is downright disgusting and morally untenable. This is not about wearing dresses or clothes. And it is also not about imposition of burqa or skirt. On the contrary the debate is about freedom and liberty that are undercurrents of such debates, and the supreme value of our time. Who has given us this right to dictate anybody or any community what to wear and what not? Let people use their own discretion to wear burqa or skirt or ghughat. If banning burqa is incorrect in France then banning skirt in Iran or any where must and should be considered wrong.
Have we ever bothered to do our own community’s introspection? How we ourselves treat women is an open secret known to the world. Do we remember the way Ram Sena treated girls in a pub in Mangalore two to three years back? Have we forgotten the typical cases of Gudia and Imrana of our own community a couple of years back? The way Asaduddin Owaisi treated Tasleema Nasreen in Hyderabad was emblematic of our attitude towards women. Right? Are these very decent treatments of our so called male-chauvinistic eastern culture? These are some of the examples otherwise there are host of examples one could cite. What is modesty? There is no consensus as far as I know on what constitutes modesty. And how would one see if a burqa clad girl/woman or woman in gughat or whatever the “modest” dress of our eastern culture we talk about get raped? Dalit and lower castes girls and women in rural India lives in gughat but day in day out the atrocities of so called upper castes is unleashed on them. Where is ‘the modesty’? A father-in-law rapes his daughter-in-law, remember (poor Imrana’s controversy of 2005)? Could we talk about modesty here? And the height of idiocy was that the so called pious maulanas regarded Imrana’s marriage with her husband null. Does this stand to logic and reason?
Such mindset and mentality springs from ‘holier than thou’ attitude and the same discourse of “east-superior-west-inferior” syndrome. Why are we so much obsessed with hem line and neck line? Have we ever bothered to know what people think about our culture, our women, our idea of polygamy, our system of halala?
The poet was right:
Itni na badha paaki-e dama’n ki hekayat/daman ko zara dekh, zara band qaba dekh
This is an intelligent interpretation. It refines misconceptions attached to Islam, particularly issues related to the hermeneutics of the sharia and the Quran in women’s context. Your view of the gendered distinction between the private and the public sphere is also critical and insightful. keep it going.
“Zak” alone, of all idiots, is he who stands confirm’d in full stupidity.
(no offense)
stupid article…. the writing covers smaller page than the picture… what the hell is tehelka writer trying to convey…. rubbish…totally waste of my funding for re-starting tehelka…. i am one of the original 100 life time sponsor…