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Institute of Islamic Studies(Reg. No. E-8900 (Mumbai) |
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Muslim Women’s Newsletter - Vol. 4 No.37, April 2010. Edited by Miss. Qutub Jehan Kidwai & Miss. Shazia Shaikh |
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A STEP FORWARD
1. SAUDI WOMAN BLASTS CLERICS IN TV CONTEST POEM
2. Mohsina Kidwai elected chairperson of Haj committee
3. Saudi raises women participation in economy
4. First Isreal Arab woman appointed full professor at Tel Aviv University
STRUGGLE CONTINUES
1. In Yemen, women protest delay on child marriage ban
2. Afghan women suffering more now
3. In US, Muslim women cahllenge mosque separation
4. Quebec unveils slew of restrictions on wearing hijab
5. Women judges stir up old debate in Egypt
SPORTS
Muslim, German, female - and a sports star
Faezah Hashemi award for excellence in sport
SAUDI WOMAN BLASTS CLERICS IN TV CONTEST POEM
Hissa Hilal, from
It was a startling voice of protest at a startling venue. Covered head-to-toe in black, a Saudi woman lashed out at hard-line Muslim clerics' harsh religious edicts in verse on live TV at a popular Arabic version of "American Idol."
Well, not quite "American Idol": Contestants compete not in singing but in traditional Arabic poetry. Over the past episodes, poets sitting on an elaborate stage before a live audience have recited odes to the beauty of Bedouin life and the glories of their rulers or mourning the gap between rich and poor.
Then last week, Hissa Hilal, only her eyes visible through her black veil, delivered a blistering poem against Muslim preachers "who sit in the position of power" but are "frightening" people with their fatwas, or religious edicts, and "preying like a wolf" on those seeking peace.
Her poem got loud cheers from the audience and won her a place in the competition's finals, to be aired on Wednesday.
It also brought her death threats, posted on several Islamic militant Web sites.
Hilal shrugs off the controversy.
"My poetry has always been provocative," she told The Associated Press in an interview. "It's a way to express myself and give voice to Arab women, silenced by those who have hijacked our culture and our religion."
Her poem was seen as a response to Sheik Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak, a prominent cleric in
But more broadly, it was seen as addressing any of many hard-line clerics in
"Killing a human being is so easy for them, it is always an option," she told the AP.
Poetry holds a prominent place in Arab culture, and some poets in the
The program, The Million's Poet, is a chance for poets to show off their original work, airing live weekly on satellite television across the Arab world from
Hilal's 15-verse poem was in a form known as Nabati, native to nomadic tribes of the
"I have seen evil in the eyes of fatwas, at a time when the permitted is being twisted into the forbidden," she said in the poem. She called such edicts "a monster that emerged from its hiding place" whenever "the veil is lifted from the face of truth."
She described hard-line clerics as "vicious in voice, barbaric, angry and blind, wearing death as a robe cinched with a belt," in an apparent reference to suicide bombers' explosives belts.
The three judges gave her the highest marks for her performance, praising her for addressing a controversial topic. That, plus voting from the 2,000 people in the audience and text messages from viewers, put her through to the final round.
"Hissa Hilal is a courageous poet," said al-Amimi. "She expressed her opinion against the kind of fatwas that affect people's lives and raised an alarm against these ad hoc fatwas coming from certain scholars who are inciting extremism."
Fatwas are not legally binding and it is up to individual Muslims to follow them. Clerics of all ideological stripes pronounced fatwas on nearly every aspect of people's lives, from how they should deal with members of other religions to what they can watch on television.
Hilal said she had heard about the death threats posted on Islamic extremist Web sites and was concerned, but "not enough to send me into hiding."
What's more on her mind is how sudden fame will change her quiet family life at home in the Saudi capital,
"I worry how I will be perceived after the show is over, when judgment is passed and people begin to talk about my performance and ideas," said Hilal, a mother of four who has published poetry and previously was a poetry editor at the Arab daily Al-Hayat. "I worry the lights of fame will affect my simple and quiet existence."
The Million's Poet was launched in 2006 by the government's Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage to encourage poetry.
In this, the fourth season, 48 contestants from 12 Arab countries competed, including several women along with Hilal.
On Wednesday, Hilal will be joined by five other poets in the final round. The winner of the $1.3 million grand prize will be declared a week later on March 31.
Their topics are already known. One of Hilal's rivals will address terrorism. Another woman in the finals, Jaza al-Baqmi, will reflect on the role of women.
Hilal says her poem will tackle the media, but wouldn't elaborate so as not to spoil the surprise.
"My message to those who hear me is love, compassion and peace," Hilal said. "We all have to share a small planet and we need to learn how to live together.”
2. Mohsina Kidwai elected chairperson of Haj committee
Hajj Committee is a government panel that makes arrangements for the Muslim pilgrimage to the holy cities of Makkah and
Hasan Ahmed and Aboo Bucker were elected vice chairmen at the meeting of the newly constituted committee, according to a statement by the ministry of external affairs.
"The ministry of external affairs, which is the nodal authority for administering the Haj Committee Act, 2002, convened the first meeting of the Haj Committee to elect a chairperson and two vice chairpersons," the
Statement said.
3. Saudi raises women participation in economy
Lama Al Sulaiman, a 43-year-old Saudi Arabian businesswoman, was elected deputy chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry in December.
That might not be news in most places. It was in her country, where Al Sulaiman is the first female to hold such a post in Saudi history.
“With King Abdullah, we are changing so that women can have far more opportunities,” said Al Sulaiman, wearing a black abaya long-sleeved robe and a headscarf, in a 10th-floor conference room overlooking the
The king is pushing to raise women’s employment in the world’s largest oil exporter, where only 15 per cent of the labor force is female. More working women would give Saudi and international companies higher-skilled employees, since almost 60 per cent of Saudi university students are women, and help
“By including more women in the labor force, you increase productivity” and thus add jobs to the economy, said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Riyadh-based Banque Saudi Fransi. “By employing them, the government will get a return on its investment in education.”
Most of the international companies operating in
Abdullah is promoting women’s rights as part of a broader drive to rein in the influence of the clerical establishment, which controls the educational and legal systems in a country where unemployment for those between ages 15 and 24 is 25 per cent.
The king is establishing new commercial courts outside the existing judiciary, which follows Islamic Sharia law, and promoting science and technology under a five-year plan unveiled in 2005 to enhance job skills.
“Saudi women are participating positively in all programs of development by standing alongside their male brothers as students, employees, teachers, and businesswomen,” Abdullah said in a March 7 speech in
The desert kingdom’s form of Islam means progress will be slow, said Bandar bin Mohammed Al Aiban, president of the government-run Saudi Human Rights Commission. It forbids mixing among unrelated people of opposite sexes, requires women to get a male relative’s permission to work and prohibits women from driving a car.
“It’s piecemeal, one step at a time,” he said. “We’re an Islamic society that has its own traditions, which most families, not the government, would adhere to.”
The king in February last year appointed a woman, US-educated Nora bint Abdullah Al Fayez, to the Cabinet for the first time. As deputy education minister, she is in charge of girls’ schooling.
Abdullah, 85, set up the country’s first co-educational university last September. A women’s university in
The king has also named 12 women advisers to the Shoura Council, a royal consultative body composed of 150 male members. They have to hold meetings by video link with their male colleagues, according to the council.
The king’s push has met with opposition in a country where the religious police can carry out spot inspections of offices to check if men and women are mingling.
First Deputy Prime Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz last March said there was “no need for women” to be appointed as members of the Shoura. And cleric Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Barrak said on his Web site last month that supporters of mixing genders in schools and universities should be put to death.
Hospitals are in the forefront of women’s employment. Forty per cent of doctors with Saudi citizenship are now women, the Washington-based human rights and democracy group, Freedom House, said in a February study.
Shahinaz Murshid, one of five college-educated sisters, is the chief international medical-conference organiser at
“I’m not going to say it’s easy to apply it to other areas like in hospitals, but a lot of the new generation are working very hard on this,” she said.
Almost all Saudi women who work are in single-sex work spaces in the public sector. Of those, 84 per cent work in education, according to the Freedom House report.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire Saudi investor, ignores the restrictions thanks to his royal status. In his Rotana media holding company’s 58th-floor offices atop the
“This is an open environment that’s unique,” said Daneh Abuahmed, director of information technology at Rotana. She covers her hair after she leaves the office.
Al Sulaiman, by contrast, says: “You have to proceed carefully. You have to respect others.” She wears her abaya and headscarf in public and says her husband’s authorization makes it harder for clerics to object to her working with men. She has a doctorate in nutrition from King’s College London and is a board member of Jeddah-based Rolaco Trading & Contracting, whose activities include building and steel-making.
“What we’re doing today is creating opportunities for women within the limitations that exist in
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