BY MUNEEB NASIR
It takes specific circumstances to highlight absurdities in the practices of certain Muslim groups.
I attended a fund raiser this past weekend that was held to assist the victims in Gaza.
The event was organized by a few mosques that are culturally orthodox in dealing with their membership.
On arrival at the reasonably elegant banquet hall where the program was held, men and women were being directed past ‘checkpoints’ through separate entrances.
The banquet hall was divided by a ‘separation wall’ – men into the ‘neighborhood’ and women and children into the ‘camp.’
‘Diplomats’, including female politicians and politicians’ wives, were ushered into the friendly ‘neighborhood’ with female attendants providing services.
The women and children could not engage in the proceedings and were not to be heard, ‘sisters, keep quiet and listen!’, very much like their Gazan sisters whose images were being projected onto the video screens.
Someone looking in from the outside would have thought that the organizers were brilliant in putting on an enactment to highlight the oppression and injustices that Palestinians have been enduring for sixty years.
Publicly held relief events should be much more than fund raisers for collecting monetary contributions.
They are to be a remembrance (dhikr) to honor the dignity of the oppressed, a supplication (dua) for the victims of injustice and an opportunity for us to attain goodness by ‘giving of what we love’.
As such, it requires a dignified and a most excellent spiritual gathering for believing women and men.
To help the oppressed in Gaza starts by first rectifying those injustices in our midst, as fighting injustice requires uncompromising rigor - “Uphold justice and bear witness to GOD, even if it is against yourselves ….” (Qur’an 4:135).
How can we be serious about Gaza while there are injustices and inequalities being perpetrated against our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and children in our community?
Shaykhuna, tear down these walls!
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With all due respect I don't agree with your article. Some women feel more comfortable in such a setting and therefore have no issues. Some muslims are more conservative than others, is there a problem with this?
It's not a matter of sisters being treated any less. Perhaps this particular venue was not well organized, video screens should have been put up if there weren't any there.
Posted by: Mujeeb Abbas | February 11, 2009 at 09:42 PM
Thank you. these points need to be raised repeatedly until the organisers start treating sisters wiht the respect they deserve.
Posted by: naeem siddiqi | February 10, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Assalaamu Alaikum, Muneeb
You've hit the nail on the head. Two young sisters whom I took to the event were very much disappointed that they could not even see the speakers (and to make matters worse the program was unbearably long).
Seems like when we take two steps forward, we always take three back.
Posted by: Farhad | February 09, 2009 at 05:10 PM