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(Comments in RED are Mine)
Q:
You organised the first ever Muslim Friday prayer
service of a mixed congregation led by a female Imam, Dr
Amina Wadud, at Synod House at the Cathedral of St. John
the Divine, an Episcopal church in Manhattan. Why was a
church chosen for this historic occasion?
A:
When the art gallery had to back out because of fears of
a bomb threat, I searched the city for an alternative
venue. St. John the Divine is known as a place of
worship that respects people of all faiths. They even
have a Muslim prayer rug in their main sanctuary. When I
called a coordinator there, she said she could offer the
spacious Synod House. I asked: "Why are you helping us?"
She answered: "Why not?" And that is truly the attitude
we need to embrace in order to overcome fear and advance
as a Muslim world.
Q:
You have recently written 'Standing Alone in Mecca: An
American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam.' A
recent CNN report states that "Some critics have accused
Nomani of using the [mixed
gender, woman-led namaaz] event to publicise
a book she has written about women and Islam." How do
you respond?
A:
I am proud of my book as a platform from which I can
proclaim loud and clear the rights of women that Islam
gave women in the 7th century.
Q:
While you profess devotion to the traditions of Islam,
you go against the conventional interpretation of the
Quran and indeed, all monotheistic religions, when you
state in your book that sex outside of marriage is not a
sin. Do you believe that the Quran is flawed or that it
needs reinterpretation?
A:
As it has been said: Let those without sin, cast the
first stone. (She obviously
is ignorant. This verse is supposed to be from the
Bible. But is removed from the later translation of the
Bibles because according to Christian scholars it was
not available in the manuscripts closer to the time of
Jesus). I respect the right of people to make
moral decisions about sin, but God is the judge. Man is
not the judge. (Then why
bother having courts of law in the world at all)
Yet, too many people are ready to throw a whip across a
woman's back for being an unwed mother or pummel her
with stones. I challenge something very clearly: the
punishment of women, because it is usually women who are
punished, for zina, or illegal sex. There is a
fundamental flaw in interpretations of sharia that say a
woman - and for that matter, men - should be punished
for sex outside of marriage. [Then
why bother having the institution of marriage. We can
ban the institution of marriage & promote the concept of
couples (man & woman OR man & man OR woman & woman)
living together like what is happening in most western
countries.] We assign divine creed to manmade
laws. The Hudood laws in Pakistan are manmade. We need
to define our communities with compassion and
inspiration not criminalisation and repression.
Q:
You travelled through Asia writing a book on the Hindu
erotic philosophy, tantra. You also gained an informal
reputation as the Wall Street Journal's sex-reporter
with beats on the mile high club. You seem fascinated
with sex and its relationship to religion...
A:
I have seen that issues of sex are very much a taboo
topic in this world. And yet they have a huge impact in
defining our world and, in particular, the lives of
women. I have looked at the intersection of issues of
sexuality with religion. It has become clear to me that
women's bodies are used as the vehicles for their
imprisonment in manmade rules that control us, from the
way we dress to where we are allowed to travel. The
Prophet did not have women live in a repressive society
in the 7th century. He was healthy and realistic about
issues of sexuality. We need to do the same.
Q: You have been very candid about your personal
life in your book. You fell in love with a Pakistani man
and conceived a child here. Why did you choose to make
your story public ?
A:
I have been honest about my baby's conception
because I want to encourage all people - women and men -
to live truthfully. When I told my boyfriend that I was
pregnant, he said that he could not marry me because
people would do the math and know that we were not
married when we conceived. I spent virtually every day
of my nine months of pregnancy battling the despair that
comes with living with lies, deceit, and shame. When my
son lay in my arms for the first time, beautiful and
perfect, on Oct. 16, 2002, I saw that he was not scarred
by the tears that I had swallowed while pregnant. My son
gave me a second chance. I write more about this in
Tantrika.
Q:
Why have you chosen to hide your son's father's
identity?
A:
Ultimately, we are all accountable to only one being for
our actions on this earth. I am not that being. I pray
only that he will be able to live as peacefully as I do,
having accepted the responsibility God gave me for my
beautiful son.
Q:
Did your being an unwed mother contribute to your
becoming the very vocal activist for women's rights in
Islam that you have become, in your defence of Amina
Lawal, the Nigerian unwed mother who had been sentenced
to stoning by death, and in your recent campaign to
reclaim women's rights in mosques?
A:
The murder of my friend Danny and the birth of my son
Shibli forced me to come face-to-face with the horrors
of narrow mindedness, judgmentalism, and even cruelty
that are expressed in the name of Islam.When I went on
the Hajj to Mecca in February 2003 with my son, just
three months old, I saw the beauty that can be Islam.
These three experiences greatly influenced me. I chose
after a year of thought to raise my son as a Muslim, and
from that day I knew I had to fight for the way Islam is
expressed in the world. I wrote my second book, Standing
Alone in Mecca, as a call to action to all women and
moderates within Islam to stand up to extremists. I have
created an Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in Mosques
and an Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Bedroom.
The second-class citizenship of women is not Islamic. I
am not going to win any popularity contests in my local
community, but that does not disturb me.
Q:
You have personally led the second mixed
congregation in America, in the hope that "Muslim women
will challenge the status quo." Putting aside gender for
a moment, given your history, do you feel you fit the
strict criteria required for an imam?
A:
I have sat in congregations where men who are supposedly
knowledgeable about Islam spew hate toward women, Jews,
Christians, the west and any Muslims who don't agree
with them. I have prayed behind imams who preach that
the Quran permits men to beat their wives. Our
definition about "knowledge" has become very skewed in
our Muslim world, and I stand strong as a woman who is
very firmly grounded in the most essential teachings of
our religion for peace, love, and tolerance. The luxury
of my life as a writer, journalist and researcher has
allowed me to seek knowledge about a beautiful Islam
that has been lost in the sedimentation of man-made
rules. We accept all sorts of arbitrary litmus tests
meant to disqualify women - and for that matter, men -
and we devalue the inspiration of simple human beings,
such as our grandmothers, our mothers, our daughters,
our sisters, who have mastered an understanding of Islam
deeper than many of the great sheikhs and mullahs of the
world.
Q:
Your movement has been criticised not just by
traditional vanguards of Muslim faith in the Middle
East, but also by American Islamic scholars themselves.
Yvonne Haddad, a professor of Islamic studies at
Georgetown University, for example, says that "the
service goes against Islam's traditions" and that in a
vacuum of acceptable Muslim leadership, new leaders who
fancy themselves as the voice of change "can get away
with anything." How do you respond?
A:
Social justice is not an issue of popularity contests.
We are challenging an assumption in the Muslim world
that men are the God-given leaders in our society. I
don't blame men and women who oppose this change
because, yes, change is frightening. But we have to
acknowledge that we have a serious vacuum of leadership
in our Muslim world. It's time that women take their
rightful place as spiritual equals to men and stand up
as leaders defining Islam in the public space. Look what
a mess we are in.
Q:
You say that the prayer was meant "to draw attention to
the inequality for women in Muslim spiritual life and
Muslim life in general." Why choose to highlight a
negative spin rather than the positive step which has
been achieved - that of a Muslim woman reclaiming her
religion?
A:
My thinking is very much two-pronged. We challenge
inequities. We create new realities that reclaim the
rights Islam granted women in the 7th century.
Q:
If the woman-led namaaz wasn't meant as a protest
against Muslim traditions, why then did the woman
Muazzin, el-Attar, proclaim the Azan without a
headcovering, traditionally considered a symbol of
respect for both men and women when in presence of the
divine?
A:
I also did not wear my hijab standing in the front row.
In creating dogma, we have forgotten an essential
principle in the Quran: "There is no compulsion in
religion." (How can this
verse apply to a Muslim. Once an individual proclaims
himself / herself as a Muslim he / she automatically
comes within the boundaries of Islam. This verse in my
opinion is addressed to the Non Muslims). The
hijab has become a political symbol that has become yet
another litmus test for a woman's decency and piety. (What
symbol is portrayed when a woman walks around half naked).
As long as we don't hurt another human being with
violent action, we must respect the rights of all people
to choice in this world. Allow each one of us to be
judged by divine powers, not by man.
Q:
If Dr Wadud and yourself were not the first women to
lead Muslim prayers, why do you believe this event was
so widely-publicised over the world?
A:
Dr Wadud was the first one in the modern day to
proclaim loud and clear: women have a right to lead
prayer of men and women. This has not been done since
the 7th century. Dr Wadud took the courageous act of
connecting us in the 21st century to the rights women
received in the 7th century, reclaiming rights denied as
a result of centuries of man-made rules. That is why the
prayer of March 18, 2005, was truly historic.
Q:
You say "this single act [of
a woman leading an unsegregated service,] is
symbolic of the possibilities within Islam."What
precedent is there for a woman imam leading a mixed
congregation?
A:
The precedent is Umm Waraqa, who was recorded in every
Islamic history book as leading a mixed gender prayer.
There are many caveats that the detractors try to put on
her prayer. Some like to say that she led only people of
her household. That there were only relatives in her
congregation. (If this was a
precedent why didn't the wives or the daughter of the
Prophet (saws) lead mixed gender prayers on a regular
basis.) The bottom line is this: as a woman,
she led men and women in prayer. There are documented
accounts that state that men did pray beside women in
the 7th century in the Prophet's mosque in Medina. It's
commonly assumed that women have to pray behind men.
Quite frankly, clothing at the time of the Prophet
didn't allow for the type of modesty that we can have
today. Just look at Mecca. I prayed beside my father.
Other men and women prayed beside each other. There was
a very healthy distribution of people in the
congregation. Women who wanted to pray together did. Men
who wanted to pray together did. Families who wanted to
pray together did. I saw a woman from the North West
Frontier jostling shoulder-to-shoulder with men. A
lightning bolt did not strike her. (Because
of the shear impracticality of easily segregating the
sexes in the haram because of the massive crowd there
are some occasions where men pray behind women or
together. But this has to be avoided as much as possible)
As long as we rely upon man-made rules to segregate, we
will never have a healthy society. The society may seem
better controlled, but repression simply breeds quiet
rebellions.
Q:
But is there a justification in the Quran for a mixed
congregation to be led by a woman?
A:
The Quran does not ban women from leading mixed gender
congregations. The Sunnah supports it. To deny women
this right is "bidda," or an "innovation."
Q:
This month, you launched the Muslim Women's Freedom
Tour, a campaign for religious equity and justice for
women in Muslim communities. Can Muslim American women
activists make a difference in the lives of their
counterparts around the globe?
A:
I hope to educate women about the rights Islam granted
us in the 7th century and empower them to reclaim those
rights in the 21st century. I know that we can be a part
of solving pressing global issues after we liberate
ourselves fully from centuries of traditions that try to
silence us and subjugate us in the Muslim public sphere.
I hope that we can be an inspiration to our sisters
around the globe as they have been an inspiration to me
personally. On March 1, 2005, I launched the Muslim
Women's Freedom Tour and posted the 99 precepts and the
bill of rights on the front door of my mosque in
Morgantown, where the men at my mosque have put me on
trial for daring to stand up for women's rights and
tolerance. The punishment that I face: banishment. But
there is one fate they will never be able to impose upon
me: silence.
http://newsline.com.pk/NewsApr2005/bookapr.htm
AB
"For to us will be their return; then it will be for
us to call them to
account." (Holy Quran 88:25-26)
Copyright © 2005 by AB
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