Communicating Arts - Main Web SiteFirst published: 070706-0845H; Updated: 070708-1550H.
There may be more of wishful thinking than successful realpolitik (so far) as regards the western-style liberation of Islamic women, but evidence of the theme has sure been crossing my desk lately.
Anne left her copy of Ms. on my keyboard open to Bay Fang's "The Talibanization of Iraq: Under Mounting Repression, Courageous Women Fight for Their Rights and Their Lives" [1], and then the day's first collection of e-mail landed Angus Stickler's piece in the British publication, The First Post: "Honour killings: the link with terror."
Of course, I have already mentioned around here Ayaan Ali Hirsi's book, The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam [3], and, in relation to a young Iranian girl's death (by stoning) sentence (since commuted) in relation to her rape, have provided a URL to the plainly apostate Maryam Namazie's blog [4].
The noise, the talk, the buzz sounds often for the liberation of Islamic women while the bullets, bombs, and bloodshed perpetuated by Islamic militants speak as loudly for the continuation of submission through intimidation backed by force of arms.
What I may do here is knit together a few of the more interesting personalities in the arena of Islamic women's rights.
Asra Q. Nomani: http://www.asranomani.com/. In the wake of publishing her book, Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam," Ms. Nomani, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, has joined the ranks of women stumping for Islamic reform.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, as bright and tough a fighter and writer as any I've read, resides professionally at the American Enterprise Institute: http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.117,filter.all/scholar.asp. I haven't read her latest, Infidel, but in The Caged Virgin she argues effectively for criticism of Islam in its every facet, starting with the contemporary examination of the life of Muhammad.
Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi: http://www.iranpressnews.com/english/. Among other things, Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi edits the English portion of the Iran Press News. A Google search may turn up a lot about Zand-Bonazzi, including appearances in print and elsewhere, but it won't get you to brick and mortar, a good indication, I think, that others are looking for her too.
Houzan Mahmoud (Representative) and Yanar Mohammed (Director): Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq. I was worried. Ms. Mahmoud had not updated her blog for about a year, but her article, "Killing women, destroy Iraq" appeared on the Amnesty UK site in May 2007, a good sign I would say. Contact page: http://www.equalityiniraq.com/contacts.htm.
Irshad Manji: http://www.muslim-refusenik.com/. "My peeps," she says close to the top of her web site today (July 8, 2007), "This is the second in my three-part series paying tribute to Arab free-thinkers. With Hamas ruling Gaza and Iran empowering radicals all around Israel and Palestine, the West Bank hangs in the balance. Imagine the pressure on Muslims there to clam up and conform." Her movie, Faith Without Fear, premiered April 19, 2007. Born in Uganda in 1968, the naturaized Canadian Manji is out stumping for Islamic reform and working to coordinate her part of the global effort.
Mehrangiz Kar: http://www.mehrangizkar.net/english/. Mehrangiz Kar has been active as a lawyer and journalist for quite a few years now and has the "street cred" of imprisonment in Iran for political activism to accompany a slew of academic and public service awards garnered from western institutions. In remarks accompanying a book signing (Crossing the Red Lines, The Struggle for Human Rights in Iran) late this past summer (2007) in Washington, D.C., she noted, "For 22 years, I practiced law in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In addition to being a lawyer, starting from sometimes around 1991 or so, I became active in the field of journalism once again. In Fact, this was in fact, how I started to write about women’s rights and human rights in general. My main goal was to give people correct information about discriminatory laws." I believe she is still at it and, in exile from Iran, much engaged in the reform movement.
Maryam Namazie: http://www.maryamnamazie.com/. This woman picked up the sword on behalf of Iranian teen Nazanin Fatehi, who defending herself and a cousin during their rape managed to kill one of her attackers, which act earned her the sentence of death by stoning (I've found on the web no mention of punishment of the men involved). Judging by her blog at http://maryamnamazie.blogspot.com/, Namazie has become a tireless activist for a progressive Islam, should such a thing become possible.
Nadia Mahmood: Middle East Centre for Women’s Rights. [email protected]. Born of the Middle East Centre for Women's Studies in London, Nadia Mahmood's group resolved on 6 January 2003 to call itself as noted here and to "further the rights of women in the Middle East." Ms. Mahmood's name appeared in the course of my looking into the "honor killing" of Banaz Mahmood Babakir Agha, a case updated in Reuters as a pre-sentencing hearing for her murderers came up (around July 19, 2007) and covered also in the Iraqi Solidarity News ("Another victim of honour killings", August 5, 2006).
Nonie Darwish: http://www.arabsforisrael.com/. The daughter of a Palestinian military official assassinated by Israeli forces recalls the first raid: "Because her father was not home at the time, the Israeli commandos left without incident. In fact, they did not so much as wake her" [12}. The Israelis returned, and I am sorry for that, but the memory and the sensibility that revives it put Darwish on the path to a life in the United States and a role in the call for a more ecumenical, peaceful, and tolerant Islam.
Phyllis Chesler: http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/. While Phyllis Chesler is Jewish and may not "own" the Islamic feminists positions as women of Islamic heritage may--on my part, frankly, this is the same facile courtesy extended to blacks in the U.S. when white authors take up their issues "in solidarity" and with competence--she's got the same grip on issues involving women in Islam as others here. Here is a shortcut to a pretty good and relevant example of her work: http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/articles.php?article=AnIslamicEnlightenment.htm.
Rend Al-Rahim Francke: http://www.usip.org/specialists/bios/current/francke.html. Ambassador representing Iraq in the transitional 2003-4 period, Rend al-Rahim serves as a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. Quoted by Larry Luxner in The Washington Diplomat, "From Exile to Envoy: Iraqi Rend Al-Rahim," she noted the following in 2004:
"My uncle was sentenced to 15 years in prison for writing a letter to a friend abroad, in which he complained about the conditions of life in Iraq," she says. "A distant relative of mine was arrested and killed. Friends were beginning to be detained, and in some cases executed. We began to see more and more relatives and acquaintances fall under the grip of this regime, and we knew that if we didnít leave soon, we would also become victims." [7]
Twenty-six years ago, three years ago, now--would the necessity of making such statements would change.
Although Rend, who holds dual citizenship, was, according to Wikipedia [8], a part of the Iraqi expatriot lobby for deposing Saddam Hussein, she has also been critical of the administration of the transition and so seems to have the same sort of independence and self-possession as other contemporaries wrestling with conflict and Islam. Certainly, her testimony this year before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations suggests the possession of a nimble and sharp intellect where Islamic culture and practical politics collide:
"The cardinal, root error committed by the CPA was to define and build Iraqi politics along purely sectarian and ethnic lines. This was a gross oversimplification of Iraqi society arising from ignorance and intellectual laziness, and it ignored the complex texture and weave of the Iraqi social fabric. Unfortunately, this reductionist model was encouraged by some Iraqi political groups that had a vested interest in promoting a sectarian or ethnic agenda. This structure has in turn increased religious, sectarian and ethnic fanaticism in the country. It has entrenched the groups in their positions and deepened the divides instead of bridging the gaps." [9]
Wafa Sultan: I wouldn't want to argue with this woman--here is her youtube classic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WLoasfOLpQ. This, still new on July 8, 2007 may be the next: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYB4pG3kHIY&mode=related&search=. There's now a Wafa Sultan web organization at http://wafasultan.org/, but the site appears to be in its infancy. In this instance, I'm going to post and hope a contact point surfaces later.
Valentina Colombo: http://www.imtlucca.it/whos_at_imt/directory.php?p=3. Dr. Colombo asks hers fellows, the "liberals or reformists or secularists" to get in touch with her, the "moderates" seeming often to stand for nothing more than a moratorium on, say, stonings, until the times improve for it. Quoting Churchill, she says, "'An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last'… and our crocodiles are the 'moderates'". [11]
Yanar Mohammed: http://www.equalityiniraq.com/english.htm. The subject of Bay Fang's article in Ms. [1], Yanar Mohammed shares the fervor of other activists:
"Women are the victims of violence and backward religious traditions in Iraq, and are in desperate need of shelter and protection from random acts of aggression. These women are subject to continuous threat of being:
- killed by their husbands or male relatives (honor killings)
- Burnt or mutilated for suspicion of shameful acts
- publicly executed or shot by the police
- kidnapped and secretly murdered
- in state of despair and see no other way than to commit suicide."
Unlike some of her peers residing elsewhere--or too much like them, of course--Yanar Mohammed has become a woman with a public agenda, a secret schedule, and no fixed address.
Zainab Salbi: http://www.womenforwomen.org/zainab.htm. Mentioned and pictured in Bay Fang's article in Ms., Iraqi native Zainab Salbi provides through the organization she founded, Women for Women International, support to women in regions recovering from armed conflict.
# # #
1. Fang, Bay. "The Talibanization of Iraq: Under Mounting Repression, Courageous women Fight for Their Rights and Their Lives." Ms., Spring 2007, p. 46-51.
2. Stickler, Angus. "Honour killings: the link with terror." The First Post, July 6, 2007.
3. Hirsi, Ayaan Ali. The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam.
4. Namazie, Maryam. Blog: http://maryamnamazie.blogspot.com/; web: http://www.maryamnamazie.com/.
5. Salbi, Zainab. Women for Women International.
6. Francke, Rend al-Rahim. The Iraq Foundation.
7. Luxner, Larry. "From Exile to Envoy: Iraqi Rend Al-Rahim." The Washington Diplomat, April 2004.
8. Wikipedia. "Rend Al-Rahim Francke."
10. The Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq (Background).
11. Colombo, Valentina. "Liberal Arabs and Muslims, Please Wake Up." Islam Watch, April 9, 2007.
12. Gringer, Nurit. "Nonie Darwish Uses Freedom to Recall a Lost Culture." Think-Israel.org, circa 2006.
Correspondence and Permissions: James S. Oppenheim
If thy first paragraph offends thee, strike it out!
:)
I'm going to let this bit of promotion stand but may suggest that eviscerating a time honored text may undermine the sense of authenticity from which it derives its power. A rewrite of the Koran seems to me perhaps less desirable than reflection or review cultural attitudes toward language, language behavior, and what sociologists may still call "attitude-behavior" correspondence.
"If thine eye offend thee . . . " (Matthew 18:9), I'd rather urge thee to visit an opthamologist than have you pluck it out; and if the phrase, whatever the text, provides an analogy to ethical or moral behavior, whether of a guilty or jaded nature, I'd have those troubled or victimized consider paths toward redress and justice that find their balance in and through peace.
Posted by: James | December 19, 2007 at 08:40 PM
Many people talk about the need to reform Islam. Now you can stop talking and start helping.
With the help of our readers we went through the Koran and removed every verse that we believe did not come from Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. However, it is possible that we missed something, and we could use your help. If you find verses in the reformed version of the Koran that promote violence, divisiveness, religious or gender superiority, bigotry, or discrimination, please let us know the number of the verse and the reason why it should be removed. Please email your suggestions to koran-AT-reformislam.org.
When we finish editing process, we would like to publish Reform Koran in as many languages as possible. If you could help with translation or distribution of the Reform Koran, please email us at koran-AT-reformislam.org. If you could provide financial support, please visit our support page.
In Memoriam of Aqsa Parvez.
http://www.reformislam.org/reform.php
Posted by: Muslims Against Sharia | December 19, 2007 at 03:18 AM