There is no doubt that Islam is greatly misunderstand in vast parts of the world. The reasons for this are complex. The legacy of colonialism has certainly left many countries way behind in terms of development, and many blame this backwardness on Islam itself. An unkind media machine, often driven by forces hostile to Islam and Muslims, has created an imbalance in the reporting of Islam to the world. Muslims would contend, though, that there is no clash of civilisations between Islam and the West. If Islam is misunderstood, then the place of women within Islam is one of the greatest misconceptions. Some Muslim women are treated badly. Let us be honest about this. But let's not lay the blame at the door of Islam. If ignorance, lack of education, cultural baggage or poor leadership have encouraged some men to treat women badly, then let us blame ignorance, lack of education, cultural baggage and poor leadership, not Islam. Are there not Shelters for battered women in New York and Sydney? Does ignorance and chauvinism not show itself in other societies? Forced marriage is not a part of Islam. How many times do we have to repeat this? In fact, the rights of women which Islam brought to the Arabian Peninsula at the time of Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him) were quite revolutionary. And they remain revolutionary today. Islam exalts the status of women. It doesn't diminish it. Wherever in the world women are forced against their will to stay at home, or denied access to education or career advancement, Muslims must raise their voices in protest. Islam does not condone this. A while back a very special conference took place in the city of Montreal in Canada. It was the first conference of its kind in the city to be organised for and by Muslim women and it was called “United Muslimat Conference.” In holding it, Canada's Muslims showed once more that this is truly the century of Islam in the West. Islam holds high the position of women. The ignorant voices who claim the contrary don't know what they are talking about. At the same time as this Conference for Muslim women was being arranged, though, the President of France announced that an investigation would take place into the wearing of the niqab (full face veil) by Muslim women, with a view to making it illegal in France. The rest is history. Sufficient to say here that many of those highly educated and independent young women at that conference in Montreal would disagree with the President. His claim that women wearing the niqab are forced to do so by their husbands is, in fact, a slur on Muslim women. Are nuns forced to wear a veil, they ask. Was Mother Teresa of Calcutta any less an individual for wearing a veil? The images of the Virgin Mary in Christian Art portray her, almost always, as wearing a veil, but there is no suggestion that doing so made her subservient to men. Why does this apply, then, to Muslim women? It is, in fact, a wholly chauvinist attitude to suggest that Muslim women cannot think for themselves and only do what their husbands tell them. Are people suggesting that Muslim women are particularly stupid and that they cannot think for themselves? One of the speakers at the Conference in Montreal was the renowned Canadian Muslim academic, Dr Jamal Badawi. His excellent presentation was called “Gender Equity in Islam,” and in it he talked about the way the advent of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula guaranteed the duties, the rights and the privileges of women in a way that had been unparalleled before. During the talk, he told the audience how he was once at an inter-faith dinner with his wife, when a non-Muslim lady turned to her and asked what she would do if her husband allowed her to take off the Islamic headscarf (hijab). She was expecting the poor creature before her to sigh with relief and be delighted to take off the hijab. The response she got came as quite a shock. “I would divorce him,” she said! In other words, in matters of faith a Muslim woman is obliged first of all to obey God, not her husband. Her husband has no right to tell her not to wear the headscarf. Nor, many would suggest, does the President of France. If the President had attended this Conference in Montreal, he would have seen an audience of Muslim women with their heads covered with the traditional hijab. Not too many of them appeared subservient. They didn't appear to be oppressed. Their questions and their interest in the talks, all of which they attended of their own volition, not because someone had told them to, were impressive. These were educated young women with a good sense of humour. In fact, when the idea of the Sisters-only Conference was first talked about, some of the Muslim men suggested that it probably would never take place. When, however, the brothers saw the range of international speakers who had been invited and the seriousness with which the conference was being planned, they began to change their tune, asking if they could be allowed to attend. It was suggested rather mischievously to the organisers that the men be allowed to attend – but they would have to sit behind a curtain at the back! The sisters were very gracious and allowed the brothers to attend and those young men, equally well-educated and independent, learned a lot that day. Such well attended conferences are important to let others in the West and elsewhere know about Muslim women and the strong role they have to play in Islam and in the wider community. It is important that Muslims, both men and women, speak out and make their voices heard to contradict the remarks of ignorant people portraying a false image of Islam. Muslim women are not stereotypes, but real people. Like women everywhere, they think about what career choices lie before them, if any. They think about study and education. They certainly think about marriage and children. They think about the expectations of others and how to balance others' expectations with being an independent person. And, inshallah, they think about how to live as a Muslim in today's world. Muslims didn't drop out of the sky. They don't have two heads. Wearing a headscarf doesn't turn a woman into anything less than a woman. It is necessary sometimes to confront head-on those who would distort the real image of Islam and, instead, to show them a few essential facts. Visitors to Al-Azhar's Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies for Girls in Beni Suef won't find many oppressed young women there. Instead, they will see faith-filled young women, wanting to learn more about Islam and, in doing so, hoping to tell the world what Islam is really like. It is very tiring for a Muslim, when visiting London or New York, to be told what he or she believes by people who know nothing of Islam. Inshallah, since Egypt's revolution, Al-Azhar is beginning to rise once more to the place it has always held as the authoritative voice of Sunni Islam in the world. That authoritative voice will not only come from its scholars and Grand Imam, but also from the young men and women who study there. May God Almighty bless them all. British Muslim writer, Idris Tawfiq, is a lecturer at Al-Azhar University. The author of eight books about Islam, he divides his time between Egypt and the UK as a speaker, writer and broadcaster. You can visit his website at www.idristawfiq.com.
