In The Red Zone

The key to winning the War on Terror--whether in Iraq, Ridyah or the American homeland--is women.  Liberated women will sweep away the claptrap of religious fascism faster than you can say Scheherazade and relegate the mullahs of every denomination to the status of soap-box preachers.  And across dar-al-Islam today, we see the issue of women's rights beginning to shake the self-conception of Muslim world with a force unheralded since Napoleon sailed into the harbor of Alexandria.  Adding our voices to the revolution is one small way we can help bring about a release of new energies across the Middle East and beyond. 

With that in mind, I thought we'd periodically examine topics pertaining to women in the Middle East.  Starting with this small, but interesting bit of good news (tip of the hat to Professor Roth) from the BBC.  Over the last month the Beeb has featured on-line voices from Iraq, including Sarab al-Delaymi, a Baghdad housewife, who recently wrote

Women in Baghdad are traditionally more open than women in the provinces, but we've recently started to notice the emergence of a new type of more emancipated women in the provinces. Many women are becoming more engaged and active in political debate and some of them even occupy high administrative and political positions. This makes me and others hopeful of a better future.

Indeed.

(Unfortunately, not all observations from the Beeb's participants are so upbeat.  But scroll down and read what Sarab has to say about schools and teachers' salaries.)

The Beeb also informs us of a radical event occurring in Egypt.  Seems medical doctor and  sociologist Nawal Saadawi has announced her intention to enter next year's presidential elections, making her the first woman to run for the top post.  Although her candidacy has no legal standing, Saadawi intends it as an consciousness-raising act. "I am going to stand in the presidential election, not to win but to get the Egyptian people moving in favour of a reform of the constitution and to oppose corruption and"--adding the obligatory coda--"American colonialism."  (Interestingly, Saadawi's anti-colonial ire did not prevent her in the 1990s from fleeing with her family to the Great Satan when religious fundamentalist threatened her life.  After teaching at Duke University and Washington State University, she returned to Egypt in 1996.)

Ms. Saadawi is a controversial figure in the Land of the Nile: author of 27 books--mostly about women's issues--and a political prisoner under Sadat, in 2001 she gave an interview in which she denounced the veil and polygamy, accused religious leaders of being more concerned with sex than Allah and posited the shocking theory that the Hajj contained paganistic elements.  Her comments blew the turbans off Egypt's religious establishment, who charged her with sexual licentiousness in inciting women to immoral behavior, declared her beyond the bounds of Islam and ordered the state to annul her 37 year marriage.  Authorities eventually dropped the case, largely due to pressure from international observers. 

More seriously, human rights observers have criticized Pakistan's first-ever legislation against karo kari, or the horrendous practice of "honor killings." which take the lives of hundreds of Pakistani women each year.  On first glance the bill--passed the Congress but awaiting President Musharraf's signature--is strong, prescribing a minimum of ten year imprisonment and a maximum of the death penalty for murdering women deemed to have "shamed" a family.  But it also allows killers to escape justice through qisas--convincing victims' families to pardon perpetrators--or by paying compensation, called dyat.  Critics note that qisas and dyat favor the rich and powerful who can intimidate families through social or economic pressure.   

Why the loopholes?  In 1990, Pakistan amended sections of its criminal code to reflect the so-called Qisas and Dyat Ordinances of Islamic law.  According to Pakistan's Daily Star, any legislation that seeks to abrogate or work around the Ordinance will "most likely be successfully challenged in a court of law as being repugnant to the Quran and Sunnah."  Indeed, Pakistan judges have already ruled that the Qisas and Dyat Ordinance cannot be by-passed because they are "part and parcel of Islamic common law."  Take a deep breath and repeat after me, separation of mosque and state..separation of mosque and state...

Women's rights in Islam (and not only Islam) is huge, of course, and I've only presented a merest skimming of the news.  If anyone has any tips or issues they'd like this site to raise, please let me know.  Until next time, let us ponder the words of the Holy Koran:

He created you from one being, then from that being He made its mate. (39.6)