| Urdu Section | |
| 30 Dec 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com | |
| The Royal decree of Usmania Empire has been in force for 284 years | |
Why has no representative of 1500 million Muslim women won Nobel Prize in science, literature or in any respect? There may be a simple answer to this demanding question. How can it be possible in such an anti-women environment, when a Sudanese woman is whipped for wearing the so-called anti-Islamic dress "Jeans" in the first decade of 21st century? The Islamic heads of Saudi Arabia become sleepless at the opening of the first co-education school. The women in U.S, Europe, Britain, and Israel or in any other part of the world are no more intelligent than the Muslim women, but they qualify for the prizes. The reason being – they get equal opportunities in education, research and training. They have acquired equal status after a long struggle of about five centuries for their educational, social and political rights without demanding any favour or reservation but they only asked for equal opportunities. The Muslim women are criticized for their failures ignoring the facts that they are handcuffed and fettered, made unable to aspire and achieve anything. -- Zahida Hina, Karachi (Translated from Urdu by Raihan Nezami)
URL of this page: http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamUrduSection_1.aspx?ArticleID=2304
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The tragic plight of Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Prize winner for Peace, reminds us of Khilafat-e-Usmania
By Zahida Hina
(Translated from Urdu by Raihan Nezami)
October is the month for the declaration of Nobel Prize winners; the whole world has been waiting for its declaration every October for 108 years with bated breath. Nobel Prize is given to the people for excellent achievements in the categories of Peace, Literature, Physics, Chemistry and Physiology or Medicine, who dedicate their lives to the service of mankind in these fields without any discrimination of caste, colour, region or religion.
This prize was established in 1900 in the name Alfred Nobel at his will. Nobel was the inventor of the most destructive "Dynamite". His family was involved in the production of deadly weapons. Before his death, he established a trust and made a will to equally distribute the profit of the heavy amount kept in the account of trust among the five finest and extra-ordinary persons of the world who would have achieved the best in the five categories. He formed a committee of nominees.
The members of the committee are changed but not the terms and conditions. It is an astonishing fact, the person who earned money by producing destructive arms and ammunitions, first of all, thought of establishing the Nobel Prize for peace. He wrote in 1983, "Peace prize should be given to the man or woman who would do the noble act of enhancement of peace in Europe and the world. Being a European, he was quite aware of the destruction caused by different wars being fought in Europe, and many wars may be fought in future. So he thought that peace was an inevitable necessity for Europe and the world. He wished it to given to who had worked a lot for garnering peace in the world, but she was finally awarded Nobel Prize in 1905.
At the function, the chairman of Nobel Prize Committee and the then external minister told in his speech, "Women hold great significance in history, so they can only divert the opinion of their counterparts in respect of war, and direct them towards the goal of achieving peace.
The Nobel Prizes in different categories have been announced in the second week of October with the pleasing news of four women qualifying for the supreme international prize this year. The Nobel Prize for literature was given to . An Israeli woman got the Nobel Prize jointly for Chemistry, and two women scientists and along with a male scientist were selected for Physiology or Medicine (Tibbiyat). This has happened for the first time in history that four women have been conferred this award in a single year i.e. 2009. The total number of Nobel Prize winning women has remained 36 till the date. The reason being – the women have faced several barriers of discrimination in the fields of research and education, so their path has been made very difficult. Yet they have succeeded in achieving excellence by winning laurels in respective fields.
I feel extremely exuberant watching the women's name in Nobel Prize or any other international award winning list, but it gives birth to a question.
Why has no representative of 1500 million Muslim women won Nobel Prize in science, literature or in any respect?
There may be a simple answer to this demanding question. How can it be possible in such an anti-women environment, when a Sudanese woman is whipped for wearing the so-called anti-Islamic dress "Jeans" in the first decade of 21st century?
The Islamic heads of Saudi Arabia become sleepless at the opening of the first co-education school. The women in U.S, Europe, Britain, and Israel or in any other part of the world are no more intelligent than the Muslim women, but they qualify for the prizes. The reason being – they get equal opportunities in education, research and training.
They have acquired equal status after a long struggle of about five centuries for their educational, social and political rights without demanding any favour or reservation but they only asked for equal opportunities. The Muslim women are criticized for their failures ignoring the facts that they are handcuffed and fettered, made unable to aspire and achieve anything.
I remember the ruckus raised in the religious and political circles, when , the first woman in the history of Iranian justice to have served as a judge and the expert of law, got Nobel Prize for peace in 2003 for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children, later on many women succeeded to the post of judges.
Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979, since the belief was that Islam forbids women to serve as judges, she and other female judges were dismissed from their posts and given clerical duties. They made her a clerk in the very court she once presided over. They all protested. As a result, they promoted all former female judges, including her, to the position of "experts" in the Justice Department after a troublesome struggle.
In 1992, after receiving her lawyer's license she accepted to defend many cases. Some were national cases. Among them, she represented the families of the serial murders victims (the family of Dariush and Parvaneh Foruhar) and Ezzat Ebrahiminejad, who were killed during the attack on the university dormitory. She also participated in some press-related cases. She took on a large number of social cases, too, including child abuse. Recently she agreed to represent the mother of Mrs Zahra Kazemi, a photojournalist killed in Iran.
Shirin Ebadi fought with her all might for the welfare of human rights. The Iranian government criticized her in place of appreciating her efforts when she was awarded Nobel Prize in 2003. They condemned her for not being veiled with "Radha" in Nobel Prize distribution ceremony.
The objection on Shirin Ebadi reminded me of the royal decree of Usnmania Empire in 1725. By this order, the women had been deprived of the rights to selection of their dress.
According to the royal decree, "May Allah Kareem save Istanbul, the soul of Usnmania Empire from all evils and torments. This is the land of noble clerics and scholars. The dress code is fixed for every particular section of population, but some women have altered their dress and head coverings in imitation of shameless women to misguide the citizens of city. They dare to walk shamelessly in this manner without proper veil violating the royal decree. The changes made in their dress in unacceptable and is against the set customs. Therefore, if any woman is seen in the market or at the recreation place wearing the open-collar dress, the collar will be immediately cut off. If any woman insists on wearing this dress and is seen in this manner twice or thrice, she would be banished from the city. This order should be sent to all women of Istanbul through the Imam of all regions.
There is a gap of 284 years between the royal decree of Khilafat-e-Usmania and Shirin Ebadi, but the majority of Islamic clerics are yet involved in such problems. The exposure of women's hair is a reason of evil, somewhere there is prohibition at the education of women, their witness is considered of half value. Recently, Hammas, the ruler in Gaza Patti has prohibited women from traveling by cycle or bike along with their son, brother, husband and father as they consider it is against our culture. It seems 284 years old royal decree of Khilafat-e-Usmania is yet, not a matter of past, but it is an order of present time.
I wonder how long we will be kept involved in such controversies. Maybe we have to suffer for the next 284 years or more. URL of this page: http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamUrduSection_1.aspx?ArticleID=2304
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Asadullah Syed
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