Reflections Upon September 11, 2011 from Cairo

Yesterday was September 11. It was the ten year anniversary of that fateful day. I am sure many others are more eloquent on this topic than I am, so I will keep my remarks brief.

Ten years ago on September 11, I had just started my doctorate at the Kennedy School of Government, at Harvard University. I was living in a very cute, if slightly remote beach house in a town called Nahant, outside of Boston. Some workers were doing remodeling repairs on the house. I was home for the day. We had the radio on. I heard the report on the radio. At first, we really thought it was a joke. It was just too difficult to believe that someone could have flown a plane into the twin towers.

We listened to the radio, and finally walked over to a friend's house, where we all sat glued to the television all day. I remember calling all my friends in New York, where I had gone to college, to see if they were safe.

I remember that we had economics class the next day, and the Professor, who was very good, was at a loss for words. I do not really know exactly how 9/11 affected me. However, it affected our family. My sister enlisted in the Army Reserve, and was sent to Guantanamo Bay. I opposed the Gulf War in 1990, and I opposed the one that took place after 9/11.  Although I did not support the war in Iraq, I thank our veterans for their loyal service to their country, and they deserve our respect and admiration.

Living in the Middle East now, I guess one thought that I have is that I wish the People of the Book and the Children of Abraham understood each other better. It goes without saying that my American students rarely know anything about Islam. However, now that I am teaching in Egypt, I realize that my Christian and Muslim students do not know much about each others' religion either.  I wish that Jews, Christians and Muslims could all educate themselves, and each other about their respective religions. Reading the Bible and the Quran carefully, and with an open mind, and a critical lens would be a great start.

Islam is not the problem. Extremism is the problem. There are as many denominations of Islam as there are of Christianity. The people who committed that atrocity were very far out of the mainstream of Islam, and were roundly condemned by religious leaders from their community.

I guess upon this anniversary, I would like to call for religious tolerance, and education. I also think the US should rethink its support for undemocratic regimes like those in Saudi Arabia, Syria and Bahrain. These governments incubate religious extremists, oppress women, suppress democracy, and encourage politically intolerant people, like the hijackers of 9/11. The US should carefully rethink its alliances with these authoritarian governments. 

Does Shariah Allow Women to Vote?

 Women voters stand in line to cast their ballot in Egypt's first major democratic vote, the Constitutional Referendum, 2011. Photo Credit: the author.

Sometimes I can see what people are interested in by what they type into search engines in order to get to my site. This morning, I saw the following question: Does Shariah allow women to vote? This is an interesting question. Again, we must make the distinction between Shariah, and fiqh, which is Islamic Jurisprudence as applied.

I think that we should start this inquiry with reflections upon the words of Arzu Merali, the Director of Research for the Islamic Human Rights Commission. Writing in The Guardian, she notes that neither men nor women could vote under Mullah Omar's regime in Afghanistan. Mullah Omar was the spiritual leader of the Taliban, and was Afghanistan's "head of state," from 1996 to 2001. She makes the important point that the cruel excesses and limitations upon womens' rights in Taliban-led Afghanistan must be seen as an indictment of the Taliban's prejudices, and cultural views, not an indictment of Islam.

By the way, I myself am not a practicing Muslim. I am a practicing Presbyterian and sometimes Unitarian Universalist. However, I have a deep respect for many of the world's great religions, including Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism. Zakat, which is a pillar of Islam, is basically tithing. Ramadan, which is a pillar of Islam, is basically a more rigorous version of Lent. Accordingly, do not interpret my words as an attempt to convert you. Rather, interpret my words as an attempt to "get it right."

Saraji Umm Zaid, writing at modernmuslima, makes a very important point. She notes that we must respect Shariah, but that we should not fall into the trap of focusing on the "virtues of the Ideal Place of Women in Ideal Islam." Rather, we must confront the reality on the ground. It is not enough, she argues, to simply place all the negative aspects of how women are treated in predominantly Muslim societies, on "culture." She notes that among conservative Muslims,

[] there is a resounding silence when the issue being raised is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), honor killings, forced marriages, the unequal application of hadd punishments on women, or the denial of education to girls and women. 

Saraji Umm Zaid urges the average Muslim to petition governments, and urge for change against these practices. She states that Muslims can no longer afford to be silent about human rights abuses, especially those committed against women, in the name of Islam. I provide a long quote from her here, because her words are simply brilliant:

Prophet Mohammed, sallalahu aleyhi wa salaam, was mocked and assaulted because of his strong and courageous stance on the status of women.  He came with a message that lifted women up and gave them dignity.  Fourteen hundred years later, we have descended back into the dark pit of Jahiliya, and Muslim women around the world find themselves cast into the same slavery that the Prophet, sallalahu aleyhi wa salaam, was sent to liberate them from.

It does not make you a "radical feminist" to decry honor killings and volunteer for peaceful campaigns to educate and change laws.  Raising your voice against Female Genital Mutilation does not mean you want to "undermine Islam."  To the contrary, working against these injustices in the way of Allah is a manifestation of the desire to uplift Islam and the Muslim people.

When the Taliban decided to deny education to any girl over a certain age, it is the conservative Muslims, the ones who profess adherence to "Qur'an and Sunnah" that should have spoken the loudest against this.  The longer we stay silent, the more people, both Muslim and non Muslim, will begin to equate "Shar'ia" with the oppression of women.

Returning to the topic of voting, the teachings of Islam, according to Jamal A. Badawi, author of "The Status of Women in Islam," Al-lttihad, Vol. 8, No. 2, Sha'ban 1391/Sept 1971, informs us that Islam gives women the right of election, as well as of nomination to political offices. Women have the right to participate in political affairs and the Holy Quran gives examples of women who participated in political discussions and even argued with the Prophet Mohammed (See Qur'an 58: 14 and 60: 10-12).

Interestingly, Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim country, has had a woman head of state, Benazir Bhutto, and several other prominent female politicians. According to Saimah Ashraf, women in Pakistan are allowed to drive, vote, attend co-educational universities, and hold paying jobs.That being said, life in Pakistan is not very pleasant for women, as there are honor killings and high rates of violence against women there, but that is another topic.

Certainly, women just voted in the last referendum here in Egypt, and the Egyptian legal system is based in part on Shariah. The Parliament in Egypt is currently suspended, so no women or men are serving in it. The country is being run by the SCAF, which appears to be composed entirely of men. There is certainly a lot of room to expand the role and influence of women in Egypt now that the country is in the process of forming new political parties.

The right to vote was established in Iran in 1963. Iran has a very high number of women in Parliament, and women form more than half the entering class in Iran's universities according to Simin Royanian as well as an article in the BBC by Roxana Saberi. According to that article Women in Iran's Parliament are very active, and women also serve in local government. However, in Iran, women cannot be judges, and have many social rights restricted. President Ahmadinejad is quite conservative on the role of women, and wants them home with their families.There is a lot of room for improvement on the political role of women in Iran. According to Raz Zimmt, writing about Iran's parliamentary elections, currently only eight women have been elected in the 8th Majlis (elected in March 2008), in comparison to four women in the first, second, and third Majlis; nine in the fourth Majlis; 14 in the fifth and sixth Majlis sessions; and 13 in the seventh.

I have not had time to review the situation of women and the vote in Saudi Arabia, but this quick survey indicates that under Shariah, women certainly have the right to vote, and in many countries that are governed by Islamic Jurisprudence, women have that right as well. 


I would like to leave you with some wise words from Dr. Christina Jones, a professor of Law from Germany with expertise in Islamic Law:

I would like to leave you with the following proposition: It is possible to use Islamic law in the interests of women's rights. It is possible to combine the very best for women from all of the interpretations of the Quranic text. The decision to do this is political.

Reformer from Muslim Brotherhood: Talk by Dr. Abdel Moneim Abol Fottoh

Dear Readers, I attended a talk by Dr. Abol Fottoh today. There was no simultaneous translation. A student translated for me. So this is not verbatim, but gives you a good gist of what was said. It was a very long talk, so this is just an excerpt. Dr. Abol Fottoh is known as a reformist within the Muslim Brotherhood. He has resigned from that party, and is planning to start his own party, known as Egypt's Renaissance. For more about him, read here . WMB

"Islam provides general laws, not specific ones. Egypt needs freedom for everyone. We should not force people to obey Islam. We give them advice. We would not do like Gulf Countries when they force people to wear the veil. This is against freedom."

"Islam provides general rules. The government should represent the majority of the people and do what they want. They underestimated Al Azhar {editors note, Al Azhar is an educational institute in Egypt. It was founded in 970 A.D. It is the chief Centre for Arabic literature and Sunni Islamic Learning.  The University's mission includes the propagation of Islamic Culture and Religion} They did not give it its proper position. It could act as a ministry that shows whether someone is following Islam. Those who think people are religious extremists should try to balance them, bring them to reason, not judge them or punish them."

"El Azhar is also a place where they educate people. Someone wanted to study music. Dr. Fottoh says that is fine. It is nice and acceptable. Music is art. If it is classy, music is fine. {Some Muslims think Music is forbidden} Just do not abuse the music. Do not play innappropriate music. Do not play innappropriate songs that are meaningless." [Fottoh does not say he would ban this bad music, but he is against it] "The main purpose of art and literature is to enrich the human soul. But art these days is meaningless and useless."

[Fottoh would not order all women to wear the veil, but he would advise them to do so] "But, I will not ask all girls to wear the veil. France should not ban hijab. People have a right to wear hijab. But Iran should also not make people wear hijab, people have a right not to wear it."

"The Turkish model is secular, but it is not against religion. It does not prevent people from being religious. Being secular is about freedom. They [probably referring to recent SCAF ban on religious parties] cannot ban religion."

"Parliament originally comes from society. It represents society. We can argue in Parliament about a social issue like homosexuality. They would not agree on something against society. They would not accept it. It is not acceptable in society to have homosexuality, it is taboo. So, in the Parliament they cannot accept it."

"Will the Muslim Brotherhood be participating in politics? There are different groups, Salafists, sunnis. All Muslims have the same Muslim thought. Forcing people in the name or religion is not allowed. All of Egypt should represent itself, not a certain group or party. There are over 200 political parties right now {They are incredibly weak}. Eventually, there will be three or four who dominate. A certain party will be in charge until then. There are extreme religious people in Egypt. They want that Sharia laws will be applied. It is in human nature that people will be divided by religion, politics, gender. We should accept different points of view. This will make society stronger. Variety will make us stronger. We need competition in a good way.  Al-Ikhwān [Muslim Brotherhood] is not a political party. It is an Islamic Movement that demands improvements to the country. Any Islamic movement is not concerned about politics."

"We only had a few weeks to decide whether to change the Constitution. It is not the Army's job to rule the country. The change in the Constitution should have taken more time.  Perhpas two years, to choose what changes to make or not make. The previous system considered Al-Ikhwān a competitor. In the previous system, I wanted to compete with honest and fair people, not corrupted ones. We were only allowed to vote yes or no on the Constitution. Neither yes or no meant radical changes. This vote was not reasonable. We should have been allowed to ask for a totally new Constitution."

"Q: Why is there a crisis of trust between the people and Al-Ikhwān? A: Movements are from the people. A percentage does not agree with what the Brotherhood thinks. That does not mean that all of Egypt is against the movement. In 1984 the Brotherhood entered the parliamentary elections. Some of the Brotherhood saw corruption, and did not want to be part of a corrupt system."

Violence against women in Egypt: Will it ever come to an End? (guest blogger)

I want to thank my Guest Bloggers: Rana Korayem, Samah Abdel Geleel, Samah elAzab, and Yasmine Sorour, for their penetrating and insightful analysis. I believe that the women of Egypt are best positioned to speak on behalf of the women of Egypt. WMB

Egypt is a signatory of the Convention on all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It has duly adopted the United Nations Declaration on Violence against Women of 1993, however, despite these facts; the rates of Violence Against Women (VAW) are on the rise. Negative behaviors directed at women exist in different forms; the most common of which involve wife battering and sexual harassment. It is widely argued that many of the forms of violence directed at women stem from deeply rooted cultural norms and taboos, which were internalized and thus, became acceptable over time.

According to the 2005 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), approximately a third of married women have been physically abused by their husband (USAID, 2009). However, for the past years, many women were discouraged from going to police stations to file cases against an abusive husband. Reasons revolving around not reporting range between beliefs that they will not receive appropriate support to fearing the social and economic implications of divorce – a stigma Egyptian women strive to avoid–, which could be a resultant of them reporting.

Physical violence against women has further extended to the Egyptian streets. According to a study conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s rights (ECWR), 83% of surveyed female respondents were harassed, and 98 % of the surveyed foreign female respondents were subjected to harassment (Harass Map). Those women who went against the norm and reported to police have achieved results and received legal support. For example, in June 2008, Noha Rushdi Saleh; a film director, activist and a member of ECWR, was groped and harassed by a truck driver while walking in the street. When she had decided to go to the police to file a case, passers-by had told her not to do so, accusing her that she was initially the cause of this incidence. Saleh Insisted on dragging the man to the police station in order to file a case. At the beginning, the police officer refused to start an investigation, but with the perseverance of Saleh and her strong will, the accused received a statement of three years in jail (“Prison for street,”). Another example is the recent assault that happened to a female student by the campus of the American University in Cairo (AUC). The student was “grabbed” and her clothes got torn off, and was left with scratches on her face. In response, AUC had to take stricter security measures to ensure student’s safety (El Gibaly, 2011). Stories of many women and girls who were subjected to assault in public were also showcased in a recent Egyptian movie entitled “678”.

The women’s rights agenda has witnessed improvements over the past decade after the establishment of the National Council for Women. Furthermore, a draft law was previously submitted to the lately dissolved parliament, to criminalize the act of harassing women and girls on the streets. However, culture still comes into play. The main problem is prevalent in the perceived social roles of women and girls and the fostered culture in the households, particularly the least fortunate. The last women’s peaceful demonstration in Tahrir square on March 8, 2011 that coincided with the International Women’s Day serves as strong proof. Men started grouping together to harass women, verbally and physically, asking them to actually leave the square. Many of them denied the rights that women were coming to ask for, not accepting the idea of ever having a woman president. Most arguments are attributed to Islam, although Islam has granted women all their rights, including the right to lead. Women at earlier Islamic times led an army, ran their own business, and were consulted in all affairs. With the rising fundamentalism, that might be a product of the Wahabi movements initiated at the gulf, as well as the increased illiteracy that has reached almost 48% in Egypt, and hence, strong misconceptions about women’s roles are being propagated. This might imply that Egyptian men do not have the willingness to question women’s roles and rather prefer the easy way out by attributing their reasons to religious beliefs that to them are not questionable.

A culture and legal environment that fosters and enforces values related to non-violence against women is needed, as indicators of inclusiveness, participation, and equal opportunities for women are not positive at the moment. This is manifested in the recently proposed amendments to Egypt’s constitution that deprive women from the right to run for political office as president of the state. The proposed amendment to article 75 states that the upcoming president “cannot be married to a non-Egyptian woman”(The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights). The phrase implies that nomination is only limited to men, which is against practicing citizenship rights for women. It is thus evident that a lot still needs to be done to advance women’s rights in Egypt. Strong pressure groups and coalitions should work collaboratively to voice out women’s concerns. The religious discourse also must be changed to a more open one that includes the opinions of enlightened religious leaders as well.

References:
USAID 2009. Egypt Violence Against Women Study: Literature review of Violence Against Women, April 2009. available at: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADQ891.pdf
Statement The Constitutional Amendments Exclude Women. Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, 02 March 2011. available at: http://ecwronline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=438&Itemid=64
Harass Map: executive summary. available at: http://blog.harassmap.org/wpcontent/uploads/2010/08/harassmap_executive_summary.pdf
=Prison for street harasser in Egypt. available at:
http://streetharassment.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/prison-for-street-harasser-in-egypt/.
El Gibaly 2011. When gender equality becomes a reality. Caravan, The American University in Cairo. March 11th, 2011. available at:http://academic.aucegypt.edu/caravan/story/when-gender-equality-becomes-reality

Islamic Caliphate Redux

March 11, 2011

Okay, that last post was written on the basis of logic. Now, let's do some research. First of all, what is an Islamic Caliphate? Does that phrase even make any sense?

To say Caliphate is to refer to the political religious state which lasted between 632 A.D and 1258 A.D. It is sort of like talking about the Holy Roman Empire. The caliphs held temporal, and some spiritual authority. 

After Muhammad passed away, the society he had built needed a new ruler. The word caliph is from the Arabic Kalifa, or successor. Abu Bakr  was selected by a group of elders of Medina. If you are a Christian,  think of Abu Bakr the way you think of Saint Peter, the first pope.

The first four Caliphs were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. Their reign was considered the Golden Age of Pure Islam. They expanded the Islamic state into new regions, including Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, and Egypt. Raids were made into Persia and Armenia, as well as North Africa. (See, the comparison to the Holy Roman Empire is becoming more obvious!) Al Mutassim was considered the last Caliph, but he was defeated when the Mongols sacked Baghdad. 

Now, what exactly might Glenn Beck be driving at when he says that an Islamic Caliphate wants to take over the Middle East? I think he may be basically suggesting that an Iran type theocracy will become the dominant form of government in the region. This is fear-mongering, plain and simple.

Ironically, it amuses me that Mubarak played the same game. As his government faced collapse, Mubarak warned ominously, "apres moi, le deluge," playing on the West's fears by suggesting that if he left, the only alternative would be radical Islam.1. 

I predict that in Egypt, Islam can be compatible with democracy. The Egyptian state will emerge with a range of views, a range of religions, a range of parties. 


A reader has pointed out that I need data to back up my views. The data I have right now is gathered from the two classes I teach. That is less than 60 students, so is not statistically acceptable as a sample. Also, the sample is skewed. because it is a highly educated population. However, this is a good subject for a research paper. I will look into it. 

References: 
1. This quote is originally attributed to King Louis the XV, King of France and Navarre. The French Revolution came 15 years after his death.