Toronto
Star
Oct.
20, 2003
Law professor
and religious scholar urges fellow Muslims to shed their insularity and
build bridges. Azizah al-Hibri
says Islamic law gives women liberty and doesn't
promote patriarchy.
"Neither the
sun shall overtake the moon, nor night overtake the day — this is universal justice"
The victimization and
demonization of Muslims in post-9/11 America could spread to Canada unless
Muslims shed their insularity and build bridges, warns a leading Islamic
scholar.
The U.S. experience
is "a preview of what might happen in Canada unless Muslims start to
build bridges, work at the grassroots level and develop alliances with
civil society and organizations," Azizah al-Hibri, a crusader for
Muslim women's rights, told the Canadian Council of Muslim Women. "We
need to shed our cultural baggage and be less insular, embracing those
with knowledge and expertise regardless of gender."
She castigated the
manner in which the primarily male Muslim leadership in the U.S. responded
in the aftermath of 9/11, saying "they were caught unprepared and
responded with a knee-jerk reaction which is inappropriate." Some of
them overestimated their power and are in denial, she said, and instead of
providing well-reasoned responses to 9/11, they made wild assumptions and
issued ignorant statements.
Muslim women, al-Hibri
said, need to be at the forefront of doing damage control.
"Islamic law
gives women liberty and latitude and does not promote patriarchy. It's no
longer a matter of choice — male leaders have been dissipated. It's
imperative for Muslim women to rise to the front lines and not repeat the
same mistakes. Our leadership is to unite and not divide the community —
the best leadership is based on conflict resolution and mediation,
otherwise there will be no leaders in the next generation."
Al-Hibri wondered if
there were checks and balances among Canadian Muslims on the appointment
and accountability of imams (leaders) in mosques and suggested this is a
good place to start. "Communities get the imams they deserve,"
she pointed out, reiterating the importance of knowledge, reasoning and
good judgment as basic prerequisites. She also stressed that leaders need
to speak out when the rights of non-Muslims are contravened.
Clarifying that
leadership is not about women's liberation or feminist trends but about
responding to the needs of the day, al-Hibri told Muslims to "put
your egos, insecurities and personal problems aside, find those who have
leadership qualities and send them for training."
"The fundamental
notion in the Qur'an is that of justice, and justice is gender equality.
We need to examine Islamic jurisprudence and distinguish between cultural
and religious practices."
Al-Hibri, a
professor at the University of Richmond's T.C. Williams School of Law and
president of Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, has travelled
extensively throughout the Muslim world in support of Muslim women's
rights. She helped form the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Qatar to
develop that country's personal status code. She has visited 13 Muslim
countries and discussed with their religious, political, and legal
scholars, as well as women leaders, issues of importance to Muslim women.
And as a Muslim lawyer, it took perseverance and courage for Al-Hibri to
find a niche in secular America.
In her address to
the council, Al-Hibri related many incidents in which Muslims had been
victimized after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and expressed deep concern
about the impact on Muslim women. "Our observation at Karamah is that
while 9/11 affected Muslim family life as a whole, Muslim women were hit
the hardest, and they are reluctant to talk about their experiences (due
to fear)."
Al-Hibri suggested one
solution is for Muslims to engage in dialogue and debate. "Roll up
your sleeves and get involved in the political arena — so you will have
a say in the decision-making process."
She also suggested
Muslims send their second child to law school. Why the second child?
"I know the first one will always be a doctor or engineer," she
joked, "but it's very important for Muslims to become lawyers and
Supreme Court judges."
Remarking on the
general condition of Muslims, al-Hibri noted, "There is a rise of
kingdoms and fall of democracies in the Muslim world. We have allowed rule
of law to be replaced by rule of the kingdom." She suggests Muslims
"need to ignore interpretations that are totally illogical and
patriarchal, and offer solutions based in the Qur'an that are feminist in
nature."
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