Dear Editor,
My letter published in Stabroek News on December 4 captioned ‘Modest dress would protect women against rape,’ attempted to furnish a solution to this scourge that continues to plague our society. In the Monday, December 17 edition of the Stabroek News, someone whom I hold in high esteem, Swami Aksharananda, penned a response.
This missive seeks to provide some amount of analytical exactitude to the issue in question. The respected Swami should acquaint himself with the unedited version of the letter which was carried in both the Guyana Chronicle and the Guyana Times; clearly the Stabroek News edited version took many of the points out of context by virtue of its omissions, thereby leaving a vacuum.
We have witnessed the moral decadence in the society and a quote from the March 27, 2011 editorial of the Kaieteur News provides food for thought on the matter. The Kaieteur News editorial states:
“Yesterday, during the World Cup cricket match there were some ads by a car-parts company that featured a number of young women draping and otherwise provocatively exhibiting themselves in the skimpiest of short pants. There was not even the slightest pretence of creating a nexus between the product and the models that were being used (and there is no other words for the practice) to sell the cars and car parts. It was a most cynical example of exploiting the female body to sell a product by pandering to the baser instincts of males, who are known to be in the majority when it comes to viewing sporting events. The instance cited above is not an isolated one and in fact is a growing phenomenon: not just using the female body to sell products but specific parts of that body – primarily the ones that provoke a sexual response in males. We have seen these ads in one for a particular beer that is seeking increased market share in Guyana. The female form is in this fashion made into objects of sexual gratification: the ads are very suggestive – buy the product and you will (not may) possess the female.”
The same editorial refers to a study conducted by Donnerstein and Linz which found that “exposure to media depicting women in degrading and subordinate situations, even if not explicitly sexual or violent in nature, will lead to increased violent behaviour of men against women in society.” This should put to rest some of the queries regarding the source of such information and studies. Further, in a study conducted by several government agencies and UNICEF a clear nexus is established between coming from a single parent family and juvenile delinquency, and subsequently a life of violence and crime, ie the general pattern not the exception. These two citations of sources should address some of the queries posed by the respected Swami.
The situation as it relates to women in some Arab countries and countries in the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent where male dominance runs amok with no religious or human limitations should be placed within its own socio-historical and political context. Although the message of Islam had spread in these societies from early times, the teaching and inculcation of Islamic cultural values was not coextensive with the horizontal expansion. Consequently some pre-Islamic values and prejudices have continued to persist, despite the domination of Islamic forms. In some cases there was manifest historical religious decline and a relapse to anterior social ethos and mores.
This phenomenon has sometimes occasioned an even more serious development. New or degenerate Muslim societies would sometimes, out of ignorance, attribute their unIslamic legacy or custom to Islam itself. By attaching an Islamic value to these practices they seek to give them legitimacy and sanctity, the values of Islam being accepted as sacred and supreme. This explains the unabated influence on the minds of many otherwise good Muslims of attitudes abhorrent to Islam, especially in the sensitive area of gender relations where passion is strong and custom is sacrosanct. In fact, most of the rulings of the Quran regarding women were set down as restrictions on men with a view to preventing them from transgressing against women, as is their natural disposition and their actual practice in many societies.
In Guyana, we live a multi-religious society where one’s freedom of worship is sacrosanct and where our religious tolerance could perhaps be viewed as a model worthy of emulation by other countries. And for this I am grateful. The respected Swami should refer to the modest dress of our foreparents, both Hindus and Muslims who came to these shores in their romals, ornhis, sarees and shalwars. On this note, the Swami should be commended for the dress code instilled in the students of his school which shows that we are in fact in agreement on this issue.
Because of some of the issues highlighted in the preceding paragraphs, the education of women has always been viewed with much indifference, when in fact every Islamic injunction speaks contrary to this. That education is compulsory for every Muslim male and female is an oft repeated Prophetic tradition but least adhered to. Much emphasis is placed on the education of women in Islam, because when you educate a woman you educate a nation; this is an Islamic position.
In Guyana, domestic violence has transcended religion and race and each of us has a role in alleviating this problem. Violence, rape and murder against our mothers, sisters and daughters can no longer be condoned and therefore requires a concerted effort from all of us to stamp it out. The woman is a person of worth, nobility and dignity in our society.
In conclusion to what I hope will bring a greater understanding to the issue being discussed, a statement from Nobel Peace Prize winner, Tawakkul Karman, the mother of Yemen’s revolution, who presents a beautiful explanation of the Hijab, the Islamic dress for women. Ms Karman states, “Man in early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing clothes. What I am today and what I’m wearing represents the highest level of thought and civilization that man has achieved, and is not regressive. It’s the removal of clothes again that is a regression back to the ancient times.”
Yours faithfully,
Moeen-ul-Hack
Editor’s note
We do not normally entertain letters with religious content, except where these impinge on secular issues, as in this case. The issue of rape transcends religious boundaries and is a problem for the society as a whole, not for any given faith-based segment of it. When Mr ul-Hack made his observations in his letter published in this newspaper on December 4, therefore, he was speaking to everyone and not just the Muslim community. That notwithstanding he made clear throughout that he was speaking from an Islamic perspective, and that was not edited since it explained his frame of reference.
What was removed were the various quotations from the Quran which served as the sources for his statements, and were not required for a general audience which took on trust that he was offering an entirely accurate rendering of the Islamic position. As such, therefore, contrary to what he claims, “many of the points” in the SN version of his letter were not “out of context” for a general audience, which in a multi-faith society discussing a secular matter does not need the specific religious references. Any discussion on the arguments has to go beyond religious texts for the purposes of the wider society, although positions may well be informed by religious beliefs, and any writer is perfectly justified in declaring these.
