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Yogyakarta, Jum,at 10 Juli 2009
Jumat, 10 Juli 2009
Kamis, 19 Februari 2009
=Muslim-American Women Find a Voice in American Society
http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/August/20050816120310ndyblehs0.5072901.html
Muslim-American Women Find a Voice in American Society
Panel discussion points out women's empowerment in Islam
By Afzal Khan
Washington File Special Correspondent
Washington -- Islam is a religion that empowers women, according to a group of Muslim-American women speaking at a panel discussion, and contrary to popular media perceptions, Muslim women do not feel discriminated against or dispossessed within the traditions of their faith.
Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, a third-generation African-American Muslim and founder-editor of the Journal of Islam in America, introduced the August 11 panel, which was held in Washington. She said the convening of such a panel speaks of the freedom of Muslim-American women in the United States.
Muhammad outlined the history of prominent women in Islam since the revelation of the Quran 1,400 years ago. Some of them were political leaders and others fought as soldiers alongside men, she said.
Muhammad said that in the United States a movement to educate Muslims about their own heritage and culture began with Sister Clara Muhammad, the wife of the Nation of Islam’s founder, Elijah Muhammad. Sister Clara founded a network of schools to educate African-American Muslims beginning in the 1930s.
Gihan El-Gindy, an Egyptian-born Muslim-American and director of the Transcultural Educational Center (TEC) in McLean, Virginia, said there is a disconnect between Islam as practiced 1,400 years ago by the Prophet Mohammad and what is being practiced and interpreted by different Muslim countries.
“Islam as a religion and as a culture in a specific country may be very different because of local customs and man-made laws,” El-Gindy said. She said media reports of oppression against women in Muslim countries had more to do with the cultural traditions indigenous to the country.
“The idea, that as a Muslim-American woman I must be oppressed, is ridiculous. I am free to do what I want. I have a separate career from that of my husband, and we both are happy,” El-Gindy said. She emphasized that it is important for Muslim-Americans to have the “freedom to choose” their own “set of values” to live by, and yet be equal participants in American society.
Ayesha Mustafaa, an African-American Muslim convert and editor of the Chicago-based national weekly newspaper Muslim Journal, said Islam-oriented publications have done a lot to help Muslim-Americans find “a separate but equal voice” in mainstream American society.
“Azizah magazine did for me what Ebony did for African-American women. It gave me a voice,” Mustafaa said. Azizah, a glossy quarterly magazine written for and by Muslim women, was founded in 2000 and is based in Atlanta.
Mustafaa, an activist in the African-Muslim community, reminded the audience that Hagar, the Prophet Abraham’s second wife and the mother of Ishmael, from whom Arabs are said to be descended, was a black woman.
Mustafaa said contrary to the widespread belief that women occupy a secondary position to that of men in Muslim society, the Prophet Mohammad deemed it otherwise. She said that this is evident in two of his popular sayings: “Paradise lies at the feet of the mother,” and “If you educate just two of your daughters, you will go straight to Paradise.”
Zakia Mahasa, an African-American Muslim convert and a judge in a juvenile court in Baltimore, said her conversion to Islam was actually “a rebirth” because all human beings are supposed to submit to the will of God.
Mahasa said that when she first converted and began to wear the distinctive attire of a Muslim woman, her father feared it would hurt her career. But she says that has not been the case. On the contrary, she says, people began to respect her for her individuality and firm rooting in her faith.
“The law of the land has the same qualities extolled in Islam such as being just and being compassionate. My professional choice is in concert with Islam,” Mahasa said.
Mahasa said that after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it is important for every Muslim to become “an ambassador of Islam.” “It is the worst time to fade into the background,” she said.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
Muslim-American Women Find a Voice in American Society
Panel discussion points out women's empowerment in Islam
By Afzal Khan
Washington File Special Correspondent
Washington -- Islam is a religion that empowers women, according to a group of Muslim-American women speaking at a panel discussion, and contrary to popular media perceptions, Muslim women do not feel discriminated against or dispossessed within the traditions of their faith.
Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, a third-generation African-American Muslim and founder-editor of the Journal of Islam in America, introduced the August 11 panel, which was held in Washington. She said the convening of such a panel speaks of the freedom of Muslim-American women in the United States.
Muhammad outlined the history of prominent women in Islam since the revelation of the Quran 1,400 years ago. Some of them were political leaders and others fought as soldiers alongside men, she said.
Muhammad said that in the United States a movement to educate Muslims about their own heritage and culture began with Sister Clara Muhammad, the wife of the Nation of Islam’s founder, Elijah Muhammad. Sister Clara founded a network of schools to educate African-American Muslims beginning in the 1930s.
Gihan El-Gindy, an Egyptian-born Muslim-American and director of the Transcultural Educational Center (TEC) in McLean, Virginia, said there is a disconnect between Islam as practiced 1,400 years ago by the Prophet Mohammad and what is being practiced and interpreted by different Muslim countries.
“Islam as a religion and as a culture in a specific country may be very different because of local customs and man-made laws,” El-Gindy said. She said media reports of oppression against women in Muslim countries had more to do with the cultural traditions indigenous to the country.
“The idea, that as a Muslim-American woman I must be oppressed, is ridiculous. I am free to do what I want. I have a separate career from that of my husband, and we both are happy,” El-Gindy said. She emphasized that it is important for Muslim-Americans to have the “freedom to choose” their own “set of values” to live by, and yet be equal participants in American society.
Ayesha Mustafaa, an African-American Muslim convert and editor of the Chicago-based national weekly newspaper Muslim Journal, said Islam-oriented publications have done a lot to help Muslim-Americans find “a separate but equal voice” in mainstream American society.
“Azizah magazine did for me what Ebony did for African-American women. It gave me a voice,” Mustafaa said. Azizah, a glossy quarterly magazine written for and by Muslim women, was founded in 2000 and is based in Atlanta.
Mustafaa, an activist in the African-Muslim community, reminded the audience that Hagar, the Prophet Abraham’s second wife and the mother of Ishmael, from whom Arabs are said to be descended, was a black woman.
Mustafaa said contrary to the widespread belief that women occupy a secondary position to that of men in Muslim society, the Prophet Mohammad deemed it otherwise. She said that this is evident in two of his popular sayings: “Paradise lies at the feet of the mother,” and “If you educate just two of your daughters, you will go straight to Paradise.”
Zakia Mahasa, an African-American Muslim convert and a judge in a juvenile court in Baltimore, said her conversion to Islam was actually “a rebirth” because all human beings are supposed to submit to the will of God.
Mahasa said that when she first converted and began to wear the distinctive attire of a Muslim woman, her father feared it would hurt her career. But she says that has not been the case. On the contrary, she says, people began to respect her for her individuality and firm rooting in her faith.
“The law of the land has the same qualities extolled in Islam such as being just and being compassionate. My professional choice is in concert with Islam,” Mahasa said.
Mahasa said that after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it is important for every Muslim to become “an ambassador of Islam.” “It is the worst time to fade into the background,” she said.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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