At a time when Muslim women are breaking into many a male bastion, a mosque on Yari Road has taken an exemplary decision — which is being touted as a first in the city — to allow Shia women to don the role of Ulemas.

While the “Jumme ki namaz” is still read out by the Maulana at Mehfil-e-Saani-e-Zahra or the Zaib Palace mosque, as it is popularly called, there are women Ulemas or scholars, who impart knowledge about the Quran and Islamic teachings to females in the community. Uzma, the wife of Maulana Mohammed Fayyaz Baqri, is one such woman scholar.

Maulana Baqri told the Mumbai Mirror that his wife offers sermons on the importance of women’s education and the role of women in Islam.

“Once you educate women, you educate a family. Once you educate a family, you educate a society. Women who sermonise offer lessons on a number of subjects — how to read Quran, how to bring up children and educate girls, and how to become better human beings by leading a righteous life. They basically preach on Islamic beliefs and the need to find a balance between ‘deen’ (knowledge of religion) aur ‘duniya’ (world),”he said.

Uzma said, “I also conduct classes on the Quran at the mosque. I teach girls and women from 5 to 15 years of age on how to pray and how to behave in the society according to Islamic rules.”

Read the full report published on Mumbai Mirror.
 

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“Why is there nothing written in the Quran or the [Book of] Hadith about husbands who do not satisfy their wives sexually? Are there any punishments for men like there are for women who refuse sex?” The question drew loud applause, as the woman asking it, wearing a colorful hijab like all the 800 or so women in the audience, sat back down.

At this premier gathering of a national congregation of Muslim women “ulema” (clerics) from across Indonesia. They met for three days in late April in Cirebon, West Java, to assert themselves as scholars and preachers of Islam on par with men. The gathering was named Kongress Ulama Perempuan Indonesia (KUPI), a wide range of socio-political issues were discussed and fatwas were issued, all of them informed by the clerics’ study of Islam and their experiences as women.

The idea for the gathering was born five years ago when the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) refused to recognize women as ulema, a position conferred based on a person’s knowledge of the Quran and the Book of Hadith. In response, various women’s groups from different Muslim organizations came together and discussed the need for a space that would empower women ulama to assert their own positions, issue fatwas and question the state.

“Women have been Ulema since the beginning of Islam, but women’s names have disappeared from any references thanks to a patriarchal interpretation of Islam and political history”

The  rest of the detailed report on the gathering that will have significance for the human rights of Muslim women may be read here.
 

The post Indonesia: When Women have been Ulema since Early Islam, Were Have their Names Gone? appeared first on SabrangIndia.