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| -Malala- |
There has been an upsurge of support for Malala (who is currently in the UK receiving treatment), and she has come to represent a beacon of light in a culture otherwise steeped in the darkness of ignorant customs (very poetic, I know).
The wider concerns within this story cover the controversial topics of the role and rights of women in Islam. Although, it would now appear that because of the puritan thinking of extremist groups such as the Taliban who follow a type of Islamic ideology which is against female education and rights, there are in reality no such "type" of Islam ...it appears that the Taliban ideology is based more upon backwards cultural practices, because pretty much any authentic Islamic source will inform you just how important education is for Muslims. (See here).
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| Radical's distorted grasp of Islamic teachings |
Back to Malala... We know that in ancient times, women weren’t afforded the right to education, but clearly that mentality is not exactly ‘ancient’ in some parts of the world, but rather a modern reality. Why are such radical minority groups threatened by the education of females? Is it because they see females as confined to the limited social roles of wives and mothers? Perhaps they fear educated women will begin a revolution and reconstruct the extreme-patriarchal social systems they have in place. Is education seen as a threat out of fear for the consequences of freedom?
On a rather cheesy finishing note, kudos to Malala Yousafzai, named apparently after Malalai of Maiwand, a Pashtun poet and warrior woman. If this is the case, she has more than lived up to her name for having the courage of her convictions and standing up for her beliefs. More Malala’s in the world could mean an end to backward stances on the basic human right of education and bring forward the type of revolution groups such as the Taliban have always feared.
Feel free to add any comments
Peace.
These controversial "fundamentalist" or extremist views including education are constantly the main headline in the media. I am not here going to argue that Muslims are being 'marginalised' or 'attacked' to play the victim card. The reality is
ReplyDeleteas they say, controversy sells. And the media like nothing more then getting that out.
Now you may say how does that relate to any of the questions above. Well in my opinion it seems that the reason the views of the fundamentalist minority and the Muslim majority are blurred is because the public are only ever given one side of the coin. Also some (not all) Muslims especially those that are not from the UK, seem to cut themselves off from society. When you look at the way the communities are structured, it seems, and some more than others, are very segregated. Which makes it even harder for the non Muslims to truly get a picture of what Muslims are really about.
I think it is a matter of educating the public on the difference between the minority and the majority.
Also when looking at religious terrorism in the 21st Century we seem go forget (or completely ignore) the fact that Islam is not the only religion which is used by radicals as a prop for their own agendas. Christianity and even Hinduism have been used in the same way. Thus terrorism or fundamentalism is in no way exclusively synonymous with Islamic radicalism
Hi Ta Nau- Thanks for the comment and interesting observations. I fully agree with your idea about only being given one side of a story, which is what I hope to explore in this blog.. looking at the other side of the coin, so to speak, through internet expression.
DeleteI was reading something by Tariq Ramadan on Western Muslims and he also proposed an ‘intellectual revolution’ … to Educate people about the true teachings of Islam and using this education as a proposed solution to breaking negative stereotypes and views on Islam and also taking a bigger step towards community cohesion, but I wonder if this will ever happen? Like you said, there are so many divisions or cut offs that how would such a revolution even begin?