Pages

Monday, June 16, 2008

Oops... what a contrast..!

First I want to clarify one thing. Iam not against ladies (No. No. Iam not saying this with the fear of my wife lurking in the corner of my mind. Believe me.) Iam not against ladies getting involved in the struggle to establish Deen. I have always welcomed their participation. I always envisaged their equal engagement in this struggle. Iam not the one who opposes the growing brigades of Mujahidas - purdah clad women demonstrating for noble cause. Iam not averse to the thought of ladies giving lectures, Quranic discourses, Hadith classes etc. I have always dreamed of young muminas tackling the burning issues of purdah, polygamy, feminism etc in the media on their own. Even the two short stories which I wrote in Samarasam were heroine oriented. I have grown up reading the works of Zeenat Kauser, Safia Iqbal etc. My favourite memoirs written by jail bird is the book written by Zainab alghazzali. I wrote a moving obituary of Zainab alghazzali with words and tears. And the list goes on..
Still I want to share a nagging thought... a thought which is drowning me nowadays. What will happen if Lady islamists outnumber gent islamists?
Oh! Don't laugh!
Recently I had been to a historic city to attend a tarbiyah meet. The total number of the participants was seventy. Of them more than fifty were ladies! When I finished my lecture and when the house was thrown open to questions, ladies raised more questions than men..! They asked me about some additional details of a hadith. It showed their passion to learn. They asked me about an historic incident which I mentioned. It showed their eagerness to be informed. One sister asked me to teach her a dua so that she could overcome the reluctance, she faces whenever she is affected by ill-health. As I stuttered, I could not recollect a dua which could help you overcome your fever or cold or head-ache, another sister from the gathering stood up and recited a beautiful dua. "Haneefaji taught us this dua" she beamed with happiness. It showed their willingness and commitment. Whereas the gents remained mute spectators. They were numb. There is no passion. There is no..... Oh leave it.
In the afternoon session a symposium was held. Three sisters and a brother participated. The sisters were very bold, eloquent, and forthright. Their choice of words, their way of presentation, their narration was very good. They structured their speech well. They were energetic in delivering the speech. They simply captured the audience. They had style and substance. Where as the lone male speaker failed miserably. It was pathetic to watch him. He mumbled and fumbled. He had no eye contact with the audience.
And next day I attended another tarbiyah meet in another metropolitan city. Here the audience were different. It was not a routine cadre meet. But it was a meet of circle incharges. ie men and women who matter a lot in our tahreek. In the morning session we had routine lectures by responsible persons. The afternoon session started with a bang. yes really with a bang. What will you say to an excellent, splendid Dars-e-hadith sprinkled with inspiring anectodes and moving exclamations. It was given by a lady. The most striking part of her dars-e-hadith was that she related to our day to day happenings and iced with soul searching questions. That made her dars more effective than the speeches made by established speakers. When the house was thrown open for questions it was the ladies who were the first to raise questions. They asked remedy for a crisis they faced in their area. They asked clarifications. They asked guidances. All their questions were practical, relevant and innocent. It showed that they are field workers and all their questions were work related. But the questions raised by the brothers were not upto the mark. They centered around interpersonal relationship, petty squabbles, grievances, remarks, pulambals etc etc. Only one brother put forward a noteworthy question. It so happened that he was just a week old Nazim..!
The difference in the nature of the questions put forward by the ladies and those by the gentlemen was starking, alarming and terrifying.
Hmmmm......These two incidents were the reason for my fear What will happen if Lady islamists outnumber gent islamists?
Now what do you say?
No problem. leave it yaar.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The fear is meaningless. What is there to fear? rather it is a matter to rejoice. Our sisters and mothers are marching ahead. It is a good sign. We should encourage it.

Azeez Luthfullah said...

Dear brother anonymous (or is it sister anonymous?)
Assalamu alaikum.
I agree with you. It is a matter of rejoice. No doubt about it. I am happy that our sisters and mothers are marching ahead. Definitely it is a good sign.
The purpose of my post on it was to arouse our brothers who are far behind in various counts than their sisters. There should be more vigour, more enthusiasm, more effort among our brothers too! My fear hinges on it.

Septic Tank Cleaning Burnsville said...

Thankss great blog post

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...