I often listen to Radio 4's Thought For The Day in what is sometimes referred to as The God Slot on the Today programme. over the years this moment of reflection has moved from being the preserve of male Christian preachers to a much broader scope of speakers.
Today's speaker was Professor Mona Siddiqui, Professor of islamic Studies at New College, University of Edinburgh.
The text of her talk is:
"A new law in Afghanistan could make it harder to prosecute men if they abused their wives, children and sisters. The bill, if passed would ban the relatives of an accused person from testifying against them. It’s gone through both houses of Parliament and now only needs President Karzai’s signature to bring it into force.
Human rights activists have argued this new bill threatens the protection of women and girls provided in the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women a law which had brought in tough penalties for all kinds of physical abuse. Rights for women in so many parts of the world especially in Muslim countries is already such a fraught and contested battle, but this bill goes further by holding in contempt the very concept of human dignity. Live in silence, suffer in silence and finally die in silence.
Our histories and cultures show that silence is both redeeming and oppressive. When religious leaders use religious institutions to abuse and oppress women men and children, it is done quietly, behind closed doors. The outward chants of divine mercy, forgiveness and love so often drown out the soft cries of hidden suffering. What can be worse than having no-one to turn to when you are told you’re in a place of God? Yet it is precisely places of worship, which can also offer the kind of solitude which many search for, silent prayer, self-imposed retreats and the calm which inspires and renews our very being.
Silence is not an absence, it is a way of acceptance. The silence that so many girls and women keep out of fear can easily be equated with cultural respect. But respect requires equality and a commitment to justice between the sexes, neither of which is regarded as a priority in so many societies. I think that there is something about violence against women, however horrific which still doesn’t capture our imagination in the way it should. True, we have come along in the west way in raising awareness of domestic violence, criminalising certain practices and simply being more aware of equal rights and dignity for all. But we still live with daily abuses of all kinds. In many Islamic countries, the spectre of the worst excesses of religious teaching hovers above society all the time, a threatening force always ready to silence a dissenting voice. Scriptural verses which talk of mercy and love between husband and wife are easily eclipsed by those which speak of authority and force. Some Muslim philosophers argued that you could never have true justice in this world however much you struggled for it. But it seems to me that it is precisely the struggle for justice, whether it’s between men and women or state and society which brings out the best in us as human beings. Silence here is not an option."
Good to hear contemporary thought about Women's issues (and Men's of course) from a Muslim academic in Britain.
Today's speaker was Professor Mona Siddiqui, Professor of islamic Studies at New College, University of Edinburgh.
The text of her talk is:
"A new law in Afghanistan could make it harder to prosecute men if they abused their wives, children and sisters. The bill, if passed would ban the relatives of an accused person from testifying against them. It’s gone through both houses of Parliament and now only needs President Karzai’s signature to bring it into force.
Human rights activists have argued this new bill threatens the protection of women and girls provided in the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women a law which had brought in tough penalties for all kinds of physical abuse. Rights for women in so many parts of the world especially in Muslim countries is already such a fraught and contested battle, but this bill goes further by holding in contempt the very concept of human dignity. Live in silence, suffer in silence and finally die in silence.
Our histories and cultures show that silence is both redeeming and oppressive. When religious leaders use religious institutions to abuse and oppress women men and children, it is done quietly, behind closed doors. The outward chants of divine mercy, forgiveness and love so often drown out the soft cries of hidden suffering. What can be worse than having no-one to turn to when you are told you’re in a place of God? Yet it is precisely places of worship, which can also offer the kind of solitude which many search for, silent prayer, self-imposed retreats and the calm which inspires and renews our very being.
Silence is not an absence, it is a way of acceptance. The silence that so many girls and women keep out of fear can easily be equated with cultural respect. But respect requires equality and a commitment to justice between the sexes, neither of which is regarded as a priority in so many societies. I think that there is something about violence against women, however horrific which still doesn’t capture our imagination in the way it should. True, we have come along in the west way in raising awareness of domestic violence, criminalising certain practices and simply being more aware of equal rights and dignity for all. But we still live with daily abuses of all kinds. In many Islamic countries, the spectre of the worst excesses of religious teaching hovers above society all the time, a threatening force always ready to silence a dissenting voice. Scriptural verses which talk of mercy and love between husband and wife are easily eclipsed by those which speak of authority and force. Some Muslim philosophers argued that you could never have true justice in this world however much you struggled for it. But it seems to me that it is precisely the struggle for justice, whether it’s between men and women or state and society which brings out the best in us as human beings. Silence here is not an option."
Good to hear contemporary thought about Women's issues (and Men's of course) from a Muslim academic in Britain.
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