AT A MEETING held at London’s Chatham House on Feb. 14, Sheikha Mozah Al-Mesned, wife of the emir of Qatar, said that there needs to be a major reciprocal awakening in order to arrive at a better understanding between Islam and the West.
Sheikha Mozah had been invited by Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, to speak about the conflict between Islam and the West. Her speech was tellingly entitled “From Illusions of Clashes to an Awakening of Alliances: Constructing Understanding between Islam and the West.”
The Sheikha — who is the consort of the emir of Qatar, chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, president of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs and vice chairperson of the Supreme Education Council — began her speech by rejecting the “faulty terminology” of Islam and the West, and stated her objective to deconstruct the current paradigm of the clash of civilizations by emphasizing common goals and an awakening of alliances.
She also underlined the importance of both political and cultural solutions to current tensions and warned that in order to build an alternative reality there needs to be an engagement in critical thinking.
Sheikha Mozah highlighted the positive exchanges that existed between Muslim and European civilizations in the past, as well as conflicts that took place. The challenge for now, she said, is to establish a “global ethic” and to confront the problem of political disenchantment, especially among the young. She added that the answer lies in educational reform, although education without new avenues for political mobilization, is no guarantee for nonviolence. She also said that the media was greatly to blame for prioritizing violence.
Credit should be given to Sheikha Mozah for her charismatic presence and her enthusiasm in representing her country in a positive light. When asked about the situation of women in Qatar, she simply answered by pointing out two young women sitting in the front row and said, “These two women are ministers in Qatar. I need not say more.”
The emancipation and empowerment of women in Qatar would never have been achieved without, firstly, Sheikha Mozah’s philanthropic and effective role in pushing Qatari women forward, and secondly, Qatari people’s readiness for and compliance with these changes. The Qatari example is unprecedented in the region given the time and scale of such profound changes. Qatar’s major accomplishment lies primarily in achieving an equilibrium by preserving its Islamic identity whilst adopting a progressive policy — a policy that grants women equal rights as citizens.
The success of women in countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and Qatar makes many women in neighboring Saudi Arabia look at their own meager achievements, especially in the public arena. Women in Saudi Arabia, who have made significant contributions in the areas of business, education and culture, still lack recognition and equal remuneration, and struggle for visibility. Even in the medical fields, where Saudi women have habitually flourished, women are persistently denied positions of power.
What strikes observers at this point is the idea that if Gulf countries share the same religion, values and traditions as Saudi Arabia, why is the “women issue” so peculiarly problematic for Saudis?
As is commonly reported, religion dominates almost every aspect of life in Saudi Arabia making it almost impossible for women to question their rights for fear of being stigmatized, ostracized and “accused” of being liberal and secular (the list goes on). We can, however, question some of the misrepresentations of Islam and the prevailing social practices that have filtered through society, such as forced marriages, forced divorces, violence against women, guardianship (a woman has to be chaperoned by a male relative and show a permit signed by her guardian at every port) and biased divorce and child custody laws.
It is crucial to modify social and cultural patterns by means of drawing a line between religion and social practices; between an interpretation of Islam that is enhancing to women’s position in society, and, social practices, that are stifling and oppressive. In “Muslim Women’s Rights in the Global Village; Challenges and Opportunities,” Azizah Al-Hibri writes, “Women in most Islamic countries strive for more understanding and adherence to Islamic principles; they believe that existing laws and practices are not conducive to a happy home life or a just society.”
What women are demanding in the majority of Islamic countries, therefore, is a rethinking of their position in society and the proper observation of both the rights and obligations of men and women in Islam.
Violence against women and other related issues in the Kingdom and elsewhere have become a global issue in this age of information technology that has shrunk our world into a global village and has affected women’s rights, by bringing change, albeit slowly.
The rationale of the measured and cautious change taken by most of the Islamic countries may be attributed to their fear of neocolonialism. The international focus on the “women issue” has been recognized by many Islamic countries as a true post-colonial challenge. For how can we have progressive change without complying with Western laws exemplified in the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and yet preserve our cultural identity, which colonialism has consistently sought to annihilate?
It is vital at this point to scrutinize the milieu of Islamic radicalism which has prevailed in the Kingdom during the past few decades, and which has created a purely patriarchal society that sees women as a symbol of Islam to be secluded and protected from an evil world.
Boundaries are never established gratuitously and cause an aberration in the dynamics of society, as the writer of “Beyond the Veil” observes: “Society does not form divisions purely for the pleasure of breaking the social universe into compartments. The institutionalized boundaries dividing the parts of society express the recognition of power in one part at the expense of the other.”
As a nation we tend to think of ourselves in terms of binary opposites: Man/woman, good/bad, superior/inferior. In other words, people have been seduced into the trap of binary thinking. Labor law in Saudi Arabia, therefore — in a reflection of the public mood — has prescribed women’s confinement to certain spaces and jobs. Article 150 prevents women from working at night and Article 149 empowers the minister of labor to declare certain industries “hazardous” and thus unsuitable for women.
Modest results have been reached by the Labor Ministry — in an attempt to negotiate new spaces for women in the country — such as allowing women lawyers to work in law firms. Reforms in Saudi Arabia may be taking place, and severe strictures on women are easing to some extent, but residues of tenacious radicalism still exist.
The Kingdom must internalize moderation and normalize life for current and futures generations by committing its energies, instead, to real and urgent reform.
— Basma A. Al Mutlaq has a Ph.D. in Comparative and Feminist Literature in the Middle East from SOAS, London University.
