Bakhabar, April, 2013 - Bihar Anjuman

Be mindful in your treatment of women!… By Abu MuhammedThe recent violent rape and mutilation of a 17 year old girl in the g l a m‘sleepy’ town of Bredasdorp in the Cape Province of South our, isAfrica sparked country wide outrage and anger. While this n o tincident has placed South Africa squarely in the international v e r ylimelight as being the ‘Rape Capital’ of the world with an differestimated 683 000 incidents of rape annually, it has to be stated ent tothat Rape is an international phenomenon that takes place both t h ein developed and developing countries, in countries situatitraditionally classified as ‘civilised’ and ‘first world’ as well as o nthose known as ‘uncivilised’ and ‘third world’. While we can go t h a tdown the route of making this issue a ‘numbers game’ and womedeclaring the country with the lowest incidence of rape to bemost civilised, the fact of the matter is that even one rape is onetoo much. Rape is reflective of a deep-seated, systemicdysfunctionality of a society wherein women are treated withtotal disrespect having no value.n found themselves in during the period of Jaahiliya (Ignorance)On the scale of ‘ill treatment and disrespect shown to women’of pre Islamic Arabia. Arabia was a male-dominated society.rape may well weigh the heaviest, given its gruesome natureWomen had no status or rights of any kind other than as sexand violation of a woman’s honour there are many other acts ofobjects and commodities that could be bought, sold and evenphysical, verbal and psychological abuse, mostly domesticdisposed of. The number of women a man could marry was notperpetrated against women even in the most civilised countriesfixed. When a man died, his son ‘inherited’ all his wives exceptand societies, symptomatic of a serious underlyinghis own mother. A savage custom of the society was to burypsychological problem in the manner and way women aretheir female infants alive. Modern day abortion being notreated. In America, the so called bastion of freedom anddifferent other than being more sophisticated. Even if a manliberties of the modern world and the protagonist of moderndid not wish to bury his daughter alive, he still had to uphold thisday feminism,‘honourable’ tradition, being unable to resist social pressures.• 22 million women in the United States have been raped in theirDrunkenness and gambling were common vices. It was duringlifetime. (National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Surveysuch times that women were sold off in lieu of debts or offered2010)as guarantees. One point worthy of mention is that in spite of• More women are injured due to domestic violence than thosewomen being treated in the manner mentioned above it wasinjured in car accidents and muggings combined(‘Hope Alliancestill considered an act of cowardice for a man to violently attackreport’)or show aggression to a woman.• One woman is beaten by her husband or partner every 15It was at this time and to such a community of drunken, maleseconds (UN Study on the Status of Women)dominated and war mongering people that Allah Ta’ala chose to• 25% of American women will suffer domestic violence in theirsend His Final Prophet (May Peace be upon him) with the finallifetimes (Survey of Women’s health)revelation – Al Quraan. In a period of 23 years the Noble• Cost of domestic violence by partners exceeds $5.8 billion ofMessenger of Allah made such an effort and prepared thesewhich $4.1 billion are for direct medical and mental health‘backward’ desert dwellers to become the beacons of light thatcosts. More than 8 million days of paid work lost collectively bywould radiate out of the sand dunes of the deserts of Arabia tovictims of domestic violence which is equivalent to the loss of 32illuminate the minds, hearts and souls of humanity who were000 full-time jobs (Cost of Intimate Partner violence againstthen grovelling in the oceans of darkness. Together withwomen in the United States, – Centres for Disease Control &removing Idol worship, forging human brotherhood betweenPrevention, Atlanta)the black and the white, the slave and the master, uplifting theIf such is the incidence of physical abuse one can well imagineoppressed and downtrodden, giving hope to the weak,the level of verbal and psychological abuse and generalinculcating sober habits and perfecting good character he alsodisrespect that women face. The manifestation of abuse isredefined the position of women in society and restored tonothing other than a reflection of the psyche of societythem their equality, honour, dignity, humanity and position inmoulded, shaped and churned out by the mass mediasociety. No more was a woman a mere commodity with nomachinery where women are used to sell anything from a toothrights but rather she was recognised as an individual with fullpick to a truck tyre! Hence women are seen as nothing otherrights to ownership, education, inheritance, respect, honourthan commodities and sex objects whose only function is toand marriage. Perhaps the highest accolade given to a womanserve the visual and physical gratification of men. A woman iswas that Islam recognised her sacrifice during child bearing andjudged more on her physical appearance than her mental andbirth (Qur’an-Surah 46, Verse 15) and therefore made herintellectual capacity. The multimillion dollar fashion anddeserving of most respect from her children even above thecosmetic industry, which generates almost $600 billion a year,father (Hadith-Bukhari & Muslim) and also categorically statingis sufficient proof of this.that ‘Your Heaven lies under the feet of your mother’ (Hadith-The current situation that women the world over findAhmad, Nasai)themselves in, although camouflaged by all the glitz andBakhabar9