International Women's Day

Dear Reader,

After commenting on a post (by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed) about International Women's Day, I realised I had far more to say than what I wrote in the comment and so I decided to write a blog post about it. Shelina's post basically asked 'which Muslim women inspire you?' Considering this year's theme is Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women, my answer went something like this:

"There are two that I would particularly like to mention, who inspire me for the same reason: their desire to seek and spread knowledge. The first is Aisha (radiallah-hu-anha) the wife of the Prophet Muhammed's (PBUH), and the second is our contemporary Na’ima B. Robert. These two examples just go to show that no matter where you’re from or what time period you live in, knowledge has always been and always will be vital, not only for self-improvement, but also for the progress of society."

You see, I believe that the acquisition of knowledge is the best weapon against oppression. Because, if you are no longer ignorant of your what is going on, if you have knowledge of other cultures and beliefs, you are less likely to be prejudiced and stereotype people, and you are more able to stand up for your rights. In Islam, both men and women are repeatedly encouraged to seek out knowledge, not just about Islam but about all aspects of life. For example, there is a hadith (sayings and doings of the Prophet Muhammed [PBUH]) which states that the Prophet (PBUH) once said:

"If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise ... The learned are the heirs of the Prophets, and the Prophets leave neither dinar nor dirham [Arabian currency], leaving only knowledge, and he who takes it takes an abundant portion" Dawud

However, it's not just good enough to accumulate lots of knowledge. You need to do two things once you've gained knowledge:

1) Spread it - hoarding knowledge is selfish! Plus, it's no good to anyone if no one knows about it, right? After all how do expect to bring about change if you don't tell people what you know? For example, imagine the first person who invented a specific language. If he/she hadn't taught other people to read or write that language, then the whole of humanity would have been as illiterate as monkeys today and we wouldn't have all these fancy electronic gadgets that we do now. Okay that example is a bit extreme. Well, how about one of the greatest leaders known to mankind, the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), also known as Al-Mualim - The Teacher. When he received the first revelation from Allah (SWT) "Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists). Has created man from a clot (of blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, Who has taught man writing by the pen." (Surah Al-Alaq 96:1-5), he didn't just keep it to himself, he first told his wife Khadija (RA) and then the rest of the Arabs and thus began the spread of Islam, through the spread of knowledge.  

2) Use/apply it - knowledge without application is just information. For example, (given my field of study, this is obviously the first example that I will think up) suppose there was a medical student who finished his degree with flying colours, those 5 years of hard work and coffee and effort, finally paying off. Then at the end of it all he decides that he'd rather not get a job as a doctor, that he'd much rather stay at home and languish away his life in front of a T.V. What a waste! He has all the information on how to treat people but decides not to apply it for the good of his fellow man. I know, I know, he has free will and can decide to do whatever he wants with his life, but honestly, what was the point of all those years acquiring that information if he isn't going to put it to use and turn it into knowledge. Because knowledge, is not just about written words on paper, it also encompasses what we learn through our experiences.

Just the same, what we as Muslims learn from the Qur'an and Hadiths, if we apply it to our lives it becomes knowledge.       

But anyway, coming back to the reason I began this post: I leave you, dear reader, with the question: which women inspire you and why? 

Nida