Zuleikha In the Qur’an and the Torah

Muslim’s reflection

By Asma T. Uddin

In the Qur’an, Joseph, son of Jacob, had a somewhat dysfunctional relationship with his brothers, who resented him for being the favored, most beloved, son of their father. On one occasion, Joseph's brothers took him on a picnic and decided to get rid of him by throwing him into a well. After they left, a passing caravan happened to stop at the well, where the caravan's water-scout found Joseph, and decided to take him to Egypt. Once there, Joseph was sold for a paltry price to a high-ranking nobleman. As the Qur'an tells us, the nobleman who bought Joseph, al-Aziz, said to his wife, Zuleikha, "Tend graciously to his dwelling, he may benefit us, or we may take him as a son."

From the nobleman's statements, we are led to believe that the nobleman and Zuleikha did not have any children, and that Joseph could thus have been taken as an adopted son. This is, in fact, the interpretation of many scholars. The lack of children suggests sexual intimacy may be lacking in the couple’s relationship. With the story framed by Zuleikha and al-Aziz’s relationship, the Qur’an goes on to the widely-known story of seduction and resistance:



Zuleikha felt deeply and passionately attracted to Joseph, and on one occasion, when her husband was out, Zuleikha called Joseph to her room. As soon as he entered, she locked the door and said as the holy Qur’an tells us: (Now come to me, my dear one.) Taken aback by this advance, Joseph told her: (God forbid. My master has been generous to me; I cannot betray his trust. Those who do evil can never prosper.) So saying, he rushed towards the door and tried to unlock it.

Zuleikha caught hold of his tunic from behind and, in the tussle, it was torn. Joseph managed to unlock the door, but only to find his master outside. Zuleikha cried: (What is the fitting punishment, my master!, against one who has evil design against your wife, but prison and chastisement!)

Joseph denied the charge and said that it was Zuleikha who had sought to seduce him. An advisor from the household, a lady of reputation, was asked to settle the dispute. If Joseph's tunic was torn from the front, she said, then he was guilty; but if it was torn from the back, then Zuleikha should be held accountable. The husband saw that the tunic was torn from the back; he told his wife that she had been at fault. He asked her to seek forgiveness, for truly it was she who had sinned.

Although this account of Zuleikha’s attempted seduction of Joseph seems to lend credence to allegations all too often found in Islamic scholarly texts about the evil charms of women, it is important to note that the story was preceded by the suggestion that Zuleikha and al-Aziz were childless, and that al-Aziz may in fact have been a eunuch.

Further, as the Qur’anic story progresses, we are told that Zuleikha, when mocked by the women of Egypt for her lust, invites them for a meal. As they are holding knives in their hands to pare some fruit, Joseph walks into the room and the women end up cutting their fingers out of absolute awe over Joseph’s beauty.

The women were so struck by the extraordinarily good-looking young man that they could not take their eyes off him; in the excitement they cut their fingers with their knives in their hands. They exclaimed: (O God preserve our chastity. He is not a man! He looks an angel.)

Two important points are made by this bookending of the story of Zuleikha’s seduction: first, she is craving intimacy in her life, and seeks fulfillment of her basic needs. This emphasizes the reality that women, too, have sexual needs, and their sexuality is as real and as valid as men’s sexuality.

Islam is often contrasted with Judaism and Christianity in its affirmation of sexuality and its articulation of both men and women’s sexual needs. Women, like men, have certain sexual “rights” in marriage which it is incumbent upon their spouse to fulfill. And the fulfillment of those rights is considered a religious duty – an act of worship, in fact. With her husband unable to fulfill her sexual rights, Zuleikha is, from an Islamic perspective, legitimately suffering, though of course the Qur’an makes clear that her sexual advances outside of marriage are prohibited.

Second, the women of Egypt’s unanimous reaction of wonder to Joseph’s beauty underscores that Zuleikha is not a representation of female guile, but of the human response to Joseph. His beauty was above subjective desires and something so absolute that the response to it was unanimous and uncontrollable. The “story of seduction” is therefore constructed to be more about Joseph’s irresistible beauty than it is about Zuleikha’s – or any female’s – charms.


Jewish’s Reflection

By Rachel Barenblat

In studying the Joseph/Yusuf story as it appears in the Qur'an, the Torah, midrash and tafsir, one of the biggest revelations for me is how differently our two traditions speak of Zuleikha. Our texts agree that Joseph rises to prominence in the house of one of Pharaoh's viziers and that the vizier's wife makes a pass at Joseph, which Joseph refuses. But there the stories diverge.

Jews read the Joseph story as a parable about descent for the sake of ascent. Joseph descends into Egypt in order to rise in Potiphar's (or “al-Aziz” as mentioned in the holy Qur’an) house, and descends into jail in order to rise as a servant to Pharaoh (and in order to waken to God's providence in his life.) Thus his family and community descend into Egypt and are saved from famine, in order that when "a Pharaoh arises who knew not Joseph," and the people are enslaved, God can liberate the Jewish community with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. This liberation is the central narrative of Jewish peoplehood: it leads us to Sinai and to the revelation of Torah, our covenant with God.

Zuleikha has only a minor role to play in this story. She exists in the narrative primarily to give Potiphar a pretext for jailing Joseph; after that, she disappears from the Torah text. When she appears in midrash (classical exegetical stories), she is often depicted through an uncharitable lens.

One midrash declares that Zuleikha speaks "like an animal" when she commands Joseph to "lie with me." Reading that text, I see the early roots of the western literary trope of the sexually ravenous "Other," the foreign woman whose wiles put the hero's virtue at risk. Another midrash shows Joseph "unmanned" -- the spirit may be willing, but in the critical moment he finds his body incapable of committing sin, thanks to God's grace. It seems to me that both of these texts show Zuleikha in a negative light.

But classical midrash was written by men, who have their own fears and agendas. Over the last few decades, however, a tradition of contemporary feminist midrash has arisen in Judaism. Jewish women have written stories and poems which give voice to Eve and Lilith, Sarah and Hagar, Rebecca and Rachel and Leah.

I look forward to the day when Jewish women reclaim Zuleikha, too.

This piece was first published on Altmuslimah.com.
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Islamophobia on the rise in US, report says

Dubai: In the middle of a Minnesota winter, Muslim schoolchildren are routinely left to freeze on the roadside by a bus driver. When the pupils do make it to school, their teacher hands out an air freshener, telling the class to spray as the Muslim children walk in.

In Arizona, two men are taken off a US Airways flight and questioned after a passenger hears them speaking a foreign language.

And in Michigan, a Nigerian man is removed from a plane when other passengers say he spent too much time in the plane's toilet. He is simply ill.

Everyday incidents

These are just everyday incidents of anti-Muslim actions detailed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in a major study on Islamophobia in the United States released last night in Washington. Gulf News obtained an advance copy of the report.

The study says that Islamophobia has actually increased since the election of President Barack Obama, with right-wing Republicans feeding on anti-Muslim sentiments and fears over Sharia law.

American values

According to the report, some 45 per cent of respondents said they believe Islam is contrary to American values.

A Muslim police officer said: "On 9/11, I responded to Ground Zero with some of my colleagues and as we were being driven to the site, we saw many people lined up on both sides of the road with signs cheering and thanking us. ... Now it is 2010 and I dare not go anywhere near Ground Zero with the fear of being attacked because I am a Muslim."

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Muslim Tory minister says Pakistan's treatment of women fails Islam

Pakistan is failing to live up to one of the tenets of Islam which guarantees rights to all women, according to Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative party co-chairman and minister without portfolio, who is the first Muslim to sit as a full member of the cabinet.

In a sign of Britain's impatience with Pakistan, Lady Warsi said the world's first Islamic republic is denying rights granted 1,400 years ago in the Qur'an.

As she prepares to become the first British minister to address the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) next week, Warsi said in a Guardian interview that, in a "nutshell", Pakistan is not living up to the ideals of its founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Warsi says she is able to deliver a tough message to Pakistan because she is unencumbered by "colonial baggage". She said she had raised the issue of women's rights last July in Rawalpindi, in a speech in Urdu at the Fatima Jinnah University, named after the younger sister of the founder of Pakistan. "Why is it that today you're being denied the rights that your faith gave to you 1,400 years ago?" Warsi asked, recalling her central message to her female audience.

Warsi, 40, whose father arrived in Britain from Pakistan in 1960, will address a meeting of OIC foreign ministers next week in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

Campaigners have warned about the treatment of women in north-west Pakistan where justice is administered in some areas by tribes through the jirga rather than by the state. Women usually suffer harsher treatment when couples are sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery. Samar Minallah, a women's rights activist, warned last year: "In so many past cases, the woman was killed later on, or married off for a bride price. They just can't let her be, there has to be revenge."

Warsi said she had also raised concerns about the treatment of minorities in Pakistan. Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's only Christian minister, was shot dead in March after he called for the reform of blasphemy laws that impose the death sentence for insulting Islam.

Warsi said: "I said to them ... let me talk to you about the rights of minorities, the protection of women and the concept of meritocracy. I gave real examples of how Islam embodies all of those values, and the question I put was: my country wasn't formed in the name of Islam, but yours was; so why does my country embody the values of the faith that your country was formed on the basis of?"

Warsi said her heritage enabled her to speak out. "This was not the west arriving with an ideological perspective of women's rights about to impose them on a nation. I understand this culture, I deeply understand the faith and the culture that is part of this nation ... But what I don't see is you in many ways having the very values upon which the nation was formed, the vision of the founder of Pakistan."

Since appointment to the cabinet Warsi has visited Muslim countries, including Kuwait and Pakistan on four occasions. She played an important role in smoothing relations with Pakistan after David Cameron caused great offence last July when he said in India that elements of the Pakistan state were guilty of exporting terrorism.

Warsi, who recalls how she wore a pink shalwar kameez on the day she was appointed, believes her presence in cabinet challenges "the kind of lazy prejudice" that says in the Muslim world and in Britain that somebody from her background cannot be a government minister.

"I don't believe in this clash of civilisations, where there is the west and the Muslim world," she said. "I mean, if I did, where would I fit in?"

Warsi travels to Astana after she met Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the OIC, during a visit to its secretariat in Jeddah last year while she was in Saudi Arabia for the hajj. This led to the appointment of Britain's first special representative to the 57-strong group. "This is an organisation which is good to engage with and have much deeper engagement with but clearly that relationship didn't appear to be there twelve months ago," Warsi said.

Ihsanoglu recently raised concerns about Islamophobia with Warsi, who caused some controversy in January by saying this had "crossed the threshold of middle-class respectability". They had both agreed that Britain has a better track record than other European countries.

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The Four Great Imams of Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh)

Why do we need to follow a specific madhab or school of jurisprudence (fiqh) when we have direct access to Qur’an and Hadith, which are the sources of this knowledge?

This question that echoes in the minds of many Muslims is of great importance as it directly relates to our lives in this world as well as in the hereafter. It is possible for all Muslims to learn about the fundamental beliefs of Islam like Tauheed and about general ethics directly from the translations of Qur’an and Hadith. However, understanding Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), which forms the foundations of our everyday life, isn’t practically possible for most, except a very small number of scholars who have the requisite knowledge base and training. This is a slippery slope because while the text of Qur’an and authentic Ahaadith is free from error, its interpretations aren’t. So anybody who tries to deduce conclusion without proper training in ijtihad is liable to make errors.

“Not all of the believers should go to fight. Of every section of them, why does not one part alone go forth, that the rest may gain understanding of the religion, and to admonish their people when they return, that perhaps they may take warning” (Qur’an 9:122)

“Ask those who recall if you know not” (Qur’an 16:43)

Four Great Imams

Any mention of fiqh can’t be made without talking about the four great imams of fiqh and their schools of thought. Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Malik ibn Anas,Imam Shafi`i, and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal are the luminous stars of the sky of Islamic jurisprudence. It is very important to note and realize that despite the differences of opinion in the matters of fiqh, these blessed souls had nothing but the utmost respect for each other.

Imam Abu Hanifa

First of the four great imams of fiqh, Nu`man ibn Thabit, Imam Abu Hanifa was born in 80 A.H. in Kufa. He is known as imâm al-a`zam (the greatest imam) and called “The Imam” by Abu Dawud. His school has the largest number of followers among the four imams. He was the only tâbi`i (who met with the companions of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him) out of the four luminaries. He had the privilege of seeing Anas ibn Malik, Sahl ibn Sad as-Sa’idi, ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa and Abu al-Fadl Amir ibn Wasila.

Hammad Basri, Ata bin Abi Rabah, Imam Baaqir, Imam Jafer Saadiq, Abdullah ibn Umar, Aqabah bin Umar and many other distinguished scholars are among the teachers of imam Abu Hanifa. Qadi Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammed are among his famous students.

He was the pioneer in classification and compilation of fiqh. One of the biggest contributions of Imam Abu Hanifa is that he organized fiqh into functional sub categories starting with tahara (purification). All other imams and scholars followed his organization. He is known for his unparallel knowledge of fiqh and skill in qiyaas as well as taqwa and an amazing memory.

A quote attributed to Imam Shafi’i states that a person who wanted to specialize in fiqh should read Abu Hanifa’s books. Abdullah Ibn Mubarak said, “I have not seen another specialist as learned as Abu Hanifa in the knowledge of fiqh.” Sufyan al-Thawri encapsulated all of the qualities of imâm al-a`zam in this statement, “This man holds a high rank in knowledge, and if I did not stand up for his science I would stand up for his age, and if not for his age then for his God wariness (wara`), and if not for his God wariness then for his jurisprudence (fiqh).”

Qadi Abu Yusuf , while describing imam Abu Hanifa’s personality, said, “As far as I know, Abu Hanifah was extremely pious, avoided forbidden things, remained silent and absorbed in his thoughts most of the time, and answered a question only if he knew the answer. He was very generous and self-respecting, never asked a favor of anybody, shunned the company of the worldly-minded and held worldly power and position in contempt. He avoided slander and only talked well of people. He was a man of profound learning and was as generous with his knowledge as with his money.”

Despite being regarded as one of the greatest contributors to Islamic jurisprudence, Imam Shafi`i openly acknowledges the stature of Imam Abu Hanifa. “People are all the children of Abu Hanifa in fiqh.”

During the reign of Caliph Mansur of the Umayyad dynasty, Imam Abu Hanifa was offered the seat of Qaadi but he refused and was imprisoned thereafter. In 150 A.H. he was reportedly poisoned by the orders of the caliph and passed away.

Imam Malik Bin Anas

Imam Malik ibn Anas was the second of the four great imams of fiqh. He was born in 93 A.H. in Madinah. He had great reverence and respect for his birthplace and to show his respect, he never rode an animal inside Madinah. He studied under the finest teachers like Nafi’Abul-Zanaad, Hishaam bin Urwah bin Zubair, Abdullah bin Dinaar, Muhammad bin Muslim bin Shihaab al-Zhuhri and a number of other notables.

Muwatta (“the Approved”) is his seminal work that contains the most authentic and sound ahadith and sayings of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Imam Shafi`i considers it the most correct and the most beneficial book on earth after Qur’an. According to Imam Malik, he had seventy jurists of Madinah examine Muwatta and each one of them approved it. He was extremely careful in narrating hadith and said, “I do not accept knowledge from four types of people: a person well-known to be foolish, even though all the other people narrate from him, a person involved in committing heresy and calling others towards innovation in Deen, a person who lies in regular conversation with people, even though I do not accuse him as liar in regards to Hadith, a person who is pious worshipper or scholar, but does not properly and correctly memorize what he narrates.” His chain of narration (from Malik from Nafi’ from Ibn Umar) was called “the golden chain of narrators” by Imam Bukhari.

He was regarded in the highest esteem by other three of the great imams.

Imam Shafi`i says, “If Malik and Ibn Uyainah where not here, the knowledge of Hijaaz would be gone.”

Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal praised him, “I compared Imam Malik to Awzaa’eey, Thawri, Laith, Hammaad, and al-Hakam in knowledge, and he is the leader in Hadith and Fiqh.”

Imam Abu Hanifah said while acknowledging his qualities, “I have never seen anyone more fast understanding, correct answering, and test-taking than Imam Malik.”

After a brief illness he passed away on the 11th of Rabi-ul-Awwal in the year 179 A.H. and was buried in Janatul Baqi in Madinah.

Imam Shafi`i

Imaam Muhammad bin Idris Shafi`i was one of the greatest imams of fiqh. He was born in 150 A.H. in Palestine, the same year as Imam Abu Hanifa died. He shared the lineage with Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). With very humble beginnings, he came to Makkah at the age of 10 where he began his formal education. He studied fiqh from teachers like Imam Shaybaani who was one of the famous scholars of the Hanafi School of fiqh, Muslim bin Khalil al Zanji, Sufyaan bin Uyayana and Imam Maalik bin Anas. He had an amazing memory which enabled him to memorize Qur’an by the age of seven and by the time he turned 15, he had memorized Muwatta.

Imam Shafi`i is attributed with two madhahib; al-qadîm (the Old) from his stay in Iraq and al-jadîd (the New) from his stay in Egypt. Al-jadid forms most of the Shafi`i fiqh except in a limited number of cases where scholars have followed al-qadîm. The most famous works of the imam include Kitab al-Umm (the source of al-qadîm) and Kitab al-Hujja (the source of al-jadîd). A significant contribution of imam Shafi`i is the distinction between good bid`a and bad bid`a. In his words, “Therefore, whatever innovation conforms to the Sunnah is approved (mahmûd), and whatever opposes it is abominable (madhmûm).”

He is known for his mastery of the Arabic language, eloquence, humility, and knowledge of hadith. As acknowledged by Imaam Ahmed bin Hanbal, “Our napes were in the hands of the Companions of Abu Hanifah (RA) when it came to hadith (i.e. we were inclined to them more) until we saw Imaam Shafi`i, he was the most knowledgeable in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) that he would even suffice one who was not well informed in Hadith.”

On another occasion Imaam Ahmed bin Hanbal said, “When I am questioned about some matter that I do not know of I say to myself Imaam Shafi`i knows about this and he will have some say in it, because he is an ‘Alim (Scholar) of Quraish. And the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) said, An Alim of Quraish fills the earth with knowledge.”

He met with his creator on the last day of Rajab in Egypt in the year 204 A.H.

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal also referred as “Sheikh ul-Islam” and the “Imam of Ahl al-Sunnah, was born in Baghdad in 164 A.H. He started learning fiqh from the famous Hanafi scholar Qadhi Abu Yusuf but later discontinued the study of fiqh in favor of hadith. He was an authority in many disciplines including Hadith, fiqh, tafsir, science of abrogation, theology, recitation of Qur’an, and Arabic language.

In addition to Masnad, his exceptional collection of Hadith, Kitab al-Zuhd is also considered to be an influential work in Islamic heritage as well as Kitabul A’maal, Kitaabut Tafseer, Kitaabul Naasikh wal Mansookh, Kitaabul Masaa’il and Kitaabul Fadaa’il. He strongly believed in the orthodox doctrine of Islam and propagated it. He wrote two important books on the orthodox religious doctrine, the Kitab al-Sunnahand al-Rad ‘Ala al-Zanadiqah wa al-Jahmiyah. He was a great jurist but was reluctant to give fatwa. Al-Mukhtasar by al-Khiraqi is the first written manual of fiqh and an introductory work on Hanbali fiqh. Some of the notable Hanbali scholars include Abdul-Qadir al-Jailani, Allama Ibn al-Jawzi, Ibn Taymiyah, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziya, Muhammad b. Abd al-Wahhab.

One of the most significant events of his life was the trial of ‘khalq-e-Qur’an’ (creation of Qur’an) during the reign of Abbaside caliph Ma’mun. Mu`tazila had instigated the belief that Allah created His speech as a distinct entity and called it the Qur’an. This was against the orthodox Muslim belief. The caliph forced all of the scholars of the time to accept this belief and most of them did but Imam Ahmad completely disregarded the pressure and refused to accept this heresy. As a result, he was imprisoned and severely tortured for over two years.

He was highly regarded by the likes of Imam Shafi`i, who said, “I left Baghdad, and I did not leave behind me a man better, having more knowledge, or greater fiqh (understanding), nor having greater taqwa (piety) than Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.” According to Abu Dawood, “The lectures of Ahmad were sittings of the Hereafter. He would not mention in them anything of the worldly affairs; and I never saw him mention this world.” The famous Hanfi scholar Yahya ibn Ma’in praised him in these words, “I have not seen the like of Ahmad, we have accompanied him for fifty years, and he never boasted about anything from the good which he was characterized with.”

After a brief illness he took his last breath on Friday, the 12 of Rabi’ al-Awwal 241 A.H. His funeral procession was perhaps the largest in the history of Arabia; over one million people attended the funeral.

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But can you live a Muslim?

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"You were born a Muslim. GREAT! But it is NOT how you are born but how you die. It’s not about how you begin the race, it's how you end the race. Ain’t no big thing being born Muslim, everyone is born Muslim. But can you live a Muslim? Can you go to college & live a Muslim, be a Muslim? Not only in the house, not only in the masjid. Be a Muslim in the street."
-Imam Siraj Wahaj

Hijab Flash Mob Protest Islamophobia in USA

Saudi Arabia’s Freedom Riders

THE Arab Spring is inching its way into Saudi Arabia — in the cars of fully veiled drivers.

On the surface, when a group of Saudi women used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to organize a mass mobile protest defying the kingdom’s ban on women driving, it may have seemed less dramatic than demonstrators facing bullets and batons while demanding regime change in nearby countries. But underneath, the same core principles — self-determination and freedom of movement — have motivated both groups. The Saudi regime understands the gravity of the situation, and it is moving decisively to contain it by stopping the protest scheduled for June 17.

The driving ban stems from universal anxiety over women’s unrestrained mobility. In Saudi Arabia that anxiety is acute: the streets — and the right to enter and leave them at will — belong to men. A woman who trespasses is either regarded as a sinful “street-walker” or expected to cover herself in her abaya, a portable house. Should she need to get around town, she can do so in a taxi, with a chauffeur (there are 750,000 of them) or with a man related to her by marriage or blood behind the wheel.

Although the Islamic Republic of Iran could not implement similarly draconian driving laws after the 1979 revolution, given that women had driven cars there for decades, the theocratic regime did denounce women riding bikes or motorcycles as un-Islamic and sexually provocative. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, proclaimed in 1999 that “women must avoid anything that attracts strangers, so riding bicycles or motorcycles by women in public places involves corruption and is forbidden.”

The Saudi regime, like the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the military junta in Sudan and the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria, ordains the exclusion of women from the public sphere. It expects women to remain in their “proper place.”

Indeed, the rulers in Saudi Arabia are the most gender-segregated in the world today. In official ceremonies, and in countless photographs, posters and billboards, the royal family seems to be composed solely of men.

This desire to deny women entrance into the public arena is inaccurately presented as a religious mandate. Yet there is no basis for such exclusion in the Koran. On the contrary, in the early years of Islam, women were a vital presence in Muslim communities. They attended mosques, engaged in public debates and got involved in decision-making processes. Aisha, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, commanded an army of men while riding on a camel. If Muslim women could ride camels 14 centuries ago, why shouldn’t they drive cars today? Which Koranic injunction prohibits them from driving?

Gender apartheid is not about piety. It is about dominating, excluding and subordinating women. It is about barring them from political activities, preventing their active participation in the public sector, and making it difficult for them to fully exercise the rights Islam grants them to own and manage their own property. It is about denying women the basic human right to move about freely.

That is why the women defying the ban on motorized mobility are in fact demanding an eventual overhaul of the entire Saudi political system. They want not just to drive but to remap the political geography of their country.

These women know the value of a car key. Like the man who faced down tanks in Tiananmen Square, like the unprecedented number of women participating in protests across the Middle East and North Africa, the Saudi women’s campaign for the right to drive is a harbinger of a new era in the region.

It may require decades to see an end to the Middle East’s gender apartheid and the political reconfigurations that would necessarily follow. One thing is certain though: the presence of women and men demonstrating side by side in the streets of Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria is a sign of more seismic upheavals ahead. Old categories have broken down and the traditional distribution of power and space is no longer viable.

The women demonstrating for the right to drive in Riyadh are seasoned negotiators of confined spaces and veteran trespassers of closed doors and iron gates. They are a moderating, modernizing force to be reckoned with — and an antidote to extremism.

Their refusal to remain silent and invisible or to relinquish their rights as citizens is an act of civil disobedience and moral courage. Their protest, and those of their sisters across the Middle East, represent a revolution within revolutions — and a turning point in the contemporary history of Islam.

Farzaneh Milani, chairwoman of the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Virginia, is the author of “Words, Not Swords: Iranian Women Writers and the Freedom of Movement.”

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Rest Stop Paradise

Gang rapes in Iran cause fear and religious controversy

Comment: Typical of mysogynist patriarchal Iranian authorities blame the victims!

Recent reports of gang rapes in Iran are worrying women and raising questions about social values, reports Mohammad Manzarpour of the BBC Persian Service.

In a religiously conservative town near the city of Isfahan, women at a private party were abducted last month and gang raped at knife point.

One week later, a female university student was attacked and raped by unknown assailants on the heavily-guarded campus in Masshad, a holy city.

In both cases, officials accused the victims of not wearing the hijab or headscarf in the proper fashion and general un-Islamic conduct.

These high-profile cases and the derogatory comments made by Iranian authorities have outraged women's rights groups who have long complained of the increasingly high rate of sexual harassment.

As the stories dominate newspaper headlines, a political and public debate is raging about the reasons for the apparent rise in sexual crimes in the Islamic state and how to prevent and punish them.

Walled garden

It was on the evening of 24 May that two families in the leafy suburbs of Khomeinishahr invited their friends to a private party. In total, 14 people gathered in a walled garden.

According to press reports, it was late when a gang of more than a dozen men armed with long knives entered the garden, locked some men in a room and tied others to trees. Female guests - including one said to have been heavily pregnant - were taken to an adjacent property and raped.

One guest used a hidden mobile phone to call 110, the police emergency hotline. Most of the attackers had fled by the time officers arrived, reports said, but four were later arrested.

In the medium-sized town, word of the rapes spread like wildfire. However they were not covered by the tightly-controlled state press or local media, and no official statements were made for over a week.

With people angered by this silence and fearful about the security of local women, a huge protest was organised outside the courthouse via text messages. Yet the comments then made by state officials were to provoke even greater controversy.

Victims blamed

"Those who were raped were not praiseworthy," said the imam of Khomeinishahr, Musa Salemi, in his Friday sermon.

"Only two out of the 14 were related. They had come to our town to party and provoked the others [the rapists] by their wine drinking and dancing."

His sentiments were echoed in comments made by the town's police commander, Revolutionary Guards Col Hossein Yardoosti.

"I believe the raped women's families are to blame, because if they had proper clothing and if the sound of their music was not so loud, the rapist would not have imagined it as a depraved get-together," he was quoted as saying.

Reports said that he was considering legal action against the rape victims for their behaviour.

The response of the authorities has also been questioned in the university rape case. Fellow students pointed out that the campus is tightly-controlled by security services and suggested that the attack could not have escaped their notice.

As they held a candle-lit vigil to support the rape victim, they made accusations of collusion by guards and a cover-up.

'Dire consequences'

Women's rights groups are now sounding alarm bells.

In an interview with the BBC Persian Service, Shadi Sadr, an Iranian activist and lawyer, warned that officials' judgmental comments, effectively implying that rape is justified if a woman's dress is not deemed modest enough, could have "dire consequences" for society.

Some commentators argue that a recent wave in sexual crimes is caused by extraordinary sexual tensions among the growing youth population, who spend most of their lives separated by gender with little interaction.

The government's political opponents have found other triggers too. They suggest that sexual attacks allegedly perpetrated by security forces in Iran's post-election violence in 2009 may have legitimised such acts for certain segments of the population.

Amid the soul-searching and media frenzy, three men were hanged - two publicly - on 9 June, on separate, non-related rape convictions. The authorities clearly hope this will be a deterrent.

Meanwhile the main suspects sought in the Khomeinishahr and Mashhad cases remain at large.

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Men groomed girls with cash, alcohol and car rides, court hears

Comment: More Muslim men engaged in grooming and exploiting non-Muslim girls. This the the result of a patriarchal community which allows men to get away with all kinds of injustices against women. More has to be done to stamp this out.

Seven teenage girls – one as young as 13 – were groomed into child prostitution with offers of alcohol, drink and cash by nine men in a sex-trafficking ring which centred around a small Shropshire town, a court has heard.

Some of the girls were sold on to other men to be abused, and one 15-year-old girl was plied with drink, drugs and cigarettes to persuade her to have sex with others as a "favour" to her "pimps", the prosecution said.

Staffordshire crown court was told that many of the girls involved believed themselves "to be loved and in love" with the men.

On the opening day of the trial of the nine men, the jury was told the rape, trafficking and sexual abuse centred around the small town of Wellington, near Telford.

The men – who are aged between 21 and 59 and include three brothers – face a total of 55 charges including rape, child prostition, sexual activity with a child and trafficking children within the UK.

"This case is about exploitation," said Debbi Gould, prosecuting. "The Crown say that the men in the dock variously trafficked, raped or sexually abused girls both over and under the age of 16 years over a considerable period of time."

Three of the men, brothers Ahdel Ali, 23; Mubarek Ali, 28; and Tanveer Ahmed, 39; are accused of acting as "pimps" and exploited their victims. Others, including Abdul Rouf, 34, and the oldest defendant Mohammed Younis, 59, used their homes as brothels to allow men to engage in sexual activities with the girls, the court heard.

Jurors were told the men enticed the girls with offers of car rides, employment and cash, before grooming and exploiting them either for their own sexual gratification or to earn money.

Some treated them as sexual commodities to be sold or gifted, the court heard.

Two girls, who cannot be named, were "slowly but surely" persuaded by the brothers through a combination of attention, gifts, encouragement, pressure and guilt to have sexual activity with others for their benefit, Gould told the court.

"Having established that their victims were prepared to accommodate that to please them, the next logical step was to encourage them to do this for payment," she told the jury.

"Pimps, for that is what the Crown says that Ahdel Ali, Mubarek Ali and Tanveer Ahmed are, identified and then exploited their victims' need for attention and protection."

The brothers allegedly used one girl as a child prostitute and transported her to different locations to meet men, assisted by Noshad Hussain, 20.

The court heard they would ply the 15-year-old with drink, cannabis and cigarettes and encourage her to have sex with others as a "favour" to them.

On one occasion, she was allegedly driven to a park in Stoke-on-Trent to meet a man from Bradford to perform oral sex.

"They sold her as a sexual object to others," Gould said. "She was acting as a child prostitute, they were controlling and organising her activities ... and transporting her to different locations in order that she could undertake these activities."

The court heard that two of the girls were groomed in a churchyard in Telford where young Asian males congregated to drink and smoke.

One 15-year-old is alleged to have performed oral sex on Mohammed Ali Sultan, 24, on three occasions.

The jury members were warned that what they were likely to be distressed by some of the evidence in the case.

"You will neither like nor be impressed by the behaviour, attitudes and morals of some of the defendants in this case, most of whom are married men," said Gould.

"The Crown says that just as the defence will accuse the girls of telling lies, so too have the defendants lied.

"Don't be bamboozled, don't be confused and don't be misled. The psychology of abuse and our understanding of it has greatly changed in recent years."

Ahdel Ali, 23; Mubarek Ali, 28; Tanveer Ahmed, 39; Mohammed Ali Sultan, 24; Noshad Hussain, 21; Mohammed Islam Choudrey, 52; Marhoof Khan, 33; Mohammed Younis, 59; and Abdul Rouf, 34; deny all the charges against them.

The case continues.

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Afghanistan worst place in the world for women, but India in top five

Targeted violence against female public officials, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, according to a global survey released on Wednesday.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan, India and Somalia feature in descending order after Afghanistan in the list of the five worst states, the poll amonggender experts shows.

The appearance of India, a country rapidly developing into an economic super-power, was unexpected. It is ranked as extremely hazardous because of the subcontinent's high level of female infanticide and sex trafficking.

Others were less surprised to be on the list. Informed about her country's inclusion, Somalia's women's minister, Maryan Qasim, responded: "I thought Somalia would be first on the list, not fifth."

The survey has been compiled by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the launch of a website, TrustLaw Woman, aimed at providing free legal advice for women's groups around the world.

High maternal mortality rates, limited access to doctors and a "near total lack of economic rights" render Afghanistan such a threat to its female inhabitants. "Continuing conflict, Nato airstrikes and cultural practices combine to make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women," said Antonella Notari, head of Women Change Makers, a group that supports women social entrepreneurs around the world.

"Women who do attempt to speak out or take on public roles that challenge ingrained gender stereotypes of what is acceptable for women to do or not, such as working as policewomen or news broadcasters, are often intimidated or killed."

The "staggering levels of sexual violence" in the lawless east of the DRC account for its second place in the list. One recent US study claimed that more than 400,000 women are raped there each year. The UN has called Congo the rape capital of the world.

"Rights activists say militia groups and soldiers target all ages, including girls as young as three and elderly women," the survey reports, "They are gang raped, raped with bayonets and some have guns shot into their vaginas."

Pakistan is ranked third on the basis of cultural, tribal and religious practices harmful to women. "These include acid attacks, child and forced marriage and punishment or retribution by stoning or other physical abuse," the poll finds.

Divya Bajpai, reproductive health adviser at the International HIV/Aids Alliance, added: "Pakistan has some of the highest rates of dowry murder, so-called honour killings and early marriage." According to Pakistan's human rights commission, as many as 1,000 women and girls die in honour killings annually.

India is the fourth most dangerous country. "India's central bureau of investigation estimated that in 2009 about 90% of trafficking took place within the country and that there were some 3 million prostitutes, of which about 40% were children," the survey found.

Forced marriage and forced labour trafficking add to the dangers for women. "Up to 50 million girls are thought to be 'missing' over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide,", the UN population fund says, because parents prefer to have young boys rather than girls.

Somalia, a state in political disintegration, suffers high levels of maternal mortality, rape, female genital mutilation and limited access to education and healthcare.

Qasim added: "The most dangerous thing a woman in Somalia can do is to become pregnant. When a woman becomes pregnant her life is 50-50 because there is no antenatal care at all. There are no hospitals, no healthcare, no nothing.

"Add to that the rape cases that happen on a daily basis, and female genital mutilation being done to every single girl in Somalia. Add to that famine and drought. Add to that the fighting [which means] you can die any minute, any day."

Monique Villa, the chief executive of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said: "Hidden dangers – like a lack of education or terrible access to healthcare – are as deadly, if not more so, than physical dangers like rape and murder which usually grab the headlines.

"In Afghanistan, for instance, women have a one in 11 chance of dying in childbirth. In the top five countries, basic human rights are systematically denied to women.

"Empowering women tackles the very roots of poverty. In the developing world when a woman works, her children are better fed and better educated because they spend their money for their family."

The survey was based on responses from more than 200 aid professionals, academics, health workers, policymakers, journalists and development specialists chosen for their expertise in gender issues.

Each country was also ranked in terms of six risk factors including: health, discrimination and lack of access to resources, cultural and religious practices, sexual violence, human trafficking and conflict-related violence.

In terms of individual risk categories, Afghanistan was deemed to be the most dangerous for health, economic/discrimination and non-sexual violence; the Congo is most plagued by rape and sexual violence; and India has most problems with trafficking.

"You have to look at all the dangers to women, all the risks women and girls face," said Elisabeth Roesch, who works on gender-based violence for the International Rescue Committee in Washington.

"If a woman can't access healthcare because her healthcare isn't prioritised, that can be a very dangerous situation as well."

The TrustLaw website has been in existence for some time, linking up local NGOs and social entrepreneurs with established law firms who are prepared to offer legal advice on a pro-bono basis. The groups are vetted by Transparency International.

More than 450 law firms are already involved including some from China. Among those that have recently benefited have been the charity Riders for Health, which delivers medicine to remote villages, and reviewed its contracts in Nigeria.

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Conver(t)sations: the Unheard Stories of Muslim Converts

Maher Zain - Insha Allah

Ban homophobic clerics from mosques, gay rights campaigners urge

Gay rights campaigners have urged mosque leaders in east London to ban homophobic clerics from using their premises, following a 21% rise in gay hate crime in the area.

Activists, including journalist Julie Bindel and Pride trustee Colm Howard-Lloyd, said some preachers at the East London Mosque and the London Muslim Centre had "created an atmosphere in which hate is socially acceptable; they have spread a message in which maiming and violence is the most dutiful, honourable, devout thing to do".

Their concerns follow the £100 fine given to Mohammed Hasnath, who put up "Gay-Free Zone" stickers in the area; the case of Oliver Hemsley, who was paralysed from the neck down in August 2008 following a vicious attack; and Metropolitan police figures showing that gay hate crime had risen in the borough of Tower Hamlets – where the mosque and adjoining centre are located – from 67 attacks to 81 in a year.

In a statement, the campaigners said that while the East London Mosque and the London Muslim Centre had distanced themselves from the sticker campaign, they had "hosted numerous hate preachers who have promoted the most vicious homophobia imaginable over the years".

"The East London Mosque claims to have no responsibility over those who speak there. The East London Mosque also claims to be opposed to the 'gay-free zone' campaign and homophobia. We demand that the East London Mosque live up to its stated word, take ownership of its platform and stop allowing its premises to be used to promote gay-hate campaigns."

Salman Farsi, from the mosque, said booking procedures had been tightened since last year.

"Any speaker who is believed to have said something homophobic will not be allowed to use our premises, whether that is us organising an event or someone else. As for the condemnation of homophobia, our director has gone on the record on this.

"I can see where the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is coming from. That £100 fine was a slap on the wrist. One of the things that needs to be noted is that there are a small number of extremists in our community that are stirring things up. We have done as much as we possibly can. The LGBT community need to take that in good faith."

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American-Jewish young man is being harassed and treated unfairly he is then arrested in Jerusalem

Muslim and gay: 'Allah made me this way'

“If Allah didn’t want me this way, he wouldn’t have made me this way,” says Omeed.

He’s a 27-year-old Dutch guy who believes he’s basically a good person and, therefore, a good Muslim too. But he’s also openly and unashamedly homosexual. How does he fit the two together?

Omeed (not his real name) was born here in the Netherlands, but his parents are first generation immigrants from Pakistan. He describes his family life not so much as strictly Islamic, but certainly ‘traditional’ with strong Muslim values. He did all most of ‘normal’ Islamic things, like observing Ramadan and studying the Qur’an.

Given this background, he was more than a bit worried when he first realised in his early teens that he was attracted to boys: “I thought […], oh no, I’m from a Muslim family – what’s going to happen?”

Not a real problem
But those concerns were more about his family’s reactions [see the item on Omeed and his family] than those of his religion. In fact, Omeed says being Muslim and gay is something he’s never regarded as a real problem: “I was and am still a believer but I also knew that Allah made me this way. If Allah didn’t want me this way, he wouldn’t have made me this way.”

He also came to these conclusions quite quickly: “I knew very early on that this wasn’t a matter of choice on my part. After all, I would never have chosen to be gay and Muslim, because that would be such a difficult path to choose for yourself.”

As a result, he concluded quite simply that this is the way he’s ‘meant to be’. After all, coming from a traditional, ‘heterosexual’ Muslim family, clearly... “There’s no choice or ‘learned behaviour’ involved. I am as I am, I think I’m a nice and a good person. I don’t do any harm to anybody – at least I try not to do so deliberately – and that’s more important than my sexual inclination”.

Exception
Omeed acknowledges he is an exception in the Dutch Muslim community, where homosexual men and women seldom come out 100 percent as most of their ethnic Dutch counterparts do. However, he says more and more gays and lesbians from a Muslim background are coming out partially – i.e. carefully, to a very select circle of friends and – in some cases – family members.

But basically, Omeed says he believes Allah wills and makes us to be the way we are, and if you can accept that then you can accept your own sexuality too.

Don't make it a problem
His advice to other young Muslims – and, come to that, anyone from a conservative-religious community - facing up to their homosexual feelings is not to make a problem out of their religion or let the religious interpretation of ‘others’ stop you being who you are.

Nonetheless he recommends that young gay Muslims be cautious about who they come out to, but not let this prevent them seeking support, either from friends or professionals. Although he’s never been a victim of real aggression, he knows it’s out there and that in the larger Muslim community homosexuality remains taboo.

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'Virginity Tests' in Egypt

The Egyptian military was celebrated for helping to facilitate a peaceful revolution there three months ago. But now accusations have surfaced that they subjected young women to degrading "virginity tests" in what appears to have been an attempt to control the population. One woman told SPIEGEL her story.

Before she describes how uniformed soldiers hit and kicked her and the other young women, ordering them to take off their clothes, lie on their backs in front of gawking soldiers and spread their legs so a man in a white lab coat could test their virginity -- before this, the hairdresser quickly lights a cigarette and pulls the smoke deeply into her lungs.

Salwa Husseini Gouda is a petite woman with gently curved lips and almond-shaped eyes. The 20-year-old looks tired this afternoon, wearing jeans and a headscarf together with a tight-fitting top. She smokes one cigarette after another. The air is heavy with shimmering heat and the Egyptian capital is dusty and loud, as always.

"I have no idea why they arrested me, of all people, in Tahrir Square," she says. "I was standing in front of a tank at that particular moment, maybe that's why." She attempts a grin. "Anyway, people should watch out for me -- I'm a dangerous criminal!"

According to eyewitness reports, men stormed Tahrir Square, center of the Egyptian revolution, on the afternoon of March 9 and attacked demonstrators seemingly at random. They weren't wearing uniforms. "They looked like thugs," Husseini Gouda says. "They called me a whore and hit me in the face." She says she was shocked when the group dragged her and around 20 other women into the Egyptian Museum and handed them over to the military. "I couldn't believe our army was behind this attack," Gouda continues. "But then they took us to a military prison, and from then on, it only got worse."

'Shocking and Degrading Treatment'

On the day Husseini Gouda was arrested, Hosni Mubarak, the country's deposed president, had been in self-imposed exile in the seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheik for nearly four weeks. A month before the arrest, the masses at Tahrir Square had cheered for the military, which took over power in the country after Mubarak resigned. "The people and the army are one," demonstrators shouted, dancing and celebrating in front of the tanks. Mothers pressed their babies into soldiers' arms for pictures. The world watched Egypt with amazement, seeing men and women, Muslims and Christians, fighting side by side for freedom. Then, 18 days later, the revolution was, the pharaoh chased off. The people were victorious. It was a triumph that belonged to women as well -- or so it seemed at the time.

When Husseini Gouda arrived at the military prison on March 9, she says she was led to a small room together with two other women. There they were forced to undress and allow their clothing to be searched. Then they noticed a soldier standing outside the open window, photographing them naked. "I was afraid they would use the pictures to make us look like prostitutes," Husseini Gouda says.

That night, the women were locked in a cell and given water and bread that stank of kerosene. The next day, they saw a stretcher in the hallway outside their cell. Here, an officer announced, a doctor would inspect the unmarried women for virginity. "We couldn't believe it," Husseini Gouda says. "We asked if it could at least be a female doctor, but he said no. One girl who tried to resist was plied with electroshocks."

Several human rights organizations are investigating the events that occurred at the military prison in Heikstep northeast of Cairo between March 9 and 13. Amnesty International has called on Egyptian authorities to "stop the shocking and degrading treatment of women protesters." The European Parliament denounced the "forced virginity tests" as torture.

Psychiatrist Mona Hamed, from El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, has documented statements from several of the women who were arrested on March 9, including Husseini Gouda. Hamed's conclusion: "What's new is that it isn't the police or the secret police behind this, but the military." The virginity tests, she says, send a message to the people, because the army wants to control citizens' freedom of movement. If a woman at a demonstration were beaten or arrested, Hamed says, her family would perhaps be able to accept that -- but not the charge that their daughter is a prostitute. "That's an unthinkable humiliation for the woman and her family," she explains.

A Confused Army

Husseini Gouda didn't resist. The man in the white lab coat reached between her legs, and it didn't take long. He permitted her to cover herself with a blanket, to shield her from the gaze of the soldiers loitering in the hallway. "It was horribly humiliating," Husseini Gouda says. After the procedure, she continues, all of the women had to sign a form that stated whether they were virgins or not. But after the doctor confirmed that her hymen was intact, the soldiers confronted her with new accusations, Husseini Gouda says. Two days later, she was sentenced by a military court to one year of probation for the alleged possession of a weapon, property damage and violating curfew.

"The situation for women has deteriorated continually, these last few decades," says Hala Mustafa, 52, a political scientist and the editor-in-chief of the magazineal-Dimuqratiya. "On the one hand, this is because of political Islamization by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists. On the other, it's because the regime too has done everything in its power to keep the people conservative, so they don't rebel."

Mustafa, with her light brown, layered haircut, pantsuit and white gold jewelry, is one of the country's liberal, progressive thinkers. She just canceled a trip abroad because she couldn't possibly miss what's happening in Egypt now, she says. For a moment, a smile appears on her face, the same smile worn by many Egyptians these days, a mixture of amazement and pride. It's too soon to make predictions, Mustafa says, but she's not particularly optimistic: "The old regime is still functioning."

Recently, the people's insubordination seems to be causing some confusion for the army. Human rights organizations say thousands of Egyptians have been imprisoned, tortured and brought before military courts in the last weeks. The military has restricted the public's rights to strike and to demonstrate, with emergency law and a curfew from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. still in effect.

'They Weren't Virgins in the First Place'

Journalist Rasha Azeb, 28, has experienced the revolution firsthand from the beginning. She too was arrested on March 9 and taken to the Egyptian Museum. "We kept protesting after February 11, because we wanted to get rid of the whole regime, not just Mubarak," Azeb explains. She wears a ribbon around her neck from which a bullet casing dangles. You can say what you want now about Mubarak and the members of his government who have been arrested, Azeb says, "but not about the military council."

Azeb is sitting on a rooftop terrace in downtown Cairo, a sand-colored sea of houses below her stretching to the horizon. "The soldiers bound my hands and hit me," she says. "They said that the violence was increasing because of journalists. After four hours, they let me and my colleagues go." Azeb says she saw other women being hit and abused with electroshocks in the museum. She didn't find out until days later what happened to them afterward. It's intolerable, she says, and yet this isn't the moment to talk about sexual discrimination. "Right now it's about the Egyptian people's rights," Azeb believes, "not about men or women."

Still, the women among the freedom fighters in Tahrir Square also impressed the world precisely because they disproved a cliché. The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report, which evaluates gender equality in 134 countries, ranked Egypt 125th in 2010. Forty-two percent of Egyptian women can't read or write and most don't have a profession. Female genital mutilation has been outlawed since 1997, but is still widespread. Women out in the capital without a male chaperone must expect to be sexually harassed.

Last Tuesday, nearly three months after Husseini Gouda and the others were arrested, an army general finally issued a statement. "The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general told American news channel CNN. "These were girls who had camped out in tents with mail protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)." The virginity tests, he said, were carried out so that the women couldn't claim afterward to have been harassed or raped in prison: "We wanted to show that they were not virgins in the first place."

Amnesty International called this reaction "an utterly perverse justification of a degrading form of abuse" and called on Egyptian authorities to hold the parties responsible accountable. The army's reply came promptly: The women's allegations, an army spokesperson announced, are unfounded.

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