India: Islam Not Against Women Solemnising Marriage: Syeda Hameed (Interview)

From the Indo-Asian News Service

Islam not against women solemnising marriage: Syeda Hameed (Interview)

Posted: 8:15a.m. IST, August 24, 2008

New Delhi, Aug 24 (IANS) Islam does not prohibit a woman from solemnising a marriage and it was reflective of the 'slow and steady' changes happening in Muslim society, says Syeda Hameed, an official who courted controversy by performing the marriage rituals of a couple.

'As a religion, Islam does not prohibit a woman from solemnising marriage.
We have to move forward. It is the need of the hour,' Hameed, a member of the country's Planning Commission, told IANS in an interview.

Hameed is pleased to see no hue and cry because on Aug 12 she performed the 'nikah' (solemnising a marriage according to Muslim practice) of Naish Hasan and Imran Ali. She terms it a healthy sign.

'I had apprehended there would be some hard reaction, but I was determined to fulfil the desire of Naish and Imran. I have known them for a long time,' she said.

'At the same time, I had thought that there would be acceptance of what I was going to do,' said Hameed, who had specially gone to Lucknow to solemnise the marriage.

'Things were changing 'slowly and steadily', she said, adding: 'Attitude is not as hard as it used to be. We have to move forward.'

What prompted her to take up a path-breaking initiative?

'I belong to a family where reformism has been a deep-rooted tradition. My great grandfather Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali was known for his reformist views. He spoke of reforms in Islam 100 years ago,' she said.

For her, being a reformist does not mean any compromise with the religion one espouses.

'We are deep into religion but are extremely liberal in outlook. What I did by performing 'nikah' is in consonance with my great family tradition. I shall be happy if more and more women come forward and take path-breaking steps, befitting Islamic ethos and values.'

Having ushered in a new trend by breaking traditional barriers, Hameed feels that a lot needs to be done for gender parity in Muslim society.

'Yes, more path-breaking initiatives are needed to reflect the true image of Islam. It will be possible when the forward-looking people take initiatives,' she said.

'There are enough enlightened people in society to bring change in society,' Hameed said.

Should a woman feel threatened in a society where there is a 'limited or restricted' role for women to play?

'Reformists never stop doing good things,' pat came her reply.

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India: Woman Performs Nikah, Bridges Shia-Sunni Divide Too

From the Indian Express

Woman performs nikah, bridges Shia-Sunni divide too

Tarannum Manjul
Posted online: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 0115 hrs

Lucknow, August 12: Picture this: A Muslim girl sitting across the table with her bridegroom. A maulvi enters, asks her if she would accept the boy to be her husband. She says she does. The maulvi asks the same question to the groom; he accepts it too.

What may seem different here is the fact that both the bride and the groom are sitting across the table from each other, and not behind a veil or curtain as in most Muslim weddings. But what really sets this wedding of Lucknow's Naish Hasan and New Delhi's Imran Ali apart is the fact that the nikah was performed by a woman.

Ushering in a new trend and breaking all traditional barriers, the wedding of two eminent social activists working for the rights of Muslim women was performed by eminent scholar and member of the Union Planning Commission Dr Syeda Hameed. Dr Hameed flew in from Delhi especially to perform the nikah and bless the couple. Although there has been no precedent of women conducting a nikah in recent history, women are known to have attained the position of qazi and mufti in times of the Prophet.

"I always wanted a wedding which did follow the proper guidelines of Islam and the Shariat but gave equal rights to Muslim women. The model nikahnama has been supporting Muslim women by giving them rights and I wanted my wedding to be according to it," said Naish, founder member of the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), a social organisation.

When Naish spoke about it to Ali, who also works for the rights of Muslim women, he readily agreed. "I knew that through this move of ours, we could actually lead a number of youngsters to follow. We are not doing anything un-Islamic," Ali said.

The nikah turned out to be a trendsetter in more ways than one. While the bride and the groom were Sunnis, Dr Hameed who conducted the nikah was Shia. Also, the four witnesses to the wedding were women. The nikah was performed following the model nikahnama, framed by the BMMA recently at New Delhi, after discussions over the past two years.

"According to the Shariat, anyone who is well versed in the Quran and is also a scholar of Arabic and Persian can perform the nikah. No degree or any other qualification is required to perform the nikah," said Naaz Raza, the state coordinator of BMMA. "And our nikahnama gives rights to both the Shia and the Sunni women," added Raza.

The wedding ceremony was performed in a simple manner. No baraat, no lavish expenditure and no ruksati.

The marriage has recieved appreciation from the chairperson of the All India Muslim Women's Personal Law Board Shaista Amber. "Although they have not followed our model nikahnama and have instead created another one, yet I appreciate this step taken by Naish and Ali. They are certainly not violating any rules or rebelling against the religion. Instead, they are just setting a new trend that may be followed by a number of Muslim youngsters and help in curbing evils like dowry in the long run."

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A Transgender TV Debut (in India)

Rose visits a popular city mall called Spencer Plaza, and all the women at the cosmetic counter surround her and greet her enthusiastically. Everytime she visits them, they give her free makeovers. Rose will be the first transgender TV show host in India, to be aired from the end of December. (Rama Lakshmi - The Washington Post)

From the Washington Post

A Transgender TV Debut

Host of Southern India's 'Yours, Rose' Seeks to Challenge Stereotypes, Social Taboos

By Rama Lakshmi
Washington Post Foreign Service

Sunday, December 9, 2007; A25

CHENNAI, India -- In a congested neighborhood full of trash heaps, cows and auto-rickshaws lives a budding star named Rose.

Her photographs are splashed across newspaper pages and magazine centerfolds. She speaks at upscale women's clubs and poses for fashion shoots in her diva-like designer chiffon sari. She gets free makeovers at the mall from admiring cosmetics saleswomen.

In a few weeks, Rose will become India's first transgender host of a late-night TV chat show, to be broadcast to millions of homes in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

But her neighbors know none of this. They know Rose as Ramesh Venkatesan, just another young man living with his parents and trying to eke out a living.

Rose, who is 28 and uses only her first name, said that she has kept her identity secret from her neighbors for three years. She fears they would jeer at her parents if they knew.

She has reason to be concerned. The transgender community in this country has long been discriminated against, a people to be lampooned in movies. Transgender Indians are so oppressed that many earn a living only by making themselves a nuisance; they show up at weddings or shops, clapping their hands and demanding money from people who are all too eager to shoo them away.

Rose wants to change that. Her forthcoming show, called "Yours, Rose," will be a venue to debate all kinds of socially taboo topics. It will be aired by Star Vijay, a Tamil-language channel owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

"I want to break social stereotypes about transgender people through my TV show," said Rose, tall and bejeweled with blond streaks in her hair.

"People will be curious about me. I know curiosity is not acceptance, but it is a start," she said. She talks openly about the fact that she regularly gets hormone shots, and about the fact that she has not yet decided whether to undergo sex reassignment surgery.

A decade ago, such public discussion of sexual identity or sexual orientation would have been unthinkable. India's first major motion picture about lesbians, "Fire," was attacked by extremist groups. Movie posters were burned and theaters barred from screening the film. Gay men and lesbians paraded through the streets by the tens of thousands to assert their rights; it was a demonstration like none this country had ever seen.

Rose's show reflects shifts in a society that has learned to acknowledge the presence of sexual minorities. It's also a testament to the growing willingness of private television channels to address sensitive issues. In Muslim-majority Pakistan, Begum Nawazish Ali became the first transgender South Asian television host only two years ago.

"We were looking for a movie star to host our late-night chat show. And Rose just walked in and impressed us with her personality and education," said Pradeep Milroy Peter, head of programming for Star Vijay, which attracts more than 56 million viewers. "We said, let's profile you as the Oprah of this market."

On "Yours, Rose," guests, experts and a studio audience will discuss marriage, divorce, drugs and sexuality. During a recent brainstorming session, the Star Vijay team and Rose struggled to determine the show's tenuous limits. Rose wanted to express her radical views on marriage, faith and sexuality, but channel officials urged her to go slowly.

"We have to be cautious. We can push the envelope but cannot afford to bang the door down. We don't want angry demonstrators outside our office," Peter explained. "We will debate sexuality, but not in the first couple of weeks. At the end of the day, my father and my mother should be able to accept the show and its host."

The channel's communications director advised Rose not to be too candid about her personal life in interviews with journalists, because he was trying to give her a "classy image."

Rose said her journey has never been easy. She endured merciless taunting from classmates at school because she was different. She went to college at Louisiana Tech University, where she studied biomedical engineering, but said she found the United States to be "too homophobic and trans-phobic."

Eventually, Rose said, she found herself teaching Indian call center employees to speak English the way Americans do. But when she came out three years ago, her contract was not renewed.

Her family threw her out in embarrassment, later taking her back grudgingly. Her mother tells her not to wear saris or makeup and not to be overtly feminine at home or in the neighborhood. As a result, Rose leaves home every day hiding her jewelry and makeup in her purse and carrying a change of women's clothes.

But living with her parents also wards off unwanted attention from drunk men at night. She says a social stereotype of transgender people as sex workers leads employers to deny them jobs and landlords to refuse them housing.

"A transgender or a gay person cannot walk anywhere without the usual catcalling, sniggering and name-calling," said Sunil Menon, who works with sexual minorities and runs a support organization called Sahodaran. "Rose gives us hope because she demonstrates that you can overcome social stigma."

Menon said that the transgender community enjoyed social acceptance in the cultural traditions of Hinduism and Islam in India, but that British rule imposed "Victorian morality."

Rose and her friend Priya Babu, a transgender activist, are working on a book about the transgender community. They also regularly conduct awareness programs for police officers in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, Rose has begun educating upper-class women.

On a recent afternoon, she spent five hours having makeup applied and posing for a photo shoot for Society, an upscale magazine. She wore a designer sari with matching bracelets and chandelier earrings.

As the city's best-known fashion photographer clicked away, a popular 1980s song by Foreigner played in the background -- "I've been waiting for a girl like you."

NYTimes.com: Careers Give India's Women New Independence

This page was sent to you by:  faisalalam@aol.com INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC   | November 23, 2007 Careers Give India's Women New Independence By SOMINI SENGUPTA Women who once would have moved straight from their parents’ houses to their husbands’ now live on their own. 1. For Lawyers, Perks to Fit a Lifestyle 2. Holiday Books: 100 Notable Books of the Year 3. Op-Ed Contributor: Made in China on the Sly 4. Op-Ed Columnist: Banks Gone Wild 5. In God's Name: Megachurches Add Local Economy to Their Mission »  Go to Complete List Advertisement In Wes Anderson's THE DARJEELING LIMITED,three brothers (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody)set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other. Their journey however, veers rapidly off-course due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, cough syrup, and pepper spray. Click here to watch trailer Copyright 2007  The New York Times Company | Privacy Policy

NYTimes.com: Hello, India? I Need Help With My Math

This page was sent to you by:  faisalalam@aol.com Message from sender: LOVE the picture :-) BUSINESS / WORLD BUSINESS   | October 31, 2007 Hello, India? I Need Help With My Math By STEVE LOHR In a new wave of global outsourcing, personal chores are moving offshore, and this is leading to some daunting challenges, both economic and cultural. 1. Hello, India? I Need Help With My Math 2. Chinese Chemicals Flow Unchecked to Market 3. Op-Ed Columnist: Hillary la Française, Cherchez la Femme? 4. Low Buzz May Give Mice Better Bones and Less Fat 5. Gay Enclaves Face Prospect of Being Passé »  Go to Complete List Advertisement In Wes Anderson's THE DARJEELING LIMITED,three brothers (Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody)set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other. Their journey however, veers rapidly off-course due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, cough syrup, and pepper spray. Click here to watch trailer Copyright 2007  The New York Times Company | Privacy Policy

Women in India Break Tradition with Prayer

From the Times of India

Women break tradition with namaz
16 Oct 2007

PUNE: In a city where Mahatma Phule and Maharishi Karve first sparked off the trend of women’s education, Muslim women offering ‘namaz’ together for the first time openly on the occasion of Ramzan Eid on Sunday came as no surprise.

In an initiative by the Kerala Muslim Jamath, almost 70 women, including 20 teenagers, gathered at the Pune Kerala Muslim Jamat (PKMJ) Hall at Nana Peth here for the purpose.

Since this is a widely followed practice in Kerala, the women’s cell of the PKMJ felt that this should be implemented in Pune as well.

“In Mecca and Medina as well, women read the namaz in mosques, and the Quran also doesn’t stop women from that. So we put forth our request to the PKMJ executive committee and it was approved,” said Sulu Gafoor, women’s president of the PKMJ.

Considering that this was the first time that such an initiative was held in the city, the attendance was more than expected, said Gafoor.

According to C Shamsuddin, executive chairman of the PKMJ, with a population of 2,000 to 3,000, we are a very small community in Pune. “We have almost 500 member families of the PKMJ here. That makes it all the more important for us to generate new ideas to keep the community close-knit and what better way than to bring women to the forefront?”

Renowned poetess Kamala Suraiyya also hailed the initiative by sending out a letter of appreciation to the women who participated in the namaz.

Abeda Inamdar, vice-president of Maharashtra Cosmopilitan Education Society, said, “Fifty per cent of society constitutes of women, so if they come together in a holy or a social atmosphere to discuss their issues, it will lead to the development of the community in particular and the nation in general.”

The PKMJ is now trying to have women offer namaz along with men on Fridays.

NYTimes.com: In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism

This page was sent to you by: faisalalam@aol.com NATIONAL | October 2, 2007 In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism By NEELA BANERJEE Indians often say they see what they hope to be in the experience of Jews in American politics: a small minority that has succeeded in combating prejudice and building political clout.

Indian Muslim Clerics to Work for Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Indian Muslim clerics to work for Israeli-Palestinian peace

2007-09-12 | Author : Faraz Ahmad

News Category : India

New Delhi, Sep 12 - A group of Muslim clerics from India have called upon 'the children of Abraham (Muslims, Christians and Jews)' to shun violence against each other and have undertaken to promote peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.

An eight-member delegation led by four Muslim clerics from India visited Israel Aug 15-21. The visit was marked by the Indian maulanas and the Israeli rabbis by the signing of a joint peace accord, which asked the 'Children of Abraham' to shun violence against each other.

It also stated that: 'We call for the review of all educational materials to ensure that these do not contain any expressions of hate or incitement towards others; and if such appear, to eliminate them accordingly.'

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) promoted the idea and also organised the seven-day tour, said Priya Tandon, the India representative of AJC, who accompanied the delegation.

The group included Maulana Omar Ahmed Ilyasi, general secretary All India Organisation of Imams of Mosques; Maulana Qari Hifzurr Ehnian Merathi, vice president of the Imams' organisation; Maulana Khwaja Afzal, chief imam of the Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia and Khwaja Ahmed, founder president of Inter-Faith Harmony Foundation.

The president of the All India Imams' Organisation Maulana Jamil Ilyasi had also set out for Tel Aviv, but returned from Mumbai after the local newspapers carried the news of his visit to Israel prominently. Eventually his son Omar Ahmed Ilyasi led the delegation.

Three Urdu-language journalists were also part of the eight-member delegation.

In their seven-day tour the delegates met Israeli president Shimon Peres, visited Ramallah and interacted with the Palestinian people, observed the proceedings of the Israeli parliament, visited the Knesset, went to Jerusalem as also to the Al Aqsa masjid - also called Haram Al Sharif - and offered prayers there and observed a Sharia court in Israel.

They also met the chief rabbis of Israel, Shlomo Moshe Amar and Yona Metzger, at an interaction with the chief rabbinate council where they held an inter-faith dialogue with the rabbis. That is where they signed this 'peace accord'.

This was the first ever all-Muslim group taken by the AJC anywhere and in particular to Israel.

Tandon told IANS: 'We have occasionally been taking delegations to the US, to Australia and to Europe. But this is the first time in the history of AJC that a Muslim-only group was escorted. That is why this is historic. It was very well received in Israel.'

She also explained why AJC made a considered decision in favour of Indian Muslims.


(c) Indo-Asian News Service