VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 192, July 17, 2011

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

Editorial Note:

We are currently outside the United States and on a visit to Chennai (formerly called Madras) which is the capital of the State of Tamil Nadu. In this E-Zine, We wanted to put our spotlight on the topic of DIVERSITY OF THE GLOBAL UMMAH in terms of highlighting on Muslims in Tamil Nadu. A majority of the non-Indian Muslims are unaware of the important role of Arabs in introducing Islam to the Tamils. Below is an edited version on the history of Tamil Muslims. We have also highlighted certain Tamil Muslim's propensity to visit Dargah's and a positive development regarding Muslims in Tamil Nadu pledge not to give or take dowry. We have also highlighted on a Female Tamil Muslim Social Activist and a Tamil Muslim Novelist.

PART - I

TAMIL MUSLIMS:
(indianetzone.com)
(condensed version)

Tamil Muslims have their origin to Arab traders who brought Islam to Tamil Nadu in the seventh century AD. Based in the coastal towns of Tamil Nadu, these Arab traders married local Tamil women whose offspring, a mixed Arab-Tamil race, were the first Tamil Muslims. The entry of Islam through maritime trade made it easier for the religion to be assimilated in south India than in the north, since Arab traders were `not contestants for political power,and consequently were not concerned with maintaining a separate identity.

Tamil Muslims were further subdivided into Marakkayars and Rowthers.

MARAKKAYAR:

The term Marakkayar was derived from the Arabic markab, which means boat, and the Tamil rayar, which means king, hence ruler of maritime trade. The two fundamental criteria in the origin myth that define the Marakkayar are that they resided on the coast and were involved in foreign trade. They claimed Arab origin and followed the Shafi School of Islamic jurisprudence.

A South-East Asian influence was visible in their dress, customs, and day-to-day life. They were mainly found in the coastal towns of Kayalpattinam, Keelakarai, and Karaikal. Usually big traders, they owned ships that facilitated their business with Ceylon and the Straits settlements. They dealt in pearl, ruby, and chanks. Kilakkarai in Tamanathapuram district, for instance, was famous for its Muslim pearl divers. This stretch along the coastline from Pondicherry to Tirunelveli continues to be addressed in Muslim popular usage as the Marakkayar belt. The Marakkayars defined themselves by their residence on the coast, their participation in maritime trade, their Arab origins, their Shafi belief, and their commonality with South-East Asia.

ROWTHER:

The term Rowther was connected with horses, either with Muslims as traders or as cavalry. Muslims were known to be the Guthirai-Chettikal or horse traders, who imported Arab horses for trade with the Cholas, the Pandyas, and the Pallavas. Mush of the history of the Muslims until the arrival of the Europeans and their assimilation into Tamil society revolved around the horse trade as well as related duties as part of the cavalry in the military expeditions of these kingdoms. Tamil Muslims and their descendants who had anything to do with horse came to be known as Rowthers. Over time, the Rowthers follow the Hanafi School of Islamic jurisprudence, and were found in the Tamil hinterland, in areas such as Thanjavur, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, and Madurai.

While the Marakkayar and the Rowthers were two clearly identifiable subdivisions among the Tamil Muslims in their origin myths and social organization, another term used for Tamil Muslims was Labbai; its meaning is unclear. What the term Labbai meant seemed to depend on who used it; for Tamil-speaking Muslims, especially Rowthers and Marakkayars, labbai referred to a learned Islamic scholar as well as to one who was involved in ritual occupations at the mosques and shrines (derived from the Arabic labbaik, which means 'here I am'). The census used the term to signify all Tamil-speaking Muslims, as distinct from Urdu speakers.

Apart from the Marakkayar, Rowther, and Labbai, some other divisions in Muslim society have been pointed out by scholars. The Muslim society in Tamil Nadu in the first centuries after the arrival of Islam was composed entirely of converts and their descendants from the indigenous Tamil population. Ethnographers have suggested close connections between particular groups of Muslims and certain Hindu castes. The Rowther were believed to be Maravar converts, the Tarakanar were Iluvan converts, and the Marakkayar were Paravar converts. These intimate interconnections may explain the entrenched sense of similarity that Tamil Muslims felt with their Hindu `caste` fellows and their attractions to the inclusive rhetoric of the Dravidian movement.

Different Tamil Muslim groups were also stratified along class lines. Successful Marakkayar and Rowther merchants were to constitute the political elite of the Tamil Muslim community in the twentieth century. Beneath this powerful, if thin, upper layer of wealthy maritime traders was a mass of artisans engaged in diverse occupations such as weaving, mat making, cotton-tape production, cotton cleaning, pith work, bangle making, the making of perfumes, and the cultivation of betel leaves; wholesale and retail traders in textiles, both for export and the inland market; and a small population of fishermen and pearl divers. It is to this diverse distribution of groups along occupational lines that the category 'Tamil Muslim' is applied.

Another important feature of Tamil Muslim society was their dispersal through migration. Over the centuries, they had spread throughout South-East Asia-Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Hong Kong, and Indo-China as merchants, petty traders, and labourers. Tamil Muslim migrants played a key role in the development of Muslim literature and the press in the Tamil language. Tamil Muslim migration to South-East Asia was part of the larger Tamil diaspora, which gave Muslims another opportunity to define themselves as Tamil away from mainland India.

The history of the development of Muslim society in Tamil Nadu made it clear that Tamil Muslims had developed social and cultural ties with the larger Tamil population. Although some Tamils changed their religion, they maintained their linguistic and cultural ties with the larger Tamil population over the generations.

Among the most notable events in Tamil Muslim history is the career of the Kilakkarai Marakkayar sitakati (Shaikh Abdul Qadir), who is invoked even to this day by the Tamil literary tradition as a patron of scholars and poets. Sitakati served at the court of the Ramnad Raja, Raghunatha Setupati, and commissioned south India's best-known Muslim devotional work by Umaru Pulavar, Sirappuranam, a 5, 000 stanza epic on the life of the Prophet. The Marakkayars were among the most active
figures in the development of Arabi-Tamil.

Muslims formed an integral part of the Tamil cultural landscape. Non-Muslims joined Muslims in celebrating Muharram or Allah-Sami pandiki and reveled in the fire-walking ceremony, the wearing of masks, and participating in tomb cults that would, according to orthodox criteria, be, in the words of an official, `violative of the principles of Islam`.

In Tiruchirapalli, for instance, Muslims enjoyed a unique relationship with three non-Muslim castes: the Kammalans, the Tottiyans, and the Pallans. These castes and the Muslims were known to assist each other in times of trouble, and the terms of address between them were those usually reserved for immediate kin. Muslims and Kammalans called each other mani, by which they meant `paternal uncle`; Muslims addressed Pallans as `grandson` and `granddaughter`, and were called `grandfather` by them; and finally, Tottiyans and Muslims addressed one another as maman or maternal uncle. Such locality-based social formations where Muslims greeted others and were greeted in turn as kin rendered unfeasible the development of rigid `Hindu` and `Muslim` boundaries in Tamil Nadu.

The most important factor is that the Muslim politics subsumed the categories of Marakkayar, Rowther, and Labbai under the category of Tamil Muslim. The Tamil language and Islam were the main parameters of definition for these groups and therefore there is the importance of defining them as Tamil Muslims. Any account of Tamil Muslims shows that they had a long tradition of being Tamil while being Muslim. This was achieved through conversions, spatial location within Tamil society, and involvement with and contribution to the Tamil language. This sense of being Tamil later came to the forefront when Tamil Muslims negotiated the Dravidian movement and Indian nationalism.

PART - II

HISTORY OF TAMIL NADU:

Tamil Nadu's history dates back to pre-historic times. Archaeological evidence points to this area being one of the longest continuous habitations in India. In Adichanallur, 24 km (15 mi) from Tirunelveli, archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India unearthed evidence confirming them to be of the Neolithic period, 3800 years ago.

Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is the capital of the State of Tamil Nadu and is the fourth largest city in India. Its official language Tamil has been in use in inscriptions and literature for over 2000 years. In 1969, Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning Tamil country.

INTRODUCTION OF ISLAM IN TAMIL NADU FROM THE NORTHERN PART OF INDIA:

RULE OF NAWABS AND NIZAMS (1692–1801)

In the early 18th century, the eastern parts of Tamil Nadu came under the dominions of the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Nawab of the Carnatic. While Wallajah was supported by the English, Chanda Shahib was supported by the French by the middle of the 18th century. In the late 18th century, the western parts of Tamil Nadu, came under the dominions of Hyder Ali and later Tipu Sultan, particularly with their victory in the Second Anglo-Mysore War.

Prior to Indian independence Tamil Nadu was under British colonial rule as part of the Madras Presidency.

Muslims comprise 5.57 percent of the population of Tamil Nadu.

St. Thomas Mount in Chennai, the place where St. Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus, was believed to have been martyred, is an important pilgrimage site for Indian Christians

Muslims are mainly concentrated in areas such as Adirampattinam, Kayalpatnam, Kilakarai, Pernambut, Ambur, Vaniyambadi, Madurai, Nagore, and Melapalayam, with the state capital Chennai also home to a number of Muslims. Among Muslims, 97.5% are Sunni and the rest are Shias. The Sunnis adhere to either Hanafi or Shafi schools of thought. Erwadi in Ramanathapuram district and Nagore in Nagapattinam district are important pilgrimage sites for Muslims. Kazimar Big Mosque in Kazimar Street, Madurai and Karpudaiyar Masjid in Kayalpatnam are the oldest mosques in Tamil Nadu.

ACCORDING TO WIKIPEDIA, TAMIL NADU IS:

a) The eleventh largest State

b) Is one of the most literate states in India. Tamil Nadu has performed reasonably well in terms of literacy growth during the decade 2001–2011. The state's literacy rate increased from 73.47% in 2001 to 80.3% in 2011 which is above the national average

c) Produces the highest number of engineering graduates in India (around 1,75,000) every year.

d) Most urbanized State in India

e) Tamil Nadu's tourism industry is the second largest in India.

f) Has highest number of business enterprises

g) Most industrialized State in India

h) Second in total employment

i) Third largest contributor to India's GDP

j) Has been home to its Tamil people since 500 BCE

k) Has eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites

l) Has the country's third longest coastline (910 km) 610 miles

m) Has been a pioneering state of E-Governance initiatives in India

n) Tamil Nadu Police Force is over 140 years old. It is the fifth largest state police force in India and has the largest strength of women police personnel in the country

o) Is the seventh most populous state in India

p) Is also home to the Tamil film industry. It is known for being the second largest film industry in terms of revenue and worldwide distribution, in India.

PART III:

RACIAL IDENTITY OF TAMIL MUSLIMS:

www.pediaview.com

Tamil Muslims are identifiable by a common language and religion. Otherwise, they belong to multiple ethnicites such as Dravidian, Aryan, Oriental, Malay, Semitic, Turkish, Arabic, Moorish, et al.. Hence, their complexions range from fair to dark; facial bone structures range from sharp/oval to rounded. This was due to the frequent trading and marriage ties in South East Asia.

UPPER ECONOMIC CLASS OF TAMIL MUSLIMS:

There are about 400 millionaires within the community and at least one billionaire viz. B.S. Abdur Rahman (better known as the Buhari Group)who constructed the conglomerate ETA Star Group, Chennai Citi Centre, Chepauk Stadium, Marina Lighthouse, Valluvar Kottam, Government General Hospital, Gemini Flyover, Crescent Engineering College, et al.. He owns over 70 ocean-going vessels.

(UNIQUE MIXING OF CULTURAL CUSTOMS):

Like the thali of Tamil Hindu brides, Tamil Muslim women wear a chain strung with black beads called Karugamani which is tied by the groom's elder female relative to the bride's neck on the day of nikkah.

PART IV:

(ED NOTE:
HAVE CERTAIN TAMIL MUSLIMS DEVIATED FROM ISLAM IN TERMS OF BELOW PRACTICE OF VISITING DARGAH ?)

ERWADI DARGAH

www.en.wikipedia.org

The village of Erwadi is the location of the grave and shrine of Qutbus Sultan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed Badusha, the then ruler of Madinah Al Munawwara. The town is famous because of the shrine of Hazrat Sultan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed badusha radiyallah ta'ala anhu.

Al Qutbul Hamid wal Gausul Majid Badhusha Hazrat Sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed Radiyalla Ta'ala anhu is an 18th generation descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the king of Madinah while he started towards in India in early 12th century to spread Islam according to Muhammad's wish. With millions of supporters from all over the world.

ERWADI GAINING IMPORTANCE IN TAMIL NADU:

Al Qutbul Hamid wal Gausul Majid Badhusha Hazrat Sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed Radiyalla Ta'ala anhu is an 18th generation descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the king of Madinah while he started towards in India in early 12th century to spread Islam according to Muhammad's wish. With millions of supporters from all over the world. Sultan Syed Ibrahim Shahid first came to the Sindh province in Pakistan spread Islam there through various means and returned to Madinah.

Again obliging Muhammad's order, Shaheed Badusha started from Madinah with his entire family leaving the throne. He came across various difficulties while traveling in the sea and in the forests towards India without proper food and shelter or some nice water to drink and finally entered Kannanur in Kerala. His ultimate aim was to spread Islam as per the order of his hereditary grandfather Hazrat Muhammad. He travelled via, Kayalpattinam, Vaippar, Madurai and finally entered Bouthiramanickapattinam, now called as Ervadi.

THE WAR:

Hazrat Sultan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed, offered the Islamic teachings to the Pandiya ruler Thiru Pandiyan in Madurai who refused to accept and waged a war. Finally the troops of Hazrat Sultan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed won and Sultan Iskandar (Sikandar) Badusha was throned in Madurai. Then the troops of Sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed went ahead towards Bouthramanickapattinam.

Shahidh Badusha offered Islam to the King Vikkirama Pandiyan who very strictly refused and asked to leave the kingdom. Shaheed refused to leave without turning them Muslims. Vikrama Pandiyan started war. A very vigorous war which took about 10 sessions each of around 3–4 days held.

All of the family members of Shaheed Badhusah were killed including his only son Syed Abutahir, Brother Syed Ismail, Brother in Law Zainul Aabideen and many of the martyrs and ministers ofShaheedh badhusha like Amir Abbas of Rome, Abdul Qadir Mujahid, Muhaiyaddeen, Aboobakkar AbdulHakkim, Abdullah, Shamsuddin of Makkah, Qamaruddin, Nooruddeen, Muhammadh Yusuf, Jafar Sadiq,Rome Syed Ahmad, Zulfaqar Ali @ Chanthana Peer of Turkey, Abdul Qadir Gilani, Abdul QadirSamadaani, Pathan Sahib, Hamza basheer, Uvaisul Hasan Ridwanullahi Ta'ala alaihim ajmaeenand few more thousands. Finally, king Vickrama pandiyan was killed and Sulthan SyedIbrahim Shaheed Badusha won the war and captured the throne of Bouthiramanickapatttinam.

He ruled the province for 12 years and spread Islam all over south Tamil Nadu. The coin published during the rule of Hazrat Sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed is found. He too wished to be a martyr and told about that to Muhammad who promised it.

THE PEACE:

Later King Tiru pandiyan came from Madurai with a larger troop and assassinated Shaheed badusha to re capture the thrown after 12 years. Then again badusha Syed Is'haq (Shaheed badhusha's brother Syed Ismail badusha's son) killed king Thiru pandiyan and captured the throne. The rivalry between the Arabs and pandiyas came to an end when both signed a pact, according to which Arabs (descendants of Shaheed Badusha) would rule the Bouthiramanikka pattinam (Ervadi) Province and the Pandiyans to rule the Ramanathapuram province. This was under implementation till the 17th century before British East India Company started occupying India.

Hazrat Syed Is'haq, Syed Ibrahim, Syed Baqir, Syed Qasim, Syed Tahir Ridwanullahi Ta'ala alaihim ajmaeen and other descendants of Sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed have ruled the Bouthiramanikkapattinam province and Regunatha Sethupathy, Kilavan (Kizhavan) Sethupathy, Vijaya Regunatha Sethupathy, Muthu Regunatha Sethupathi, Muthuramalinga Sethupathy, Bhaskara Sedupathy, Kumaran Sethupathi and other Descendants of Sethupathi have ruled the Ramanathapuram province

SHUHADAAS AND WALIYATULLAHS IN ERWADI:

The graves of Emperor Sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed badusha along with his kith and kin is found in the main dargah campus. Also the Holy Graves of other important Shuhadaas and in laws of Badusha Sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed is found inside the premises. A very big mosque which can accommodate 10,0000 pilgrims for every prayer is also found inside theMain dargha campus. The single mammoth minaret which is around 250 feet (76 m) adds tothe glory of Erwadi. It can be viewed from any of the shores in Ramanathapuram District and this acts as a virtual lighthouse to the fishermen in Ervadi and adjacent villages.

SHUHADAAS IN MAIN DARGAH:

The main shrine (dargah) in Erwadi is the holiest place for muslims in Tamil Nadu because it is mixed with the soil of Madinah. Qutb Sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed and most of his family members, close relatives and other shuhadaas' grave is found in the main dargah. The big hall of the Shrine of Hazrat Sultan Syed Ibrahim Shahid was constructed by Eiatibar khan, during the time of the Nawab of Arcot. The main Dargah has three entrances. It is fully opened except for the dargahs. Thousands of pilgrims stay here in the mixture of Madinah's soil which is supposed to cure all kind of fatal diseases with the blessings of Shahid Badusha.

PART V

POSITIVE INITIATIVE TAKEN BY MUSLIMS IN TAMIL NADU

(ED NOTE:

We have in our past E-Zines consistently opposed giving or taking of dowry and below initiative by Muslims in Tamil Nadu is a major step in the right direction which need to be supported by one and all. Excellent initiative taken by esteemed "Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath". They should be a role model for Muslims not only in Tamil Nadu but the entire Indian subcontinent. The cancer of dowry has already created enough havoc for millions of economically disadvantaged Muslims, it is time to work on damage control).

Muslims in Tamil Nadu pledge not to give or take dowry
www.twocircles.net
12 July 2011

TCN News

Coimbatore:

Tamilnadu Thowheed Jamath’s Coimbatore Chapter organized a conference as part of the “Anti-Dowry Campaign” to bring the awareness in the community to revive the youth in particular about the evil effect of Dowry..

Since its inception Tamilnadu Thowheed Jamath is striving hard to erase the system of dowry from the Muslim community.

Allah says in Quran in verse 4 of Surah An-Nisa

"And give to the women (whom you marry) their Mahr (obligatory bridal-money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage) with a good heart;"

while in contrary the community takes dowry from the bride, The evil of dowry is rooted firm in the society and even ulema performing the nikah do not check if a dowry is being demanded as condition for the marriage.

Anti-Dowry conference organised by Coimbatore chapter of Tamilnadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ) was started around 7.00 pm.

He was followed by the State Management Committee member Moulavi Fakeer Althafi who spoke on the evil of effects of dowry. He called to restore Islamic marriage values and avoid those anti-social activities in the community and the increasing rate of unmarried girls in the community. He also stated that "Dowry" is the main reason for the feticide, gas stove bursting, suicide.

Thousands of participants, both men and women, pledged that they will not take dowry for themselves or their children or give dowry to their children.

The anti dowry campaign ended with "Anti-Dowry Marriages", the marriage held in the stage and the nikah was as per the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammed.

The Tamilnadu Thowheed Jamath has its members and volunteers spread around the globe. The movement requires that member of TNTJ shouldn’t take dowry from bride and shall not attend any such marriage which involves dowry. The members will be expelled from the Jamath if it is proven that he has taken dowry or encouraged dowry marriage.

PART VI

SOCIAL ACTIVIST SISTER DAUD SHARIFA KHANUM

ED NOTE:

Sister Daud Sharifa Khanum is a lightning rod for certain macho Muslim men who feel comfortable and "at home" to be the gate keepers of maintaining the status quo of their inherited gender advantage that they were gifted from previous generations. It is still not too late for certain Muslim men to be able to siff through the contemporary Islamic values and remove the polluted truly anti-islamic cultural values that have seeped through the pores of Islam and are masquerading as Islamic values. Failing which, there may be hundreds more of "Daud Sharifa Khanums" in the social pipeline waiting to burst into the uneven playing field of gender relationships between Muslim men and women and fight for justice that the unpolluted pure Islam originally stood for.

Although we have significant differences with her in terms of her implementation of Islamic values, we still feel she is right on the mark when it comes to STANDING UP FOR THE RIGHTS OF DISTRESSED AND DISADVANTAGED MUSLIM WOMEN.

Our loving Prophet Mohamed (SAW) stated that "WOMEN'S RIGHTS ARE SACRED". Now you look around your own family, social circle of friends, relatives and society at large and tell us to what extent men have attempted to maintain above mentioned rights of women as SACRED ?".

TAMIL MUSLIM SOCIAL ACTIVIST
DAUD SHARIFA KHANUM FIGHTS FOR MUSLIM WOMEN'S RIGHTS

WWW.themuslimmag.blogspot.com

Sujatha Madhok

"I have courage, not authority. My work is a necklace of hot burning coals," says Sharifa who heads the Muslim Women’s Jamaat of Tamil Nadu.

Daud Sharifa Khanam is a women’s activist and first recipient of the Durgabai Deshmukh Award, instituted by the Central Social Welfare Board in 1999.

SHARIFA KHANAM
Saurabh Sugandh
(www.unsungheroesofindia.blogspot.com)

She formed the world’s first all-woman Jamaat. Now, Sharifa Khanam is aiming for another first: A mosque just for women

For Daud Sharifa Khanam, 41, the only goal was to empower Muslim women so that they can fight for their basic needs, be it emotional, physical or material.

But, she had no idea what she was in for. “I did not expect this response. I wanted to sensitise Muslim women about basic human rights. But, once they savoured freedom and power, they told me: ‘Now that we have come out, give us power,’” says Khanam, who thought of separate Jamaat (gathering) when she found women getting sidelined in the existing Jamaats and “male chauvinism ruling the roost.”

“We still face threats. But, at the same time we know that many Jamaats have begun respecting us and also recommending cases to us,” she adds.

In a world where Muslim women are seldom heard, the Jamaat was formed at a convention in Karumandapam in Tiruchy in February 2004 and the Quran was read out. It has since settled disputes relating to nikah, dowry and domestic violence. One of its Arabic scholars even conducted a ‘nikah.’

“This is not a religious fight. It is a struggle to empower women. We go by issues. If the men refuse to heed our decision, we take the cases to the police,” said Khanam.

A post-graduate in history and office management from Aligarh University, Khanam came into limelight when she began speaking about a mosque for women.

The seed of revolt germinated in Khanam when this girl from a middle class family, where she lived in the cocoon of comfort and safety, began field studies on the condition of Muslim women in Tamil Nadu. In 1991, she formed ‘STEPS,’ an organisation to empower Muslim women.

It has now formed Jamaat groups in all the 13 districts of Tamil Nadu and has 10,000 members.

Khanam feels the Jamaat is not complete without a mosque. “It will be a place that women could call their own. A woman Quran scholar would be appointed priest. Though we were given land by the Muslim community in Parambore village, they were threatened by religious heads.

We did not want legal troubles later. So I have dedicated a piece of land in Pudukottai. We will build the mosque little by little as we gather money. It will be a space where women could pray, talk, laugh, share and discuss,” said Sharifa, who is still being labelled as a bigot and an RSS agent.

THE LIVES SHE HAS TOUCHED

When tsunami struck in December 2004, what hit Zubeda, 45, was human apathy. “I found that Christian missionaries were helping only the Christians and the Hindu organisations helping the Hindus,” she said. Zubeda, who stayed in Tracepuram in Tuticorin district, approached Khanam for help. The meeting changed her life as Zubeda even challenged the Jamaat in Tuticorin.

Rajathi, 51, went looking for Khanam when her daughter was sent back home by her in-laws, alleging that she was HIV positive. The Jamaat at Manaparai in Madurai district, where her daughter lived, too refused to interfere. Rajathi drew strength from Khanam and filed a police complaint. Her daughter and son-in-law underwent a test again and tested negative. She is now back in her husband’s home.

SHARIFA KHANAM PARTICIPATES IN CONGRESS OF ISLAMIC FEMINISTS
www.feminismeislamic.org

Daud Sharifa Khanam attended Fourth Congress 2010 for Islamic feminists

WHAT IS ISLAMIC FEMINISM ?

Islamic feminism is a Koran-centred reform movement by Muslim women with the linguistic and theological knowledge to challenge patriarchal interpretations and offer alternative readings in pursuit of women’s advancement and in refutation of Western stereotypes and Islamist orthodoxy alike. Islamic feminists are critical of women’s legal status and social positions and agree that women are placed in subordinate positions –by law and by custom– in the family, the economy, and the polity. In particular, they are critical of the content of Muslim family laws and the ways that these laws restrict women’s human rights and privilege men.

And yet they vigorously disagree that Islam is implicated in this state of affairs. Their alternative argument is that Islam has been interpreted in patriarchal and often misogynistic ways over the centuries (and especially in recent decades), that Sharia law has been misunderstood and misapplied, and that both the spirit and the letter of the Koran have been distorted. Their insistence that what appears as God’s law is in fact human interpretation is an audacious challenge to contemporary orthodoxy.

Islamic feminism is part of what has been variously called Islamic modernism, liberalism, and reformism –a transnational effort to marginalize patriarchal, orthodox, and aggressive forms of Islamic observance and emphasize the norms of justice, peace, and equality.

DAUD SHARIFA KHANUM FIGHTS FOR MUSLIM WOMEN'S RIGHTS

(news.rediff.com)
Yoginder Sikand
Aug 6, 2010

'Many Muslim men were wrongly interpreting Islam in a very patriarchal manner'

Pudukkottai, a small town in Tamil Nadu, Daud Sharifa Khanum heads the Tamil Nadu Muslim Women's Jamaat, a network of some 25,000 Tamil Muslim women working for Muslim women's rights and empowerment. She has been widely acknowledged for her pioneering work, for which has received numerous national-level awards. Khanum is also planning to start India's first women's mosque.

In an interview with Yoginder Sikand, Khanum speaks about work and the manifold problems facing Indian Muslim women.

Could you briefly describe your background?

I was born in a small town in Tamil Nadu in 1964 in a family of modest means. My mother was 47 years old when I was born. I was the youngest of her 10 children. Shortly after I was born, my parents separated because of my father's illness, and I was brought up by my mother, who was a strong, independent woman. She suffered and struggled a lot in her life -- and that was an inspiration for me. She taught in an Urdu school in a village near Trichy. I lived with her, studying in the village till the twelfth grade.

At that time, my brother was a student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He wanted me to study in North India, so I enrolled for a three-year course in office management at Aligarh Muslim University. My brother and mother wanted me to have a good education, and to grow up to be economically independent. After my studies at Aligarh, my brother wanted me to stay on in North India, but I decided to return to Tamil Nadu to be with my mother.

My brother, who was a very 'religious' person -- in the conventional sense -- and also very dominating, was angry with my decision and stopped helping both me and my mother financially. At that point, I really had no plans as to what I should do. At most, I thought, I should follow my mother and become a school teacher. When I got back to Tamil Nadu, I began giving private Hindi tuitions to children in the same village where my mother worked.

How did you get involved in women's activism?

Shortly after I got back, in 1988, I heard about a women's conference that was to be held in Patna. They needed a translator for the 70-odd women from Tamil Nadu who had been invited as participants. I applied for the job, hoping to earn some money, and got it. I was the only Muslim woman in the entire Tamil Nadu team.

The conference proved to be a turning point in my life. Till then, I had thought that male control over women was something natural, and that it was to be expected for men to boss over and even beat their wives. After all, I had experienced that in my own home. But at the conference I heard women speaking out against male domination, which they did not see as natural or something to be passively accepted at all. I heard so many harrowing tales of women, from different castes and communities, having to suffer the same sort of patriarchal oppression. It made a deep impact on me.

After I returned from the conference I began getting invitations to numerous other women's conferences through the women I had met in Patna. I learnt so much through these meetings. I travelled to these conferences by myself -- this was the first time in my life when I could do things on my own, travel and go about by myself out of the house, free from male control. It fired me with a sense of independence, which was really exhilarating.

These experiences encouraged me to work with women back in Tamil Nadu. I shifted to Pudukkottai, a small town near Trichy where, with a group of women, mainly non-Muslims, we began to work on women's issues, seeking to address their problems. All sorts of women, of different castes and communities, came to us for help. We did this work in an informal way, with our own personal financial resources. I used my own money, earned through giving tuitions and buying saris from Bangalore and selling them in Pudukkottai for a small profit.

One day, we organised a poster exhibition in a school, where we put up dozens of posters on gender oppression and women's rights. The collector of the district, a woman called Sheela Ranisugat, came to see the exhibition and was very impressed. She encouraged us to organise such exhibitions in more schools in the area. She also helped me participate in a literacy programme for women in a coastal area in Tamil Nadu which had a heavy Muslim presence.

Some time later, the district collector told me that I should work in a more organised manner for which, she said, we needed to register ourselves as a society. This we did, and STEPS, our registered NGO, came into being. The collector very kindly granted us a plot of land in Pudukkottai, where our office is located today. We started building a small structure there -- this was in 1991 -- but we had to face tremendous opposition from local people, who were jealous that we had got the land which had a fairly high value.

What made you decide to focus mainly on issues related to Muslim women?

All this while I was working on issues related to women in general. I was hardly conscious of my Muslim identity. Compared to North India, relations between Hindus and Muslims have always been much better in Tamil Nadu. However, things began to change in the 1990s. In 1994, communal clashes broke out between Hindus and Muslims in our district, and this emerged as a new issue for us to focus on.

We brought a group of activists from the People's Union for Civil Liberties to tour the area and organised peace meetings. Shortly after, communal violence broke out in Nagore, in coastal Tamil Nadu. Muslims bore the brunt. There I met with a Muslim woman whose husband had been killed in the violence. She had no one to support her and her two children. That really struck me. The rising tide of communalism made me realise the desperate need to work with Muslim women.

In 1995-96, I did a project on the socio-economic conditions of Muslim women for the London-based Women Living Under Muslim Laws network. We covered five districts in Tamil Nadu, and I discovered to my horror terrible cases -- of women arbitrarily divorced, beaten by drunken husbands, harassed for dowry, some being forced into child marriages, and of even cases of murder and forced suicide that were carefully hushed up. Then, I turned to the Quran.

All this while, I had, like most other Muslim women in India, read the Quran in Arabic, not understanding anything at all but simply reciting it. But when I read the Tamil translation of the Quran, I discovered that all these practices had no sanction at all in the Quran. I increasingly came to realise the magnitude of the problems faced by many Muslim women, the need to address these, and also the fact that many Muslim men were wrongly interpreting Islam in a very patriarchal manner to justify the subordination and oppression of Muslim women.

As I said, I was never very conscious of my Muslim identity before. I was not actively involved in Muslim-specific issues. I was working on issues related to women in general, and these included women from various castes and communities. But my perceptions changed drastically in 2002 when, in the wake of the massive anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat, I visited Gujarat for a fortnight.

The charged communal environment, when every Muslim was being looked upon suspiciously, heightened my sense of being a Muslim. That's when I felt it was necessary to begin working with Muslim women.

Typically, secular women's groups are reluctant to work with Muslim women. This could be because of a subtle prejudice, in some cases, or simply because Muslim women's issues are seen to be inextricably linked to Islam, and these groups are scared that by taking up Muslim women's issues they might provoke the wrath of the maulvis, who might accuse them of interfering in Islam. So, I felt that Muslim women must form their own groups and speak out and work for their own emancipation.

How did you go on to establish the Tamil Nadu Muslim Women's Jamaat?

In 2002, as a STEPS initiative, we set up the Tamil Nadu Muslim Pengal Jamaat, or the Tamil Nadu Women's Jamaat. In Tamil Nadu -- and I suppose this is the case several other parts of India as well -- local Muslim communities manage their community affairs through committees or jamaats that meet inside the local mosque. Women are generally forbidden from praying in, or even entering, mosques across most of India, and so these jamaats are entirely male. The jamaats function like caste panchayats, deciding cases of marital disputes, divorce, and so on. Women have no voice in their functioning.

The jamaats are dominated by the maulvis who, like the rest of the men, are generally characterised by a very patriarchal mind-set. Even their understanding of Islam is deeply shaped by their patriarchal mentality.

Generally, the jamaats turn a complete blind eye to men dumping their wives or taking a second wife, for which they readily provide so-called 'Islamic' sanction, but they rarely, if ever, invoke Islam when it comes to men demanding heavy dowries, beating their wives or denying them their property rights. The jamaat people remain silent on that glaring contradiction.

In most cases, Muslim women simply cannot expect to get justice from these jamaats, nor even a sympathetic hearing. The jamaats even presume to have the authority to excommunicate people from the Muslim community -- such is their power. If, out of desperation, a Muslim woman in distress approaches the police for help, they often refuse to listen to their complaints, saying that Muslims have their own personal laws, which the jamaats administer, and that they should approach the jamaats for justice. But since the jamaats don't generally deliver justice to them, there is nothing they can do.

That is why we felt the need for a separate forum just for Muslim women, where they could discuss their problems and work together to have them solved. This is the basic idea of our women's jamaat.

You must have faced considerable opposition from men, especially maulvis, for setting up the women's jamaat and for decrying the injustice of the male jamaats, isn't it?

Indeed. Initially, for a few years we had to contend with stiff opposition to our work of mobilising Muslim women against oppression and for their rights. I even received several death threats. But I refused to cow down. Only God knows when I shall die, and that will happen when God wills. Men whose hegemony was being threatened by our work wrongly accused me of being anti-Islam. Any challenge to the mullahs is quickly branded in this way, as if the mullahs were synonymous with Islam itself.

How does the women's jamaat function?

Our women's jamaat is loosely structured, not tightly controlled. We have grown rapidly over the years, and now have some 25,000 members across Tamil Nadu. Our district units organise meetings once a month, where members as well as women who may not be members who have problems come together to sort out issues.

Most of these relate to women being harassed and tortured in their homes, sexually abused, arbitrarily divorced, or forced to endure their husbands taking a second wife and so on. Some extreme cases even involve murders and forced suicides. Our members help first by listening to the women's stories and offering them comfort, and then by taking the case up -- through lawyers, the local jamaats, the maulvis, the human rights commission, the media, the district administration and, if need be, the police and public demonstrations.

The more serious cases are brought to the state-level meetings that are held every three months at our headquarters in Pudukkottai, where we then work out a plan of action. We also work closely with the police, and our district coordinators regularly attend the police helpline to counsel Muslim women in distress. Till now, we have handled several hundred cases involving Muslim women across Tamil Nadu. Around 40 per cent have been solved through counseling, a third through police intervention, and the rest through legal action.

So far, we have organised over a hundred state-level Muslim women's conferences, campaigns, workshops, seminars and training programmes. We have units in ten districts in Tamil Nadu, each of which is headed by a district coordinator. We also have a team of five women, including some non-Muslims, in our central office in Pudukkottai. Two out of our ten district coordinators are Hindu women. We have arranged for all our district coordinators to do a bachelor's degree in sociology -- through a correspondence course conducted by the Annamalai University -- so that they can better understand the issues that they have to deal with.

Besides addressing cases of Muslim women being harassed by their menfolk, what other work is the women's jamaat engaged in?

The issue of Muslim women's economic independence and empowerment is a very crucial one. This is particularly important for women who are abandoned or divorced by their husbands or made to suffer various forms of atrocity and oppression silently because they are economically dependent on their men.

One of our major focuses now is to promote a generation of Muslim women entrepreneurs. We have established contact with some financers -- incidentally, all of them are Hindus, because, lamentably, few Muslim men would support such an initiative -- and have formed village- and town-level Muslim women's self-help groups through which we provide small loans to poor Muslim women at a very low level of interest. So far, we have loaned over Rs 2 crore in this way, and the rate of repayment has been almost hundred per cent.

Over the years we have been able to promote almost 500 Muslim women entrepreneurs, who are running small retail and manufacturing units. Most of these women are women who have suffered some sort of marital discord or who come from very poor families. They earn between two and ten thousand rupees a month from their businesses. Besides enabling them to become economically independent, this work gives them a new sense of confidence and freedom, access to the public sphere, and an empowered identity.

My dream is to increase the number of such Muslim women to 5000 over the next few years.

PART VII

A Bold Venture by a Muslim Woman Novelist
www.indianminorities.wordpress.com
(condensed version)
March 5, 2011

By T.S. Subramanian

Salma
Photo: R.M. Rajarathinam

In a new and important development in modern Tamil fiction, a Muslim woman has written a full length novel on Muslim society in Tamil Nadu — delineating especially the Muslim women’s aspirations and their struggles.

Salma, the 34-year old author, has titled her novel as Irandaam Jaamangalin Kathai (The Story of the Midnight). Critics say it is a sensitive portrayal of the familial relationship in Tamil Muslim society. The bold venture juxtaposes the Muslim women’s ordeals vis-à-vis the community’s tight leash on them. It runs to 520 pages.

The last time a Muslim woman wrote fiction in Tamil was when Siddhi Junaida Begum published Kadhala kadamaiya (Love or Duty) in 1938. But it was reportedly an adaptation of Anthony Hope’s novel called Prisoner of Zenda.

Salma’s real name is A. Rokkaiah. She belongs to Thuvarankurichi village near Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu.

President of the Ponnampatti special panchayat in Thuvarankurichi, Salma has already published two anthologies of poems in Tamil and short stories.

The anthologies are titled Oru malaiyum, innoru malaiyum (One Evening and Another Evening) and Pachai Devadhai (The Green Goddess). Her poems, translated into Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and English, explore sensitive issues considered taboo for women to write on.

Salma says: “I can write only about my community. There are several myths about women in different communities. There are myths about Muslim women too. To that extent, our life has been shielded from the outside world.”

But Muslim women are no different from their counterparts elsewhere and their emotions are the same. “You know about a woman’s place in a family. They are in a weak position. I have written about all this in my novel.”

Although there are male Muslim writers in Tamil fiction including Thoppil Mohammed Meeran and H.G. Razul, there is virtually no Muslim woman novelist.

Irandaam Jaamangalin Kathai has been published by Kalachuvadu Pathippagam, Nagercoil.

THE END