Inside a Syrian Quran School for Women: The Spiritual Roots of a Revolution - Huffington Post

Women have been the heart and backbone of Islam from its beginnings. From the courage of Khadija, Prophet Muhammad's first wife and first convert, to the scholarship and fiery independence of his later wife Aisha; from the political genius of Muslim queens such as Egypt's Shajarat al-Dur and India's Nur Jahan to the spiritual wisdom of female saints such as Rabia of Basra, Islam has been shaped and guided by the feminine hand since its earliest days. And today, as the Arab world goes through a long-overdue confrontation between dictatorship and democracy, women have been at its forefront.

Many Muslim women who are serving as political leaders at this pivotal time are receiving a great deal of attention in the news. Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni first brought worldwide attention to the injustices in her country leading to a popular uprising that soon spread throughout the Arab world. In Egypt, 26-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz is credited with using Facebook to inspire her fellow citizens to rise up against the regime of Hosni Mubarak. And among the winners of the 2011 Nobel Prize was Tawakel Karman, a Yemeni journalist whose arrest by the government sparked a wave of protest that finally led to the resignation of Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

These young women, and many others whose names are perhaps known only to their families and loved ones, have been catalysts for change in their countries. But the question arises as to why now? Part of it is demographics, with 60 percent of the population of the Arab world under age 30, and more than half being female. Part of it is growing access to information and social media. These factors have been discussed heavily in the press.

But what has received less attention is the role that spiritual awakening is playing in Muslim women standing tall against oppression. Back in June, I wrote about how Muslim women are taking a lead role in Islamic scholarship to empower themselves and strip their faith of misogynist accretions promoted by men over the centuries. That rediscovery of the feminist elements of Islam has been pivotal in helping Muslim women worldwide reclaim their innate dignity and power, and has helped them to fight back against the staid and outdated traditions that have held back many Muslim countries in the past century.

I recently came across a remarkable documentary that focuses on exactly how that is happening, how Muslim women are taking charge of their religious upbringing, even in the face of oppression. The independent feature documentary, "The Light In Her Eyes," had its world premiere Nov. 19 at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. A world rarely seen by outsiders, it is the first feature film to be made inside the women's side of a mosque in Syria. The film reveals why modern women are choosing to practice Islam in a rapidly changing society.

Directed and produced by Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix, "The Light In Her Eyes" is a story about Muslim leader Houda al-Habash, and one summer at her Quran school for girls in Damascus. Al-Habash and her students are bravely challenging cultural traditions, while staying true to their dedication to Islam. In a surprising shift for many viewers, Al-Habash teaches them that pursuing their ambition is a way of worshipping God. "The Light In Her Eyes" provides an inside look into the Islamic revival from the women's perspective, shedding light on the impact it could have on Syria if the current regime is displaced.

The undercurrents of the contemporary Syrian uprising can be seen in the women's insistence to be educated and to think for themselves. The filmmakers were granted unprecedented access to the world of conservative Muslim women in Syria, shooting over three and a half years as the political climate grew more repressive. They completed principal photography in November 2010, four months before the beginning of the Syrian uprising. Audiences are able to pierce the veil of Muslim women's inner lives and spiritual longings, and see the role that faith plays in their sense of identity and their hopes for the future.

The idea of a Quran school run by women, for women, might seem surprising to many. But Houda al-Habash is simply following in the tradition of Muslim women who have served as religious scholars and teachers back to the days of Prophet Muhammad himself. In my novel, "Mother of the Believers," I discuss how the Prophet's wife Aisha was a scholar who was fluent in the Quran, as well as a jurist, who served as one of the principle sources of Islamic law and teachings. As the woman who was closest to Prophet Muhammad (he died in her arms), Aisha was in a unique position to relate intimate conversations she had with her husband, from marital sexual practices to how to cleanse oneself properly for ritual ablutions. She recounted more than 10,000 hadith, or oral traditions, relating to every aspect of her life with the Prophet, and Aisha's accounts serve as a bedrock for Islamic jurisprudence even today. And she was no wilting wallflower. Aisha was a confident, strong-willed woman who openly challenged men, even arguing spiritual matters with the Prophet himself without trepidation. And she became a political leader after his death, playing a critical role in the disputes over the Caliphate, and eventually taking arms to fight for her beliefs when she led an army in Iraq during the first Islamic civil war. I have no doubt that Aisha would look at Houda al-Habash and her Quran school with esteem, a continuation of her own legacy as a feminist leader of Islam.

The phrase "feminist leader of Islam" may strike some as an oxymoron. And this wonderful documentary will be surprising for many who assume that as freedom comes to the Middle East, Muslim women will seek to model their lives according the secular feminism of the West. As the Muslim women and girls interviewed in the documentary reveal, feminist empowerment will likely be presented in Islamic terms, and a knee-jerk hostility toward the religious aspects of the Arab Spring will only create a new divide of understanding between East and West. The only way such misunderstandings can be prevented is if we learn to see the world through the eyes of others. Despite the rage of anti-Muslim bigots, Islam is not going to go away, and the changes in the Middle East will only bring it even further onto the world stage. The question will be what kind of Islam takes the spotlight when the dust settles on revolution and transformation. Will it be an Islam that pushes its people backward or forward?

Watching this documentary, it is clear that this question will in large part be answered by Muslim women themselves. As the Muslim women featured in "The Light In Her Eyes" say: "A woman is a school. You teach her, you teach a generation."

Kamran Pasha is a Hollywood filmmaker and the author of Shadow of the Swords, a novel on Crusades (Simon & Schuster; June 2010). For more information please visit: http://www.kamranpasha.com. To contact the filmmakers of "The Light In Her Eyes," please email pr@rajae.net.

 

SCTCC School of Islam-St. cloud times health field to help you familiarize yourself with the

Zamzam salad is not a typical college student.

She has a tattoo on her arm, worn on the headscarf in slim 22-year-old standing in the crowd, but her cultural work, St. cloud technical college in den community that got the attention.

I m medical fields, and helping others with a passion for people, salad, who in 2001, St. cloud in Kenya, who had a better education for Somalia, said.

Salad is the art and science of health insurance, consider a career in other Muslim women inspiration at work in Islamic belief, the class how her instructor training before the associate degree in May with a graduate from the University.

Students need, such as Zamzam come to us they are in the classroom requires their own religious practices honors and talk about their different ... Consciousness and have been really s strength Zamzam, Janet Steinkamp, health sciences and human services, said of Dean.

Islam and education

Salad, Mac, and air University undergraduate and health sciences and cultural competent medical care for the Human Services Department staff conducted a workshop.

A lot of people in the know this country don t many Muslim women ...I always told my classmates so they feel ask anything, just ask, salad said.

So she remains true to her culture to Western-style education while ago technology high school students from Patrick Mac and ER, SCTCC, trainer, and cardiovascular technology program's Director and worked with.

For women in the Islamic faith, cover their heads and they are also all the way to the floor their wrists go all the way down and a long skirt or dress shirts must be worn, and said Mac and Salad, who s adviser and knows her.

Other issues; Myself and other instructors are some of the all male. Impressed with the Islamic faith's men of a bitch you ... When something is demonstrated their hand positioning it a different way of appropriate touch of their hands? ?

Full beard with a former student of Mcguire s student s head cover sterilization special kind of hat and clinical settings, so Mac and salad while offering full beard the same kind of hat, she wear her headscarf, which allowed to continue.

Our instructors and other students; The needs of Muslim students about how to support as a valuable resource to demonstrate that She turn better the future of the Islamic faith to their patients the medical quality SCTCC be able to provide health students help others, then Steinkamp said.

Salad she she sterilization, medical environment to work in scrub wear was needed rather than went to a restaurant on campus she her customary skirt again for example, to change, he said.

Some students ask me not to wear a skirt, the other was talking about the feeling and how they felt uncomfortable with it, but still, it's more like, OK, I m doing my job and my job when I m, still with me and said I m, salads.

Work together

Faculty and health sciences and Human Services Department employee Larry d. Purnell s guide to culturally competent health care, so they health care setting in the cultural issues that are more sensitive, you may receive a copy of.

A cardiovascular technician assists angiograms performed heart procedures, such as, putting regulator, pacemaker generator taking heart, salad said.

There are 27 total graduate programs 2005-2008, related work in the field of possible graduates 92% according to the St. cloud technology in the & Community College.

A lot of girls here scrub ... Together would see me and they d like, Oh, my God! You re in the program. How did I do it? Had a lot of them are scared to even apply because because they didn t know they take away d, their scarves salad firmly said.

Salad in the classroom, clinical settings, or something in her research she had disturbing or her religion, exercise, you will be able to feel her keeping her whenever she talked her instructor, he said.

Every time it came time to pray ... Right back to the rest room change completely from my normal clothes to wear, and at the bottom on my mat and pray again, clinical settings said put my scrub just will say my map.

Salad in place because of the SCTCC put a specific rule, but because of the opening of her needs and beliefs discussed her instructor and colleagues with respect and understanding of the Steinkamp, according to, you can work with.

When talking with her map, she said Zamzam never waited in prayer procedure left but sneak patients between prayer, Steinkamp said.

Because they all worked together and demanded individual open, strengthen the enrichment educational environment. Her commitment to the Islamic faith. people who were unfamiliar with, and assist the Zamzam was known

Muslim playwright, actress returns to school secondary stage woman show - the Republic

By Brachear, Manya a. Chicago TribuneFirst posted: May 23, 2011-4: 09 pm
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CHICAGO - Teenager, eighties Malik was very difficult to hide his Muslim heritage.

While some girls of her age has chosen to wear the traditional veil, she opted against it. And when teachers read "Octogenarian" the roll call on the first day of school, she asked them to call his Mariam, she less Muslim and his middle name.

Unable to hide his caramel skin or to overcome his shyness, actress budding and playwright did not audition for a role until his senior year at Niles North High School. She was shocked when she landed the lead.

But what was once a source of shame in his young mind became the inspiration. After putting his trade pending for almost two decades, solo Malik breakout show, "Unveiling", positioned her as one of the increase in the theatre of Chicago stars, critics say.

"When I was teenager, I thought that my color, my religion, my heritage, would prevent me being part of the experience of American Theatre," said Malik, now 34, and a mother of four children. "Now, young Muslims ask me the same things that I used to ask me:" A Muslim can be a theatre artist? ' ". I tell them... "Focus on your business and leave the rest to God." "

As the American Muslim community faces a review plus - hearings on the Capitol Hill hostile neighbours who do not want their nearby worship - Malik builds confidence that it has acquired high school to put aside his self-awareness to realize his dream.

In June, the Goodman Theatre will host a reading of his new play, "The tales of the Mecca", a script commissioned by the Goodman that examines why five Muslim women have decided to make both pilgrimage to Mecca at the moment in their lives.

In addition, his play "Unveiling," about five Muslim women fictive who find their face when inner strength, prejudice and pressure after the terrorist attacks of September 11 was transposed to the public in France, where the wearing of Muslim headscarves have been banned for women working in the public sector.

"Muslims are human beings, they are like everyone else," she said. "I want my writing to show that."

Born in London, Malik moved to Skokie, Illinois and enrolled at Niles North in its first year. She took all the varieties of theatre courses, write poetry and plays, but she has never auditioned for a role acting until his senior year. She decided to audition for a role in a production of the 18th century British "She Stoops to conquer" comedy after a classmate said that the casting of the piece must be white. This comment led to him prove otherwise. She obtained the lead.

She said "I couldn't let break me this statement,". "Theater is a medium who is color blind." I got the lead. It was a sweet victory. »

Drama Professor Timothy Ortmann, who called his former student at the stage of the Niles North in April, watched Malik coming out of his shell in the beginning of the 1990s. Still, he slips and calls its Mariam and recalled the young artist struggles with its identity.

"The magic of the theatre is you can really try on a lot of different masks very quickly and discover things about yourself", he said. "You learn a lot about yourself do seem to be someone else."

While he attended Oakton Community College, Malik donned the traditional Muslim headscarf or hijab.

Since his interest in Islam grew, and his parents never approve aspirations theater anyway, she did not return to the scene and then transferred to DePaul University to major in religious studies.

She married shortly after their graduation and was the first of four children in 2001. Life took another turn on September 11 of that year.

She wore a hat instead of a hijab when she left the House that day here. In the years that followed, she faced a new consciousness of itself on his faith. It has also experienced a vacuum inside.

"In my soul, there was a vacuum," she said. "I tried to think at a time when I was happier in my life." She thought in high school.

Thus, she began to write. Inspired by his own meeting with injury, his first original play "Unveiling" begins at 16th Street Theater in 2009.

His sympathetic portraits of five modern Muslim women have inspired invitations of synagogues, churches and mosques and the members of the public apology which, after seeing the show have re-examined the stereotypes and preconceived notions. The room has also inspired the rave of most critics.

Tanya Palmer, Director of the development of new games for the Goodman Theatre, stated that she looked Malik and his characters evolve since "Unveiling."

"She tries to dig a little deeper, so it is not only with people struggling with their identity, but actually explore that and the complexity of this", said Palmer. "It is what theatre can do." "He gets into how complicated it is to be human".

But the creation of complex characters to represent Islam, which is already widely misunderstood, can be a tricky effort.

"I saw her grappling with their religion in a culture that is in fact actively hostile toward the Muslim faith and to the faithful Muslim or unfamiliar with", said Palmer. "There is often a change for the people who are not well represented on stage, or when they are represented there are negative representations." They feel the pressure to show positive representations only. ... It is an evolution, not only for octogenarian but for playwrights South Asian and Middle East at the United States in General in terms of what they see that their role is. »

Malik returned to his alma mater last month led to dig in his high school Yearbook. Its pages were covered with compliments and forecasts of a career on Broadway.

"It has not yet arrived, but it is my dream," said.

While "Unveiled" prepares a stage in France, it is mainly to introduce the play to an audience of New York on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. A colleague recently suggested it would be wrong time and would not listen to New Yorkers.

Malik disagreed.

"I think that they will.", she said. "I would love for my play to be part of the dialogue."

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