Pakistan women socialites embrace Islam

[Conscious Manipulation]

Pakistan women socialites embrace Islam

 

Sahar Ali

BBC correspondent in Karachi

 

 

 

A Koran class at al-Huda. (Photos: Anis Hamdani)

A new breed of scholar is inspiring Islamic study among Pakistan's last bastion of sceptics - the educated female elite.

Women like Dr Farhat Hashmi are bringing a contemporary perspective to the teaching of the Koran.

 

It appeals to followers like Naila Shahid, who always wanted to study Islam in greater depth but balked when hearing the mullahs talk of heaven and hell and the purdah (veil).

 

"When I heard that, I just recoiled from wanting to go any deeper," says the 40-something mother of college-going children.

 

Dr Hashmi, a product of a Western religious education, has founded a chain of institutes offering Islamic education to women.

 

They have had their [share of] sleeveless blouses and coffee parties and are now ready for religion

 

Razia Latif, housewife

 

 

"It is a very practical, very precise version of Islam," she says.

 

On a typical Saturday afternoon, elevator loads of women pour into the al-Huda Institute of Islamic Education for Women in Karachi.

 

The silence, save for the exchange of greetings, may be unusual, but al-Huda's congregations are symbolic of a religious revolution in Pakistan - the desire to understand Islam.

 

Seventeen-year-old Maryam Asif believes an in-depth knowledge of her faith has helped her differentiate between truth and rhetoric.

 

"People say so many things and often you just can't accept them as Islam," she says.

 

Rukhsana Yamin, a Karachi-based publisher, says her knowledge of religion had been rather limited because "every time you pick up a volume to educate yourself, it fails to hold your interest".

 

Charisma

 

To teach the aspiring students, the new breed of women scholars uses modern methods.

 

One such teacher, Huma Hassan, addresses weekly informal gatherings at a private residence in Karachi.

 

 

 

The expectations of Pakistanis have not been fulfilled in our 50-odd years of independence. There is a feeling of betrayal and despair

 

Dr Farhat Hashmi

 

The women who attend are mostly socialites.

 

Ms Hassan translates and explains Koranic verses with the help of multimedia presentations projected on to a screen.

 

But it isn't just the modern methods that appeal - the teachers do too.

 

Bushra Kausar, a regular at al-Huda, says: "Dr Hashmi relates the Koran to everyday experiences."

 

But Dr Hashmi is diffident about her charisma.

 

"I have never asked women why they come to hear me," she says in a soft, measured voice.

 

Her explanation of their quest for religious enlightenment is that people often turn to religion in despair.

 

"The expectations of Pakistanis have not been fulfilled in our 50-odd years of independence," she says.

 

"There is a feeling of betrayal and despair. Even political Islam has not been able to address people's grievances," says Dr Hashmi, referring to the Islamisation drive of former leader General Zia ul-Haq, who died in 1988.

 

"There is a search for direction, for guidance," she says.

 

Dr Hashmi believes Islam holds the cure. "I wanted to help others experience the peace I felt by reading the Koran," she says.

 

"When people benefit from something, they will be drawn to it."

 

Talebanisation fear

 

But Dr Hashmi's analysis of why the country's female elite is suddenly seeking religious enlightenment is not accepted by everyone.

 

 

Traditional dress is the new trend - here in the examinations hall

 

Mother and social worker Razia Latif says women are just plain bored.

 

"They have had their [share of] sleeveless blouses and coffee parties and are now ready for religion," she says.

 

Ms Latif is disappointed that these women do not volunteer to work in hospitals or help other social causes instead.

 

She says the only outcome of this religious revival has been to cloister women behind the veil.

 

The proliferation of women in hijab (headscarves) and even the Afghan-style burqa on the streets of Karachi has women like Ms Latif worried that this may be a first step towards Talebanisation.

 

Student Bushra Kausar disagrees. She says that although the hijab is the most noticeable change among the female elite, it is in fact "the easiest step" on the path to becoming a practising Muslim, which is the ultimate objective.

 

About 1,200 women signed up for Dr Hashmi's year-long course on Koranic translation in Karachi last year.

 

Such was the scholar's renown that the last session, open to the public, drew almost 10,000 women from all over the city.

 

"It's very difficult to give a reason for this trend," says Farah Moazzam, a journalist who heads al-Huda's mass communication department.

 

 

She says initially that curiosity and the academic approach draw the educated women, but then the magnetism of Allah's words take over "and then you're hooked!"

 

Now at social gatherings, women wearing the hijab are increasingly seen alongside those in sleeveless dresses.

 

With religion the new "in" thing, it is questionable who is now the modern woman.

[Xafsa]

I wish they had schools and classes such as the one mentioned above here in my state!

Masha alaah to those sisters...

[Changed]

.........i thought they had one prior to this ....They have the International Islamic University in islamabad , and it teaches Women/Men of the shariah and Law , Usulo'deen economic and many more, but i gues the new institute is for older women only and it maybe the fist islamic school in karachi...what confuses is me is they had islamic studies in school so why is the article making it sound like these people never had islamic education and they had to seek for it(unless the people in the they are refering to in the article are not high school graduates) , i know for sure that Until matrix one had to have had islamic classes :rolleyes: :confused: ..

 

anywho! Glad to hear about it masha allah ..i wish they had it here too, i miss Home

[ZOLA]

MIZ-UN..lol@matrix.. do u still remember that?..lol.

i went to school in Pakistan from grade 5 to 11...and it was required that we take a islamic studies class every year(islamiat).Pakis r not religious people..but at the same time they do practice islam.

 

lol@MIZ-UN..u miss home(islamabad)...i miss home 2 (karachi)... .

[hukri]

Two thumbs up for the Dr!

[Changed]

lol malaika.........karachi ur home is islamabad

[Che -Guevara]

It is good to see pakis learning their religion. Unfortunetely, Pakis like somalis have mix of culture and religion, n often ppl can't tell one from the other. Then, there is extremist mullahs who talk about Naar alway day rather than teach all the aspects of this beautiful religion. Anyway, it is good to see ppl returning to their roots.

 

Malakia N Mizz-Unique.....wow...never paki somalis would miss "Home". Pakistan does have special place in my heart though. anyway, Malakia, i used to sleep through Islamic Studies. Man, they use to repeat same things over n again.

Here is pics for all my nostolgic ex-paki somalis. Iam sure they r whole bunch in here.

 

 

Faisal Masjic

 

 

Blue Area

 

[abdikhadar]

SAlaan

 

 

gays you are touching deeb down in my heart, i am totaly half Pakistani i took a very good years in Pakistan specialy in Islamabad.

Good luck to these ladies and good lucky to all Somali-paks specialy the Islamabadies.

I am very lucky to have freinds over here.

International Islamic Unaversity/faisal Mosque

All bay jaaaan and baa jeee gays

[Blessed]

Man Sha Allah, Pakistan Zindipad lol An islamic revival is way over due for the 'muslim world'.

 

 

***I hope nomads sisters go back and do the same for our sisters back in Somalia!

[Rahima]

I don’t want to a dampener on the topic here for indeed this is something to be joyous about, but allow me to say that this is not a first. These sisters just want Islam to be taught in a certain manner, ways which are in accordance with their lifestyle. I have been to Pakistan, and I can wholeheartedly say it is one of the few places on earth where if one could wanted to gain Islamic knowledge (can’t say if it’s completely authentic, they seem to have amongst them all 73 sects Rasualllah foretold of) they could walk into any of the masjids on the street and gain it. It’s just that in Pakistan, class divisions are much more apparent than they are in the West; the gap is so wide that at times one comes to assume that the different classes do not even share the same country.

 

 

***I hope nomads sisters go back and do the same for our sisters back in Somalia!

Ameenah, i think for us Somalis it would be the other way around.

[Akash]

Nice topic.. i`ve been away for quite some times in this forum but it seems to me that all of you miss the real things that it happen in Pak... Honor Killing... Which is oppisate the Islamic Law

Khuda Afiz

[Blessed]

Originally posted by Rahima:

quote:***I hope nomads sisters go back and do the same for our sisters back in Somalia!

Ameenah, i think for us Somalis it would be the other way around.

I understand where you’re coming from and agree totally. I was looking at it from a technical angle; it would be great if we had Islamic education delivered in Universities and hence create opportunities for Islamicaly qualified female scholars to emerge… my thoughts were along those lines. But I realise the ambitious nature, as it is almost impossible in Somalias current climate.

 

But when it comes to aqeedah and the implementation of Islaam - waa la ina dhaamaa. The sisters back home have got it going on in that department.. man sha Allah.