Islam’s daughters in Nepal
And for the marginalized Muslim community of Nepal, its women are seen to be bearing the heftier share of burdens in terms of societal misinterpretation and social exclusion. This is arguably due to a conglomeration of overall regional gender dynamics, the Muslim community’s specific cultural norms and practice, and the Nepali state’s consistent inability to provide for its minority groups.
With a distressing literacy rate of just over 20%, Islam’s children in this country are at the lowest end of the economic and social playing fields. The Dalit community, for example, often seen to be the most ostracized and uneducated portion of our population, enjoy a literacy rate that’s over 10% more than that of the sidelined Muslim community. And trudging forward into the scenario for the women of this volatile community, there is actually very little that is known.
“We probably account for one or two percent of the literacy rate, but there’s no hard data,” says Seema Khan, founder and president of Muslim Women’s Welfare Organization.
However, even without any substantial research having been done on Nepal’s daughters of Islam, it’s apparent the striking disparity and injustice these women are facing. Why? Well, the reasons are multifold. According to Khan, and what little research has been conducted, a fundamental issue in need of addressing is the misinterpretation of Islam and its gender discourse. This is an argument that’s been made time and again by various agents around the globe, particularly in light of the past few decades, and yet the problem persists. And in Nepal, a lack of understanding or will has left many women wedged behind the purdah of society.
Behind the veil
In fact, the way in which the term ‘purdah/parda’ or veil has come to be interpreted both by the Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Nepal is problematic. According to research conducted by Bipula Sharma, the whole regard of the veil comes from the “vivid public-private dichotomy” which is found in Muslim society. All outer activity is to be conducted by the males, and the women are confined to the homes.
“For 18 years, I lived behind the purdah. Even if I had to see a doctor, he would come to my house. I just stayed home and looked after my children,” says Mohammadi Siddiqui, now a Constituent Assembly member from Nepal Congress Party and president of the Fatima Foundation.
However, both Siddiqui and Khan astutely believe that Islam as a religion doesn’t promote a fundamental gender bias.
“It’s simply a misinterpretation. The Qur’an actually states that both men and women are to be modest in their appearances,” adds Khan.
The actual translation of the paragraph in the holy text from which the concept of the veil derives is rather vague. It asserts that one should ‘Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their shoulders.”
Thus, the way in which this verse is practiced in society has been open to interpretation. Nowhere does it preach the need for women to stay confined to the homes or to cover their faces. The veil is often taken as synonymous to the ‘burka’, but it’s the interpretation that has manifested itself as the representation of purdah in society.
Such societal interpretations were made by the Ulama, the body of Mullahs, or religious leaders of the community, over a period of time.
And here is where the roots of the societal and cultural dilemmas arise. According to Khan and Siddiqui, there are many religious leaders in Nepal who have been given undue respect and authority, although they lack a deep understanding of what Islam truly prescribes.
“They simply grow beards and think that’s all it takes to be religious leaders, and this is really affecting the way in which Islam in practiced in the rural areas of Nepal,” opines Khan.
Thus, both women have been fighting for the proper kind of education for Muslim women in Nepal. This misinterpretation is affecting the women the most, as these exaggerated interpretations serve the interests of the already patriarchal milieu of society in Nepal.
Unfortunately, the concerns over the misreading don’t end with the veil. A common predicament, in which many Muslim women find themselves in, is with the issue of divorce or “talaq.” Rallies are held on a regular basis in various towns of the Madhesh against the way in which the community’s men are utilizing what Islam sees as the very last resort to the immediate benefit of men. In societal practice, a simple declaration of “talaq, talaq, talaq” releases the man from marriage.
However, what is swept under the rug is the blatant ignorance of the complexities of the process which the Qur’an prescribes. According to Sharma’s research, “In practice, conservative and mostly uneducated Muslims use this tool for divorcing their wives.”
The promise of education
This takes us back to the immediate need for education amongst these vulnerable women. For the community, comprising over four percent of the population, much of their poor socio-economic condition is attributed to the low levels of education among them. While literacy levels are on the rise, among the women, there are dilemmas that stretch far and wide. Coeducational institutions pose a problem to many Muslims in Nepal, and the state’s ignorance or inability to meet the requirements of the gender sensitivities of the group is challenging.
Currently, there are some 3,500 madrasas (religious schools) in operation in Nepal. They, according to Bandita Sijapati, a researcher on the topic, haven’t received recognition from the government as schools. Although some of the madrasas are taking on government prescribed education, along with the teaching of religious text and practice, they have yet to be accepted, says Siddiqui. She points to an example of an all-girl madrasa in Kapilvastu which, hand in hand with the teachings of Islam, incorporates the state’s curriculum into their education.
On the other hand, it’s problematic to accept all of them as schools, according to Khan. Pointing again to the issue that some of the leaders who run them are unfit to do so and choose only to prescribe an Islamic education, the government is seemingly caught in a compromising situation.
The irony in all of this is that Islam as a religion prescribes equity of education for all, regardless of gender.
“Many of the problems we Muslim women face are self-imposed by our own community. We ourselves haven’t understood what our religion prescribes and have distorted versions of truth,” Siddiqui laments. Khan believes that were Muslim women aware of both their religious and social rights, the fight would be much easier.
The dodging state
While misinterpretation is rampant, and the liberal features of the religion are often overlooked, the Nepali state has also been negligent of its Muslim community.
“Islam is the only religion that has always allowed women property rights, and the right to remarriage after both divorce and as a widow,” stresses Khan.
But, practice within the Muslim community aside, the Nepali state was nonchalant, if not an active stimulus, for keeping the Muslims below the realms of poverty and socially excluded. Sijapati states that a “politics of preservation” existed among the community whereby, being a small minority in a Hindu monarchical system, they accepted their low status and sided with the ruling elite of the day – from the Shah kings to the Rana rulers, and later political party leaders, just to ensure their preservation.
Even the forceful inclusion of the Muslim community into the Muluki Ain of 1854, terming them as Mleccha, or ‘impure but touchable,’ went without contestation from the community who don’t hold a religious belief in any caste system. Thus, it’s evident that over the past few centuries, the Muslims have been marginalized by the state, alongside many of the other minorities of the nation. In a social and political climate like this, where there’s already an overwhelming overall burden of caste- and gender-based inequality across groups, Muslim women simply fell into the backdrop – excluded both by the state alongside their male counterparts, and excluded by their own community.
Moving ahead
However, there is hope yet. While organizations like the Muslim Women’s Welfare Organization and the Fatima Foundation are often received with hostility and even fatwa (Islamic death orders) by their own community, they are going strong and bringing real awareness to the women of this sidelined community.
As for the state, the declaration of Nepal as a secular state has been promising and what Khan describes as a “confidence-ridden” move for the betterment of the Islamic community.
Currently, there are already five women Constituent Assembly members in the Parliament, and even a Muslim woman minister. Alongside this, through the efforts of various community organizations, government initiatives and NGOs, next year’s census is due to bring home a fair share of good news. The purdah, it seems, is finally coming away, and replacing it is an overdue movement for change and demands for respect.
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