Sterilized Muslim women are not allowed to go on Haj, a pilgrimage to Mecca of Saudi Arabia, either. However, ignoring this ban, Shekhara recently went on Haj too. If Muslim religious gurus had learnt about her defiance, Shekhara would have to pay the price for what she did. But, no one but her husband knew about it. And, she easily got away with breaking the religious law and that too, twice.[break]
Chandra Shekhar Karki
Today, albeit secretly, some Muslim women like Shekhara are opting for sterilization – something no Muslim would dare to do until a few years ago.
Samsuddin Ansari, a former teacher, says Muslim religion requires women to desist from using any method of sterilization or family planning. According to him, if a woman wants to truly adhere to Muslim religion, she must bear children as long as she physically can.
“Men and women both must follow the religious laws,” he says.
In Nepal, thousands of women are suffering from problems of Uterine Prolapse. Especially those women who bear many children suffer from this problem. Last year, in a health camp organized by the District Public Health Office (DPHO) of Mahottari, many Muslim women came to get treated for Uterine Prolapse. Until then, no one had known that cases of Uterine Prolapse were so common among Muslim women.
Ramina Khatun, 32, a resident of Fulhata VDC in Mahottari, was barred from attending the final rites of her own father-in-law because she had undergone sterilization. Fearing the kind of social exclusion that Ramina experienced, many women are still too scared to undergo sterilization. They do not want to bear children every year. But, they do not want to be ostracized, either. [break]
According to Birendra Tiwari, chief of family planning section at the Mahottari DPHO, one in every 10 women who come for sterilization belong to the Muslim community. “Most of them come after having two children,” says Tiwari. “They do not divulge personal details. They register fake names and addresses.”
Even if Muslim women get their husbands’ consent to use methods of family planning like pills and injections, they have to keep it a secret from their in-laws.
“When Muslim women come to buy pills and injections, they feel very awkward,” says Satrudhan Gami, a pharmacy owner. “They don’t want other people to see them.”
Nepal’s Muslim community wants their religious practices to be legally-recognized. If Islamic practices get legalized, Muslim women will have to suffer more. Although Muslim practices are not yet recognized legally, those who violate Islamic laws face social exclusion.
Naim Ansari, president of Society Development Centre, an NGO active in Muslim community, says religious laws and practices should be amended as per changing times. Women’s rights are enshrined in Nepal’s interim constitution. Under women’s rights, all women are entitled to reproductive rights. The same constitution has allowed every individual to follow his or her religion and tradition.
Chaudhary is a Mahottari-based journalist.
(Sancharika Feature Service)
“Modern family planning concept encourages voluntary choice of methods,” says Mohna Ansari, spokesperson, National Women’s Commission
Women aren’t allowed to get sterilized in the Muslim community. Is that true?
I’m not an authorized person to reply to that. It’s up to the religious scholars how they interpret the use of family planning methods in Islam. However, I know that many Muslim couples are now using various family planning methods and opting for planned-parenthood. Modern family planning concept encourages voluntary choice of methods.
It is also true that once they get sterilized, they aren’t allowed to go on Haj pilgrimage?
Again, these are religious issues which are better addressed by scholars. But, I can say that, a lot depends on how things are interpreted. There are instances where differences are noted in the interpretations
made by various religious scholars.
But do you think this is changing now, as more Muslim women are reportedly opting for sterilization?
Certainly many Muslim women are opting for sterilization and other family planning methods. In Tarai districts, many Muslim women are voluntarily adopting family planning means, mostly with the consent of their husbands.
Muslim women aren’t allowed to use family planning methods, as people still believe that a woman must bear children as long as she physically can. This has made Muslim women more vulnerable to uterine prolapse. What do you have to say?
Educated couples now days don’t believe that women must bear children as long as she physically can. Multiple pregnancies, early pregnancy and late age pregnancy may also have adverse effect on woman’s health. Many women from all community groups in Nepal suffer with health complications due to multiple pregnancies. No doubt, Muslim women are more vulnerable in this regard due to less education and access to health services. Many couples these days have small families and many young people who grew up in large families now prefer to have small families.
What should be done to make Muslim women aware about their basic rights?
Education and economic opportunity are the elements that can affect several other areas such as human rights of Muslim women and overall life quality as well. More Muslim males and females should be appointed as school teachers, health service providers, police officers and in other Government offices. This would encourage Muslim men and women to take education seriously and thus make them more aware about human rights.
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