Wed 11 Mar 2009
Egypt: Dalia Ziada urges Saudi Arabia to end discrimination against Muslim women
Posted by Marwa Rakha under Balkers
[5] Comments
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On the occasion of Prophet Mohamed’s birthday, Egyptian blogger Dalia Ziada launches a campaign asking Saudi Arabia to end their discrimination against young Muslim women worldwide!
Dalia started her post by talking about this official holiday in Egypt:
Today, Egypt – and only Egypt – celebrates the blessed birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). We, Egyptians, call it: Mawlid Elnaby. On this day, Egyptian Muslims buy special desserts (halawet elmwalid), exchange cordial visits with relatives and acquaintances, and above all hold commemoration sessions to remember Prophet Muhammad.
Here is what triggered her campaign:
After performing the noon prayers, the idea of making a religious trip to Mecca and Prophet’s tomb in Saudi Arabia popped up to my mind.
Her search results were shocking:
I am not allowed to do “O’mra!” [a lesser pilgrimage to Mecca] Why? Because I am a young woman under the age of 45! The only solution for me to get to my beloved Prophet’s land is to be accompanied by a male chaperon. My mother is not enough!! Do you know what a male chaperon is? A first-degree male relative: father, brother, husband, or son! I am in a big trouble, then. My father is dead, my two brothers are not interested and I cannot afford paying for their tickets, I do not have a husband and of course I do not have a son!! What can I do, now?!
What infuriated the young activist more was:
I have traveled to places much far than Saudi Arabia. I was completely alone! I did not do something wrong, and nothing wrong was done to me in any of my previous trips overseas!!
Upon investigating this law further, she learnt that:
such an unjustified restriction is the pure invention of Saudi Arabia and has nothing to do with Islam! Thus, Saudi government is blocking one-third of Muslims (i.e. Muslim women) around the world from practicing a duty of their religion imposed on them by Allah! Who says that Saudi government’s word is superior to the word of Allah?! Who told them that Mecca and Prophet Muhammad is their own and they have the right to prevent whomever they want from visiting them?!
Dalia then links her personal sense of injustice to her female counterparts living in KSA:
Actually, no wonder! Saudi Arabia is the biggest abuser of women rights in the whole region. They deprive women from showing their faces, driving a car, or even working or socially mixing with men! Saudis commit these awful violations against women rights in the name of Islam. They distort the image of our tolerant religion. But, I am not Saudi Arabian; why should I comply with their naïve rules, then? This is not fair!
Back to the issue of the Prophet’s birthday:
Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia does not celebrate Prophet’s birthday. That is despite the facts that: 1) the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was born in Saudi Arabia; 2) his mission to call for the religion of Islam started in Saudi Arabia; 3) he lived his whole life in Saudi Arabia; and 4) Saudi government holds all property rights for Prophet’s belongings and monuments. So, how come Saudi Arabia does not celebrate Prophet’s birthday?!! They even consider the Prophet’s birthday celebrations, we – Muslim Egyptians – do, a heresy (beda’a)!!!
Dalia is now calling upon:
world feminists, moderate Muslims, and those who believe in women rights in the Muslim world to join me in my upcoming fight against the Saudi government for getting my right (as a woman) to practice my religion with complete freedom, liberated from the unreasonable restrictions imposed by extremists and patriarchal governments like that of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia does not have “monopoly rights” over Islam!
Muslimah Media Watch tackled the issue of how women in KSA are treated like legal minors.
Zoheir al-Harithi, spokesman for Saudi’s Human Rights Commission, says that the report didn’t focus on productive efforts to improve the situation as well as confused tradition with state policy. “We agree with some points and we are working on that as a commission for the government, but we don’t agree with the generalisation.”
You can download the full report, Perpetual Minors: Human Rights Abuses Stemming from Male Guardianship and Sex Segregation in Saudi Arabia, here.
Dalia Ziada created a Facebook group here for her campaign.
5 Responses to “ Egypt: Dalia Ziada urges Saudi Arabia to end discrimination against Muslim women ”
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Again Marwa, you managed the compelling international angle on this issue.
No, I’m not Muslim, female or even religious (KSA approves, I’m sure… ;^) Nor is Balkingpoints a website about religions. Here’s why this is interesting;
a) Get real, KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). Women are people not chattel, and this is the 21st Century.
b) We know a little in America about the denial of women’s rights in other nations, but very little. We know it’s out there, but we don’t know how bad nor many specific countries. It receives little major media coverage here.
c) It should receive coverage. What we do know in America, is the 100+ year trajectory from when women were second-class citizens here, to the civil rights push of Susan B. Anthony to secure the right to vote, to the Women’s Rights movements of the 1960’s and ’70’s when full equality was codified into our federal law.
So, we’ve seen this movie. Look at how it plays out now in the Middle East, and also other regions of the world I’m sure. Look at the wheels of social progress and social justice, turn. Think of the courage of women like Marwa and Dalia to speak out on the WWW, when they’re probably getting harassed for doing so!
Thank you so much Roy for publishing this:)
One way to get reactions from Saudi women or men is to copy and paste a link to this article on their forums and blogs .. give it a try:)
Thanks to you for placing it on Global Voices Online Marwa, and
being willing to show on Balkingpoints. I’ll Google some KSA bloggers… ;^)
For those interested Marwa is big on questioning and pushing the edge,
on traditional roles of women in Egypt and the greater Middle East. She
has much more at her site link in the B/P Favored link box.
As B/P readers know I’m big on matters of social progress, and the historical trends thereof. While America may export many things received both positively and negatively throughout the world, we can stand tallest
on our history in this regard. We have real capacity to set the example of social equality by gender, ethnicity, religion, age, infirmity, etc.
Not that America is at all a finished work, but these reform movements began 150 or more years ago here, and before that by overthrowing the religious tyranny of the British Crown. Martin Luther King expressed the idea best when he made his famous statement about judging a person by the content of their character, and nothing else. Someday world citizens everywhere will look at the repressive societies of previous centuries,
in disbelief…
They need more justice and rights and freedom in saudi arabia women
Welcome Robin. KSA has one of the worst systems of denial of equal rights by gender, of any nation I’m aware of on earth.
That is not true of all Middle Eastern countries however. Some are far
more enlightened as it’s viewed by Western sensibilities. I hope to develop that more in coming months on B/P – gradations and differences in the societies of the Middle East, which Americans are almost completely unaware of.