In Praise of Rabina Khan's Desire for Dialogue Between Muslim and non-Muslim Women

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Note from Anne: Oct 19, 2010:This article has skyrocketed to our top read in the last hour. In an attempt to understand why, we’ve posted videos and information about Rabina Khan being expelled from Britain’s Labour party. We will continue to search for information about Rabina Khan. I’ve reread my article and stand by my sentiments and ideas expressed. I will only add that since writing this piece, I have become more aggressive about taking all religious fundamentalism from Catholicism to Judaism to Islam.

##### Original article written Aug. 29, 2010

Rabina Khan, born in Bangladesh and now living in London, is another woman committed to creating increased understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim women.

The National newspaper describes Khan as far from shy, exuding a calm confidence which pervades her work as a novelist, editor, campaigner and general champion for Muslim women’s rights both in Britain and around the world.

Rabina decided to wear hijab when she moved to London in her early 20s. “I felt the time was right. It was part of my faith – a gift. It enhances me but it doesn’t change who I am, and that is the point. The only identity we should bear is our human identity.” via The National

The writer and publisher Rabina Khan is also a key figure in community projects and local politics in east London. Betsie van der MeerNow we have a book from Rabina Khan, Behind the Veil, a collection of thoughts from women of every age, Muslims and non-Muslims. The article from The National Newspaper is another thoughtful piece of journalism from, an excellent publication.

There are many meaty thoughts in Rabina Khan’s point of view about the need for dialogue between Muslim and nonMuslim women. Female have traditionally been the peacemakers, the glue of societies.

At the risk of being disrespectful, I think Rabina Khan looks quite marvelous in this photo. As someone who has become deeply involved in this conversation about burqas and hijabs, I have NO issue and no assumptions about Rabina Khan, as she appears in this photo. She appears to me, as a modern, vibrant Muslim woman.

I’m clear now that some Muslim women, especially younger ones — and often converts to Islam, choose the veil. I, too, have learned that in many cases, Muslim husbands DON”T want their wives to wear the hijab. It’s the women’s choice, and I admit that I was surprised to learn about these realities.

UK writer Rabina KhanHowever, I continue to take issue with Khan’s statement: “The burqa has been used as an instrument of power by some Muslim men to further their own gender, but you can find similar abuses of power in all cultures.

Religions of almost every variety have oppressed women at one time or another in the history of civilization. The Catholic Church once burned women at the stake. I don’t believe they do so today.

“If ultra-orthodox Jews decide to dress in a certain way, they are called observant Jews. And yet when Muslim women wear the hijab, we are seen as extremist. That’s why, if someone asks me why I wear the headscarf, I say it’s because I am an observant Muslim. It is not because I have been forced to wear it or because I am being suppressed. Some Muslim men will have influence and power over women but that happens in all societies. That is something human.” via The National

It seems that we don’t agree that large numbers of Muslim women have the least rights of any women in the world. Khan divides up women’s oppression equally — a little here, a little there. Everybody does it. Men will be men.

Am I totally wrong in believing that Islam has been the slowest religion to liberate women? This is a quantitative question; I speak in numbers worldwide.

Clearly, our American government bears huge responsibility for unleashing and encouraging the development of fundamentalism in the Middle East. More than one Muslim woman has pointed out to me that my government has supported regimes that took away women’s rights that flowered in the 1970s.

I agree with them. In this respect, we have the blood of Muslim women on our hands.

But is the behavior of Islamic extremists toward women ‘natural’ and akin to the behavior of men around the world? Men in America or Australia or Brazil? I don’t believe so, which is not to suggest that heinous crimes against women aren’t committed in America and other countries.

Oppression is not institutionalized on a massive scale.

I find moderate Muslim women more unwilling — than moderate Muslim men I’ve worked with on the Lubna Ahmed Hussein case — to acknowledge that life for disproportionate numbers of Muslim women is very harsh, and they have almost no control over the events of their lives.

Muslim women rarely express fears for the future of their daughters to me. Muslim men express that fear often. They believe their daughters may end up under burqas.

Perhaps Muslim women are more focused on life after death and aren’t as concerned about life on earth.

I believe congenial cohabitation is absolutely what Rabina Khan desires among people and the way she lives her life. The question is what she will do if pressed to choose. 

Does Rabina Khan have the convictions of Lubna Ahmed Hussein, to stand up to the forces of fundamentalism, saying flog me — I dare you to flog me?

If Lubna is running interference for me against radical Islam, I believe we will die fighting together for women’s freedoms. Lubna’s bankable in my book; she has put her cards on the table. I know where I stand with her. Lubna’s courage has inspired me to face my own fears about Islamic fundamentalism and initiate a dialogue with Muslim women around the world.

Like Rabina Khan, I agree that moderates must band together. But I also express my fears, so that I’m accurately understood. I readily admit fear. I am in the business of discussing trends. Fundamentalism is a trend and it does me no good.

Presently, I am not confident that moderate Muslim women make the defense of democratic freedoms a higher priority than honoring their religion.

For the last 2000 years or so, women’s rights have been a low priority in Islam. Many Muslim women tell me about glorious women’s lives in the days of Muhummad.

Those days have been gone for a very long time, replaced by customs and rituals that have no respect for women’s intelligence, talents and sensuality. Ideally, there is no separation between Islam and the state. Am I wrong in that perception? Wouldn’t Muslim women prefer that religion and the state be unified?

My perception is that ‘self’ is not an important concept in Islam, and more easily given up in the face of radical forces. 

Today my warm and congenial conversations with Muslim women focus on the glories awaiting them after death. We do not talk extensively about the glory of living on earth. And of course, I will go to hell in their prayer book. So I’m out in the cold, dead or alive. Why would they defend me?

Am I wrong about this perception of Islam? It strikes me how little we actually know about each other and our religions, our atittudes about government and our commitment to individual rights.

I, too, applaud and welcome a dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim women. I believe we’ve started that process at Anne of Carversville.

Hopefully some of us can buy Behind the Hijab at Amazon, to enhance and continue the conversation in a more enriched frame of mind.

Thank you, The National Newspaper for printing another thoughtful discussion on this topic.  Anne