Zainab Al-Suwaij Speaks at the AWARE CENTER on “A Special Model for Muslim Women in a Modern Society”
By Kevin Stoda
Speaking on the topic, “A Special Model for Muslim Women in a Modern Society”, Zainab Al-Suwaij visited both Kuwait University and the Aware Center Kuwait this first week of May, i.e. just 10-days prior to national elections, when Kuwaiti women are hopeful of gaining their first seats in parliament.
At the AWARE CENTER, Al-Suwaij was introduced as co-founder and executive director of the American Islamic Congress (AIC), an organization founded in the wake of 9-11 to give a voice to Muslims and a basis for intercultural communication & dialogue in the USA. Al-Suwaij is also very active in the development of women’s awareness and democratic training in Iraq.
An American citizen, Al-Suwaij had had to flee Iraq in 1991 after taking up arms against Saddam Hussein, alongside others from the Basra region in the wake of the First Gulf War.
Besides working for a women’s empowerment program in Southern Iraq, she also writes articles for the New York Times and other popular dailies in the U.S.A.
WOMEN, WOMEN, WOMEN
Zainab Al-Suwaij began her lecture at the AWARE CENTER in Surra, Kuwait by noting that regardless as to whether the topic is “Islam in East or West” or “Politics in the Middle East” today, “The discussion always turns to women.”
She added, “The same goes for the topic of Human Rights, which also turns to the status of women.”
“Western Scholars definitely have a different focus than do Scholars in the East, though,” Al-Suwaij continued, “Islamic scholars look to (1) women’s issues in the Sharia and in tradition, (2) our religious book, and (3) how we deal with women.”
In contrast, “in the West women’s rights and concepts of universal rights, fall into one pile when we are discussing women’s issues.”
In Iraq, meanwhile, discussions of these issues often fall into matters, like headscarves and ‘Islamization’ today. Al-Suwaij explains, “This is because as far as ‘feminism in Islam’ is concerned, there is in Islam no feminism [in the Western sense], simply women’s rights.”
On the other hand, as Al-Suwaij has many female Kuwaiti friends involved in electioneering in Kuwait and other Gulf countries these days, she notes, “Women in the Muslim world are becoming more and more integrated into the political realm. The Era now seems to be one where women are seeking rights without respect for how it affects Islam and culture.”
Al-Suwaij extrapolates, just as with most any universal faith, “Islam is adopted generally at a personal level, but no one applies every facet of it to his life [i.e. 100%].”
IRAQ, IRAQ
Al-Suwaij explained, “As the new Iraqi government and constitution were being debated after 2003, there were many different views on these matters and on the role of women. For example, some conservative women see a ‘woman’s role as teacher only’. Meanwhile other conservatives are bit more active politically. That is, while they may be retrenching [traditional roles of men], they are often still involved politically. Other women demanded the quotas of 25% for women in the new government”
