Islam says let love blossom: Reflections on Saint Valentine’s Day by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed

Islam, Women and Feminism

14 Feb 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com

Islam says let love blossom: Reflections on Saint Valentine's Day by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed

Before reading this article I should warn you that it might be considered subversive. It may lead you into the paths of disbelief. Beware dear reader, for we are about to discuss Valentine's Day. -- Shelina Zahra Janmohamed 'Islam must not be used to discriminate against women' by SHAHANAAZ HABIB Militant group issues Valentine's Day threat through emails URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1195 -------------------------------      Islam says let love blossom Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, February 14. 2009   Before reading this article I should warn you that it might be considered subversive. It may lead you into the paths of disbelief. Beware dear reader, for we are about to discuss Valentine's Day. Even though I am a Muslim, or perhaps because I am one, I will quite readily wish you "Happy Valentine's Day" today. Even this simple act might land me in trouble with a handful of Islamic scholars such as the Egyptian cleric Hazem Shuman. He warned young Muslims this week that Valentine's Day was "more dangerous than Aids, Ebola and cholera". Wow, I had no idea that a red rose could be so lethal.   We enjoy such perplexing tales courtesy of the right-wing press, keen to promote the view that Muslims see Valentine's Day – and by extension love itself – as evil. Fox News last year covered a Kuwaiti MP who chaired a committee to prevent "such alien events from impacting on Kuwaiti society and spreading corruption". Britain's Daily Star tabloid newspaper elevated the former head of Al-Muhajiroun, Anjem Choudhary, to cleric status and quoted him saying that those celebrating Valentine's Day "would rot in hell". Boy, if there is anything that Muslims are good at it, it is melodrama. But are Muslims such as these just as guilty as the right-wing press of confusing the celebration of love with love itself?   The origins of Valentine's Day lie not in the romance with which we associate it today, but in events any person of faith would uphold. The celebration is usually traced to a number of early Christian martyrs called Valentine who were persecuted by pagan rulers. Another Valentine performed secret marriages for Roman soldiers forced to remain single by an Emperor who believed unmarried men made better soldiers.   Since these events happened well before the advent of Islam, it is notable that the individuals are remembered for standing up for their belief in God and upholding the sanctity of marriage, two fundamental pillars of Islam as a deen, a way of life. There were already Roman celebrations linked to fertility, so it is possible the church decided to celebrate the feast of St Valentine at the same time to "Christianise" the festival. In the same way, Muslims in Egypt proposed to rename Feb 14 as "Prophet Mohammed's Day". One can only imagine that this was to defuse misconceptions young people may have about love and its various expressions.   Those who argue for moving to a more "proper" Islamic celebration are most likely the same who argue against a specific day for love in the first place, their objection being why should love be limited to Valentine's Day? But doesn't the same argument apply to celebrating Prophet Mohammed's Day? Shouldn't that be every day as well?   The connection with romantic love began with Geoffrey Chaucer, whose 14th century poem celebrating the king's engagement described it as the time when birds choose their mate. From then on romance and Valentine's Day become increasingly entwined. The French set up a "court of love" on Valentine's Day in 1400 to deal with love contracts, betrayals and violence against women, with the judges selected by the women themselves. With the constant discussions about sharia courts, which deal mainly with women and personal law, perhaps they too should be renamed courts of love and aim to instil love and compassion between those in dispute? They could even allow female plaintiffs to choose the judges as in the French model – they would be selecting from a panel of judges, so all would be equally qualified. It seems a courteous and civilised way of resolving the current legal imbalances in many courts which do not allow women to be fully heard. The modern Valentine's Day was created by Esther Howland, who mass produced cards of paper lace in 1847. Her seemingly innocuous act changed the face of the US greeting card industry which now credits Valentine's Day with the second largest sales after Christmas. Approximately one billion Valentine's cards are sent each year, with women buying 85 per cent of them. Many are sent anonymously. It is a worrying echo of the stereotype that women ought to be shy in expressing their liking of someone, the hunted rather than the hunted. Conversely, men spend twice as much as women on the day, suggesting that they too are under pressure to conform to a stereotype of wooing a woman with their wealth. Advertisers and marketers have turned love into a cosmetic, superficial experience.   On the other hand, Muslims seem to have reduced romance to a legalistic directive, determining their three words to be "it is bid'ah", a worldly innovation contrary to Islam. Expressing love on days such as Valentine's is "bid'ah". What is perplexing is not just this legal opinion, but that Muslims need to ask such questions. How did we reach the point where we ask legal authorities about matters of celebrating love? Consider other questions that are asked: "Is falling in love allowed in Islam?" or "Can a husband express his love to his wife?" They reflect the increasingly legalistic approach Muslims are taking in all matters of life. These two polar opposites have both reduced love to a caricature of its true self, forcing us to choose between cheesy superficiality on the one hand and heartless rigidity on the other. It sounds almost like a "with us or against us" choice, and we all know the trouble that causes.   Presented with this stark absurdity, all human beings – which, of course, includes Muslims – will be forced to look into their hearts and realise that expressing love is simply common sense. Instead of fatwas on how, what and where to celebrate, we need legal scholars to decree a return to the way of the Prophet – common sense and humanity.   Those people of faith who oppose Valentine's Day are missing a trick. Faith is about celebrating love – love of the Divine, love of humanity, love of your companion. There is no need to reject a celebration of love; rather those who believe in the sanctity of marriage should recapture such events for their original celebration of marriage. And each Valentine's Day let us see love blossom and a thousand marriages bloom.   Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is a British commentator on Islam and author of Love in a Headscarf, a new memoir of growing up as a Muslim woman. Source: http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090214/WEEKENDER/622764320/1042/SPORT ----   'Islam must not be used to discriminate against women' By SHAHANAAZ HABIB   KUALA LUMPUR: Muslim women activists championing equality and justice in the Muslim family said they will no longer accept the use of Islam to justify discrimination against women.   Project director of Musawah (the global meeting for equality and justice in the Muslim Family) Zainah Anwar said that, very often, Muslim women who demand justice and want to change discriminatory laws and practices were told that this was 'God's law' and, therefore, not open for negotiation or change. She also said, often, reports were made against them to the police, religious authorities to take action against them, to silence them and charge them for purportedly insulting Islam to have their group banned.   "But we will not be silenced and intimidated. As activists, we all know that in order to bring change, we must not be afraid to speak the truth as we see it, to be angry in the face of injustice, to take difficult positions and to be marginalised and condemned. "For many of us, it is an article of faith that Islam is just and God is just. If justice is intrinsic to Islam, then how can injustice and discrimination result from the codification and implementation of laws and policies made in the name of Islam.   "This is the 21st century. And today, we once again assert there cannot be justice in this world, without equality," she said in her opening speech on Saturday. The Musawah brings together 250 participants from 47 countries. Zainah believed it is possible to find equality and justice within the framework of Islam.   She said it should not be left to the conservative forces to define and dominate the parameters of what Islam was and what was not. She stressed that these conservative forces had prescribed laws and policies that have kept women "shackled as second class Muslims and citizens", so far, and that, as a Muslim, a woman and a citizen, she was now claiming her right to speak up.   At a press conference later, Zainah said people uncomfortable with the push for reform, often hurled accusations at them that they were "Westernised elites" to demonise and de-legitimise them from speaking up.   "We should be aware that these are strategies and not fall into their trap. We know that even those who are against us - know in their hearts - the oppression, injustice and suffering that Muslim women have to go through," she said. On objections raised by the Persatuan Ulamak Pulau Pinang and PAS Youth over the Musawah programme, Zainah said, she felt rather sorry for them.   "The world is about change. This is the galloping reality that is taking place in Malaysia," she said, adding that statistics showed that 47% women in Malaysia were working and 60% to 70% of students at universities were women and women now wanted laws and practices that recognised these realities in their lives today. She said that, now, there was an "incredible disconnect" between laws and today's realities with regards to Muslim women. Zainah said the activists would be happy to sit down with the ulamaks and other Muslim groups to discuss the evidence on the table and the changing realities.   "We believe a solution can be found within the Islamic framework and within the Constitution. "There is a problem out there because men are being left behind and men feel threatened about women in the public sphere and holding positions of power. "We will be happy to work with each other and understand each other. Men have been privileged for so long. "Now, women are saying that they want to be treated as human beings with equal worth and don't want to be discriminated against," she said.   At the press conference, Asma' U Joda from Nigeria who is part of the Musawah working committee, said it was not an issue of convincing the men to allow women their rights." "It is an issue of the community and men are part of that community. What we are demanding is going to happen," she said. The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Prof Yakin Ertuk, said the women's agenda should not be defined in terms of a battle of the sexes but rather should be seen as a battle against oppression. "Men also fight against oppression so this is part of a common struggle," she added. Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/2/14/nation/20090214155800&sec=nation ---- Militant group issues Valentine's Day threat through emails February 14, 2009 Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\02\14\story_14-2-2009_pg7_33 KARACHI: An extremist group has issued threatening emails to public warning them not to celebrate Valentine's Day or otherwise they would face its wrath, Daily Times learnt on Friday. A newly formed militant organisation that calls itself 'Allah Army', that owned the responsibility of the recent bomb blasts at Al-Hamra theatre in Lahore, has threatened to sabotage the occasion of Valentine's Day to be celebrated today (Saturday). A source privy to the matter told Daily Times that the Federal Interior Ministry has asked the provincial governments to take relevant precautionary steps and gather information about the newly formed extremist outfit. 'Allah Army' has warned public not to celebrate Valentine's Day and spots where people would gather to celebrate the event would be targeted by various means. faraz khan ----  URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1195