Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi

By : Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi

The Indian Express recently published the remarks of Lt Gen (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah, vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, about the backwardness of Indian Muslims. He said that the backwardness of Muslims was mainly attributed to keeping women away from work and enslaving them in their homes. He also blamed Muslims for not working during the month of Ramadan.

Addressing a felicitation function of AMU Old Boys in the historic city of Lucknow in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Shah said: “You have not utilized half of your population. Women remained enslaved. They remained inside the home. Muslims have no one else to blame. You enslaved women and the result is you are enslaved…”

“I stayed in Saudi Arabia, the situation remains the same. Women are confined. Except for Turkey and Iran, women remained enslaved in all of the Muslim world. That is the reason they are backward.”

I would not have commented on the remarks of Shah had he not mentioned Saudi Arabia to cite an example of women enslaved in their homes. I use this opportunity to state that what he said has nothing to do with reality. After reading the report of his statement, I looked around my house but did not see anyone except me enslaved there (if one considers remaining at home as enslavement!). All the other members of my family, including the women, are at their place of work. Women make up 60 percent of my household. I then asked myself: Who is “enslaved” in my house other than myself?

I was also prompted to write this article in order to clarify the real position and correct the factual errors in the statement of Shah about keeping women enslaved at home.

Perhaps there are women who prefer to stay at home to take care of their children. Can we describe them as women who are kept enslaved in their homes? Is there anything ignominious about mothers taking care of their children? Is it possible for a domestic helper or baby sitter to play the role of a mother in taking care of children?

I don’t know what prompted the military officer turned academic to describe Saudi women as being enslaved in their homes. Did he carry out any study about this when he came to the Kingdom and found that “their situation remains the same”?

Indeed, statistics show that the situation is contrary to what he has stated. There are more women studying in Saudi universities than men. There are thousands of women working in the trade and commercial sector.

Moreover, there are hundreds of businesswomen who manage investments worth billions of riyals in the trade, industry, and real estate sectors. Scores of Saudi women work in the fields of journalism and media as well. This column is published in a newspaper whose editor-in-chief is a Saudi woman who came to the helm after working in the field of journalism for several years.

There are 30 women members of the Kingdom’s consultative body, the Shoura Council. Women are also going to participate in the forthcoming municipal elections as voters and candidates. There are thousands of Saudi women studying in prestigious Western universities in the fields of medicine, engineering and science. Some of them have won international certificates for their academic excellence. In light of this, how is it possible for anyone to say that Saudi women are kept enslaved in their homes?

I also disagree with Lt. Gen. Shah’s remarks that Muslims do not work in the holy month of Ramadan.

Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi

I also disagree with Lt. Gen. Shah’s remarks that Muslims do not work in the holy month of Ramadan. I want to emphasize the fact that Muslims work more in Ramadan than any other month at least in Saudi Arabia. Here, people work during the day and at night in the holy month, especially during the last days of the fasting month.

If we look at Islamic history, we can see that Muslims have won most of their battles during the holy month. The Battle of Badr is an example of this. A small group of Muslims led by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) scored a decisive victory over the unbelievers, whose number was much larger. The Battle of Ain Jalut or the Spring of Goliath was also fought in Ramadan, and in this battle Muslim Mamluks defeated the Mongols. With this battle, the Mamluks were able to permanently halt the Mongol advance after they had invaded Baghdad, Bilad Al-Sham and several other parts of the Islamic world.

In his address, the AMU vice chancellor also blames Muslims for wasting half of the day in making preparations for Friday prayers. He said: “This is followed by the weekend and so they do not work for two-and-a-half days.” As for Friday prayer, it only takes one hour contrary to the claims of Shah. Friday prayer is obligatory for Muslims and there is no excuse for skipping it. It is also to be noted that in most Muslim countries, Friday is a weekly holiday.

Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]

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