RELIGION-MIDDLE EAST:
Sheikha Haya calls for more gender equality
Att.Editors: The following item is from the Emirates News Agency (WAM)
NEW YORK,May 18
(WAM) - The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, has issued a strong call for re-interpreting Islamic texts in order to address the social, educational and other constraints impeding the equality of women in the Middle East. Pointing to the dynamism of Islamic Sharia to adapt to the changing situations, she called for new interpretations of the texts in the light of the new life circumstances.
"The concept of human rights is based on the notion that all human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms," Sheikha Haya noted in an address to a panel discussion Wednesday evening on “Women and Human Rights in the Middle East” at Rutgers University, New Jersey, United States.
She said the situation stems in part from the interpretation of Islamic text. Women are subject to family laws that are Sharia based which strictly follow the interpretations of Islamic scholars who lived 1,000 years ago at the beginning of Islam. These interpretations are applied now without making any allowances to the very different social contexts of today, she said.
"In fact, these interpretations are sanctified as holy which prevent them from criticism and change. This is one of the main reasons behind the discrepancy between personal status codes on the one hand and the current social circumstances on the other."
The General Assembly President blamed a "lack of rational interpretations of the texts that integrate the current social circumstances." She also said that many social attitudes which were based on traditions are now associated with religion, making it harder to criticize or change them.
"Although the Middle East has come a long way in educating women, the fact of the matter is that critical thinking, and the teaching of philosophy and theology are absent in our curricula, and they are essential in laying the foundation to review, evaluate and criticize the ideas that shape our societies," she said.
Sheikha Haya was honoured at the event sponsored by the University's Centre for Middle Eastern Studies along with Iranian human rights lawyer and Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi for their dedication to women and human rights in the Middle East. (WAM)
(END/2007)
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