Khomeini championed girl-child rights

Sheikh Abdullah Makwinja
As we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the demise of Imam Khomeini, it makes us reflect, though briefly, at some of the more salient aspects of his thoughts and ideals.
The importance of values in influencing human behaviour and actions is universally acknowledged.
Imam Khomeini worked out such values with respect to girls, as he could motivate humanity to respect and honour them.

An extensive look at history shows that various social communities imposed a lot of cruelty and injustice on girls, in one way or the other.

In the pure Islamic revolutionary school of Imam Khomeini which he represented, he preached that a woman is a divine being who is imbued with special and distinguished status, “the role of the women in society is more important than that of the men, for in addition to being active members of society themselves in all fields, the ladies also raise active members. A mother’s service to the community is greater than that of a teacher, indeed of anyone else”.

Recalling that Islam came at a time when the Arab society, like so many patriarchal societies at that time, was rife with abhorrent practices against girls; it came with a massage of liberating women and girls in every walk of life, education being a prime aspect.

Imam Khomeini believed and put into these lofty teachings and used to pronounce that, in the Islamic system, women will have the same rights as men: the right to education, the right to work, the right to own property, the right to vote, the right to stand for election.

The Imam taught that Islam obligates both men and women to acquire education.

It is a duty for every Muslim.

Education in Islam is not divided into sacred and secular, and the implication of these sayings of the Prophet, in modern terms, is that every Muslim boy or girl, man or woman, should pursue his or her education as far as it is possible.

He also says: “The rise and fall of a society depends on the rise and fall of women of that society.” The Prophet states that, “The parent, if he educates his daughter well, will enter Paradise”. Yet another tradition states that, “A mother is a school. If she is educated, then a whole people are educated”.

In Islam, therefore, both men and women are credited with the capacity for learning and understanding and teaching, and one of the aims of acquiring knowledge is that of becoming more conscious of God.

It is considered in Islam that the more a person, male or female, is educated, the more he or she becomes conscious of the Creator, the Power who made and sustains the Creation.

“Read in the name of your Lord who created, created humankind from a clinging form. Read! Your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by means of the pen; taught humankind what he did not know”. (Holy Qur’an 96:1-5)

Values as such promoted by the Holy Qur’an help solve the problems faced by the girl child. It is through such values that a revolution can be brought and the girl child can receive her fair share of dignity, respect and rights.

Imam on several occasions was quoted to have said, “Islam holds you, the women, in high esteem. The favors that Islam confers upon the women are more than it does upon men. The status of women is lofty, supreme and towering. “

Imam believed that woman should have a hand in determining her destiny and that they should not be tossed from hand to hand like an object or a commodity.

Islam wants women to get involved in all affairs as men do. Women should guard against corruption in the same way as men do.

The Islamic revolution lead by the great Imam, in Iran transformed the status of women in the society profoundly.

After the Islamic revolution, not only the presence and cooperation of women in various fields improve, but we are witnessing their increasing contributions to various arenas.

The victory of the Islamic revolution of Iran with Imam Khomeini’s leadership offered a different viewpoint toward women.

And this is what the prophets wanted, they wanted women to be people who train society and bestow upon the community lion-hearted men and women.

The 10-year-old superb leadership of Imam Khomeini caused the accessibility to his opinions to go beyond pure theories, and both the theories and the practical examples became available to everyone. This advantage makes Imam Khomeini’s thoughts superior to the thoughts of the other Muslim thinkers and connoisseurs. Educational attainment has improved considerably in the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past three decades.

During this period the improvement for women has been greater than for men. In recent years, women have gained access to education at different levels and in many fields.

The closing of the gender gap in education has been hailed as one of the Islamic Republic’s important achievements; women have outnumbered men in the entering classes of universities, five to four for the last several years,

Today as before, it is saddening that religion is misused to terrorize people and to enslave half of humanity.

The ugly distortion of Islam by Boko Haram is an attempt to justify their evil and outrageous actions.

Therefore, kidnapping and threatening to sell the over 200 Nigerian school girls has no validation in the religious tradition of Islam.

It is has no religious or logical justification.

There is no place for this in Islam no matter who does it, regardless of whatever cause they try and perceive it to be.

Crime and other crimes committed by the likes of these extremist organizations contradict all humanitarian principles and moral values and violate the provisions of the Qur’an and the teachings of Islam.

There is no justification for stealing these children — that education for girls goes against Islam — has no basis whatsoever in our faith.

The Prophet Muhammad wisely emphasized that every Muslim man and woman has a duty to seek education. It is almost impossible to express the level of disgust felt by Muslims in Zimbabwe and the rest of the world at the un-Islamic and obscene actions of the terrorist group Boko Haram for the kidnapping and threat to ‘sell’ hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls. We urge authorities in Nigeria and throughout the region to do everything they can to return the girls safely to their families and to eliminate the threat to peace and security posed by Boko Haram. In conclusion a comparison can be drawn of between Imam Khomeini’s teachings about women and this act extremism would certainly shed light on the fact that Islam in no way recognizes or approves such criminal behaviour towards women, who according to Imam Khomeini contribute man’s elevation to spirituality; women who are instrumental to humanity’s social and spiritual development.