SIS: Islam recognises women's roles

IN the 1980s, a group of eight women, together with the Association of Women Lawyers, realised the need to help women who faced marital problems and difficulties when seeking legal redress from religious authorities.

Law reform became the core of their work, but they realised that dealing with the law alone was insufficient.

Sisters In Islam executive director Rozana Isa said: “The call for SIS to start this work is because of what’s happening to women on a daily basis, and realising that they suffer in silence.”

She said when SIS first started, the eight women got together, studied the Quran with a scholar every weekend for three years, and sought to understand the place and role of women in Islam.

SIS introduced itself to the public by publishing articles and two books on equality between men and women in Islam.

One of the issues it addressed in its discussions on women was whether the religion allowed husbands to beat their wives.

Rozana said: “They did this with much trepidation because they didn’t know how the public was going to receive them, but it was the first effort to justify why women should be protected from violence.”

SIS’ work to boost awareness of issues affecting Muslim women, however, was not met with praise.

It was criticised, and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council and the Selangor Fatwa Committee issued fatwa (edict) that SIS was a “deviant”.

Rozana, an accountant by profession, joined SIS as a member in 2001, then became the executive director in 2016.

She said battling public perception was tough for the group, especially with the advent of social media.

On how SIS faced the demonisation, Rozana said: “With great difficulty.

“I think the negative perception arises because the public think we do things without basis.

“Our work is grounded in the experience of women and knowledge of Islamic scholars. We come from the perspective that Islam has its values of equality and justice.”

She said when consequences to women’s lives were not just, women had the right to raise questions, seek solutions, and work to deliver and help those in need.

“We see this as a long process but we are in it for the long haul because we believe in the work that we do, and why we’re doing it.”

PLACE OF WOMEN IN ISLAM

Rozana said it was common in Malaysia that women, while educated and being high-flyers, still faced challenges.

Women, she said, were expected to look after the household, their children, and sometimes saddled with parental or elderly care, on top of having to perform at work.

“It’s a cultural thing. It’s interesting to see that in Malay-Muslim families, there are certain norms that are perpetuated and how religion is used to maintain the status quo.

“In our culture, women are advised to mengalah (back down) to maintain the marriage and told to make sacrifices to keep the family’s peace.

“The narrative has always been that there must be obedience to the husband and if you don’t obey him, you have violated a rule and committed a sin. The husband has the right to correct you and put you back on the right path.”

She said she had come across victims of domestic abuse who still thought they needed 
their husbands’ permission to leave.

This, she said, was proof that the religion had a strong hold 
on women and they were told that to be a good Muslim wife, they must obey their husbands at all cost.

She said such a belief must be addressed to ensure women were informed about their rights and position in a marriage.

“In Islam, women are equal and their lives are not without value.”

She said following the death of Prophet Muhammad, women’s voices had been silenced to the extent that the role of the Prophet’s wife, Aisha Abu Bakar, was no longer recognised as being one of the teachers to his companions.

“Women’s voices and experiences have been hidden and underappreciated. In the past, there were a lot of discussions, debates and differences of opinion, and this was celebrated.

“Along the way, we have somehow lost that richness. But now, we’re entering an era where there are more women involved in the production of scholarship in Islam.

“It is through this scholarship that we know Islam recognises women’s roles, voices and experiences.”

TELENISA

SIS, initially formed as an advocacy group, has pushed for changes in laws and policies, writing in memorandums, and engaging the government and women on the ground.

Rozana said in its work to boost awareness of Muslim women’s rights, more women came forward to share their experiences and marriage dilemmas.

They felt it was necessary for a service to be created to ensure that women knew who to call when they had questions or needed help with legal advice.

“We’ve had the Telenisa service running for more than 15 years and have served more than 10,000 women since.

“We find that the demand for this service continues until today and it is through Telenisa that we collect data to understand what’s happening on the ground, transforming them into statistics.”

She said SIS had been publishing statistics for three years since 2016. It used the statistics to advocate for changes.

Describing Telenisa as an “important service”, she said women came to them because they did not judge the latter based on their problems.

“We don’t question and we don’t judge. Our role is to ensure they know their options. We have lawyers that we can recommend. We don’t impose anything on them because it is their choice.”

In 2015, SIS launched the Dr Nik Noriani Legal Aid Fund, named after lawyer Dr Nik Noriani Nik Badli Shah.

The fund is made available to women who need legal aid, such as opening case files.

Rozana said: “We are expanding the fund a little bit and now it can support women’s legal fees to a certain extent.”

She said those who wanted more information about the fund could contact SIS.

UNDERSTANDING POLYGAMY

Rozana said SIS had embarked on a five-year study on the impact of polygamy on Muslim families in Peninsular Malaysia, and found that most polygamous husbands could not fulfil financial and sexual demands.

The study, in collaboration with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Malaya, interviewed 1,224 respondents, which included husbands, first wives, second wives and their children.

The most common situation, Rozana said, was that the wives did not know their husbands had married another woman.

She said SIS found that 69 per cent of first wives said their husbands treated them unfairly and some were unhappy with their situation (61 per cent).

It found that 87 per cent of children were affected negatively by polygamy.

“All our lives, we have been told that this is the Prophet’s practice. The Quran states that men are allowed to take up to four wives, but people’s reading stopped there.

“When SIS studied the Quran, we discovered that the verse went on to say that if you cannot do justice, marry only one. In Surah An-Nisa verse 129, it said that you’re not able to do justice even if it is your desire.”

She said it was important to break the myth that women were doing a service to their husbands by allowing them to take on another wife, adding that cultural expectations were often buttressed by religious arguments.

“The Prophet was monogamous for a very long time when he was married to Siti Khadijah and his subsequent marriages were done with other interests.

“And the fact is, he is a Prophet. People tend to forget that they are not.”