The most noted Muslim reformer and the Islamic scholar, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (1864-1943),whose contribution towards the education of Muslim women is tremendous, started his voluminous text, the Bahishti Zewar (‘Heavenly Ornaments’), published in 1905 with the oft-quoted saying of the Prophet (Pbuh) ‘It is a duty incumbent on every Muslim man and every Muslim woman to acquire knowledge. Explaining the rationale for this book, he wrote; ‘I have for many years watched the ruination of the women of Hindustan and was heart-sick because of it. I struggled to find a cure, worried because that ruin was not limited to religion but had spread to everyday matters as well. It went beyond the women, to their children and in many respects even had its effects on their husbands. The cause of this ruination is nothing other than women’s ignorance of religion. This lack corrupts their beliefs, their deeds, and their dealings with other people, their character and the whole manner of their social life. I have for some time, therefore, realised that in order to manage women it is absolutely necessary to teach them the religious sciences, i.e., he stressed the need to educate the Muslim women. He stresses the need for Muslim women, to acquire reading and writing skills, and in this regard the Maulana makes an impressive list of books that he thinks suitable for women to read.
Mumtaz Ali who came under the influence of the Aligarh-based reformist, Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan wished to reform Muslim society and to defend Islam from attacks from Christian and Arya Samaji missionaries, Mumtaz Ali embarked on a project that sought to spread awareness in Muslim society of Islamic rights for women. As part of this project, in 1898 he penned an immensely popular treatise in defense of women’s rights in Islam, Huquq-un-Niswan. In this work he stresses that in Islam both men as well as women are equal in the eyes of God, and as such, women, too, deserve the light of education and knowledge, for the Qur’an, he says, states that knowledge is incumbent on all believers without exception.
The Huquq-un-Niswan argues for a broad humanistic education for Muslim women, an education that will make them better Muslims, better mothers and better wives, while at the same time making them more aware of the world around them. Thus, Mumtaz Ali writes, they should be taught the Qur’an while understanding it and not simply parroting it, as well as Urdu, mathematics, science, history and geography. He then makes a list of suitable reading material for girl students. I have narrated the above instances to bring the realization to the readers that the need to educate muslim girls is not a recent realization but this awareness dawned on the rational minds centuries back.
A study reveals that for India as a whole, 66 per cent of the Muslim women are illiterate. Haryana can be described as the State with universal illiteracy among Muslim women in India i.e., 98 per cent. Kerala is on the other end with the lowest illiteracy among Muslim women. Tamil Nadu is the next best. In the backward States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan, 85 to 88 per cent of Muslim women are illiterate. In Assam, the State with the highest percentage of Muslim population, 74 per cent of Muslim women are illiterate, the States of West Bengal, Karnataka, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh (MP), 60 to 65 per cent and in the State of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Gujarat 50 to 55 per cent of Muslim women are illiterate. The Sachar Committee Report too affirms the fact that Muslims are way behind as far as education is concerned. Muslims rank among the most educationally and economically deprived sections of Indian society. The situation is not a happy one to be in.
Indian Muslims constitute more than 12 per cent of Indian population which is quite sizeable by any account and they are more than 100 million in terms of absolute numbers. It is maintained and rightly so that they are next only to Muslim population in Indonesia. Their economic and educational progress is, therefore, very crucial for the progress of the country. No country can boast of development if its sizeable minority lags behind and if its large population remains illiterate and poor.
The position of Muslim men is somewhat better in terms of literacy. The percentage among the men is comparatively higher. Nevertheless, in the post-Babri demolition situation is changing favourably. Muslims are paying more attention to education and economic progress. They have also become quite conscious of female education and now more and more Muslim women are taking to education. According to one survey done by Shervani in U.P. the percentage of Muslim girls appearing for SSC examinations has increased. Not only that but the success rate of Muslim girls has jumped 19 times. That means Muslim girls are taking their studies much more seriously today than before 1990. This healthy trend seems to be persisting. Many Muslim girls are making it to the merit lists also. In Maharashtra three Muslim girls have made it to the merit list in the results declared a couple of days ago.
This is a very welcome development. At the same time, however, much more needs to be done with regard to Muslim women’s education, both religious as well as modern. Personally, I believe that Muslim women should receive an equal education as Muslim boys. There is nothing in Islam that prohibits this. Why shouldn’t we have Muslim women engineers, doctors, journalists, lawyers and social workers? We need Muslim women in all these sorts of occupations. They need to have a presence in all necessary social sectors. A woman can be a good Muslim, a good wife, a good mother, and a good professional at the same time. Such a woman can provide a good role model for others to emulate. To deny Muslim women this possibility, ironically in the name of Islam, would mean only to further reinforce ultra-secularism, in the sense of hostility to, or absence of, religion in the public sphere. A very famous saying goes thus that when a man is educated only a person is educated but when a woman is educated, an entire family is educated. Times are changing fast and in this age of globalization it is very essential that women take to education and bring in the much needed transformation of the society and relieve the community from being labeled backward and laid-down.
