Women empowerment within the Islamic community

Women over the years have been placed in the background especially in the Muslim community in Ghana. One of the most important and pressing issues affecting our Muslim community is the education of the Muslim girl.

Undoubtedly, Islam attaches great priority to education, having emphasised that education is the key to every nation’s success. This is buttressed by the fact that the first verse revealed to our Prophet, Mohammed (S.A.W) in the Holy Quran, was “Iqra”, which literarily means: “Read”, and in “Reading” or seeking knowledge, Islam did not discriminate between Muslim men and women or young and old. Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W) said: Seeking of knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim (male and female alike). The prophet also said: “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave”.

Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W) was also reported to have said that any woman, who successfully educated 3 daughters before marrying them off to good men, will have a place in Paradise, Insha Allah, in the hereafter.

However, despite all the great emphasis and importance Islam places on education, many of our mothers did not have the opportunity to be educated. As a result they also lack to recognize the value of educating the girl-child and end up denying their daughters the right to education they deserve. Sadly, some of our mothers who even understand the value of education still feel hesitant to grant some of our dear sisters this opportunity, probably due to their ill-conceived cost implications. Meanwhile, we see our mothers spend lavishly on themselves and during certain occasions or social gatherings such as marriage ceremonies within our Zongo communities. If our mothers would cut spending on fancy clothes and ornaments and rather use the money to pay for the school fees of their children who have been sacked from school because of unpaid school fees, we would have a better society.

I once lived in an area where a poor non-Muslim woman, who only made a living by selling “Yor k3 Gari” (a local dish of beans, oil and gari) amazingly was able to educate all her kids up to the secondary level while some of them succeeded in acquiring university education. In our Muslim community, however, we have women who make much more money from good ventures, but prefer to show off their riches by spending on things that do not help better the lives of our children and family. We save money to buy what our daughters will use when they get married, caring much less about how they will live after they get married. These unfortunate practices must stop if we are to make good impact in our society.

It appears that we even take more delight in giving out our sisters in marriage at the earliest possible time regardless of whether they are still in school or not. Sometimes, some of these young girls may be performing wonderfully at school, but they have to sadly trade their big dreams for marriage, which they were probably forced into. Although getting married is a very important stage in every woman’s life, we have to recognize that an educated woman helps establish a better family. Educating a girl both in the western and Islamic institution is very important as that equips her with great wisdom to be able to make wise decisions in her socio-economic life, on the one hand, and meeting her religious obligations accordingly, on the other, to strike the balance that Allah says in the Holy Quran: “Wa ja’al naakum Ummatan wasataa..” - meaning: (Thus, have We made of you an Ummat justly balanced…) Suratul Baqarah - 143. 

Whether a working or a stay-at-home mum, education is a right for the girl child to be able to meet her motherhood obligations with perfection. Mothers are the first source of knowledge or school for our children so having a well-equipped school means a good education for our children. And well-educated children also means good future leaders and prosperous society. They say: “If you educate a man you educate one person, but if you educate a woman you educate the whole family”. This is because men leave home early and return late, while women stay home to take care of the family.

Unfortunately, our attitude towards education has created a vicious cycle of illiteracy, making us unable to make meaningful or positive contributions to our Muslim community, in particular, and the Ghanaian society at large - a sad situation which continue to keep us, the Muslims, at the bottom of the social ladder.

To my brothers and fathers I say: imagine yourself so luckily marrying a woman who is a HAFIZA (i.e. has memorized the Quran) but at the same time a scholar of western education. Thankfully, we have seen role models like the former Minister for Women and Children Affairs, Hajia Halima Mahama and Dr. Rabiatu Armah, a lecturer at the University of Ghana. Interestingly, when we see such successful Muslim women, we admire and feel proud to point hands and try to associate ourselves with them. For example, we often hear some people say ''AYI DIYAN FATI KAINANG, NAASAN GIDANSU'' meaning, she is FATI's daughter and I know their house. In as much as we are proud of such successful Muslim women, we must always rather be mindful on how we can strive hard to get our daughters there too.

We are therefore passionately appealing to our beloved mothers to kindly put an end to these inexpedient practices if we are to make a good impact in our society and take the right place we much deserve.

I hope and pray that this will rekindle the desire and interest of our mothers to deeply care for education of the Muslim girl child which we all cherish so much.      

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