I go to SunniPath sometimes - although not frequently enough, I must admit - because it has an excellent question and answer forum, answered by top Shaikhs and scholars of both the Shafi'e and Hanafi schools. Recently the somewhat contentions issue of what was bid'ah (innovations) came up at the Lancaster University mosque, and I was trying to find out more about the issue. It so happened that I chanced upon another query that totally blew me away. The question read:

"Can I study at university, as a Muslim woman? Can I be involved in political activism? How do I do da`wah?"

Initially, I went, "Eh? What's this, since when did Islam forbid women from education and political activism?" But the depth of the answer, explained by Faraz Rabbani - an economics graduate who is also well schooled in the traditional Islamic sciences, opened a new door of understanding for me - and realised how lucky I am - or rather, we all are - to be a Malaysian Muslim woman.

Yes women can

Studying at university, being involved in political activism and being involved in da'wah, for women - as explained by Shaikh Faraz - is perfectly lawful so long as one observes the tenets enforced by Islam. Which really should come as no surprise to us Malaysians - this is what we've been told all along. It just comes across to me with morbid fascination, which I only realised having lived here in England these past few years, that for some Muslim women, education and a life outside the confines of their home is something unheard of.

I recalled a conversation I had with my colleague Sayjda earlier this term. Sayjda is British-Pakistani, with family still in Kashmir. She considers herself lucky because her father believed in education for his children as a top priority, without gender being an issue. She tells me she is an anomaly in her community, doing a PhD; the only other woman with a Masters degree where she lives is her sister. She told me about a tv chat show she happened to watch in Pakistan during one of her recent trips there.

"There was this woman, one of the Pakistan's top feminists, and she was talking about Malaysia," Sayjda told me.

"Oh really? What about?" I asked.

"She was saying how our women should be more like the Malaysians, get out, have an education, get jobs, learn to stand up for ourselves."

"Isn't it different in Pakistan though? Like, in Saudi, the men provide more so women don't need to work?"

She laughed at me. "Listen," she said. "Men are jerks everywhere, they never do what they're supposed to do.. apart from taking four wives. At least if you're educated you learn to stand up for yourself."

So from that perspective, we're in a lucky position - you, I, and other Muslim women in our country. Even within the limited traditional perimeters some of us are subjected to in Malaysia, most of us, SPM qualifications-willing, have a fair shot at graduating from university, and for the most part, get a job, or even a career, that is commensurate with our qualifications. More and more of us are financially independent; but this begets a question, what are we Muslim women doing to stand up for ourselves?

Let me put to you this question, which was asked of me recently by a non-Muslim friend. "You know how people say that your religion (Islam) demeans women, but that's a misconception. I've been reading some, and I came across the notion that Islam raises the status of women and gives them rights that sometimes society denies. Can you tell me what those rights are?"

I am woman, hear me roar

I was gobsmacked, because I couldn't quite answer her question. Sure, I knew that Islam rescued women from their lowly status in the days of Jahiliyyah, but perhaps it is ignorance of my own that I could not, at that moment and many a navel gazing session afterwards, come with a nice list of rights of women as accorded to them in Islam.

I could, however, list you my obligations as a woman; because through various mediums: school, talks, televisions, sermons... I am always reminded, mostly by men, what I owe them. What I have to do, and what their rights are over me, once I am legally their spouse.

This is not to say that Islam does not grant women rights far from it! But why is it that these rights rarely get frequent airing? If and I am being cynical to a fault here if men are not willing to let Muslim women know what their rights are, do you think they'd willingly let the world at large know? And if this really is the case, how are we to change the perceptions of the world towards the most misunderstood religion today? One of the lecturers at my department once said to me, over coffee and a discussion of how hard it was for me to be living as a Muslim in Britain in this day and age, that sometimes, it's not what you say, but how you say it. Sometimes the louder you shout, the more people you alienate.

They were giving out booklets the other week, during Islamic Awareness Week, and one of the booklets was entitled, "The status of women in Islam." Fair enough, except for the fact that the author of the book was a man. Bearing in mind that we're trying to preach to the unconverted here, to use a figure of speech, what kind of a message does that send to critics who already argue that Islam is a religion that demeans women? Do we not have enough female scholars to talk about this issue?

The role of women in traditional Islamic scholarship has not been talked about much, but there indeed were women who were great teachers, under some of whom Ibn Batutta studied with. During the height of the Islamic civilization, women scholars were very common; and while I couldn't really name a few myself, such is the lack of my knowledge, I could perhaps type in the right keywords in Google so that I would come across as semi-intelligent, but, what use would it be? Because between you and me, I dare bet most of us wouldn't know better if I name a real scholar or made one up.

I didn't write this piece to come across as some preachy know it all, so my apologies if I did, because me myself, I know scant. This piece is really a journey for me I reflected as I wrote this, and I hope you'll reflect as you read it too. Just the other week, I was challenged by another Muslim, who was unhappy that I did not make time to help with Islamic Awareness Week. He accused me that I had no time for God and the religion, and I answered that my priority was with my studies, and that studying in itself is also part of my personal ibadah. He asked me to give the basis of my argument and for the life of me I couldn't recall where I learnt that or what surah or hadith it came from. Had I been challenged by a non-Muslim well.. there you go.

A journey

We seem to think we know a lot, but most of it is either what has been rote learnt, or what is forced upon us. The best I could come up with to reply to the aforementioned bloke who by the way, had no right whatsoever to judge me just because I didn't want to sit behind his booth since I had a meeting in two hours I needed to prep for was that my dad told me. How far would that go in an inter faith debate, "My dad told me"?

We say non-Muslims are misled by the media into developing the misconceptions that they have about our religion, but sometimes we rely on what the media says about others too. We hardly look beyond the surface, do we? I mean, we have been told that the aim of the terrorists is to kill all Westerners and make the world an Islamic caliphate, but really, how true is that? What's to say that they are intent on killing half the world because it would improve their chances of winning the lottery by fifty percent, for instance? Yes, I know, a farfetched example, but sometimes when you listen to people who have an agenda, things are tinted in a certain shade. (Yes, yes, now guess my agenda ) There is indeed a need to examine things at its roots again, methinks that is the way forward.

All in all, the issue of raising the moderate voice of Islam, much drowned by the far left liberals and the far right extremists, is not just the task of women. But if we, the women who by far have had the best chances in terms of education and being on equal footing, don't do anything about the injustices to our own kind, then who will? If women in the past scaled such great heights in terms of education, leadership and status in the past, without resorting to controversial means such as leading a male prayer congregation, why can't we repeat the feats of our ancestors? The West may call themselves liberated and progressive today, what with female senators, female secretaries of state and female prime ministers; as Muslim women, we've been there, we've done that. We seem to have just lost the t-shirt.

IDLAN ZAKARIA is proud of the fact that this article was written about women and Islam in Malaysia without even once citing the words, 'Islamic Family Law'. She no longer wants marriage proposals, but job offers should still be sent to idlan@idlanzakaria.com