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The mention of Muslim women as a group instantly conjures up images of Burqa-clad, Hijab-wearing, Chador-bound, male-dominated and sociopoliticallysilenced hordes of female members of our species. That such images are caricatures goes unrecognized even by the so-called educated members of the Western nations. Clinging to the notion that Muslim women are invariably disenfranchised, if not abused, the Western gaze avoids noticing their triumphs and extraordinary accomplishments. It ignores that five Muslim women have held the highest elected office of their nation: Benazir Bhutto (Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1988-1990 and 1993-1996), Tansu Ciller (Prime Minister of Turkey, 1993-1996), Sheikh Hasina Wajid (Prime Minister of Bangladesh, 1996-2000), Begum Khalida Zia (Prime Minister of Bangladesh, 1991-1996 and 2001-present) and Meghawati Sukarnoputri (President of Indonesia, 2001-2004). And, then almost out of the blue, it bestows the Nobel Prize for Peace to a young Muslim girl from Pakistanby the name of Malala Yousafzai (1997-present) who no one had ever heard off. Her achievement? Surviving the brutal assault of fundamentalist Muslim men (hell bent on preventing girls from attending schools) and speaking up against it.
Now, you may call this boldly iconoclastic or merely whimsical but I regard her being given this Award (whose prior recipients include such giants of humanity as Dag Hammerksjold, Vaclav Havel, Itzhak Rabin, Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela) as an act of sly tokenism. Worse, it is a sectarian device to underscore the Muslim fundamentalist violence more strongly than Muslim creative spirit and resilience. To put it bluntly, I find the award to be a bad joke.
You know what? When it comes to the world's Muslim women, I have far greater respect for singers like Umm Kulthum (1904-1975) and Begum Akhtar (1914-1974; no relation to me), writers like Ismat Chughtai (1915-1991), political activists like Hanan Ashravi (1946-present), human rights defenders like Shi