WUNRN
2007-12-14
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Hundreds of Afghan Women Raise Voices Against Violence Through Prayer |
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The women of Afghanistan are seldom seen, let alone heard. But for a brief moment Wednesday, hundreds across the country made history by joining in a unique display of female solidarity. In six cities across the war-torn country, including ones in volatile Kandahar and Helmand province, the women came to pray for an end to the war and destruction that has claimed the lives of so many of their husbands, sons and brothers over the last 30 years. About 250 women showed up at an outdoor shrine in Kandahar's Arghandab district where Canadian and coalition forces clashed with insurgents just months ago, leaving about 50 Taliban dead and as many wounded. As with most organized events in Afghanistan, there was no advertising for security reasons, other than word of mouth. Copies of the Qur'an were distributed to the women who knelt on prayer rugs below a hazy morning sun. By the end, they had between them recited the 30 chapters of the holy book four times. "Traditionally the significance of numbers is great. The more you read, the more you recite, the greater good that you do," local activist and organizer Rangina Hamidi later explained. In between readings, Hamidi said, some of the women bravely stood up to share their heartbreaking stories of loss, even though doing so could put them in danger. Bibi Hajani spoke of her son who was decapitated while delivering supplies to Dutch troops in Uruzgan province earlier this year. A widow herself, she begs for cash and teaches the Qur'an to girls to support her now widowed daughter-in-law and her six grandchildren as well as her own five daughters. For Zainab it was the loss of her husband, an army officer killed during the Russian war, that turned her once comfortable happy life into one of chaos and uncertainty. When the school at which she taught was closed under the Taliban, she was forced to bake bread from morning to night for 1,000 boys at a madrassa, or religious school. "Generally the women loved the platform because nobody was telling them what to do, what to say, how to do it. It was controlled by them," Hamidi said, noting the majority of women were housewives and in many cases uneducated and illiterate. "When I told them this wasn't only happening in Kandahar, that it was all over Afghanistan ... they could not believe they were taking part in such an event." The first such gathering was organized by a women's shura, or council meeting, in Kandahar City about six months ago. For those peace prayers, the group was allowed to enter a local mosque for the first time anyone could remember. But Hamidi suggested this latest event was historic in terms of scale. While even in Kandahar, women are slowly beginning to shed the burka and organize for social change, Hamidi said the event isn't necessarily a sign things are evolving for women in Afghanistan. What it shows is that a religious forum can be a powerful one when it comes to giving women a political voice, she said, adding many of the husbands allowed and even applauded their wives for attending. "We're working in a society where a religion is practised and it is respected and valued and honoured. I don't see why we cannot work within that framework to bring social change or arouse activism in the hearts and minds of people," she said. "I think we women have been lucky to find a niche that can help us move forward, and it is our religion and we're happy and proud and honoured that we're able to (use) this." 2007-12-14 |
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