WUNRN
SYRIA - WOMAN TEACHER OF QURANIC
STUDIES - CONTINUING CONFLICT - PROFILE OF PAIN
Rufaida
Al Habash is an Islamic Studies professor, lecturer, and leadership trainer.
She established the Al
Andalus Institute, the largest Quranic studies institute for women in
Syria.
Dr. Rufaida Al Habash - Hama,
March 3, 2013 -“I am looking for a job, for a house, for freedom in my
home,
After a while I went back to meet girls again, and because of this I was imprisoned for 12 hours and I was asked to stop my activities in homes. Due to this and to the increase in the number of students, I decided to get an official permission from the government for opening a licensed Institute.
In those days the city was still suffering from the effects of the massacre, which reflected badly on the people of the city and on the religion and the preachers.
In fact, the reason that helped me to have an institute in such difficult
circumstances is that I’m not from the city of
Before the revolution, I had a hard time with the regime and I had to be questioned monthly by the FBI. Finally, I was fired from the institute because of my extra activities and dialogues I held in the institute. And during the revolution, Al-Andaluse Institute for Islamic Studies has been burnt.
At the beginning of the revolution, I incited the protesters to march peacefully to claim their rights. I was thinking it is time to change the years of oppression and suppression but in a non-violent way. Violence will only generate greater violence. Also, I had the chance to reach greater audiences at international conferences; I tried to get the opportunity to speak and to collect donations, but in a very careful and secret way.
The donations were distributed with the help of my students whose families, relatives, and neighbors had suffered a lot from the negative effects of the revolution, which turned to be a bloody one. Donations were allocated to buy the basic needs for the families whose living supporters were arrested or even killed. Also, some of the donations were spent to buy medicine and to help in private home hospitals.
The image of the suffering girls in my country inspired me to write this poem:
What bothers me … a voice ringing in my ears!
On the threshold of her demolished home
A Syrian girl cries….. I hear her words:
Oh! My wound is bleeding
Where are you, my mum?
Mum … I am glad you are dead
Glad you did not know,
About my four brothers…Scattered…Dead
About fire fragments that distorted my soft cheeks …
About the bloody head of my father on my shoulder’s rest
I will stay here…and will not run away…
Because
My ground is Here
My nation is Here
My home is Here
My doll is Here
And one day victory will be Here…
The pain in my heart emerged in words of a provocative song that can be watched here.
During the last Ramadan I had been to
In
Now I am in