By TCN News,
Jaipur: “We must go ahead and outshine in the field of education, but with our Islamic identity, because progress on cost of identity is a sheer loss,” said Saliha Malik, Gujrat State President of the Girls Islamic Organisation. She was addressing a large gathering of girl students as the chief guest of the GIO’s first state conference in Rajasthan at the Muslim Musafir Khana of Jaipur. The conference raising the slogan “Let us spread the light of knowledge, make a better society” was the last programme of the fortnight-long Women’s Awareness Campaign launched in the state by the women’s wing of the Jamat e Islami Hind, Rajasthan.
Saliha Malik said that we could build a better society only by virtue of knowledge. She recalled the important role played by women during the time of the Prophet (PBUH) when eminent scholars used to come to them for acquiring knowledge. Prophet’s wife Khadeeja (RA) was a trader, scholar and doctor at the same time. She added that it was obligatory for every Muslim, either man or woman, to acquire knowledge.
Saliha Malik (President GIO Gujarat)
Muslim girls should raise voice against any kind of oppression, injustice or exploitation they come across, be it in their houses or inside the campus, urged Engineer Muhammed Saleem, state president of the Jamat e Islami Rajasthan and patron of the state GIO. The very purpose of Islam is to put an end to injustice and ensure rights to people. He advised the girls ot be ideal Muslims by virtue of their best etiquettes and character, so that the real image of Islam may come forth. The Islamic hijab is not a barrier in the way of women’s progress but rather is helpful and provides security to their self-respect and dignity, he added.
The objective of the GIO is to spread education in the light of the Holy Quran and Sunnah, create awareness among the girl students and to prepare them for the struggle to stop tyranny and injustice, said Sameena Farheen, GIO state president, introducing the organization.
The present-day system of splitting knowledge into religious and modern is against the Islamic teachings, opined state secretary Ubaidah Iqbal. “Islam commands its followers to acquire knowledge as a whole, be it religious or of science, arts, commerce or whatever is beneficial to the humanity,” she said.
Habeeba Madani, Ayesha Badar, Mariya Ali etc also spoke. The girls of the GIO Gujarat, Jaipur and Jodhpur presented beautiful Islamic songs.
The conference passed the following resolutions also:
* This conference of the Girls Islamic Organisation of Rajasthan welcomes the recently passed, though very late, the ‘Right To Compulsory Education Bill’. This house demands from the government that the benefit of the act should reach to the downtrodden sections of the society and minorities, especially girls.
* This house expresses deep concern over the ever increasing nudity in the society, especially obscene demonstration of the female body in the Films and advertisements. This house demands from the government to immediately ban the films and ads that promote nudity. Beauty contests, in which the dignity of woman is shattered, also be banned.
* In some countries of the world including ours, Islamic Hijab is uselessly being made a topic of debate. This house unanimously resolves that Islamic Hijab is not a hindrance in the way of our progress, instead it safeguards the women and adds to her dignity. This house appeals to one and all to try to understand the Hijab and its benefits and not to target the sisters who want to live in modesty.
* This house demands from the government to grant reservation to the Muslims in proportion to their population in education, army, police and other departments, as until every citizen of the country doesn’t get justice, establishment of peace is not possible and our country cannot progress.
* We believe that the Women’s Reservation Bill, recently presented in the parliament is based upon injustice, as the women of weaker and backward sections and Muslim women have been neglected in it. This house demands from the government to reconsider this bill and a quota be allotted to the women of backward sections and Muslims.
* This house condemns the increasing incidents of female foeticide in the country and demands from the elders of the society and the government not to deprive the daughters of their right to live and to put a check on the heinous crime like female foeticide.