Muslim Women Leaders in the Ferghana Valley: Whose Leadership Is It Anyway?
2009; Bridgewater State University; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1539-8706
Autores Tópico(s)Turkey's Politics and Society
ResumoAbstract There are many geographic and historical examples of women leaders, yet questions about women's ability to lead and kinds of leadership women can assume are still a part of scholarly and public debates among Muslims. In this article, based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Ferghana Valley (Uzbekistan), I provide examples of women's leadership and argue that in order to fully understand women's leadership we need to question assumption that men and women desire same forms of leadership. A desire for leadership is intrinsic to women (or humans in general) but is socio-historically specific. Approaching critically some existing assumptions about women's leadership, I identify and provide examples of different, equally important, forms of leadership that a specific socio-historical context has engendered. Keywords: Women's leadership, Islam, Uzbekistan People's Professor Feruza-opa (2) was described by some of her students as the one who brings knowledge and spiritual peace into hearts of believers. Her other students called her a people's professor. She called herself an otincha, a religious teacher. As she said, she taught Islam to some local women and occasionally children; some local men came by periodically to get her advice. At a meeting in 2002 in Ferghana Valley, I asked Feruza-opa about Hizb-ut-Tahrir (the Party of Liberation), a transnational Islamist movement with aim of establishing an State, which has became a prominent actor in regional political discourse in first decade of twenty first century. She replied, [the Hizb] think they have authority to go against existing authority. I think that they will do anything, just aggravate. Muhammad said 'do go against authority: good or bad, it is all from Allah. Do go against Time [history]: it is still God's creation.' All their parties ... it is a waste of time. Many of them, men and women are in prison. Feruza-opa did support a vision such as Hizbut-Tahrir's of Valley (or Uzbekistan) as an state. Her emphasis, in her words, was on Muslim and living, which according to Feruza-opa, heavily depended on one's religious education and ritual prayer: When you pray--keep line with what Allah wants. 'Five times a day remember Me' [referring to Allah] ... Namoz (ritual prayer) keeps you from [doing] different bad things. If you read namoz Allah will give you [grant your wishes]. Feruza-opa saw corporal and intellectual learning about Islamic living as only viable way of changing individuals, local community and Uzbek society at large; as only way of not wasting time and being imprisoned. Feruza-opa believed in and stressed transformative value of education: Our people are ovam hulq [uneducated people]. One needs to change people slowly. Otinchalar should also do it slowly, fast. I believe that people should read Qur'an more. Those who read will change themselves ... We are yet to learn our religion. My mahallah [neighborhood], my students--they do do and do allow others to do gnoh [bad/evil deeds] because they know Islam. Mullahs [male religious leaders] also should read for themselves; they should read for and with people.... One needs to share what God gives you. If it is illim [knowledge, Ar. 'ilm] you should share it too. What we can and must do is to tell people about Islam, to share knowledge, to educate each other and ovam hulq slowly. For Feruza-opa and women like her, individual and societal transformation through religious education was a slow moral process beginning with sharing of (religious) knowledge. Through this sharing at religious ceremonies or during religious lessons, women like Feruza-opa, (3) who were educated at Soviet secular schools and had different levels of religious education acquired through family members, homeschools and/or self-education, actively engaged in religious renewal in Valley. …
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