Right Thinking From The Left Coast
"To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing,
if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I Am Imam, Hear Me Roar
by West Virginia Rebel

Women’s lib, Muslim style.

Jin has a routine life. “Except attending funerals, I always stay in the mosque, teaching the female Muslims Islamic scriptures.”

She is a female imam or “ahong,” pronounced ah-hung, from the Persian word “akhund” for “the learned.” In China, a female imam is an innovation, despite being rare in Arabic countries.

Jin has 15 students, mostly middle-aged and elderly people. They learn slowly and need two years to grasp “The Holy Qu’ran.”

“Many female Muslims do not have the benefit of a school education. Although they are Muslims, they know nothing about the Qu’ran. I want to teach them the holy scriptures and hope they can be inspired and think independently,” she said.

“Women ahong are the best qualified to do this because they can communicate with the female faithful in ways the male ahongs can’t.”

How ironic is it that an officially atheist country grants women more equality than most of the Allah-fearing Muslim world?

Posted by West Virginia Rebel on 06/24/08 at 02:31 PM in Lee in China  • (4) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink • Discuss this in the forums
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