On March 19th 2015, Furkhunda a 27 year old Afghan woman was burnt alive in front of a crowd of hundreds of men. She was falsely accused (of blasphemy) by the local Imam for burning a copy of the Koran. Upon hearing the accusations, a crowd of men dragged her out of the mosque and started to beat her. She was thrown from the roof, run over by a car, hit with rocks and sticks, before she was eventually set on fire alive. Her body was dumped into the nearby river by the angry mob of men who had been chanting anti-American and anti-democracy slogans all along. This incident was filmed and put on YouTube and Facebook for others to watch, and was shared by many online. Furkhunda was a profound Islamic scholar, an aspiring judge and an obedient daughter. Her only sin was to get into an argument with the imam over the use of amulets in Islam. As a revenge for being challenged by a woman, the Imam accused Furkhunda of blasphemy. Later, her family was asked to declare her mentally unfit in order to save their own lives from the angry mob.
Since the Taliban regime had been overthrown, Afghanistan had seen making progress towards women’s rights. With the introduction of western styled democracy, Afghanistan had transitioned towards a more tolerant society for women. Post-Taliban, Afghan women had entered professions and stood for public positions previously unimagined under the rule of Taliban. Celebrated as the new enlightened leader of the secular Afghanistan, the first interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai had initially brought changes in to empower women. However, at a later stages he endorsed ‘code of conduct’ introduced by Ulema Council of Afghanistan; which recommended that Afghan women should not travel without a male guardian, and that they should not be allowed to mingle with strange men at public spaces such as schools, and parks. This move further clarifies Catherine McKinnon’s (a prominent feminist writer) position on the role of the governments that they do not stand up for women’s rights for the cause itself. In many cases, the women’s rights legislatives are passed on by reluctant men upon pressures from the outside. Examining Karzai’s decisions, it is obvious that he initially introduced reforms (possibly upon pressure) and later embraced the Ulema Council’s ‘code of conduct’ for his own political gains and alliances. This also points out towards Sally Engle Merry’s argument where she mentions that Human Rights often have to face the challenge of ‘culture’. She maintains that culture is often used as an excuse for violence against women. She stresses that culture acts as a barrier towards reforms since interference into cultural practices are often discouraged (in order not to offend the people). But culture alone does not act as a barrier, there are ideologies that also come into the way of women’s rights.
Feminists of the western societies often label the women of countries of the third world as backwards that often need their rescuing. These feminists believe in a need to help the women of the third world by empowering them with the western tools and experiences. Not only that these ideas ignore the potential of grassroots initiation of women’s rights, but also stigmatize the women’s rights movement in many countries. The landmark Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination of All forms against Women (CEDAW) is often encouraged by western governments to be ratified in many countries. The same convention has also been criticized for promoting western values. Historically, such rights have faced strong opposition from countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, women’s rights laws are often labelled as un-Islamic, and unfaithful, due to their western origins. In the context of Afghanistan and many other Islamic countries, women’s rights often become subjects to politicization of rights. The west views the laws of Sharia as unethical and anti-human while the advocates of Sharia view the western rights as westernization of their countries. In the midst of these deadlock debates, the rights of women in Islamic countries are left with little progress. But it is then the grassroots movements that can provide a new alternative.
In the case of Furkhanda, which was a pure act of barbarism, also created a new wave of grassroots activism by women for women. The unimaginable reaction happened at Furkhunda’s funeral. In Islam, women are not allowed to carry the grave of the dead to the graveyard. It is a duty which is specifically assigned to the men of the family who carry the corpse on their shoulders. After Furkhunda’s innocence was confirmed, and the corpse was being taken to the graveyard. A number of women turned up at the funeral, denying access to men. They claimed that the men ruthlessly watched the beating of Furkhunda and did not deserve the dignity to carry Furkhunda’s body (on their shoulders). Furkhunda’s father allowed the women to carry the corpse to the graveyard as a symbolism of the failure by men to protect Furkhunda; while men followed the women with their heads bowed down. It was an event of women’s empowerment where women of Afghanistan took in charge of their own right of protection (by making a strong statement).
There is a lot to learn from this incident especially in understanding the power local women can have to address their own rights, within their own cultural constraints. This also signifies the possibility of addressing human rights in the context of Islamic human rights values. For example, Islam calls for equality of women which is also based on spiritual equality. Similarly in Islamic literature, men and women do not compete but operate in complementarity to each other. These ideas give way to local Muslim women in working towards their own rights indigenously. As a prominent author Ratna Kapur explains that the legalization of women’s rights has sometimes done more damage to women’s rights movements than good. In the case of Furkhunda, the anti-democracy and anti-American slogans were an obvious indication of that. They men were using the incident as an excuse to exert their anger on the westernization of their society, to which Furkhunda became a victim of. Although a bright and innocent life was lost due to this barbaric act, there was also a positive change. It was a change which gave the Afghan women a chance to fight back for their own rights. In a way, it was the rise of Afghan feminism (as a retaliation to this savagely cruel incident).
Written by Fahad Sher Hussain
The Secular Tableeghi 