A remarkable Muslim lady at the UN

‘Knowledge Is Essential for Being a Good Muslim’

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=105287&d=4&m=1&y=2008

JEDDAH, 4 January 2007 — Dr. Thoraya Obaid, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said that the issue of health and education for women has to be addressed as a most critical development priority at the regional and local levels. During a recent visit to Jeddah she spoke with Arab News about efforts by the UNFPA to bring its expertise and activities closer to local communities and mobilize resources for women’s rights.

snip

The UNFPA works in two areas: One is in supporting member states in developing their national systems for data collection and analysis, census and surveys. “We focus on anything related to population data to help governments make the correct plans and decisions based on solid information,” said Dr. Thoraya.
The other program undertaken by UNFPA is reproductive health. “Under it are all issues related to maternal health especially decreasing maternal death due to pregnancy and child birth, family planning, prevention of HIV among women and youth, dealing with impact of violence against women and promoting social responsibility by mobilizing people to deal with the issue, and also promote girls education. We work with governments upon their invitation to establish and expand family planning in the sense of spacing, not population control, as some might still think,” said Dr. Thoraya.
Some of these issues are fairly sensitive in some cultures and have to be addressed delicately. “Culture, religion, social practices and values impact greatly on how people understand such delicate issues, but basically I say that we all pray for reproduction and we all pray for health; so when they come together, it should be a double blessing that is promoted by all cultures and religions,” said Dr. Thoraya.

snip

As a Muslim and a Saudi woman, Dr. Thoraya is often confronted in the West with questions about the status of women in Islam given the barrage of misinformation and misrepresentation of Islam in the Western media, especially with regard to women and more especially Saudi women.
“I usually tell them I came out of this culture and look at me,” said Dr. Thoraya, who was among the first generation of Saudi women who went to the US for her college degree. She was the first Saudi woman to go on a scholarship, which was in 1963 when she was only 17, and the first to earn a PhD from the US. “My father used to say that a good base of faith and for being a good Muslim is knowledge and he insisted that girls got educated just like boys. I use this argument with them and they understand it, but still the media presentation of negative stories attracts more attention than stories of positive development.”
However, it cannot be denied that there are some practices and discrimination committed against women in the name of Islam. “Lots of it has to do with the interpretation of Islam which is done by humans. If we take the spirit of Islam that honored women and changed their status and gave them rights, including the very progressive independent financial status, it should be applied in all the interpretations. I consider any form of denying women the rights given to them by Islam because of specific interpretations a form of ‘waad’ (infanticide) of girls, which was practiced in ‘jahiliya’ (pre-Islam) period. While at that time girls were killed physically, today by preventing girls and women from their social, cultural and economic rights, society is practicing another form of ‘waad,’ killing their spirit. Just as Islam honored women, so interpretations have to be in the spirit of honoring women. We always say that Islam is the religion for every time and place; therefore, it should be able to change whatever relates to ‘al-muaamalat’ (the things of daily life) and it certainly remains constant in what deals with ‘al-ibadat’ (issues of belief and faith).”