Nissa wa Aafaq-Women and Horizons is a women's organization that seeks to change the social reality of Palestinian women inside Israel, from within the socio-cultural context of this community. Since religion is a major component of the social domain in the Palestinian community, it plays a major role in shaping the life of Arab society in general and women's role specifically. Religion exerts an enormous influence on Palestinian women's lives regardless of the specific religion to which she may belong or the extent of her participation and practice within that religion.
For generations, religion in this region has been used as a tool for dis-empowering women, preventing them from becoming strong and active agents within the community - hence the power imbalance in gender dynamics found in a patriarchal society. The traditionally patriarchal interpretation of religion has had a negative impact on women's rights, rights that were granted to them in the religious Islamic holy scripts. These rights include: the right to education, the right to work, the right to manage their financial affairs, the right to self-determination regarding personal life, and the right to participate actively and fully in public and political spheres. Nissa wa Aafaq women's organization focuses on women's rights as inclusive human rights.
Through the ages, interpretation of the holy texts has been male territory. Women have received religion from a male perspective where the agenda, in most instances, aimed to preserve the patriarchal system that existed before the rise of Islam. These interpretations have been multiple and at times conflicting depending upon specific political or social interests. Nevertheless, the doctrine of male superiority tended to prevail in all these interpretations, a doctrine that was put into practice throughout the ages. For example, in case of accusation of adultery, the Quran views both adulter5ers as equally responsible and entitled for punishment ,while in most Arab and Islamic societies women are usually those who are held responsible for committing adultery and therefore only they are punished severely. Secondly and still related, the Quran had stated that four eye witnesses are needed to prove adultery, while in practice a man who suspects that his daughter, sister or wife has been involved in a relationship whatsoever with a man, often attacks the woman and sometimes kills her on the grounds of "family honor". In both these cases women are those who are held responsible in society, despite what is said in the Quran .
In today's Arab and Islamic world, change is under way, and the status of women has become a critical question. A number of Islamic scholars, both male and female, have been working diligently in search of elements within the Islamic texts that empower women, principles which can be applied to modern life. Interpretations of this kind were either denied or forgotten by traditional societies. These interpretations constitute a modern* reading of the Islamic texts, a reading that aims to find the link between application of religious rules and the real life of people in contemporary society. Again, this approach is inevitably influenced by the importance of religion in the lives of the majority of people in the Arab and Islamic world.
Designed by: Manal Saabni
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