Niqab Ban in the University of Moratuwa: A Victim Student Tells Her Story

by Fathima Sahar

My name is Fathima Sahar, a first year student at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Moratuwa. I am one of three students who are affected by the ban on the niqab by the University. I thought of writing this because our side of story has been literally ‘veiled’ away from the public. The media that reported the issue only spoke to the University authorities and did not contact us. The University too, that is so eager to see our faces did not want to hear our voices, ideas and thoughts. Before they decided to ban the niqab – the University did not trouble itself to give us a hearing, to discuss, to find a solution to whatever problem they perceived.

In that sense, the way we have been treated is no different to the way many of our sisters in many other contexts are treated. Women and their voices are hardly allowed to be heard but kept muted and suppressed. And in that sense at least, I feel it is my duty to speak up and speak out.

I was born in a refugee camp. My parents are from Mannar and were victims of the ethnic cleansing of the Northern Muslims by the LTTE in 1990. Like most refugee students I saw a University education as a passport to a better future and a means for empowerment to fight against the type of injustices that my parents suffered. So my journey from Puttalam to Moratuwa was hard and difficult yet it was inspired by the hope of something better.

The story of a beautiful woman-”Just go, there is nothing wrong with this marriage”

Just go, there is nothing wrong with this marriage

There was this beautiful woman, who wanted to get married, but she wanted a very pious husband, so she said that she’ll marry the man who recites the whole Quran every single day, fasts for the whole year and stays awake and worships Allah all throughout the night.

She was a very beautiful woman, and a lot of suitors wanted to marry her, but they knew they couldn’t fulfil the conditions she set. Until this one man stepped forward and said he could fulfil them. So the Imam got both of them married.

After the first night of the marriage, the wife sees that the husband doesn’t recite the whole of the Quran, nor does he fast, nor does he stay awake in the worship of Allah, she decided to let it roll on for a few weeks to see if there were any changes, there weren’t, so she filed a complaint and asked for a divorce.

They are both taken in front of the judge, and the judge asked, ‘What were the conditions of the marriage?’ the man replied ‘They were for me to recite the whole Quran daily, keep fast for the whole year and to worship Allah all throughout the night.’

The Judge asked, ‘ did you fulfil them?

The man calmly answered, ‘…yes.’

The judge answers, ‘you lie, your wife has said that you don’t, that’s why she’s asking for a divorce’.

But the man insisted that he had fulfilled the conditions, so the judge asked, ‘did you recite the full Quran everyday?’

The man answered yes.

The Judge, baffled asked, ‘how? How can you do that?’

The man coolly answered, ‘I recite Surah Ikhlas three times a day and according to Prophet Muhammad (saw), reciting Surah Ikhlas three times is equivalent to reciting the whole Quran.’

[Hadith

Narrated Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri: A man heard another man reciting: Surat-ul-Ikhlas (The Unity) 'Say: He is Allah, the One (112) and he was repeating it. The next morning he came to Allah's Apostle and mentioned the whole story to him as if he regarded the recitation of that Sura as insufficient On that, Allah's Apostle said, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is! That (Sura No. 112) equals one-third of the Qur'an."  Bukhari (Book #78, Hadith #638)]

FRIENDS CAN MAKE UR LIFE EASY

HERES A LITTLE STORY

One day, when I was a freshman in high school,

I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.

His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.' I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.