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MAY 2002

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WINDOW ON CANADA

Nazreen Ali,
Chair

H.E. Dr Sallama Shaker, Moderator

Deepak Obhrai, MP
Host

Jane Tallim
Co-Chair

 

Women in Islam, Beyond the Images seminar held on March 14, 2002 at Parliament Hill Ottawa was hosted by the Honorable Deepak Obhrai, Member of Parliament Calgary East and the Guyana Caribbean Muslim Association.

 

The idea of creating and organizing this seminar was the culmination of the experiences of Ms. Nazreen Ali, Chair of the Women in Islam – Beyond the Images Committee.  She felt that there was a need to critically analyze Muslim women's issues. The opportunity presented itself last November, after discussions with many, including Ms. Jane Tallim who eventually co-chaired the event.

 

The Panelists

 The Attendees

 

Like any concept, this one needed funding, a team and community support. The very first person to offer support and assistance was Mr. Deepak Obhrai, Member of Parliament Calgary East and ultimately co-hosted the event, we are indeed very grateful.  Mr. Obhrai recognised that this was a very critical issue and dialogue needed to be encouraged given the events of the recent past.  We thank him for having the courage to support such an important discussion. 

 

We received great support from Her Excellency, Dr Sallama Shaker, Ambassador Islamic Republic of Egypt. Dr Shaker is an example of a muslim woman who has reached the pinnacle of success in her career as an Ambassador of a Muslim country. Her role not only as a moderator but also as an active participant on the organising team was critical to our success. 

 

The event was assured of professional event management expertise with the support of the His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for Ottawa. We thank Dr. Karim Damji, President for offering the support of his team of volunteers led by Almas Abdulla.

 

The event also received support from the Ottawa Muslim Association and the Ambassador of Egypt, Her Excellency Dr. Sallama Shaker, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia. His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Hussani, Ambassador of Iran, His Excellency Dr. S. M. Ali-Mousavi and Ambassador of Kuwait His Excellency Faisal Al-Mulaifi and the City of Ottawa. The community sponsors included  Mr A M Jabara, President & CEO Shaddy International & Lazy Boy Furniture, Mr Marco Porco, Elm Printing, Dr & Mrs Gihad Shabib, Mr Shamim Awan, Senior Manager, International Trade, Bank of Nova Scotia, Dr & Mrs Shakir Sheikh.

 

The assembling of a core team was critical, since the right skills and experience were required to meet the tight delivery time frames. The next two important tasks were speakers’ selection and financing.  The Chair and her team diligently tackled these tasks and the rest as they say is history. The team also included, amongst others, Ms Almas Abdulla, Ms Zina Patel, Ms Naomi Ali (Graphic Design), Ms Fauzya Talib, Dr & Mrs Shakir Sheikh.

 

Women in Islam – Beyond the Images, was an issued oriented seminar and by all accounts it was a very timely event.   From the reports and feedback this seminar was very successful. The event attracted a good mix of men and women, from all levels of government, the diplomatic corps, academia, NGOs and the private sector, 450 in total with a waiting list of over a 100.   The speakers spanned the gamut of ideas and concepts as these relate to Muslim women and their role in society today. 

 

We were able to gather some of the most influential and prominent women Muslim women as panelists. The core objective of the seminar to provide thought- provoking, balanced and constructive dialogue and to examine the role of Muslim women in society today and build bridges between communities. Here are some highlights of the evening discussion:

 

Welcome Address from Mr Deepak Obhrai

    Keynote Speaker:

 

Dr. Leila Ahmed, a renowned international Islamic scholar and expert on women’s issues provided unique insights on the key issues pertaining to women in Islam. In addition to detailing the major issues, she provided answers that drew parallels between Islam and Christianity.  She referred to the diversity of Islamic practices that spans the globe. She concluded that the recurring core themes of Islam are kindness, justice and equality for all regardless of wealth or place in society; with an emphasis on the ethical core of Islam - respect for all and full justice for women.

 

Panelists:

Dr. Riffat Hassan was very compelling and received a standing ovation from the audience. She spoke from her extensive experience and body of knowledge on the rights of Muslim women. She also spoke about the challenges facing the Islamic world as it grapples with the concept of modernization. Dr. Hassan concluded that real changes start with empowering Muslims with Quranic values that stress the core principles of justice, equality, education, kindness and generosity.

 

Dr. Tyseer Aboulnasr presented an engaging and stimulating personal perspective of a practicing Muslim woman who is also a professional engineer and head of the Faculty of Engineering at a leading Canadian university. She provided insight into what it means to have progressed as a Muslim woman engineer to the pinnacle of her career.  She traced her own personal and professional development and linked key milestones to Islamic values and traditions.  Dr Aboulnasr succeeded in demonstrating that she is living proof  that Islam empowers women to develop professionally and personally.

Dr. Heshmat Mousavi provided a framework for evaluating the impact of the women’s movement in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran. Her talk provided the insights that led to the rejection of western values and the active participation of women in Iran.

Ms. Amina Sherazee spoke about the plight of Muslim women and the impact of war and globalization, capitalism and other factor has on these women.  Her talk provided insights of the plights of Muslim women and some explanations for these circumstances.

 

A vote of thanks was presented by Ms Nurjehan Mawani, Commissioner, Public Services Commission, Government of Canada.

 

 

   Welcome Speech

  

  Priti Obhrai-Martin 

  

Distinguished guests:

 

Good evening

 

My name is Priti Obhrai-Martin and I am the daughter of Deepak Obhrai, Member of Parliament for Calgary East. 

 

My husband Robin and I flew in yesterday from Calgary and I am here representing my father, who due to his recent hospitalization, could not come.  He has asked me to read his welcome address, which I will do now.

 

Distinguished guests;

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to tonight’s exciting event, “Women in Islam – Beyond the Images”.

 

Much has been written about the role of women in Islam.  Such as the Treatment of women by the repressive Taliban regime in Afghanistan, who used Islam as their justification and shocked the entire world community including Muslims. 

 

Regretfully, the September 11 tragedy allowed all kinds of speculation to be made and many negative images were portrayed about Muslim women. 

 

But my personal experience in life, having grown up in Africa, studied in India, and traveled widely in most regions of the world was very different. 

 

I met and saw the huge contribution made by women of the Islamic faith.  I touched on his issue with Nazreen Ali, the president of Guyana Caribbean Muslim Association. 

 

She become very passionate and reminded me of the tremendous influence the Islamic religion has had on humanity in all continents and the prominent role women have played in this achievement.

 

Well, the final outcome of the discussion is tonight’s event.

 

Tonight’s speakers come with very impressive resumes’ and we will here first hand what they have to say.

 

It was a pleasure for me to offer the resources of my office and I would like to acknowledge the hard work of Aaron Gairdner and Barbara Nault of my Ottawa office.

 

It was also a pleasure working with the Guyana Caribbean Muslim Association under the leadership of President Nazreen Ali.  She assembled a team of hardworking and dedicated Individuals.

 

I would also like to welcome the out of town speakers and the other distinguished guests to tonight’s function. 

 

Finally, our ultimate desire is that tonight’s forum will enable us to further understand and build stronger bonds of friendship between all religions practiced by Canadians.

 

Thank you.

  Photos Courtesy:  A. Intiaz Rahim