Islam and the Blessed Virgin Mary
In the past, some women have shown their worth and the powerful content of their being. The memory of Moremi of Ile-Ife is still fresh in Yoruba kingdom. In Benin City, a college is named after Imaguero. Queen Amina is immortalized in Zaria and many parts of Northern Nigeria. In Calabar, Mary Slessor will never […]
In the past, some women have shown their worth and the powerful content of their being. The memory of Moremi of Ile-Ife is still fresh in Yoruba kingdom. In Benin City, a college is named after Imaguero. Queen Amina is immortalized in Zaria and many parts of Northern Nigeria. In Calabar, Mary Slessor will never be forgotten by twins who not for her intervention would never have seen the light of day. The Airport in Calabar is named after Margaret Ekpo in memory of her effort to liberate the people during the Aba riot.
Who wants to underrate the power of women? The bible testifies to great women of substance like Judith and Queen Esther. The Muslims cannot forget the care and protection Khadija gave to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The Qur’an testifies that the Blessed Virgin Mary did not need a man to give birth to Jesus Christ. The Qur’an beautifully captures the dialogue between Mary and angel Gabriel: “I am the messenger of your Lord, he replied, and have come to give you a holy son. How shall I bear a child, Mary answered, when I am a virgin, untouched by man? Such is the will of your Lord, he replied. That is no difficult thing for Him. He shall be a sign to mankind, says the Lord” (Qur’an 19: 20).
This year, I was in Cairo, Egypt. I saw a woman on hijab and completely veiled with a “niqab”. Her husband who was sitting beside her in the airport wore trousers and a sleeveless shirt. This woman was eating with strenuous effort because she had to raise the “niqab” each time she was putting food in her mouth. I said to myself that the husband too should have covered his entire body to not expose his body to other women.
On Friday September 27, 2012, 509 women were deported from Saudi Arabia to land at the airport in Kano. It was interesting that a man came with them because his wife was among the women. That made the number 510 that landed in Kano airport at 9:00pm. That seems to contradict the argument of a male guardian or partner (muharram) to perform the hajj. Some of the women declared to the press: “We saw hell in Medina”. NTA and AIT reported that these women were detained for three days without food and water. 300 women had access to only 4 toilets. Is this the true teaching of Islam? NO! This is simply Arab politics.
The respect Islam accords to women is clearly shown in the prominent place the Qur’an gives to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Arabic word for Mary is (Maryam). She is mentioned more in the Qur’an than in the bible. A whole chapter (Surat Maryam) is dedicated to her. Mary is adorned in the Qur’an with the titles Qānitah: A woman of prayer and contemplation. Siddiqah.
In Hadith, Mary is called Batul and Adhraa meaning Ascetic and Virgin. The 19th chapter of the Qur’an is named after Mary (Surat Maryam) out of the 114 suras thus becoming one out of the eight people that have the suras named after them.
Mary’s role in Islamic culture is very prominent. Verses from the Qur’an about Mary are inscribed on the mihrab of some mosques.
Mary is mentioned in the Qur’an as a model of all righteous women. No man can be born if the mother decides otherwise. A man can claim paternity of a baby only on the evidence of the mother. The strength of the man is more in the muscles. Some women are even more intelligent than some men. Some men know this hence they are afraid to train the women. Some tribes and religions in the past had attempted to keep the women at the level of ignorance in order to use them as perpetual slaves.
We may recall that the initial context of the revelations of Allah to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was the oppression of women and the poor in Mecca. It seems that Saudi Arabia is reminding us of their old tradition before Islam when women were not respected. Irshad Manji a Muslim woman reacted to the oppression and domination of Arab in her book “the trouble with Islam today”.
Dr Khaleel Mohammed, Iman and Professor, San Diego State University in the foreword to the book said: “I really should hate this woman. But then I look into my heart and engage my mind, and I come to a discomfiting conclusion: Irshad is telling the truth. And my God commands me to uphold the truth which means that I have to side with her” (Irshad Manji, Page 7).
The argument of Irshad is that the pure message of Islam should be separated from the culture and tradition of Saudi Arabia. She cited the experience of Taslima, a Muslim, feminist writer and doctor exiled from Bangladesh who gave her a concrete example of what she experienced well before the Saudis got rich. Taslima Nasrin recounts: “I was told that Allah knows everything… So Allah should know Bengali, shouldn’t He? She asked her mother, How come I have to pray in Arabic? When I want to talk to Allah, why do I have to use somebody else’s language (Irshad Manji, Page 156)?
It appears that God is gradually telling us that he is present in the various cultures and traditions of our God given land. The time has come to redefine our identity in the context of Nigeria culture and values. A German newspaper “Die Welt” revealed on September 28, 2012 that the Iranian women have started to resist the veil and the hijab. Turkey is making efforts to practice Islam without necessarily becoming Arabs.
What we need now is education. The first message to the Prophet Muhammad was, “read” (iqra). So we must liberate our minds through education. May the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary heal our land of all evil! May the face of Allah shine upon us and grant true peace to Nigeria and the whole world.
Fr Prof Omonokhua is the Director of Mission and Dialogue of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja and Consultor for the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims (CRRM), Vatican City, Rome