USC alumna uses Quran to argue religion not sexist
The women of the Muslim Student Association kicked off Muslim Awareness week Monday night in the Russell House Ballroom with guest Afroze Habib, principal of the Weekend Islamic School at the Islamic Center of Columbia and a former chemistry professor at USC, speaking on “Women in Islam.”
Habib, who earned her doctorate in chemistry at USC, said she wanted to clarify misconceptions that women in Islam are oppressed or considered subordinate to men. She pointed out several passages in the Quran and recounted stories of Muhammad that specifically outlined women’s rights to her own property, ability to divorce, reverence to mothers and wives and equality to men in the eyes of God. She said the Quran assigns equal moral responsibilities to men and women.
“People attack that women are secondary to men; you see this even is Islamic countries,” Habib said. “This is not true in Islam but in human history. Islam protested it, saying that women cannot be claimed by men. In Allah’s eyes, men and women are equal, but not identical; they were created from a single soul to live in a complementary partnership.”
Habib also elaborated on Islam’s differing views on the story of the fall of mankind, saying that unlike Christian denominations, Muslims do not hold Eve responsible for the fall of mankind, nor was pregnancy or childbirth a punishment upon women.
The sisters-only event attracted little attention from the USC community — only eight women (all Muslim) attended. MSA members are confident that this week’s later events, such as Thursday’s Islam 101 discussion, will draw more students.
“I think people who aren’t Muslim sometimes get intimidated, and it’s harder to get women to come out and discuss,” event coordinator for MSA and first-year marketing student Huda Shami said. “Also, it was the Monday after spring break, and a lot of people were studying for exams. There’s an interest in the community, though, and this is the first time we’ve done this event, so hopefully we’ll be able to learn from this week and build on that.”
MSA will host three more discussions this week: “Islam in Context” tonight at 7 p.m. in the Russell House Ballroom, “Islamic Achievements” with guest speaker Professor Waleed El-Ansary Wednesday and “Islam 101” Thursday in room 114 of the Health Sciences Building.