Protect Sri Lankan Journalist Sharmila Seyyid, Supporter of Sex Workers’ Rights // Hasan Suroor: Hounded by mullahs: A Muslim woman writer forced to leave home
NB - Why it is so villainous for someone to question 'Islamic tenets'? Why should not anyone, Muslim or not, criticise any religious tenets whatsoever? Once upon a time the Church insisted that the sun went around the earth. Galileo was threatened with torture and confined to house arrest for suggesting that the truth was the other way around. It's all very well to say this or that is an Islamic tenet. Its another thing altogether to threaten someone with violence because he or she disagrees with xyz religious tenet. The mentality of the Inquisition must be set aside, or else Muslim society will end up crushing its most outstanding and humane members, simply because they feel it's time to move on - DS
Muslim Civil Society activists have urged the Sri
Lankan authorities to bring to book those who have been harassing and
intimidating journalist and social worker Sharmila Seyyid for her opinion
on rights of the sex workers. Giving an interview to the BBC Tamil radio she said that sex
workers may be better protected if prostitution was legalized.
“This drew a significant backlash from a section of the
Muslim community in the area and elsewhere prompting her to issue a
clarification, in which she emphasized that she was ‘…only highlighting a
social reality and did not intend to defy Islamic tenets’. She also expressed
‘regret if she had unwittingly hurt anyone’s sentiments’.” activists say.
We publish below the statement in full;
Statement on the continued harassment of Ms. Sharmila
Seyyid and her family
We, the undersigned would like to express our extreme
distress and dismay at the incidents of harassment against Ms. Sharmila Seyyid
and her family through a variety of means including social media.
In November 2012, the Tamil Radio Service of the BBC
interviewed Ms. Sharmila Seyyid, a journalist and social worker from the
Eastern Province. In response to a question from the BBC reporter, Ms. Seyyid
had voiced the opinion that sex workers may be better protected if prostitution
was legalized. This drew a significant backlash from a section of the Muslim
community in the area and elsewhere prompting her to issue a clarification, in
which she emphasized that she was “…only highlighting a social reality and did
not intend to defy Islamic tenets”. She also expressed “regret if she had
unwittingly hurt anyone’s sentiments”.
The harassment and intimidation that began in the aftermath
of the 2012 interview has resulted in her having to leave the country, and continues
to this day, impacting other family members as well. An article reproduced in
both the Sunday Observer and the Sunday Times of Sri Lanka on the 19th of April
2015 recorded several more recent truly horrifying actions against her on the
internet and also recorded renewed calls by some to condemn her for insulting
and offending Islamic teachings.
While we acknowledge that prostitution is prohibited in
Islam (as in many other religions), we nevertheless uphold that Ms. Seyyid is
within her rights and freedoms to express her personal views; and condemn all
forms of harassment, intimidation and hatred by vigilante groups and
individuals that are justified based on claims to the above. While we
acknowledge and respect that feelings may have been hurt and sensibilities
offended, we also categorically state that defaming, harassing and inciting
violence against a person for holding a different opinion, in this case a
woman, is unacceptable and not within the spirit of the faith, and can also be
deemed a contravention of the law.
If people feel themselves to have been
wronged, due process should be followed to seek redress. This event highlights the critical need within the Muslim
community, and also in the country at large, for developing processes to
respond to critical issues, not through vilification, harassment or violence
but through a process of dialogue that is in keeping with the law and norms of
a democratic society and respectful of different faiths and ethics.
We urge the authorities to ensure that a thorough and fair
investigation is conducted with regard to the complaints received by the
aggrieved parties and hold those responsible for misconduct accountable. We
also request that community religious leaders such as the Jamiathul Ulema take
steps to halt the targeting of fellow Muslims based on spurious religious
justifications. We also call upon all community leaders and civil society
actors of the Muslim community to continue to play an active role in upholding
the rights of every citizen.
Signatories
- Sharm Aboosally
- Azra Abdul Cader
- Fathima Razik Cader
- Zahabia Adamaly
- Hilmy Ahamed
- Silma Ahamed
- Ferial Ashraff
- Abdul Halik Azeez
- Fathima Hasanah Cegu Isadeen -Lawyer
- Ameer Faaiz
- M.B.M.Fairooz- Editor, Vidivelli.
- Mushtaq Fuad
- Anberiya Hanifa
- Dr. Farzana Haniffa
- Faiza Haniffa
- Prof. Shahul. H. Hasbullah
- Ali Hassan
- Shafinaz Hassendeen
- Zeenath Hidaya
- M.H. Mohamed Hisham
- Ameena Hussein
- Hafsa Husain
- Hana Ibrahim
- Zainab Ibrahim
- Prof. Qadri Ismail
- M.C.M. Iqbal
- Ameen Izzadeen, Deputy Editor, Sunday Times.
- Nisreen Jafferjee
- Riyaz Jafferjee
- Zaffar Jeevunjee
- Hamthun Jumana – Mullaitheevu Women Rehabilitation and Development Federation
- M.S.L. Madani
- Mohamad Mahuruf
- Jensila Majeed – Women’s Action Network
- Juwairiya Mohideen – Muslim Women Development Trust
- Mr. M.L. Buhary Mohamed – Eastern Social Development Foundation
- Zamruth Jahan Mufazlin – Lawyer
- Mohamed S.R. Nisthar
- Feroze Nihar
- Prof. M. A. Nuhman
- Nuzreth Rasheed
- M. M. Rahman
- Rajabdeen Rashika – MWRDF
- Prof. Louiqa Raschid
- Dr. Romola Rasool
- A.S. Mohamed Rayees
- Amjad Saleem.
- Shreen Saroor – Mannar Women’s Development Federation
49. Ermiza Tegal
50. Minna Thahir
51. S.M.M. Yaseen
52. Hanif Yusoof
53. Hela Mohammed Zakariya – Women’s Action Network 54. Faizun Zackariya – Citizens’ Voice for Justice and Peace. 55. A.J.M. Zaneer
50. Minna Thahir
51. S.M.M. Yaseen
52. Hanif Yusoof
53. Hela Mohammed Zakariya – Women’s Action Network 54. Faizun Zackariya – Citizens’ Voice for Justice and Peace. 55. A.J.M. Zaneer
56. Y.L.M. Zawahir
57. Dr. L. M. Zubair – University of Peradeniya
57. Dr. L. M. Zubair – University of Peradeniya
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/protect-sri-lankan-muslim-journalist-sharmila-seyyid-who-supports-sex-workers-rights-muslim-civil-society/
Hasan Suroor: Hounded by mullahs: A Muslim woman writer forced to leave home, why is the community silent?
Hasan Suroor: Hounded by mullahs: A Muslim woman writer forced to leave home, why is the community silent?
As a poet, Sharmila Seyyid is used to dealing in
imagination, but even she couldn’t have imagined that an innocuous remark in an
innocuous BBC interview would trigger a chain of events that
would turn her world upside down--ultimately forcing her to go into hiding in a
place far away from her home. A Muslim woman journalist, writer and activist, Seyyid is
being hounded by fundamentalist groups –not in one but two countries--because of
her outspoken criticism of certain “Islamic” practices such as the purdah
system, and her warnings against creeping “Talibanisation” of the Muslim
community.
A Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan and a single mother with a small
child, she finds herself stuck in a safe house in Chennai after being forced to
flee her home in Batticaloa, eastern Sri Lanka. This followed a systematic and
vicious campaign of intimidation, including death threats and threats to kidnap
her young sister with whom she ran an English language school. The school was
attacked, and an attempt was made to burn it down.
But if Seyyid thought that moving to India would buy her
peace, she had not reckoned with the long reach of her tormentors. For, far
from dying down, the hate campaign against her has grown in recent weeks with
Indian Muslim fanatics taking over where their Sri Lankan comrades left off. Yet, surprisingly, Seyyid’s nightmare has attracted little
media attention outside Tamil-speaking circles. Among the national English
language newspapers, only The Hindu took note of it courtesy an op-ed by Kannan Sundaram, editor of Kalachuvadu,
a Tamil monthly.
Meanwhile, vigilantism has gone online with her critics
taking their dirty tricks to social media. A few weeks ago, they warned her to remove all of her
photographs without purdah from Facebook within 24 hours. When she refused, an audio of a lewd conversation between a
high-ranking Tamil Nadu police officer and a female subordinate was posted with
a photo of Seyyid tagged to it suggesting that the woman the officer was
talking to was her. It was widely shared on the net, and though she was finally
able to get it off the web the damage had been done.
Emboldened by their “success’’, the bullies attempted
another –even more obscene—stunt. This time, they posted what sounded like a
real news item of a woman being “raped’’ and “murdered’’ attached to a
photoshopped picture of Seyyid’s body. It went viral, and such was its impact that her family and
friends thought it was true and landed up at her home. Her father Seyyid
Ahmed has made a formal complaint to the police alleging a concerted
attempt to incite hatred against his daughter. He says his family is living a
nightmare; and fears for their safety.
Now back to the BBC interview which
triggered Seyyid’s nightmare. It happened in 2012 when speaking to the BBC’s Tamil
Service she backed legalising sex work arguing that it would help protect
sex-workers. It was not part of any agenda. She was simply answering a specific
question about her debut collection of poems Siragu Mulaitha Penn (The
women who grew wings) in which one poem was about sex workers. Fundamentalist groups, who already had her in their sights
because of her progressive (allegedly “anti-Islamic’’) views, seized on her
remarks to launch an all-out attack accusing her of “endorsing’’ prostitution,
considered haram in Islam.
“The threatening calls began soon after. By the next
morning, Ms. Seyyid had received hundreds of missed calls on her mobile phone.
There were news reports that condemned her for supporting sex work and the
social media joined in,’’ according to The Hindu article. Threats and intimidation continued even after she apologised
for unwittingly hurting anyone’s sentiments. But she refused to retract her
statement under duress. This provoked the mullahs to step up their
attacks—finally forcing her to seek refuge in India, only to discover that you
can run away from your country but you can’t run away from the growing menace
of religious fundamentalism.
Sayyid has been praised for standing up to the bullies. “Horrid as this entire episode is, I think, Sharmila’s
courage, strength and tenacity will inspire women everywhere to fight oppression,’’
human rights activist Mari Marcel Thekaekara wrote on her blog. Seyyid’s case comes on the heels of that of Mumbai-based
Shirin Dalvi, then editor of an Urdu daily, Avadhnama. She was
targeted in a similar fashion for “hurting” Muslim sentiments. Her “crime” was
that while writing about the murder of Charlie Hebdo journalists
, she reproduced the magazine’s cover carrying a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad.
And though she was quick to publish an unconditional front page apology, it did
not satisfy Islam’s self-appointed custodians who continued their relentless
smear campaign.
On their complaint, she was arrested, and multiple cases
were registered against her for “outraging religious feelings … with malicious
intent.” Things reached a point where she felt so insecure that she took to
wearing burqa to escape attention and to move out her family home. Unfortunately, few liberal Muslims stood up for her. In
fact, a senior Urdu newspaper editor admitted that elements of the Urdu
Patrakar Sangh, which represents Urdu journalists and of which she was a
member, were party to the cases filed against Dalvi.
Understandably, Muslims resent being called upon to condemn
every act of Muslim extremism by arguing why the entire community should be
held accountable for a few rotten apples. But here was a Muslim woman being
harassed by their own lunatic fringe. In Seyyid’s case, though, some liberal Tamil Muslims have
joined an online protest but that’s not enough. Contrast this with the strong
liberal Hindu response in the Perumal Murugan case. They rushed to support the
Tamil writer when he was attacked by Hindutva groups objecting to certain
portions in one of his best-known books.
unchallenged, this “lunatic fringe’’ can also turn against
us one day.
See also
"As (Allama) Iqbal placed the body of Ilm Din into the grave, he tearfully declared: "This uneducated young man has surpassed us, the educated ones."
The religious persecution of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1945-2010)/ Interview: My life fighting intolerance/ Mahmoud Mohammed Taha & the Second Message of Islam
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's Legacy (Library of writings)
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's Legacy (Library of writings)
Mahmoud Mohammed Taha was a Sudanese religious thinker and leader executed for apostasy at the age of 76 by the regime of Gaafar Nimeiry. (See his Court statement)
