The topic of ‘women’s rights’ can seem a little controversial when it comes to the surfacing of attractive voices, and the silencing of others, here at Amaliah we endeavour to project the voices of all Muslim women and their struggles. Here are a few women who may be off the grid this Muslim women’s day:

Aafia Siddiqui

A young and budding Pakistani MIT educated neuroscientist born and raised in Pakistan moved to the US to study at Houston University. She was charismatic,  learned, intelligent, and witty. Due to the success of her studies, she was able to transfer to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study a BSc in Biology. At MIT she stayed at the female dormitory, McCormick Hall. She later got married and pursued a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Brandeis University. On 7 April 2004, MSNBC’s Newsweek identified Aafia Siddiqui as a microbiologist and, according to her lawyer, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, “references were being made to her being involved in biochemical warfare”.

Reports surfaced of Myanmar’s military carrying out vicious campaigns against Rohingya women and girls. Sexual violence had been propagated by the “armed forces of Burma” to which security forces have denied all allegations of rape and killing. Almost 700,000 of the Rohingya, “have arrived since last August as Genocide suffers rather than refugees”, charity Restless beings related. Reports suggest, over 1 million Bangladeshi Muslims have fled to the refugee camps to escape the terror of the Burmese. Women stabbed, raped, and killed, some only surviving by pretending to be dead. Rashida Begum just one rape survivor of many, experienced this severe trauma, as her baby was snatched from her and killed before her eyes, by Burmese soldiers looking right through her cries. She wishes she was dead so she did not have to live with the memories of her parents being slaughtered in front of her, and the burning of soldiers hands all over her skin. Aid workers from Doctors Without Borders have documented how horrific it is to watch these women being forced to wear the skirts they were raped and assaulted in every day. Sexual violence is the military’s key weapon that is most feared in women in children who have been gang-raped, at the hands of Myanmar’s security forces.

Here is what you can do: Follow, donate and support the upcoming Ramadan campaigns with charity: Restless Beings

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Vulnerable women in the Central African Republic

The worlds most neglected conflict is in the Central African Republic, which details the women of Boda having to endure years of starvation and sexual violence at the hands of ethnic cleansing. A Christian-Muslim conflict has plagued the area for years, where Muslims have been under siege in Boda and encircled by Christian ‘anti-balaka’ militia fighters.  Many have fled the area, as a result, 23,000 refugees are facing a huge crisis of poverty and disease. Conflict is becoming a higher priority, the UN says 80% of its humanitarian funding is now driven by conflict. Women who have fled the conflict, now no longer have land, therefore are in short supply of food, one woman said, “we try to catch rats to eat.”  As a result of this insecurity, “government operates few clinics, so women die in childbirth at one of the highest rates in the world”. Women and girls have been sexually assaulted in all of its forms,  where gunmen killed 16 aid workers there last year, leaving huge populations of women unable to receive the aid they need.

Here is how you can help: Donate to Islamic Relief for food packs to the families in Boda.

The refugees of the world who flee for a safer life

One woman is threatened to face death if forced to leave the UK, a family from Afghanistan that was split for over a decade, face separation once more. Hassan Bamyani escaped Afghanistan for coming under fire for teaching girls and boys in 2001. His wife Sohaila, who was stranded in Iran with his son was only able to see him again in 2012. They have been married to for 32 years, Sohaila could lose her appeal to stay in the country this May. This can result in her being made to return to Afghanistan and face dangerous repercussions. Many Muslim women, like Sohaila, who may even be our neighbours, face an uncertain future as a result of fleeing from dangerous and threatening environments, in search of a safer alternative. Women are left vulnerable to sexual violence in all its forms, poverty, diseases, and death. From across the world, we see our sisters in pain, and we look the other way on international days such as these that are meant to project their voices and support their plight.

Here is how you can help: Support the global challenge or donate to Muslim Aid to help refugees start a better life.

We condemn oppression in all of its forms across the board, from killing, sexual violence, wrongful imprisonment, and militant secularised laws set to exclude Muslim women from feeling a part of their communities micro or macro. Humiliation is a key ingredient that seeks to degrade women that Allah has elevated so high paradise lies at her feet. Every woman, no voices missed.

Narrated Ibn `Umar: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Oppression will be a darkness on the Day of Resurrection.”