Illustration by Emily Levenson
Members of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) held an open meeting about the significance of education for Muslim women at Berkeley High School (BHS) on January 18.
Sabreen Imtair, MSA President, presented about religious and cultural teachings around education and later facilitated a club discussion on women’s education and women’s rights.
Imtair said her goal was to ensure that members understood the importance of educating women, especially in Muslim culture and in the club members’ many countries of origin.
Her presentation discussed factors that contribute to limited educational access for women in some Muslim-majority nations.
The first thing Imtair discussed was how the Islamic faith tells all Muslims to seek knowledge.
She said, “Allah commands us to seek knowledge which makes it our obligation as followers of Islam to educate ourselves not just on the Quran, Sunnah, etc., but on everything that will help us help our communities, family, and world.” She used excerpts from the Quran, Islam’s holy text, to explain her point.
In her presentation, Imtair distinguished the Muslim religion from Muslim majority cultures in their treatment of women. She wanted MSA members and other BHS students not to view Islam as at fault for the restriction of women’s rights in some Middle Eastern and South Asian countries.
Imtair said that gender discrimination should instead be attributed to culture and not Islam.
“In a lot of Muslim-majority countries, we intersect religion and culture often,” she said. “With my family, especially, they tell me not to do some things because they tell me that those acts are sinful, but God doesn’t preach that. A lot of those ideas, like family honor, are just cultural beliefs without any religious background.”
This distinction between culture and religion was a major theme in Imtair’s presentation.
As the presentation came to a close, Imtair opened the floor for other MSA members to share their thoughts.
Ali Chaudhry, a BHS student and MSA member, participated in the club’s conversation. In an interview after, Chaudhry agreed with many of Imtair’s main points about women and the need for education.
“I thought the presentation was good for a lot of the girls,” he said. “Many of them had been feeling underrepresented in the club, so they were happy when she gave the presentation. They are definitely happy about that, so they could use the information from the presentation to debunk the myth that women are not encouraged to pursue an education in Islam.”
The discussion was a platform for female members of the MSA to voice their experiences. For example, a common complaint was the restrictive career expectations held by family and friends.
Imtair thought the presentation and discussion was a success.
“I think it went pretty well,” she said. “There was a lot of talking and reflecting on our cultural and religious values. I really liked hearing the women talk because usually they don’t get a chance to speak out when it comes to misogyny in Muslim culture. Overall, it was a successful event.”
Members of the MSA were educated on Islamic teachings and the distinction between culture and religion and given a chance to state their own perspectives.
Imtair said that the MSA hopes the BHS community will avoid making generalizations about the Muslim community. She said that patriarchy and people in power, not religion, facilitate oppressive cultural beliefs.
In addition to the club’s January 18 open meeting, the MSA continued working to educate the BHS community through a World Hijab Day event on February 1.
MSA members invited students to try on hijabs, answer trivia questions, and learn about Islam at lunch in the BHS courtyard.
“The goal of hosting a World Hijab Day event at BHS was to educate fellow peers on the importance and meaning of the hijab, learn about influential hijabis in Western society, be given the chance to ask questions face to face but also anonymously, and experience the hijab by trying it on,” Imtair said.