Recently a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker wrote to the Sindh Education Minister demanding that dance classes in some private girls’ schools of Sindh in Pakistan be stopped.
The manner by which the subject matter of the news item was covered was saddening, not only because of the mentioned issue but also how it would be brushed under the carpet. Dance as a subject has been taught in private schools since the past 40 years, especially in girls’ schools. The logic given is that it is a very important part of our culture, and it teaches girls how to carry themselves, or that it is a form of art or that no vulgar dance is carried out. Even more worrisome is that supporters of dance try and portray it as Islamic without giving any credible evidence. In senior schools and colleges, concerts are arranged at least once a year and what goes on in those concerts is no secret. A very systematic moral decline has been brought upon our youth. A picture of a culture is portrayed to which they do not belong, but which they are forced to embrace. Male dance teachers in girls’ schools is a norm and with the excuse that if other subjects can be taught by a male teacher, why not dance?
Comment:
The important thing to note here is the utter confusion of the system and of the people who uphold it. On one hand they talk about gender equality, and on the other they objectify girls and demand them to be a certain way. The very party whose lawmaker demanded the ban will have a member who will happily go as a chief guest in a dance performance at a girls’ school. The reason will be that the only ideology these parties follow is “how to get in power”? The only moral principle they care about is “no one dare come near my interest” and that is the only thing where party and individual are on the same page. As PTI has neither backed nor denied the statement of its lawmaker, it shows that this was an individual statement. It also shows that these political parties revolve around benefit and personal gain. Also we know that PTI talks about “change”, but the only real change it is offering is the change of face.
Like every other system in Pakistan, the Education system is also following the Western rather than Islamic interest. The Western lifestyle and culture is promoted. For a Muslim woman modesty is to carry herself with grace and respect within the boundaries given by Allah سبحانه وتعالى. She is prohibited in Islam to dance in front of men, which objectifies her and reduces her to a vessel of men’s pleasure, degrading her from a position of high status which Islam demands for her from society. So how can people redefine the do’s and don’ts according to their interests? Schools are for education, and they involve physical, mental, emotional and intellectual training, but the demand of learning was very well described with the first verse revealed:
اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ
“Read! In the name of your Lord, who has created (all that exists)”
(96:1)
1400 years ago the Almighty made it very clear what He demanded from man in the sense of learning, without any differentiation between the genders, but sadly 1400 years later again we are standing at a point where the authorities are not much different from the Makkan authorities, which treated women like objects of men’s desire to use as they wish. Infact the society embraced this corrupt culture in the name of tradition. We need to remember Islam challenged all those non-Islamic traditions and demanded people to only obey Allah. As Muslims, it becomes our duty to challenge the authorities that implement this evil system. The system which is causing intellectual decline and indecent immoral behavior in our youth and which has put a spell on them to forget their purpose of life and distance them from their Deen. For each and every evil and wrong in the society is a branch of the bigger evil – the corrupt non-Islamic system that governs this land. We need to root it out completely and replace it with the true Islamic system of the Khilafah (Caliphate) based upon the Method of the Prophethood which will elevate the morals of our society and establish and protect the Islamic identity of our youth.
Ikhlaaq Jehan