بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
PRESS RELEASE
30 January 2013
PR No. 1434 AH/17
Two years on from the Egyptian uprising, this historical event has not delivered the hopes and aspirations that the thousands of women who played a pivotal role to topple Mubarak and his regime. The women of Egypt today continue to live under the shadow of a military dictatorship that has brutally assaulted female protestors and violated their honour with impunity. They face a deteriorating economic situation, food insecurity, unaffordable basic necessities, and watch heartbroken as their children suffer deplorable levels of malnutrition resulting from dire poverty. Alongside all this, widespread crimes against the dignity of women are unfortunately rampant. The dreams of Egypt’s women have turned into despair and their hopes and sacrifices betrayed by the secular system and leadership that has replaced Mubarak.
Despite this, some have made their struggle for a brighter future for Egypt’s women one of calling for a secular constitution in which gender equality is enshrined in law, as well as fighting for a draft electoral law that ensures higher quotas for women in the new parliament. This is a misguided struggle that betrays the heavy sacrifices of the women of Egypt. It is under secular systems where people legislate laws in which women have no guarantees for they can be denounced at a blink of an eye, according to the whims of the who dictates as is evident by the hijab and niqab bans in Western secular states. This is in contrast to the Islamic constitution where the rights of the entire population – men and women – are fixed because the laws are from Allah (swt) and His Commands, not from the minds of humans. It is not permissible for any man or woman to change them. Alongside this, it is the Western concept of gender equality that has been presented for years as the magic formula to elevate the status of women is in reality the opium of the struggle for women’s rights. It has created a hallucination of respect, fairness, and justice for women but in reality has delivered none of this. What respect has numerous gender equality acts enshrined in law within Western secular states actually brought their women who suffer from epidemic levels of violence and sexual assault within their societies due to their liberal values? Furthermore, gender equality that seeks to make all rights and duties the same between the genders, has unjustly burdened women with the male responsibility of providing for themselves and their family, stripping them of the privilege of being financially maintained always by her guardian. In addition, fighting for symbolic seats in a toothless, powerless parliament that can be dismissed at a whim by SCAF will achieve nothing for Egypt’s women. High quotas for women in parliaments do not translate into a better standard of life for ordinary women but rather benefit only an elite class of women. Under Mubarak’s regime, there was a 20% quota for women in parliament. Even Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan Tunisia, and Algeria have even higher quotas. Yet even if they had made it 100% it would have made no difference to women under these oppressive, incompetent, corrupt capitalist systems… the key is not in increasing the number of seats women hold in Parliament while the implemented system is a corrupt secular man-made system which oppresses both man and woman alike.
O dear sisters of Egypt! Your revolution did not achieve your true goals. These will be attained only by a purely Islamic constitution, implemented by the Khilafah State; it alone can truly deliver your hopes and aspirations for a life of dignity, security, and revival. Do not accept any man-made system that muddles life with confusion and chaos, using trial and error for how to organize the affairs of humanity when Allah (swt) has set down a perfect, comprehensive blueprint of laws to solve all your problems, secure your rights, and elevate your status. We call you to embrace the vision of Hizb ut Tahrir for the Khilafah which is based upon Islam alone and is detailed in our extensive books and Draft Constitution for the state which is ready for implementation now, that provides comprehensive, credible solutions to the multitude of problems that women in Egypt and across the Muslim world face today to make their dreams for a better life a reality.
((ألا يعلم من خلق وهو اللطيف الخبير)) [الملك: 14]
“Should not He Who has created know? And He is the Most Kind and Courteous (to His slaves), All-Aware (of everything).” [Al Mulk:14]
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir