High time we support competent Muslim women leaders

 

Datuk Hakimah Mohd Yusoff.

WITH reference to the appointment of Islamic Development Department Malaysia's (Jakim) new director-general, which takes effect on March 21, I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to Datuk Hakimah Mohd Yusoff.

I welcome her appointment as a pleasant surprise.

Being elected as the first woman to lead the Malaysian religious department is an inspirational feat worth commemorating.

However, browsing through the public comments on Facebook since March 18 in response to this celebratory news has been upsetting.

Some Malaysian netizens (including women) have publicly and unapologetically shown resentment towards having a female head for Jakim.

Such negative sentiment was displayed even when the announcement was accompanied by information on Hakimah's qualifications and 30 years' of service in relevant fields.

If a male Muslim was appointed as Jakim's DG, would such negative details even be felt necessary, scrutinised or questioned?

Many of these Muslim chauvinists and misogynists conveniently quoted some hadiths to support their opinions in their online comments.

One of them was that women, unlike men, possess nine desires as opposed to just one intellect.

However, this oft-cited hadith has been concluded to be unsupported by any credible evidence in Islam by the Pejabat Mufti Wilayah Persekutuan, as published on its website on Feb 28, 2019.

Another notoriously cited hadith was al Bukhari's "Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler".

There have been critical discussions on the validity and application of this hadith.

Many of them highlighted the need to consider contextual aspects when interpreting it.

The leadership positions being referred to in the hadith could be the Imam and chief commanders of the Muslim army - prohibitions which were set more out of practical considerations rather than on gender-specific competence.

The long-standing perception that women constitute the more emotional gender, and thus, were deemed unfit leaders, was expectedly cited rampantly. If this was true, surely all female-led countries would have responded the worst to the Covid-19 pandemic in the past two years.

Instead, we have seen that the opposite has transpired.

And can anyone explain certain male politicians being on the verge of meltdown in the Malaysian Parliament every time there was a heated debate?

Upon further scrutiny of reliable discussions on female leadership in Islam, having a female leader in general religious matters does not go against the Quran and al-Sunnah.

Those keyboard warriors had expressed their unsolicited opinions without truly understanding Jakim's scope of work.

As the name suggests, Jakim's role includes formulating, coordinating and evaluating existing policies and laws, implementing community development programmes, coordinating legal enforcement mechanisms and regulatory Islamic affairs to ensure the purity of Islamic teachings and progress of Islamic affairs.

Some ill-informed netizens seem to mistakenly assume that the DG's post is akin to that of a mufti's, which is a state-run religious position with some tasks that are understandably more suited for men.

This mufti post is different from that of a DG in Jakim because the scope of a mufti's work does not only involve issuing a fatwa and performing general official tasks, but also leading the prayer and doa, and being the khatib in delivering the khutbah.

These tasks are not the responsibilities of a Jakim's DG. Many Muslim women have proven exceptional leadership qualities when heading Islamic departments and academic programmes in Malaysian universities.

Also, there has been an increase in the appointment of women as judges in Syariah courts in the states. These appointments have never really become a subject of uproar among Malaysian Muslims.

So why is the announcement of Jakim's new DG perceived differently?

The appointment of Jakim's female DG does not necessarily connote the downfall of competent Muslim male scholars. It simply means that at present Hakimah is the most qualified person to hold the highest post in the department.

In general, I see the appointment of our current Jakim's DG as a fresh addition to Malaysian civil and religious departments.

I am confident that she will manage all important tasks under Jakim's jurisdiction effectively and stand strong against those who are critical.

We hope that she can further reinforce and empower women's involvement as decision-makers in Islamic matters, protect Muslim women's rights, and ensure fairness to all Muslims regardless of gender and background.

Nonetheless, Hakimah, just like other female leaders, evidently shoulders relatively more burden than men to prove that she can be an effective leader, what more for a department that is so close to many Malaysian Muslims' hearts.

It's time to realise that embracing a female DG in Jakim does not make us unIslamic or liberal feminists. If a Muslim woman can build the first-ever university in human civilisation, why can't one lead Jakim?

There is definitely a place for competent Muslim women leaders in civil and religious organisations. - NST

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The writer,Dr Norazrin Zamri is senior lecturer, Academy of Language Studies, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM)