THERE is a saying, "Man proposes, God disposes," but my bitter experience shows that God gives, Man Robs. That is, Allah has made no distinction in the general life of male and female-- both are equally bound to seek food, drink, sleep, etc. necessary for animal life. Islam also teaches that male and female are equally bound to say their daily prayers five times, and so on.

Our great Prophet has said "Talibul Ilm farizatu 'ala kulli Muslimeen-o-Muslimat", ( i.e. it is the bounden duty of all Muslim males and females to acquire knowledge). But our brothers will not give us our proper share in education. About sixty years ago, they were opposed to the study of English even for males; now they are reaping the harvest to their bitter experience. In India almost all the doors to wealth, health, and wisdom are shut against Muslims on the plea of inefficiency. Some papers conducted by Muslims may or may not admit this-- but fact is fact-- the inefficiency  exists and stares us in the face! Let me also venture to say that it is so; for children born of well-educated mothers must necessarily be superior to Muslim children, who are born of illiterate and foolish mothers. The late Lady Shamsul Huda by way of conversation often used to say that the Muslim public abused her husband because he had given certain high posts to Hindus ignoring Muslim claims, but they failed to see their own fault that such and such Muslim gentlemen were really unfit for the posts.

It is an irony of fate that the Hindus, who are bound by their cartload of Shastras to treat women like slaves and cattle and to get their daughters married before they are hardly above their girlhood, i.e., within ten years of age, are, as a matter of fact, allowing the greatest liberty to their womenfolk and giving them high education. They are trying to get laws passed against child-marriage raising the age to sixteen years though their Pandits are loud in proclaiming the attempt as "unworthy of a Hindu"; and they are devising means to popularize widow-marriage, heedless of their Pandits, who quote Shastras saying "not only should a woman refrain from marrying a second time but she should reduce her body by living only on fruits, roots, flowers, etc. after her husband's death".

On the other hand, while Islam allows every freedom to women (so much so that a woman cannot be given in marriage without her consent of free will, which indirectly prohibits child-marriage) we see people giving away their daughters in marriage at tender ages or giving them in marriage without their consent. Many a time a bride bitterly bewails her fate on being compelled to marry a bridegroom whom she knows to be a drunkard or an old man of sixty, but the marriage celebration proceeds despite her silent protest. And so-called respectable families in our society take pride in preventing widow-marriage, no matter whether the widow be a girl or thirteen or a child of sever years of age!

The worst crime which our brothers commit against us is to deprive us of education. There is always some grandfather or elderly uncle who stands in the way of any poor girl who might wish to be educated. From experience we find that mothers are generally willing to educate their girls, but they are quite helpless when their husbands and other male relations will not hear of girls attending school. May we challenge such grandfathers, fathers or uncles to show the authority on which they prevent their girls from acquiring education? Can they quote from the holy Quran or Hadis any injunction prohibiting women from obtaining knowledge?

We know there are Mussalmans of advanced ideas who are anxious to give their daughters a good education, but for want of a suitable High School for Muslim girls they cannot have their wishes fulfilled, and so they groan under the wretched social system. Why cannot the public of Calcutta support one ideal school for Muslim girls? Such a High English School with boarding accommodation and hostel, which can supply the demands of all the different classes of people, high and low, is very badly needed in Calcutta. On our part we are willing to convert this School (we mean the Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School) to that ideal one, provided we get public support and money enough to meet the cost of up keep.

This article was first published in The Mussalman on February 10, 1911.
We have taken this article from the book titled "The Mussalman Patrikai Rokeya Proshanga" edited and compiled by Dr. Laila Zaman and published by Bangla Academy.