Faizun's formative years of her life's work as an activist occurred at university. A young undergraduate at the University of Peradeniya, she had to move from her home in Colombo to go live with relatives in Kandy so she could attend university before she was allowed to stay at the university hostel, a move she had to negotiate carefully despite having supportive parents as it wasn't considered "a good thing for a girl to do" at the time. Having come from a "not rich"family with parents who worked hard to support the family, Faizun was already open to the reality of the world.
In Peradeniya, at university, she met peers from many walks of life, ethnicities, and communities, providing her with a microcosm of the real world. She learned of the struggles that faced people of different circumstances, how different conditions affected them differently, etc. Through continuing conversations, she learned more and questioned more, and her activism began to emerge. After dabbling in multiple disciplines, Faizun took up a job as a junior researcher at the National Institute of Business Management, which helped lay the foundation of her role as a researcher, a tool she continues to use to inspire, shape, and progress her activism. It also set the ground for her grassroots-led, ground-up activism and provided her an opportunity to travel around the country, meeting and speaking to more and more people from marginalised social classes of all ethnic communities.
In 1986 she co-founded MWRAF (Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum) with Jezima Ismail and set herself on a life journey of fighting for reforming Muslim personal law in Sri Lanka. Formed in an era when communalism in politics and religious and cultural orthodoxy was rife alongside educated women moving in and gaining visibility in professional spaces, MWRAF was formed with a pluralist identity and vision to create an inclusive Sri Lankan national identity by facilitating the process of empowerment of women, particularly marginalised women, to critically analyse the issues that affect them; to stand against all kinds of injustice through movement building, alliance building, and advocacy; and promote peaceful coexistence among all ethnic and religious communities (men and women) to live with dignity.
The Muslim Marriages and Divorces Act (MMDA) is a piece of legislation encoded in 1951 that governs the marriages and divorces of Muslims in Sri Lanka. Among other clauses, it allows girls 12 years old and even younger to be 'married,' foregoes the signed consent of the bride-to-be in the marriage registration document in favour of a male guardian, and allows husbands to divorce their wives at will. In contrast, wives must prove fault to be granted a divorce while men are permitted to engage in polygamous marriages. All Muslims who marry other Muslims in Sri Lanka are bound by it. Faizun has made it her life's work to reform these laws in line with Islamic jurisprudence, progressive values, and modern society, protecting Muslim women's rights in Sri Lanka and bringing the voices of silenced Muslim women to the fore.
In 1986, with Faizun at the helm, MWRAF submitted recommendations to the Personal Law Reforms Committee that was re-examining personal laws in Sri Lanka. A subcommittee was appointed to examine issues affecting Muslims. They also put together a signature campaign to support their memo. Building on this first step, Faizun, through MWRAF, began work on the ground level through action–research, creating awareness, and providing education on Muslim personal law legislation and how it is applied. They also trained paralegals, a.k.a. barefoot counsellors, who can provide knowledge and support to affected women. The programme was conducted in eight areas where the Sri Lankan Muslim population is high, including Mawanella, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Badulla, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Muttur, and Kalmunai. They also took up cases of Muslim women who wanted to appeal Quazi court rulings at the magistrate, district, and other higher appeal courts. Further, Faizun was instrumental in commencing the resource and documentation unit at MWRAF which is now a repository of research, articles, books, booklets, etc.
Unsurprising then that the artefact Faizun chose was Women Claiming Rights and Spaces: Activism to Reform Muslim Personal Law in Sri Lanka (2014) which she co-authored with Chulani Kodikara and encompasses the sum total of Faizun's and MWRAF's work regarding Muslim personal law reform in Sri Lanka until then. A book of little over one hundred pages documenting nearly three decades of a fight against unrelenting patriarchy determined to refuse women even fundamental rights. A struggle that Faizun continues to fight.
As Faizun explains, the laws embodied within Muslim Personal Law in Sri Lanka are not a women's issue but a societal issue. It is also a national issue because all women affected are Sri Lankans. Says Faizun, "Muslim women's potential is being stifled in the name of culture and tradition and Muslim identity … I strongly feel women have many identities. They can be lawyers. They can be activists. They can be researchers. They have multiple identities … I don't want one identity and say this is my identity. Being Muslim is only one identity."
In keeping with her action research, grassroots-up activism, Faizun understands that reforming legislation alone is not enough, for unwritten laws, i.e., customs, values, and norms, dictate how the law is implemented and how much women can use the rights available to them. "The law alone will not deliver because the social context, social relations, and the power and privilege afforded to political and religious elites also need to change," says Faizun.
Even as she was directing MWRAF to greater frontiers, Faizun was combining her activism in Sri Lanka with that happening worldwide. As a core member of the founding group of WLUML (Women Living Under Muslim Laws), an international solidarity and support network, she was instrumental in putting together their action plan in 1986. Even as she mentored local activism, global activists around the world also provided her with information, resources, and support in solidarity, as they worked in concert to dismantle the myth of a homogenous global Muslim identity and celebrate the diversity of Muslim women's lives.
As Faizun exclaims, "They are trying to homogenize Muslim women's lives. Saying this is the way you should think. This is the way to walk. This is the way you should dress … And because of the patriarchal ideology that is pervasive, religious elites interpret norms and behaviour selectively, to push their own ideology." She adds, “In Islam, there is no priesthood. An individual being’s relationship with God is direct. There is no need for an intermediary. Since these structures have been embedded through history and across generations, dismantling these requires a bigger and stronger push on all fronts.”
Faizun has never let setbacks stop her work or enthusiasm. She emerges again, more robust and better armed, bringing the fight from new fronts, which she nourishes and nurtures with loving care. She remains hopeful that the MMDA will be reformed, even if it does not happen in her lifetime. She cautions against delaying social change and advises always thinking a decade ahead. And she is already working to plant and nurture the seeds for the future of her work, mentoring affected/marginalised women to organise and mobilise so they can take the fight into their own hands and progress from passive victims to active agents. Vernathee is a growing movement rooted deeply at the ground level and flowing freely across the country, encompassing all affected/marginalised women. Faizun, through MWRAF, provides knowledge, training, and skills, facilitating this collective of women to analyse critically and mobilise. Encompassing 250 members across four districts, it is growing slowly but surely to become the next frontier of the fight for reforms of Muslim personal law and more, seeking justice, equality, and peace for all women.
Says Faizun, "This is the future, right? I have put my life, heart, and soul into this. I can see the fulfilment will come one day. This is the future of MWRAF." She adds, "You must always have some seeds. You have to plant those seeds. And you have to fertilise the seeds. Otherwise, they may not grow. You have to nurture, nurture, nurture … it can be a long journey but the fruits will be for all to enjoy"
(Rikaza Hassan is a writer, thinker, and storyteller. For over a decade now, she has helped people, brands, and organisations find their authentic voices and unique stories and communicate them to the world. As a journalist she is passionate about public interest journalism and bringing to the fore the lived realities of marginalised peoples. Rikaza lives in the suburbs with one daughter, a few cats, and a pile of books.)
References List
Faizun Zackariya - Forum Discussion on Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, YouTube, 14th November 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE8QTcyssCY
A Woman’s Right To Be A Quazi Judge In Sri Lanka: Re-Reading Verse 4:34, Colombo Telegraph, 26th November 2017, https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/a-womans-right-to-be-a-quazi-judge-in-sri-lanka-re-reading-verse-434/
Faizun Zackariya, WLUML, https://www.wluml.org/profile/faizun-zackariya/
Notes
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