Jay Ceesay, a host on The Sisters Show and a medical doctor in the U.S, has argued Islam places immense value on women contrary to popular imagination.
Speaking on the show aimed at inspiring people of African descent ,especially women, Jay stated: “If you look at the history, most of the things they say in the Quran you will tend to understand there’s a lot of value on women. But then when we go back in our culture too and you see how many women know the Qura’n, it’s not as much. Most of the Quran was actually translated to us by men so I think there is a little bit of bias when they translate to kinda make it more favoritism towards men.
“But I look at the Quran there’s a Surah that was dedicated just for women. But there is no Surah that’s dedicated for men. Just looking at that I think Islam has a lot to offer women and has a lot of value in terms of equality. There is a lady that’s by the name of Khawlah bint al-Azwar who used to dress as a man just so she can fight to prove that she was as strong as the male counterparts. These are stories that are not actually said.”
Weighing in on the controversial topic, Marram Ceesay clarified the image of oppression of women associated with Islam has more to do with erroneous conflation of culture and religion.
“A lot of the time we think we are practicing religion when we are pushing culture and practicing what our culture is. It’s about time for us to differentiate what’s religion and what’s culture,” Maram who is also a doctor and the only veil-wearing host on the show enunciated.
Not to be outdone, Juka bristled at the repression of women with the ban on driving which, in her words, reflects ‘deeply rooted religious country, especially Islamic country’.
Mounting a spectacular comeback, Marram issued a riposte to Juka reminiscent of a diversity and inclusion lecture.
Her words: “I’m so glad that you brought that up. Just as we have our own cultural belief in Africa that doesn’t exempt the Arabs from having their own culture and a lot of times they have a lot of cultural beliefs we tend to think that it’s part of Islam. That’s why Jai said that we have to take up the responsibility to educate ourselves about our deen (religion).I think that’s the biggest weapon that we can actually take for our own selves”.
