Lessons from the Failure of the World's Largest Democracy in Muslim Women's Rights
(Translated)
News:
The Indian Express published an article entitled "When absence speaks louder: Muslim women and the Indian Parliament." The article deals with the significant under-representation of Muslim women in Parliament. Since the first Lok Sabha session (the Indian Democratic Parliament) in 1952, there have been only eighteen active Muslim women in the councils. This under-representation is documented in a new book written by journalist Rashid Kidwai and political science expert Ambar Kumar Ghosh entitled "Missing from the Board: Muslim Women in the Lok Sabha," published by Juggernaut Publishing House (2025). The authors insist on acknowledging how symbolic this representation often is. For many political parties, nominating a Muslim woman was more of a symbolic gesture than real influence and power. One of the most important topics the book explores is the tense relationship between appearance and power. A Muslim Member of Parliament may attract media attention, but when it comes to making actual decisions, choosing candidates, setting policy priorities, and ministerial positions, Muslim women are often clearly marginalized, and the authors explain that "democratic representation" does not necessarily mean empowerment.
Comment:
We Muslim women should not be surprised when we witness the end of an era in which the experience of liberal political theory needs proof of its toxicity. The long-lost cure for empowerment can no longer be found in the black abyss of democracy. We have seen the illusion of "inclusion" for what it is, a mirage of false promises and misleading Islamic discourse. Access to power always means serving your secular masters and giving up your relationship with Allah Almighty.
Feminists are silent about the global and local assault and killing of Muslim women who live in fear of expressing their identity and loyalty to Allah Almighty.
We Muslim women must never forget that we have real empowerment from Allah Almighty alone, and that our voices, security, and dignity have always been preserved under the caliphate. We never needed a women's rights movement, and we protected non-Muslim women with our noble values. Economic and social rights are sacred and clear in Surat An-Nisa; ﴿And for you is half of what your wives leave if they have no child. But if they have a child, for you is one fourth of what they leave, after any bequest they [may have] made or debt. And for the wives is one fourth if you leave no child. But if you leave a child, then for them is an eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you [may have] made or debt. And if a man or woman leaves neither ascendants nor descendants but has a brother or a sister, then for each of them is a sixth. But if they are more than two, they share a third, after any bequest which was made or debt, as long as there is no detriment [caused]. [This is] an ordinance from Allah, and Allah is Knowing and Forbearing.﴾.
If we focus exclusively on restoring Islam to political life, we will not remain distracted in the corridors of the secular agenda, which only seeks to make the real Muslim woman invisible and powerless.
Written for the Central Media Office radio of Hizb ut Tahrir
Umrana Muhammad
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
