19/04/2013

Whose voice is this?

“Beware of the dangers of feminism. The “propaganda that encourages women to take roles beyond housekeeping and rearing children is condemnable. I find very dangerous this phenomenon, which is called feminism….. Feminist organizations proclaim a pseudo-freedom of women that should in the first place be manifested outside marriage and outside the family…. Man turns his sight outward, he should work, make money. While a woman is always focused inwards towards her children, her home.” If this is taken as usual, this seems to be a preaching of a traditional Muslim preacher or then that of some Hindu swami; but these are the views of the greatest and most influential Russian Patriarch Kirill. He expressed these views while addressing a large gathering on 9 April. (The Asian Age, 11 April). This speech of Patriarch was posted on the official Russian Orthodox Church website the next day viz. 10 April.

This is the same Russia
And this is the same Russia which, as the biggest part of the Soviet Union, kept on curbing religion for 65 years. Being the standard-bearer of Marxist way of life, there was also not much importance of weddings in Russia though the family system was not totally disintegrated. Now after the disintegration of the Soviet Republics, religion is coming back to the collective life over there. The big chunk of Russian population is Christian; and as in other Christian countries, there are many sects of Christianity there too. The biggest sect is Orthodox and is different from the Christianity in Europe and America. The Christians in Europe and America are Christians only to the extent of attending Sunday services and donating part of their income to the Church; and free in the rest of their life. They have made woman a source of promotion of their businesses and entertainment. The movement of waywardness of woman in the name of feminism emanated from America; and Western Europe adopted it immediately. Earlier too, Eastern Europe had some hesitation in it. Now despite the fall of communism and it having surrendered before American economic system, the Russians have hesitation in adopting American way of life. And these views of the Russian Patriarch express this trend.

Main target of criticism
The details of the speech of the Russian Patriarch can be seen on website. The main target of his criticism is feminism. He has got the inspiration of severe criticism on feminism perhaps from America. A strong group of scholars has come up against American slogans of feminism and new world order in North America and Canada during the last 20 years. The most prominent voice among them is that of Henry Makow, who is a famous conspiracy theorist and runs his website henrymakow.com. His research is that there is Zionism behind feminism and new world order. He has many books and hundreds of pages on his website on the subject. The opinions of many other renowned intellectuals besides Makow are available on his website. The restlessness against feminism viz. sexual exploitation of women is increasing even in Europe. Therefore, many groups of women themselves have become active against it in Britain. It is evident that the Russian Patriarch has expressed these views with reference to Christianity. Other intellectuals and women groups have been speaking against feminism after their respective studies and observations. But the fact remains that these sections are talking about Islam’s code of ethics, unconsciously though. Muslim intellectuals should study this trend deeply.

16/04/13 khabar-O-Nazar by Parwaaz Rahmani, sehrozaDAWAT, translated by: Abu Yusuf

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