] Profile of Dr. Ghazala Anwar, ex-Lecturer AIOU and her HomoSexual Views
Hasan Shabbir
http://www.phil.canterbury.ac.nz/people/anwar.shtml
Dr Ghazala Anwar
Position
Lecturer in Religious Studies
Qualifications
- BA (Michigan)
- MA (Aligarh)
- MA (Chicago)
- PhD (Temple)
Room
Room 602
Contact Details
Phone: +64-3-364 2987
Internal Phone:
8152
ghazal...@canterbury.ac.nz
Postal address:
School of Philosophy and Religious Studies,
University of Canterbury,
Private Bag 4800,
Christchurch,
New Zealand
Background
Ghazala joined the Religious Studies programme at Canterbury in 2000, after teaching at a number of universities in the United States, including Temple University, where she completed her PhD in Religion in 1993. Prior to that she took her BA at Kalamazoo, Michigan, her first MA in English Literature at Aligarh Muslim University in India, and her second MA in Humanities at the University of Chicago.
Research Interests
Ghazala's research and teaching interests include Islamic jurisprudence and Sufism, as well as the exploration of issues of healing, gender and sexuality in Islam. She also participates frequently in national and international colloquia on interfaith dialogue and other current issues relating to Islam.
Recent Publications
"Muslim Feminist Discourses" Feminist Theology issue of Concillium, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza and Shawn Copeland, eds., 1996.
"Impact of National Histories on the Politics of Identity" in Journal of Asian American Studies in Religion, Kwok Pui Lan, ed., 1996.
"Reclaiming
the Religious Center from a Muslim perspective: Theological
Alternatives to Religious Fundamentalism" in Religious Fundamentalisms
and the Human Rights of Women, Courtney W Howland, ed. St Martins
press, New York, 1999.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=42348
By Shandana Minhas
There is an elephant in the room. A bull in the china shop. A cat amongst the pigeons. A komodo in our kimono. Who will bag it and tag it?
From the February 2 issue of this paper: Islamabad "Higher Education Commission (HEC) has hired a pioneer supporter of Muslim lesbians and gays as associate professor in the women campus of the International Islamic University (IIU)…Dr Ghazala Anwar pioneers the movement of 'lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender intersex and questioning' (LGBTIQ) Muslims…The female professor was promoted to deputy dean of Asuluddin faculty (women campus)…Her questionable religious interpretations sparked protests by female students… One of the IIU students, requesting anonymity, told The News, "Neither did anybody know her track record nor did anyone suspect her of deliberately making controversial references…soon some of the students found a pattern in her comments and ran online searches to uncover a shocking reality."
From the February 8 issue of this paper: Islamabad –"Veiled in burqas and armed with canes, scores of female seminary students have occupied a children's library here to protest government plans to demolish mosques and madressahs built without official permission… The unusual protest has pit authorities, who are trying to stop runaway land encroachment, against the chief of one of the country's largest Islamic schools and raised questions whether the hard-line institute is being allowed to operate above the law. When a female reporter visited, the protesters had their veils up and were catching an afternoon nap inside the library or on the sunny lawn outside… Amna Abdullah, 20, who has studied at the seminary for four years, condemned the government for demolishing mosques and hoped the authorities 'would not attack us'. She said all the land belonged to Allah and every Muslim should be allowed to use it... We pray to Allah to help us."
Umme Hassan, the seminary's principal, however, was in no mood for compromise. "They can come and shoot me before they can touch this place," she said.
Two interesting, colourful threads in otherwise drab newsprint (excited journalists often used the word homosexual and punctuation like the comma interchangeably, and for about a second it was refreshing to read about women threatening violence instead of receiving it). Two superficially unrelated incidents raising an important question: if teachers' appointments can be terminated on the basis of personal beliefs that are divisive, controversial, and detrimental to larger society etc. why are people preaching intolerance and violence allowed to function as principals, professors, tutors, etc.? How do these stories end?
PhD Dr Ghazala Anwar, who had responded to the brouhaha created by her personal beliefs with: "This controversy provides us with an opportunity to exercise our conflict resolution skills, to develop rules by which we can discuss and disagree about topics that might be sensitive or volatile, and to resolve the issue in a manner that our relationships are enhanced." was fired shortly after reports highlighting her commitment to the rights of 'sexual minorities' peppered the pages of local papers.
On the day this column was filed, the children's library was still occupied by militant madressah students. The 'hardline' outfit which produced them had, two days before, upped the ante by threatening to unleash a wave of suicide bombers against the state should force be used to dislodge their protestors, after which the government had reportedly backed down from its plan to raze illegally constructed mosques.
Good behaviour really does have to be its own reward.
So, on one hand, an academic who advocates peaceful conflict resolution and basic human rights for all is apparently dismissed for her personal beliefs. Officially, the reason given is her lack of fluency in Arabic, as well as poor performance on an evaluation that one report says was held three months prematurely after pressure to get rid of her began to build. This establishes a dangerous precedent. If lack of fluency in and understanding of Arabic is accepted as a bar to the teaching of Islam, all the maulvis servicing the babas and babies of nearly every household would be out of a job, prayer leaders/tutors in some neighbourhood mosques would have to find more physically and intellectually demanding ways of worshipping the Creator, and the aunties preaching 'Izzteehad' at tuition centres would have to find some other amusing thing to do on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
As for Dr Anwar's personal beliefs -- whether misguided or enlightened, and no matter how persuasively propagated outside the classroom -- they do not diminish the rights of others and can make no brainwashed converts. Everyone has the right to their own opinion (or to mine, its free, go on try a bit) and homosexuality is not a virus.
On the other hand, a retrogressive movement that scoffs at the sanctity of life and writ of the state, going beyond controversial opinion into objectionable practice -- has the government over a barrel. The guidelines for the construction of a mosque are clearly laid out in the Quran. They do not include encroachment. The guidelines for resolution of property disputes have been clearly laid out in the law of the land; they do not include illegal occupation and threats of violent resistance. Still, not only have the madressah students been allowed to occupy a children's library for days, during an aborted parliamentary debate on the subject one minister told off another, who raised the issue, for talking about a 'sensitive' matter.
These manifestations of a movement for exclusion, self-interest and intolerance masquerading as 'Islam' are what rabid Islamophobes refer to when they suggest there isn't a clash of civilisations as much as there is a clash between civilisation and those who oppose it. In the world of the madressah students interviewed, modern civilisation and its laws are redundant and unworthy of respect because "all the land belonged to Allah and every Muslim should be allowed to use it". In the world of those protesting exposure to a lecturer with radical views about homosexuality, real civilisation is what you get when you stifle dissent, disallow debate, and spawn a stagnant sea of sameness for the righteous to float upon.
In his speech during the inauguration of Karachi's new signal free corridor (if only debate in the national assembly could flow as freely as traffic does now), President Musharraf appealed to the masses to unite in fighting the 'three evils' of terrorism, extremism and sectarianism, pointing out that the country would never 'develop or prosper' otherwise. President Musharraf's opinion on this particular issue is shared by most people, but what exactly are the masses supposed to fight the terrible trident (I think I'm channelling Bush's speechwriter) with? Branches from felled trees? Wadded up plastic bag pellets? Growls from empty stomachs? Could he be referring to education? Would this be education gleaned from the same system that discourages independence of thought and diversity of opinion not just in its students but its teachers too?
To most people, the army is a corporation ceaselessly protecting its business interests. The current government is a puppet regime taking dictation. When they ask ordinary hardworking people to tighten the belt further through increasing prices and floating harebrained schemes like deducting zakat from real estate assets, while simultaneously bowing to the ridiculous demands of misguided zealots, they merely reinforce those perceptions. In doing so, they open the door for the portly exiles, double chinned divas, newly carpeted craniums etc. waiting in the wings.
There is an elephant in the room. A bull in the china shop. A cat amongst the pigeons. A komodo in our kimono. Whoever bags it and tags it gets my vote. You know what slogan it will take to get this particular mass in motion?
Pakistan first.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hasan Shabbir <hasans...@gmail.com>
Date: Feb 13, 2007 5:03 PM
Subject: [HasanShabbir.com1915 Re: PLZZZ READ THIS MOST MOST IMPORTANT MAIL--- dont ignore it i request U ALL plzzzzz - - - its Specially Studends otthers.....
To: HasanShabbir <hasans...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Najam us Saqib <saqib...@gmail.com>
Good News... Dr. Ghazala Anwar Terminated...
http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/02/top14.htm
Thanks for informing us Najam bhai...
ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has terminated the contract of Dr Ghazala Anwar, reportedly because of her views on sexual orientation which were found objectionable by some students and a section of the media.
An American national of Pakistani origin, Dr Ghazala had been hired from abroad for the International Islamic University (IIU) under the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme of the HEC.
In an official statement, the HEC only said that the host institution (IIU) did not need her services and, therefore, her contract with the commission had been cancelled.
"Due to unsatisfactory progress report received from the host institution, her contract with the HEC has been terminated," the statement said.
The statement cited her inadequate expertise in Arabic as another reason for her removal from service.According to her bio-data, Dr Ghazala did her PhD in philosophy and religious studies from the Temple University (USA), with teaching and research interests in Islamic jurisprudence, gender issues, Sufism and sexuality. Before coming to Pakistan she worked as a lecturer at the University of Canterbury (UC) in Christchurch, New Zealand.
It is learnt that some of her students and a section of the print media recently criticised her for saying that homosexuality was a normal sexual orientation.
According to FFHP rules, an institution prepares progress report after six months of service, but in Dr Ghazala's case the IIU assessed her performance after three months. Besides, none of her degrees showed her proficiency in Arabic language, but her expertise in the language has been questioned by the university.
Talking to Dawn, an HEC official said on condition of anonymity that Dr Ghazala, who has already left the country, had informed the commission that she felt she was not safe at the IIU and, therefore, she should be posted to institutions like the GIK or Karachi University.
The good news is that she has been terminated!
Regards,
Saqib
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has terminated the contract of Dr Ghazala Anwar, reportedly because of her views on sexual orientation which were found objectionable by some students and a section of the media.
Source:Dawn
An American national of Pakistani origin, Dr Ghazala had been hired from abroad for the International Islamic University (IIU) under the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme of the HEC.
In an official statement, the HEC only said that the host institution (IIU) did not need her services and, therefore, her contract with the commission had been cancelled.
"Due to unsatisfactory progress report received from the host institution, her contract with the HEC has been terminated," the statement said.
The statement cited her inadequate expertise in Arabic as another reason for her removal from service.According to her bio-data, Dr Ghazala did her PhD in philosophy and religious studies from the Temple University (USA), with teaching and research interests in Islamic jurisprudence, gender issues, Sufism and sexuality. Before coming to Pakistan she worked as a lecturer at the University of Canterbury (UC) in Christchurch, New Zealand.
It is learnt that some of her students and a section of the print media recently criticised her for saying that homosexuality was a normal sexual orientation.
According to FFHP rules, an institution prepares progress report after six months of service, but in Dr Ghazala's case the IIU assessed her performance after three months. Besides, none of her degrees showed her proficiency in Arabic language, but her expertise in the language has been questioned by the university.
Talking to Dawn, an HEC official said on condition of anonymity that Dr Ghazala, who has already left the country, had informed the commission that she felt she was not safe at the IIU and, therefore, she should be posted to institutions like the GIK or Karachi University.
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On 2/13/07, Najam us Saqib < saqib...@gmail.com> wrote:Aslam-0-Alikum!
Dear Loving Soul,
Please resend the email with the image as its unreachable at Geocities.
While accessing the image " http://www.geocities.com/designer_mail5/colum1a.gif"
I get the following response:
Sorry, this GeoCities site is currently unavailable.The GeoCities web site you were trying to view has temporarily exceeded its data transfer limit. Please try again later.
Regards,
SaqibOn 2/10/07, Loving_Soul <skyview_...@yahoo.com> wrote:ASSALAMOALEKUM.....HOW R U ALL???plzzz must read it.... and forwoard to ur friendzzzz and groups ...... and Help us for CHILDREN'S FUTURE......... plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz dont ignore, and dont be lazy..............
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ICT Professional,
Softwares/ Website Developer
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Hasan/
ICT Professional,
Softwares/ Website Developer
Human Scientist [student]