Qaria Rubina of Lahore, who was honoured with the President's Pride of Performance Award, and also the winner of first prize in three international Qirat competitions held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, can easily be termed as top of the list. She also won prizes in over 400 national and international Qirat contests. (The international Qirat celebrity, Qari Basit of Egypt, while on a visit to Lahore in 1971, had heard her Qirat at Badshahi Masjid and affectionately called the 12-year-old Rubina as "Chhota Basit" (the second Basit).
Belonging to a respectable family of Lahore, her father Ch. Khushi Mohammad was a close associate of Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and was proprietor of the Punjab Press which used to print five leading newspapers of the day, including Zamindar, Siasat, Chatan and Inquilaab. Qaria Rubina was born in 1959 and obtained her degree of masters in Arabic from the Punjab University in 1987 with distinction.
She had memorised the Holy Qura'n and achieved proficiency in Qirat by the time she was nine years old. She is at present posted as Assistant Professor of Arabic in the Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore. She had started appearing on PTV for the recitation of the Holy Qura'n in 1971, receiving a payment of Rs 29 for five minute recitation.
Now-a-days, she is running Pakistan Islamic Education Centre in Garhi Shahu, Lahore where she teaches art of Qirat to girls. Her two daughters, Namrah and Arooba have also a great interest in Qirat and are winning prizes in local contests. Her spouse, Khalid Mahmood Hashmi, is a college professor.
She had visited USA at the invitation of New York Islamic Centre in 1990 to deliver a lecture on misconceptions of the West about Islam. She also visited Saudi Arabia to perform her art of Qirat.
She says the trend of learning Holy Qura'n by heart and Qirat among girls is increasing. This is evident from the fact the girls enrolled at Qura'nic centers outnumber boys. Since a large number of girls have been striving for enrolment in Qirat and Hifz centers, many institutions have come up to provide this facility. However, there is no government patronage involved in this aspect of religious education, particularly for women.
Qaria Rubina says the inclination of women towards the learning of the Holy Quran and Qirat was never so strong 20 to 25 years ago. However, she says Qarias are not encouraged to participate in competitions, especially at the national and international level. As such, male Qaris have succeeded in establishing their monopoly. She argued that women were second to none in Qirat and they must be encouraged.
Holy Quran, she says, is the origin of Islamic knowledge and wisdom. The Holy Quran is also a remedy for all human ills and provides mental, physical and social well-being to its true readers and followers. She herself cures the sick through Quranic verses and says the people are misled by pirs, aamils, black magicians, palmists, etc. People are susually superstitious and easily fall prey to such people. She urges them to seek a remedy in the Qura'n if they are true believers of the holy book.
She regrets that violence against women is on the increase. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in the first eight months of last year, 2, 367 women suffered physical abuse of which 464 were killed in the name of honour. No woman in Pakistan feels safe even in her own home. This is the most agonising aspect of women's life. Every time a person accused of rape is set free by the court because of lack of evidence; it has grave implications. It sends out the message to other men with evil intentions that hey can go scott free if they are powerful and influential.
She says it is satisfying to note that women are beginning to feel empowered - if not on the ground, at least in their minds. Many of them have begun to fight back on an individual basis. There are examples which are indicators of the change that is coming. Without these efforts, it would not have been possible for many rape victims to come out openly about what they have suffered and seek justice even against heavy odds.
In matters relating to crimes against women, the police in our male-dominated society are as biased as other large sections of the people. They are also susceptible to pressures from the feudals and the influential. This has been evident in case after case involving rape, oppression of women and decisions made but the parallel system of justice that we continue to tolerate in the shape of panchayats and jirgas.
She says the injustice to women which begins with barring girls from going to schools, particularly to co-education based schools, should be discouraged and the legislators should come to the help of wronged women and protect threatened women. It is of no use to talk of how tolerant is Islam without extending that tolerance to our women.
Qaria Rubina says women still have a long way to go as the minority has carved a niche for itself, some have progressed slowly, some not at all, while others have been actively blocked in their efforts. It appears that the majority is not going to see something better in their lifetime.
Qaria Rubina stresses that real empowerment of women can only be achieved through a societal change basing on enlightenment and widespread education. She says women constitute half of the country's population and has a key role to play in Pakistan's development. She favours a review of the Hudood Ordinance to ensure that it is in accordance with the spirit of Islam. She insists that the burden of proof in our system rests with the victim.
Failure to prove allegations in a sexual assault case can have potentially disastrous consequences for the victim. The victim could easily be turned into a proven guilty of "qazf" or slander, punishable with 100 lashes or capital punishment depending upon the severity of the case.
The majority of sexual assault cases in Pakistan deals with plaintiffs, witnesses and defendants who are illiterate and have no format of education. The police record their statements in plain Urdu or one of the local dialects.
The current Hudood laws are probably too idealistic.
There is lack of alternative or lesser punishment under sub-section (4) of section 10 of he Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood Ordinance, 1979). Thus, if death cannot be awarded due to inadequate evidence, the accused has to be acquitted.