An Interview with Asiya Andrabi
Born in 1963 in Srinagar's Khanyar locality, Asiya Andrabi was more interested in science than spirituality in her youth. Today, however, she leads Dukhtaran-e-Millat, an all-female group that is older than both the Taliban and Al Qaeda and which the Indian government has branded a "soft terror" group. Dressed in her habitual dark Burka and black leather gloves, an engaging and fervent Andrabi welcomed Kashmir Observer correspondent David Lepeska into her home on a recent Friday morning. Over tea and biscuits the two discussed the justice of sharia law, the progress of Kashmir's independence movement, and the assassination of the President of the United States.
KASHMIR OBSERVER: I've read that as a teenager you wanted to be a scientist but were diverted and became interested in Islam. Could you tell me about that? ASIYA ANDRABI: : After my graduation I was planning to go to India for my studies because biochemistry was not offered in Kashmir University in those days. My brother, who is a doctor, didn't allow me to go to India for further studies as he was aware of what was happening in India to Kashmiris, especially to Muslim girls. So after a few days I went into my father's library and found this book, "The Inner Feelings of a Woman," compiled by Indian author Miya Faribad. One of the lead stories was of Mariam Jamilah and how she converted to Islam from Chistianity. She had a conversation with Maulana Maudoodi and they spoke and wrote letters and she was converted. When I read this whole it was the turning point of my life. And I made up my mind that Insh'allah I too would spend my whole life devoted to Islam. Before that I did not even know the ABC's of Islam, and that too from such a family that was known for their prominence in Islam (Andrabi's say they are part of the Sayyid clan, originally from Afghanistan ). And then I decided that a Muslim is incomplete unless he or she knows Arabic, because most of the books and key Islamic works are in Arabic. So I started reading Arabic. My father too was an Arabic scholar, and he guided me very properly, and I graduated in Arabic from Kashmir University. KASHMIR OBSERVER: And soon after that you started Dukhtaran-e-Millat? ASIYA ANDRABI: In 1981 I started a school, a madrassa in Srinagar, and the response was very warm from the women folk. And then I started my organizational work. I went door to door and I went to the mosque and delivered speeches from the loudspeakers. I talked to women just to tell them the status of women in Islam, and how we were exploited by West as well as East – everybody exploits us. So let us see what Islam has given us. |