Mossarat Qadeem, a peace activist from Pakistan, said that the entire Muslim community is being perceived as violent due to a small minority of fundamentalists.
“Religion has been hijacked. Everyone uses it to politicise it today,” said Qadeem who has worked with people who have had extreme religious views. According to her, all religions have three fundamentals: humanity, peace and love. “Unfortunately, the majority that believe in these fundamentals are being silenced. It is this silent majority that needs to speak up,” she said.
Qadeem said the change should begin at home and with the mothers. “Religion to a child is usually given to them from their mothers and here is where the change needs to begin. Inclusive education also needs to be promoted.”
The session that looked at ‘Religion – new approaches needed for interfaith understanding and accommodation’ saw women also from Morocco, Poland and America talk about the concept of religion and what the world perceived it to be.
American photographer Rand Snyderman said that hitherto, religion has been a male-dominated affair, which he suggested, should change to bring in religious equality. “In most religions, the general perception is that it is male dominated. I believe that if you sort out the issue of gender equality first, then only will we be able to bring about religious equality,” said Snyderman.
Moroccan Houda Sayegrih said that despite living in a Muslim dominated country, she had always chosen to teach her children the concept of equality and allowing them “to focus on the commonalities of religion.”
Discussions on violence against women and the enabling of women’s voices through mass media brought about the role of films and television in the promotion of women as powerful voices. Violence against women, and the role culture and emotion played in it, was another topic of discussion.
The WEF said that it would organise its conference in Goa, annually.
