[Position of Women ]    [ Obstacles ]   [Challenges ]    [References ]  Obstacles FOMWAN and the global Muslim women movement must not under estimate the task before them. Their task is not only to provide their crucial contribution in this effort to pull our contemporary society out of the decadence and confusion they had fallen for more than a century now, but also to strengthen and protect Islam’s Achilles’ heel, that vulnerable point of the Muslim Ummah. Unfortunately the very decadence they have to fight creates for them some of the first obstacles. These obstacles emanate from a stale fiqh and cultural inhibitions which have made many a Muslim woman reluctant to playing the role that Islam expects of her in society. These obstacles must be addressed and overcome to allow the Islamic movement to harness the enormous energy, resourcefulness and creativity of Muslim women. 1. Fiqh There are numerous fiqh rulings which have for a very long time held the Muslim woman captive and denied her society from a fuller utilisation of her talents and resourcefulness. Most of these rulings appear to be based on interpretation which are either contextual or based on ahadith which on a close scrutiny are found to be wanting. Some of the famous ones include the understanding that a Muslim woman cannot lead her community or nation politically or that she cannot travel without a muharram or that her evidence is either not acceptable in certain cases or is only half that of a man. Luckily some of our highly respected contemporary Ulama’, like shaykh Muhammad al-Gazali [11], shaykh Yusuf al-Qardawi,[12] shyakh Hassan Turabi[13] and the emerging, if largely misunderstood, Fatima Mernissi, [14] have unassailably rectified a lot of these notions, interpretations and myths. But most of these works are still in their original Arabic and have been denied circulation in some quarters which are not yet prepared to adjust to these realities. So while the obstacle are not yet over, we have at least began to face and tackle them, what remains may be essentially a matter of communication. 2. Culture Over the centuries and across many lands numerous cultural practices and taboos have found their way into Muslim society and many of them have been mistaken for Islam. These may differ from one country or community to the other, but where ever they are found they tend to curtail the participation of the Muslim women in the development of their communities. For the Muslim women to play the role Islam expects of them as those before them have, they need to free themselves from this cultural bondage. The first step, it seems, is to separate the chaff from the grain. Here these practices need to be weighed on the scale of Islam while taking full cognisance of the high-tech societies of the twentieth century in which we live. This of course requires appreciable knowledge. Perhaps needless to add that care must be taken not to throw away the baby with the bath water. 3. Human Resources The significance of material resources in Islamic work is too well known to warrant our mention here. But the value of human resources certainly deserves. A nation or a company with goals and objectives to achieve take the pains and trouble to train its human resources, but not Islamic bodies or organisation. Too often the lack of trained human resources, coupled with the perennial apathy and complacency frustrates the realisation of many desirable and achievable goals. For FOMWAN to make effective contributions in advancing the cause of Islam in a world where knowledge is the greatest capital, it has to take special pains to train its human resources. Leaving things to chance, as has been done by many an Islamic organisation, is the shortest route to failure - indeed many have failed.