Tradition The Influence of Setting of Social Circumstances on Malala’s Resistance

Aisyah was a great scholar and had a great love for learning and became known for her intelligence and sharp sense of judgment Onaid, 2014. It shows that even Prophet Muhammad let his wife to seek and spread knowledge to other. Let‟s say education is infidel because it is western culture so Taliban give an alternative for students to study in madrassa or Islamic school. However, it still creates a question on why only men who can pursue education, not women. Actually, this rule is not based on Sharia but patriarchy. In this case, Taliban show the spirit of patriarchy in which always limits women‟s right in pursuing education. They want to let women be unable and uneducated so they can easily oppress them. If they give them right to pursue education, there is possibility for them to opt out and fight against Taliban‟s oppression. Malala resists this rule by always going to school though it needs a big effort in doing it. For example, she should hide her school bags and books in her shawls. Then she always does a campaign for women‟s education. For example, on December 20 th , 2011, she speaks at an education gala in Lahore about how she fights against Taliban and goes to school secretly. However, in responding Malala‟s actions, Taliban makes propaganda to Malala and her father about their school on April 2012. They say that Khusnal School is a center of vulgarity and obscenity because they take girls go out to picnic. Dear Muslim brothers There is a school, the Khusnal School, which is run by an NGO [NGOs have a bad reputation among religious people in our country so this was a way to invite people‟s wrath] and is a centre of vulgarity and obscenity. It is a Hadith of the Holy Prophet that if you see something bad or evil you should stop it with your own hand. If you are unable to do that then you should tell others about it, and if you can‟t do that you should think about how bad it is your heart. I have no personal quarrel with the principal but I am telling you what Islam says. This school is a centre of vulgarity and obscenity and they take girls for picnics to different resorts. If you don‟t stop it you will have to answer to God on Doomsday. Go and ask manager of the White Palace Hotel and he will tell you what these girls did Yousafzai, 2013: 108. Malala still believes that there is nothing wrong with the school because it is their right to enjoy greenery, waterfalls, and landscape just as boys do Yousafzai, 2013: 108. This propaganda won‟t stop Malala, she is still going to school and sometimes doing a campaign on girls education. Unfortunately, on October 9th, 2012, she is shot by Taliban. The man was wearing a peaked cap and had a handkerchief over his nose and mouth as if he had flu. He looked like a college student. Then he swung himself onto the tailboard at the back and leaned in right over us. „Who is Malala?‟ he demanded. No one said anything, but several of girls looked at me. I was the only girl with my face not covered. That‟s when he lifted up a black pistol. I later learned it was a Colt 45. Some of the girls screamed. Moniba tells me I squeezed her hand. My friends say he fired three shots, one after another. The first went through my left eye socket and out under my left shoulder. I slumped forward onto Moniba, blood coming from my left ear Yousafzai, 2013: 3. There are three reasons why Taliban shoot Malala. Firstly, Taliban accuse Malala that she has already spread secularism or western ideology by doing campaigns on women‟s education. “Malala has been targeted because her pioneer role in preaching secularism Yousafzai, 2013: 120. Taliban believe that everything about western is infidel. Secondly, Taliban believe that Malala‟s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, is trying to break the tradition and religion in which placing both men and women in the same room “Ziauddin is running a haram school in your building and bringing shame on the mohalla. These girls should be in purdah” Yousafzai, 2013: 42. Thirdly, Taliban shooting is a form of payback toward Ziauddin in breaking Taliban‟s rules on the prohibition on women‟s education. When Taliban give him a warning not to continue the school, he does not listen to them. Moreover, he and Malala are together in resisting against Taliban‟s rules. Therefore, by shooting Malala, Taliban believe that it can payback Ziauddin and Malala‟s action in supporting women‟s education. They believe that it can make them silence and stop in doing their campaigns on women‟s education which are perceived as infidel. “They wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Kill Malala and silence me for ever” Yousafzai, 2013: 115. Surprisingly, even if she has already been shot by Taliban and moved to Birmingham, UK, she still continues her campaign on women‟s education and gets a Nobel Peace Prize by United Nation. Actually, Malala does her campaign because she realizes that education is an individual right not only for western people but also Muslim, “The Quran says we should seek knowledge, study hard and learn the myster ies our world” Yousafzai, 2013: 73. Second, in the Taliban‟s rules on public, women are prohibited to go outside without their mahram because it creates defamation Yousafzai, 2013: 56. Therefore, when there is a woman who goes outside everywhere alone, like going to market, Taliban always shout at them and threatened them until they go and stay at home. Women should be accompanied by their mahram because men can protect them from danger and it avoids women from defamation. Actually, this interpretation contradicts Muhammad‟s example, in which the first wife Muhammad, Siti Khadijah was a businesswoman Yousafzai, 2013: 54 and she was doing trading goods to Syria. It shows that Muhammad believes that women