Maria McCloy
The Independent Broadcasting Authority seems to be taking a more softly-softly approach with Radio Islam.
This week the Lenasia-based community station was given another 30-day temporary licence. The IBA said the licence has been granted to enable Radio Islam to continue broadcasting over Haj, the time when Muslims make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
The IBA does not appear to be monitoring Radio Islam as closely as it does Voice of Soweto. For months now, Radio Islam has violated an IBA order that it allow women on the air for three hours daily.
Yet it cannot, for example, say whether or not the Muslim station has women broadcasters. And its temporary licence has been granted without any extra conditions attached as has been done with Voice of Soweto.
The Muslim station has completed an application for a 12-month licence, but already the Commission for Gender Equality has announced its intention to oppose that licence.
So will Youth for Islamic Enlightenment Leadership and Development, a local organisation of young Muslims. In January, Radio Islam said that it would seek help from Muslim scholars around the world to establish whether there is theological justification for allowing women broadcasters.
In many Islamic states, women broadcasters are quite a common sight and sound.
Many progressive Muslim theologians dispute the grounds on which Radio Islam bars the women’s voices. It stems from the old Judaeo-Christian ethic which views women as the source of human tragedy.
“Finding excuses to silence women is just one of the injustices certain scholars and imams attempt to inflict upon women,” writes Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an international Muslim scholar.
IBA representatives clammed up this week. Said one representative: “Naturally I don’t want to talk about Radio Islam beyond what I said in the (IBA press) statement. It’s like you’re debating the Constitution of South Africa … We’re avoiding friction with the station.”