A Muslim hero for women and schools

A man came into my office recently. He was very quiet, humble, not the kind of person who takes up a lot of space with his voice or his personality.

I soon realized that I was in the presence of someone heroic.

The gentleman was from Pakistan, and had a story to tell, and a service to ask of me.

He had been a schoolteacher in his native country, and had established a school where boys, and more importantly girls, could study together.

He had that strange, radical idea that education was a gender-neutral right, not a privilege that should be rationed out to “worthy” females.

In this country, the concept that girls should have equal access to education is not even noteworthy enough to highlight.

We do not separate worth based on gender, especially not when it comes to learning.

But we are the exception in a world where women often have to fight for the right to exist.

“Mahmoud” lived in a region of Pakistan where the Taliban had taken a strong foothold in the government and in society.

The Taliban do not believe, to this day, that women are anything other than the servants of men, qualified to cook their food and bear their children.

Mahmoud had different ideas, ideas that were radical for his town and his time.

He was known by Malala, the young woman who is known by the world for having stood up to the Taliban and taken a bullet for her courage.

Malala won the Nobel Prize, and Mahmoud is one of the silent men who supported her in the struggle.

He and his brethren were the ones on the front lines, making daily acts of defiance by keeping their co-ed schools open, and exposing themselves to the Taliban rage.

His partner was shot, and is now confined to his home too afraid to leave.

But that shooting did not close the school. The Taliban would storm the halls and throw the children out of the classrooms, cursing at the girls, but that did not close the school.

The police and military turned a blind eye when someone tried to firebomb the building, but that did not close the school.

It is still operating, even though the threat is still there.

He walked into my office as a defeated man, embarrassed that he had to come to this country and seek asylum.

He wanted to be back there with the students and in the classroom, but there were too many credible threats on his life.

His supporters told him to go, that he was too important and that they would be caretakers of the place until he was able to come back, one day.

I looked into his eyes and realized that this man felt defeated because he was forced to leave his life’s work, and the children who needed his help.

But the defeat was mixed with defiance, and a special sort of pride because he carried with him the knowledge that he was on the side of the angels, even if they were in small supply in Pakistan these days.

I will help him, and hopefully, he will continue to be able to help his students.

But his presence in my office convinced me of something else, and that is the overriding conviction that there is great goodness in the world, even if it exists oceans away in places where we would not expect to find it.

After months of hearing about abusive men and harassing behavior that spans the generations, after watching as excuses are being made, and in some cases, that lies are being told and some women are considering “pats on the butt” as abuse, it was good to see someone who really is a champion for women.

We have such tunnel vision in this country about what constitutes real persecution, and we also have this skewed vision of how certain religions treat women.

Roy Moore is a Christian, and he allegedly had an unhealthy attraction to teenagers.

Harvey Weinstein is Jewish, and he allegedly raped women.

And a Muslim man walks into my office teaching me about respect and the dignity of women.

In this season, I give thanks for that lesson.