Ibtisam Mahameed

Posted on | October 28, 2008 | 1 Comment

Founder-Director of Women’s Center in Faradis

Peace exists—every time the sun rises and the moon and stars shine at night. It exists in the greenery and the mountains, the sea and the beautiful landscape.

Peace is possible without conditions. The minute you set conditions, there’s an obstacle. Look at how many obstacles we place in our lives, and we do not live in peace. When we keep building obstacles, one after the other, it means we have not confronted our inner obstacle. We’ve got to remove the inner obstacle first in order to create peace. When people approach peace with a pure heart, there will be peace.

How can we make peace possible?

First of all, you can’t build relationships with others if you don’t have inner peace. Inner peace concerns the balance of my own, Ibtisam’s, inner being. If I’m not at peace with myself, I can’t be at peace with anyone else. A person is responsible, first and foremost, for herself. Only then can I be in peace with my husband, my children, my neighborhood, my village, and my country.

Also, you have to actively connect with the peace. Once, I was walking with my friends, Siham and Elana—a Druze and a Jew. It was an illuminated moment when a woman on the street greeted us with, “Shalom, girls. What a pleasure to see you walking together.” That is what I would call pure peace.

As a religious Muslim, what is your work with women of different faiths?

I work for the Abrahamic Reunion, which includes a Muslim sheikh, a Druze sheikh, a Christian priest, a Jewish rabbi, and religious women. We have activities to bring together people of different religions and backgrounds. All of them believe in one God. One has the Tanach, and another the Koran or the Hikma. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t human beings. And so, with warmth and love, we accept all religions.

I also run the Center for Hagar and Sarah, which was a gift from my husband who bought the land and built the building. I’d dreamed of working with women in my village who have never received support from the local council or government. Women had no decision-making power, not for themselves and not in their homes. There is one decision-maker, and it’s the man.

I had trouble with a world in which men decide things for me so I acted independently—in order to be an independent woman and to give women a chance for a better future. Things have changed. It happened right after they built a high school and women began to be educated—they learned they could be independent.

Tell us about your family background.

My father’s family is from Um El-Fahm, and my mother’s family is from
Tantura, which no longer exists because of the ‘48 war. At that time my parents went to live in Faradis, where I was born. However, my childhood was sorrowful because I didn’t have the warmth of family life. All of my uncles on my father’s side of the family fled to Syria. My grandfather was killed. Some of my mother’s family also fled to Syria and Jordan. So, I ended up feeling like a refugee in Faradis.

It’s hard for me to be without family; it means to experience pain and suffering. An extended family is a wonderful source of support and warmth.

What have you learned from years of service?

To ask for help. If I need something for myself, I must say so. If I need something for others, I must say so. Here, I feel something was wrong in my society. People would always say everything was okay. Nothing was okay. And it was hard for me to step out of that framework.

I broke through the barriers that prevented me from advancing as a woman. In the years of pursuing my dream, persevering, it doesn’t matter how difficult it was. Today I have no fear. I am full of strength, and love and giving.

How do you define courage?

Courage is to follow a path you believe in but other people don’t yet recognize as the right one. Courage for me is running for election. It was not acceptable in our village for women to run for election. So even just saying the words, “I want to run for election,” took courage. Courage is not only to say things but also to do them.

What makes you happy?

The opportunity to help others and serve people in my village makes me happy. A married woman who was being abused by her husband came to me to ask for help in her education. She now has a B.A. from Haifa University and is studying for an M.A. Another success story that I am proud of is that of a orphaned girl who needed surgery for her jaw. Not only did I find funding for her operation, I also managed to find work for her. I’m waiting to see her open her own business in another year. If I’m not helping anyone, I feel like a fish out of water.

What is your message to women?

God made the world round. We always need to be in a circle, in contact with each other, connected. Women, you have enormous power and sisterly love. You have something wonderful that is lacking in men—the womb where you nurtured your children. From that womb you can teach the meaning of peace, not only to men but also to yourself and your children.

Women, you have a task in the world. If men do not understand peace, it means you have failed. Your task is to stand up and say, “My role is to bring peace to the world.” The key is women working together for unity and love. That is strength.

Women, I love you. You are close to my heart. You are a verdant garden. I love you in all your colors and religions. Wherever you are, you are beautiful.

Mahameed lives in the Arab town of Faradis in northern Israel where she founded the Center for Hagar and Sarah to empower women who had been left out of educational resources and decision-making. A devout Muslim, Mahameed works with the Abrahamic Reunion promoting interfaith connection and is a coordinator of the TRUST WIN (Women’s Interfaith Network). Mahameed is an advocate for women and circular social structures.

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