‘‘To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; He creates what he wills. He gives to whom He wills female [children], and He gives to whom He wills males. Or He makes them [both] males and females, and He renders whom He wills barren. Indeed, He is Knowing and Competent.’’
Surah Ash-Shuraa (42:49-50) Quran
Transgender
Transgender is a broader term that comprises of various categories. It consists of Hijras, Cross-dresser, She-males, and most common among all is Hermaphrodite or commonly known as Intersex.
Hijras (Men-Women):
The origin of Hijras came from the ancient Subcontinent’s culture, Brahmans. After partition, a larger community resides in India and a smaller community lives in Pakistan. Hijras from India worship Bahuchara Pata, commonly known as Hindus. On the contrary, Pakistani Hijras worship Allah, popularly known as Muslims; they offer prayers, keep fasts, and perform Hajj as males.
Cross-Dresser (He-her)/ (She-he):
Cross-dressers do not have any sexual disability as they are normal men and women. Mostly they just act to become transgender usually to earn. They are usually seen all across Pakistan. Cross-dressers wear clothes exactly opposite to their sex; like males would wear female clothes and females would wear male dress vice versa.
Such an example of(Him-she) is Begum Nawazish Ali who enjoys behaving like a girl without any intuition to change his gender.
Intersex or Hermaphrodite:
Hermaphrodite or Intersex is the most common among all as this type of transgender has both characteristics of men and women. An intersex is born with both physical and hormonal deformity.
As we all know that there is a male hermaphrodite and female hermaphrodite. The difference between male hermaphrodites is a comparatively small sexual organ as compared to a normal man while the female hermaphrodite has no sexual organ at all for which she cannot marry. Since they can’t control how they are, as it is by Allah (SWT). They are the most deserving ones amongst all transgender.
Being a responsible citizen:
People Speak: A transgender’s story
“For the very first time, I felt the part of society while running a cafeteria at a college. It has brought normalcy to my life. I look forward to coming here every day. I go to bed earlier and early riser just to be there. Students at the college are like my children and when they have exams or assignment deadlines, I keep the cafeteria open till 2.00 AM. Just to make sure that students have the food to eat, whenever they wake up for studying. We are also planning to open a food service business or the NCA hostel.
Everyone in my community has faced rejection, from their families, and society and thus made us very resilient. Given a chance, we will prove to be reliable and hardworking people. I also run an NGO that works for the right of transgender. Other colleges and universities should also give us their cafeteria to run. We are dedicated and loving people and will feed everyone delicious food with love”
Bubli Malik, Cafeteria Manager, NCA Rawalpindi
I Swear, they are not bad people, not they will eat you if you will try to talk to them politely. It’s not anybody’s fault to be calved in the body of a male or a female or both. Can you please guarantee me one thing that an intersex cannot be born in your homes?
The intersex community is not an alien; they are just like human beings. They deserve all the care and respect from the world. At least for me, they are much better than us.
Don’t you think that they deserve all the equal rights? Yes, maybe some of them are spoilt like the rest of us while some are super spiritual. I was amazed by one of them; he was doing savings because he wanted to perform Umrah and gave us Duas. All we think of them as an object for pleasure while ignoring the fact that they are people like us normal human beings. For this, we should remove this distinction, we all need to stand up and raise our voices for them.
We all need to fear Allah while treating the intersex community. I request you all to be a little humble towards them.
You are part of society
You have the right to live
You have the right to breathe
You do not need to live in the abyss
By Sidra Malik
