London: Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) has motivated, inspired and empowered me to stand up as a British Muslim Woman, said the Shadow Minister for Women & Equalities Naz Shah as she stood up at the dispatch box to close the debate to mark the International Women’s Day in the House of Commons.
Naz Shah told the house that the only man who has inspired her to stand up as a British Muslim Woman is the one who was honored by the US Supreme Court in 1935 as one of the greatest lawgivers of the world and that man is Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The MP from Bradford West said, “He (Prophet Muhammad [PBUH]) came to the world at a time when the most basic rights to women were being denied, and in a matter of years he transformed a society that degraded, chastised and murdered women to one that empowered them with not only the right to life, but to property, marriage, inheritance, voting, democratic, honor, dignity and rights to liberty”.
She told her fellow MPs that modern women like Mary Wollstonecraft, Emmeline Pankhurst, Rosa Parks and Benazir Bhutto, as well as Oprah Winfrey who stood up for change and fought for equality in society, have not only inspired, motivated and enlightened the generations of women but are inspirational for men too.
Naz Shah also shared that time of her life with fellow lawmakers when she was moving from one home to another with her teenage brother and sister, raising them in the absence of her mother. Thus began her journey into politics.
“I was the daughter of a victim of domestic abuse who served 14 years in prison, and she went to prison because she could no longer handle the abuse and killed the partner who abused her.”
“When I talk about my story, I share with people a slide with literally two black bin liners, concerning my forced marriage, having to live in poverty or having experienced homelessness”, she further added.