Breaking the glass ceiling — Pakistan’s first transgender madrasa

In a country where even women do not enjoy full rights, the transgender community is looked down upon, ostracized and ridiculed, establishing a transgender only madrasa is a remarkable feat. In Pakistan, the religious and fundamental community, being vocal and expressive, hold sway in shunning the transgender community. Most families turn out children born as transgender, who are then forced to beg, dance and even resort to prostitution to survive. The community has remained marginalized far too long. It was as late as 2018 that Pakistan’s parliament recognized them, giving them individual fundamental rights such as getting the national identity card, having a passport issued and being allowed to vote and choose their gender on official documents.

In this milieu, Rani Khan has indeed smashed the glass ceiling by establishing Pakistan’s first transgender seminary, where she imparts lessons in reciting the Holy Quran to members of her transgender community. Neither the government nor any humanitarian organization came to her aid, she set up the madrasa using her life savings.

Although, there are no official restrictions on members of the transgender community from attending religious schools or praying in mosques, the transgender people avoid going to such places because of fear of being ridiculed or maltreated.

There have been numerous cases of members of the transgender community being spurned to the extent of being beaten, raped and even killed. Individual members have at times shown brilliance or initiative in becoming lawyers, TV presenters or setting up shelters for battered and old members of the community, shunned by their families but this is the first time that a religious seminary has been set up for them.

Numerous members of the sidelined community have been keen to turn to religion to find solace for themselves but had no place to go to. Many of them were devoid of the ability to even read the Quran. Rani Khan’s initiative has enabled them to find a place where they can recite the Holy Book. Rani Khan herself, who had been rejected by her family when she was only 13, was forced to resort to begging and at 17, she joined a transgender group dancing at weddings and private functions.

She says that she was visited by a deceased transgender friend in a dream, who pleaded with her to take up a step to help the community. Rani Khan found her calling, first studying the Quran herself by attending religious school for women, before setting up the madrasa in a two-room dwelling. The brave Ms. Khan states that she is teaching the Quran to please Allah and to make her life here and in the hereafter. She believes that by setting up the madrasa to offer a place for transgender people to worship and learn about Islam may offer them salvation in repenting for their sins.

Her efforts are not confined to religious teaching but also vocational training in embroidery, sewing and stitching clothes. She emphasizes in capacity building for the members of her community to earn a living by selling their handiwork. After the news of her initiative spread, some humanitarians have offered to find jobs for her students as well as look for donations. Her mission will be complete when more similar institutions are established in the country and members of the transgender community are enabled to give up a life of squalor and deprivation and infamy.

A religious school for transgender people has opened in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and last year a Christian transgender group started its own church in Karachi. Pakistan’s Christian transgender people, often mocked, abused and bullied, say they have found peace and solace in a church of their own. The church, called the First Church of Eunuchs, is the only one for transgender Christians in Pakistan. “Eunuch” is a term often used for transgender women in South Asia, though some consider it derogatory. The church’s pastor and co-founder Ghazala Shafique said she chose the name to make a point, citing at length verses from the Bible saying eunuchs are favoured by God. Pakistan’s 2017 census recorded about 10,000 transgender people, though groups advocating rights for the transgender community claim that the number could now be well over 300,000 in the country of 220 million.

Last year, the story of 28-year-old Nisha Rao, who crossed several barriers to become Pakistan first transgender lawyer, touched the hearts of the nation. Rao has contested at least 50 cases and is working with a non-governmental organization. Rao ran away from her middle-class home in Lahore at age 18, ended up begging on the streets with two other accomplices. Standing at traffic lights and begging from car to car but was determined to escape that path, eventually using her income to pay for law classes at night. She was even proposed to be a sex worker to cover all expenses like some members of the transgender community; she refused to be a part of any prostitution circle. After several years, she earned a law degree, gaining her law license earlier last year.

It is not a coincidence that Neesha Rao, herself a Muslim, approached and convinced Shafique, the rare female pastor in Pakistan, motivating her towards starting a church for the Christian members of the transgender community. Rao said she was moved by her transgender Christian friends who were often afraid to announce their faith, fearing a further abuse, but also couldn’t find solace among fellow Christians. These examples are testimony to the fact that the transgender community is willing to break the glass ceiling and there is still hope for humanity in Pakistan.