ISLAMABAD: A long white shawl on her head, Rani Khan gives daily Quran lessons at Pakistan’s first transgender-only seminary which she set up herself, using her life savings.

This is an important milestone for members of the transgender community in the country as they are regularly faced with ostracism.

“Most families do not accept transgender people. They throw them out of their homes,” Khan, 34, said, adding she was disowned by her family at 13 and forced into begging.

At 17, she joined a transgender group, but later quit it to connect with religion. Khan studied the Quran at home, and attended several seminaries herself before opening her own two-room seminary, that offers members of the community a safe space to learn about Islam.

She said the school has still not received aid from the government, although some officials had promised to help students find jobs. After receiving donations, Khan also teaches her students how to sew and embroider, in hopes of raising funds for the school by selling clothing.

Pakistan’s parliament recognised the third gender in 2018, giving such individuals fundamental rights such as the ability to vote and choose their gender on official documents. Nonetheless, transgender persons remain marginalised and often have to resort to begging, dancing and prostitution to make a living.

The seminary could help transgender persons assimilate into mainstream society, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat told this agency, adding: “I’m hopeful that if you replicate this model in other cities, things will improve.”

A seminary for transgender people opened in Dhaka, Bangladesh last year whereas another Christian transgender group established its own church in Pakistan’s bustling southern port city of Karachi.

Pakistan’s 2017 census recorded about 10,000 transgender people, though rights groups say the number could now be well over 300,000 in a country of 220 million.

“It gives my heart peace when I read the Quran. It is much better than a life full of insults,” a student, Simran Khan, 19, said who is also eager to learn life skills.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2021