Analyzing a conceptual conflict reference url share. Feminism in the middle east is not a new phenomenon, it is more than a century old. Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in islam. Islamic feminism have, on the one hand, claimed attachment to other forms of feminism. What is the position of the islamic law regarding the feminist issues. The general perception towards the idea of islamic feminism is that islam is a repressive patriarchal religion, and thus, can never coexist with feminism, since. The success of transnational religious and feminist movements throughout the globe is simultaneously endorsing the tension between essentialised notions of islam and the west and directing the move towards reinterpreting modernity and redefining.
Whether or not islamic feminism can be seen as a true aspect of feminist theory is. The sectarian differences in the belief and practice of islam, particularly among the shiites and the sunnis. Islamic feminism appeared at the time of an accelerating islamist movement, according to the iranian ziba mirhosseini who initially supported the islamic revolution in iran. The egyptian feminist movement reached out to other arabs in the late 1930s and the 1940s.
Pdf on dec 1, 2014, michael grech and others published feminism in islam. When speaking of islamic feminism, one must take into account the meaning of the two words that make up this term. Advocates of the movement seek to highlight the deeply rooted teachings of equality in the religion, and encourage a questioning of the patriarchal interpretation of islamic. To survey responses to the convergence of islam and feminism, this essay outlines and evaluates various attempts at constructing and deconstructing islamic feminism as a site of analysis and practice applicable to the lives of muslim women. This website looks at what feminism in islam can mean to different people and how it might challenge stereotypes both in islam and feminism, as well as the perceived clash between the two donate to maslahas work. Sources of the tradition before engaging in any meaningful discussion of feminism in islam, it is useful to refer to the sources of the islamic tradition, since much confusion surrounds the use of the term islam. The efu played a key role in the institutionalization of panarab feminism, or arab feminism, as distinct from feminisms in individual arab nations. Islam vs feminism contemporary topics of islamic thought. Rhouni calls islam and democracy the third in what she identifies as a trilogy of mernissis books engaging with islamic feminism. Unsettling a common claim that feminism is western and dismantling the alleged opposition between feminism and islam, the book demonstrates how the egyptian feminist movement in the first half of this century both advanced the nationalist cause and worked within the parameters of islam. At the time it came into existence, it was revolutionary for the rights that it gave. According to margot badran, islamic feminism emerged out of a critique of both patriarchal islam ism as well as of secular feminism. Despite its relative novelty, islamic feminism has been criticised. This book is also a good source of information and logical.
The term islamic feminism began to surface in the 1990s in various global locations. Unless feminism wants to take a stand and renounce and. Woman in islam in the divine scheme of regulation of the relationship between men and women, islam has assigned a position of dignity and honour to woman. The holy quran emphasizes that go d in his perfect wisdom has. However, many scholars have found evidence in islamic texts which is supportive of womens rights. In the words of pakistaniamerican asma barlas, i came to the realization that women and men are equal as a result not of. The epithet islamic situates a person somewhere on the continuum between a cultural identity that is muslim and coexists easily with secularism and occasional expressions of religious observance on the one hand, and islamist, which describes a way of. Radical feminists think liberal feminist perspectives are not drastic enough to address the centuries of individual, institutional, and systemic oppression that have ensued. Such beneficent regulation is essential for peace, comfort, happiness, continuation of the species and progress.
By equating western feminism with objectification and sexualization, you run the risk of losing credibility to your real argument that islam is inherently feminist. Badran, however, elucidates some differences between secular feminism and islamic feminism in her 2009 book, feminism in islam. This paper is intended to provide a brief and accurate explanation of the islamic stance, drawing upon the authentic sources of the quran gods final revelation and hadeeth sayings, actions. According to western perspective feminism is a history of struggles for womens rights and freedoms and emphasizes that religion is one of the chief enemies of its progress. In its remonstrations against male patriarchy, common understandings of. Feminism ziba mirhosseini abstract islamic feminism has gained currency since the 1990s and has become the label for a new brand of feminist scholarship and activism that is associated with islam. The reason islamic feminism has been perverted is because over centuries it had to conform to islamic law, sharia, which regulates to a faretheewell. Whereas western concepts of feminism are often resisted as foreign and subversive of muslim culture, arguments for womens equality from within islam hold a. This book is also a good source of information and logical explanation for. Seedat distinguishes between scholarly trends that. Islamic feminism the term islamic feminism was first used in the 1990s. Dec 19, 2018 hybrid feminism, according to ahmedghosh, occupies an inbetween position, incorporating aspects of both secular feminism and islamic feminism.
The central drama of the novel is the disintegration of ramatoulayes marriage to modou after the latter takes on a second wifehis daughters young friend, no less. What is considered oppression from islamic point of view. It was here and in the combining of the languages of colonialism and feminism. Asma lamrabet 3, amina teslima alyerrahi 4, asma barlas 5, houria bouteldja 6, arzu merali 7 and sirin adlbi sibai 8. This website looks at what feminism in islam can mean to different people and how it might challenge stereotypes both in islam and feminism, as well as the perceived clash between the two. Indeed many wonder whether it is possible to reconcile feminism with islam a religion critics regard as inherently patriarchal. Pdf this essay argues for maintaining a critical space between two intellectual paradigms that inform muslim womens anticolonial equality. When looking at the relationship between feminism and islam we must look at how feminism, as a philosophical tradition, and feminists, as a. They are not foils with which to bash islam or through which sympathetic westerners can congratulate themselves on their cultural superiority. And like in all parts of the world it is a controversial and contested term that describes a rich spectrum of movements.
The opposing pulls of custom and progress that ramatoulaye encounters in the senegalese political climate become personal and particular in her struggle to reconcile her abiding faith in islam with her feminism. Islamic feminism emerged as a new discourse of women, gender and equality in islam. Islamic feminism is a relatively recent current of thought being developed by a transnational network of activists in widely contrasting sociopolitical contexts. The islamic traditionlike other major religious traditionsdoes not consist of, or derive from, a single source. In the post 911 world, islam and feminism are widely viewed as incompatible. I want to start by recognizing my teachers on the subject of women and islam. Expressing islamic feminism in mariama bas so long a letter. Feminists, islam, and nation princeton university press. The discourse on islamic feminism has generated a language that many young women in the muslim world are able to draw upon while challenging patriarchal. Dec 09, 2014 islamic feminism, which derives its understanding and mandate from the quran, seeks rights and justice for women, and for men, in the totality of their existence.
Sociologist rachel rinaldos ethnography of muslim and secular women activists in jakarta, indonesia highlights the diverse ways they engage with islam and feminism and use them in their activism and their daily lives. Contextualizing equality of gender in islam kamran shahid. The debate over womens rights and islam is often politicized and riddled with stereotypes. Indeed, islamic feminism denounces common feminist claims that feminism is antinomic to religion, as well as western colonialism and neocolonialism. Hating men blaming everything bad on men being a lesbian white people saving muslimnonwhite women a western movement a result of daddy issues the idea that men and women are the same. Feminism ziba mirhosseini abstract islamic feminism has gained currency since the 1990s and has become the label for a new brand of feminist scholarship and activism that is. Hybrid feminism, according to ahmedghosh, occupies an inbetween position, incorporating aspects of both secular feminism and islamic feminism. Nov 10, 2009 through my reading of some key islamic concepts described in bas novel, such as the mirath, polygamy, prayer and sunna, i situate my reading of ramatoulayes expression of islamic feminism within an african and islamic feminist reading and further position these within the cultural context of the practice of islam in senegal. It is activist and vocal, attempting to find a place where women can interpret for themselves what islam means in various patriarchal cultures where men have always had the power to define that religion. I n a shift away from normative scholarship on the status or role of women in. The present book will answer all the above mentioned questions and at the same time it will clarify the role of the women in islam. To understand islamic feminism, both words have to be examined separately and then together. The best books on islam and feminism five books expert.
Iranian scholar ziba mirhosseini exposed the rise and use of the term islamic feminism by some women, as well as men, writing in the teheran womens journal. Feminists in the west may fiddle while muslim women are burning, but in the muslim world itself there is a burgeoning movement to address the miserable predicament of the second sexwithout simply adopting a philosophy whose higher cultural products include sex and the city, rosie odonnell, and the powersuited female executive. Jul, 2017 the reason islamic feminism has been perverted is because over centuries it had to conform to islamic law, sharia, which regulates to a faretheewell all behavior of women, men and children. Islam embodies many of the principles that feminism fights for equality, dignity and respect of women. Islam is often represented as a religion which denigrates women and limits their freedom. In their conception a muslim woman is a secluded and passive subject, who neither has any.
Find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. Islams position regarding this has usually been presented to the western reader with little objectivity. Both insist that women may own their own property and dispose of it as they wish. Many question how a feminist approach can be reconciled with islam, which critics view as an inherently patriarchal ideology. Islamic feminism is generally grounded in the quran and islamic prac tice, and is articulated predominantly though not exclusively within an islamic paradigm badran 2009, 241. Islamic feminism is defined by islamic scholars as being more radical than secular feminism, and as being anchored within the discourse of islam with the quran as its central text. Islam and feminism or doing feminism while taking islam for granted, the dynamic between islam and feminism is a potentially productive space from which to theorise modern muslim gendered ways of.
Radical feminism radical feminism is the second most notable form of feminism. Women in almost every muslim society have placed issues of womens rights firmly at the heart of their societies politics. Reconciling islam and feminism iman hashim islam is often represented as a religion which denigrates women and limits theirfreedom. It is a discourse of educated urban women, who reread the quran and early islamic history in order to.
In her examination of the colonial roots of discourses surrounding muslim women and the veil, leila ahmed summarizes. For example, margot badran 1995 demonstrates how feminist movement advanced the nationalist cause and worked within the parameters of islam in the case of egypts anticolonial struggle. Whereas western concepts of feminism are often resisted as foreign and subversive of muslim. Feminism and islam themetracker the themetracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of feminism and islam appears in each chapter of so long a letter. While many women in iran resist this religious and patriarchal regime, and an increasing number of iranian intellectuals and activists, including islamists, call for. The discourse of arabism and islam became more prominent in the articulation of the widening agenda. Historically, feminism and islam have had a complex and sometimes antagonistic relationship. Nor is it evident that those who first used it were aware of the explosive impact that the juxtaposition of these two words was to have. Islamic feminism is a relatively new concept and not without controversy. Although islam and feminism are not completely without common ground, the values and principles of islam and feminism are generally contrary. Feminism ids bulletin volume 42 number 1 january 2011 beyond islam vs.
And i can see why rhouni wishes to classify it in that way, because here mernissi is taking up islamic arguments for claiming full citizenship, democracy, equality and justice. Islamic feminism and feminist theory by catherine williams. Abu bakr responds to such critiques by saying that. It was born of the intimate combination of womens existential knowledge. Feminism is a social, political, and philosophical movement that examines the production of gender and refutes inequalities predicated on gendered difference and power relations. It is to them to whom i owe everything i know of the subject that may be useful in this essay, and it is. And most importantly in my view feminism has absolutely no alignment in any form, with islam. The most confusing thing for the nonmuslims particularly in the western world is the position of women in islam. Islamic feminism reform muslim women quran islam introduction islamic feminisms propose a series of more or less courageous reforms are disputed in the traditionalist and neotraditionalist islamic world. Muslim women are not all victims, renegades or standardbearers for religious or cultural authenticity. Pdf when islam and feminism converge fatima seedat. Mobilizing piety compares different forms of womens activism in a globalizing metropolis. Islam is the religious tradition of the followers of the prophet muhammad. Because some secular muslim feminists are less interested in reforming islam and more concerned with promoting gender equality within a secular society, the term islamic feminism arose to.
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