Feminist book concerning islam

His life based on the earliest sources by martin lings. There has been much misunderstanding, misrepresentation, and mischief concerning islamic feminism. Whether living in the middle east or africa, in central asia, in pakistan, in southeast asia, or in europe and the americas, muslim women tend to view the feminist movement with some apprehension. I suppose i expected a feminist look at modern muslim culture, and this book is really more a theological look at womens rights and a historical look at how various verses of the koran that are used to justify antifeminist sentiments in muslim cultures came to be included. In addition, god directly addresses women repeatedly throughout the quran. There has been much misunderstanding, misinterpretation and mischief concerning feminism and islam.

A combination of islam and feminism has been advocated as a feminist discourse and practice articulated within an islamic paradigm by margot badran in. For now, as muslims, we must redouble our confidence in the power of islam, not feminist islam, to address injustice. Brandeis series on gender, culture, religion, and law. While many in the west regard feminism and islam as a contradiction in terms, many muslims in the east have perceived western feminist forces in their midst as an assault upon their culture. Islamic feminism explicates the idea of gender equality as part and parcel of the quranic notion. In 2016, we are lucky to have a number of scholarly books on islam with a feminist perspective since dr. Go to any book store in the west and compare the selection of literature on islam to that available for any other religion.

Fatima mernissi, one of moroccos foremost writers in the fields of sociology and islamic feminism, has died. Yassmin abdelmagied saying islam is the most feminist. Religion in general and islam in particular are womens enemy. In this new conjuncture, women from within islam and islamist movements in farflung places around the worldfrom malaysia, to morocco, to iran, and to the united statesbegan to articulate a holistic, gendersensitive construction of citizenship within the framework of an islamic modernity. Feminist theology and islam is also used to strengthen the spiritual connection to the women of islam when they undergo severe trauma, to promote human rights especially those of women. The previous year, safiya husseini, another muslim woman from sokoto in northern nigeria, was convicted on similar charges and condemned to death before. Christ and mary daly, have had the challenging duty of representing feminist scholars in this field of past androcentric focus this book reads like a whos who of feminist scholars and works as a good jumpingoff place for further study. However, with things like better education and separation of religion and government, equality could be better sought. 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. Incorrect book the list contains an incorrect book please specify the title of the book. This was especially the case in the 1990s, when the translation of middle eastern and south asian islamic feminist discourses into indonesian enabled muslim womens groups to build gender justice movements using feminist hermeneutic methodologies to reinterpret the quran and hadith traditions concerning the words and acts of the prophet. With her book about feminism in islam, marianne hafnor boe not only aims to create awareness of muslim feminists, she also wants to expand. Egypt, like most muslim countries, has a rich history of diverse feminism. In this new conjuncture, women from within islam and islamist movements in farflung places around the worldfrom malaysia, to morocco, to iran, and to the united statesbegan to articulate a holistic, gendersensitive construction of citizenship within the framework of an islamic.

The grave implications of feminist islam the muslim skeptic. Fighting hislam women, faith and sexism by susan carland. This book analyzes that orientalism, with particular reference to representations of muslim women and describes the real sexual politics of islam. Lets go on to your next choice raja rhounis book secular and islamic feminist critiques in the work of fatima mernissi. Muslim feminists rewrite boundaries on the street and at home mona eltahawy says as a female in saudi arabia you have two options. In an age when western feminism is continuously undergoing redefinition, the struggles of women in muslim countries are often overlooked. Islam and muslim women generally advocate molding of individual goals and interests to accord with the welfare of. Womens inequality is gods commandment, in islam enshrined in immutable law by mohammad and eventually recorded in scripture. Sumbul alikaramali provides refreshing insight into an impressive range of issues concerning islam. She was best known for her books beyond the veil, tales of a harem girlhood and the. This new feminism has given rise simultaneously to hopes and to fears.

If you read between the lines, feminism entails that the traditional roles of wom. Early written disapproval came from jews and christians, before the ninth century, many of whom viewed islam as a radical christian heresy, as well as by some former muslim atheists and agnostics, such as ibn alrawandi. International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences pp. But alibhaibrown doesnt even engage with the arguments concerning the coopting of feminist rhetoric and the language of human rights in order to mask a growing tide of antimuslim sentiment. International relations and islam cambridge scholars. Imam syed soharwardy of calgary, the head of the calgarybased islamic supreme council of canada and the founder of muslims against terrorism, is often invited by cbc as a guest expert to discuss issues related to terrorism and radicalization. Islam proclaims that all human beings, men and women, are born in a pure state. Employing a feminist hermeneutic, the article examines some of the gender ideology implicit in these formative adiths for islamic understandings of the human. Blogging is an effective means of change and an important space where questions and concerns are raised that may not be done so elsewhere. Selflove lies at the basis of love, but at its peak its paradoxical passion wills its own downfall. Secular and religious convergences by margot badran.

Islam and womens rights overcoming inequality center for. Women covered in head scarves and chadors, islamic divorce rules favoring men, the view that women should be relegated to the private rather than public sphere. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Muslim feminists rewrite boundaries on the street and at. The goal of every muslim is to preserve this purity by shunning evil tendencies and beautifying their inner being. With these questions in mind, providing an exclusive definition of the term islamic feminism would raise numerous concerns, given also the multiplicity of definitions concerning different ways of conceptualizing feminism, or different feminisms, and the debates concerning islamic or islamist in connection with feminisms. Some of the muslims talking about islamic feminism were among the producers of. New age islam by bina shah february 20, 2017 ive been reading about australian youth activist yassmin abdelmagied we appeared on an australian show once together and her words to jacqui lambie on an australian broadcasting corporation abc television show that islam is to her the most feminist religion. Inappropriate the list including its title or description facilitates illegal activity, or contains hate speech or ad hominem attacks on a fellow goodreads member or author. Diverse perspectives presents the idea of finding a middle way or common ground of understanding between two bodies of knowledge conceived from two different hemispheres of the world. Rita gross is one of the pioneers in the movement of feminist study in religion.

Oct 29, 2017 why has feminism sold its soul to islam. Analysis of the roles women play in one institution, the pesantren a traditional islamic boarding school for the study of the quran, hadith and other classical islamic texts and the ways in. You can also find new titles that have recently been added to the cornell university library collections in. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in educationand employment. Spam or selfpromotional the list is spam or selfpromotional. Sufi groups such as alahbash do not make it mandatory for women to wear traditional islamic clothing, even allowing. In this careerspanning collection of influential essays, margot badran presents the feminisms that muslim women have created, and examines islamic and. Between feminism and islam university of minnesota press. There is a disagreement over khadijahs raa exact age among the scholars.

Islam requires both men and women to dress modestly. The most famous feminist theologian, a radical advocate of gynocentric feminism sometimes referred to as the foster mother of feminist theology, is the former catholic nun, mary daly. Legal and literary perspectives is the title of saudi scholar mai yamanis 1996 book comprising the essays of a substantial number of women scholars who are articulating an emerging islamic feminism. Yassmin abdelmagied saying islam is the most feminist religion. The historian and gender studies specialist margot badran has devoted her lifes work to the muslim world. I came to realize islam is a world religion that teaches tolerance, justice and honor, and promotes patience, modesty and balance. Why are western feminists silent about how islam treats. Upne brandeis series on gender, culture, religion, and law. Fatima mernissis book, the forgotten queens of islam, is a crucial piece in feminist theology for islam and how it relates to a non western state. Thats just a small sample of the responses i got on twitter last week when i said i was taking part in a panel discussion about islam and feminism. 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 is the most feminist religion, cij news, april 3, 2017.

Key historians on women in the muslim world such as leila ahmed and margot badran have highlighted three women huda shaarawi, nabawiyya musa and malak hifni nasif for their contributions to feminism in egypt and the broader arab region in the late 19th and 20th centuries. 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. Out of a sum total of 6 adiths contain in bukharis book on knowledge, there are eight concerning women. For a complete listing of all available print and ebooks, search the online catalog. The asian feminist fanpage caters and share news on women and feminism from 50 different countries of asia as we are inclusive to all asian race and ethnicity. It offers explorations of the theoretical issues at play, the latest developments of feminist discourse, literary studies and sociology, as well as empirical data concerning the situation of women in arab countries, such as iraq and palestine. Kierkegaard philosophical crumbs selflove is certainly foundational to feminism and islam is a readymade ideology for the destruction of feminism. The traditional support of the large and intricately interrelated family organization is correlative to another islamic tradition which seems to run counter to recent western trends and to feminist ideology. Aysha hidayatullahs 2014 book surveys the breadth of this literature and summarizes the major works and themes in this area. In his work, amin criticized some of the practices prevalent in his society at the time, such as polygyny, the veil, and purdah, i. Fatema mernissi and islamic feminism literary theory and.

There is mixed opinion among muslim feminists concerning externally imposed control. 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. In most countries under islamic states or under the influence of islam. Not only is the information just not there most of the time, but what is there is like 15 books all called some variation of muslims. As a religion, islam has been demonized for its gender practices like no other. What we see today is a massive distortion of what islam was meant to be for women and men. Because when we approach the topic we come up against several walls. Passionate politics, bell hooks 2000 feminist theory 2000present manifesta.

The feminist majority foundation online features daily feminist news with take action ideas, domestic violence and sexual assault hotlines, a feminist career center, information on feminism including women and girls in sports and more. Drawing upon a wide range of womens sourcesmemoirs, letters, essays, journalistic articles, fiction, treatises, and extensive oral historiesmargot badran shows how egyptian women assumed agency and in so doing subverted and refigured the. Egyptian jurist qasim amin, the author of the 1899 pioneering book womens liberation tahrir almara, is often described as the father of the egyptian feminist movement. It was my first time reading muslim women scholars take on the quran, hadith sayings and traditions of the prophet muhammad peace be upon. Raja rhouni, also a moroccan, first learned about fatima mernissi around the time islam and democracy came out while she was a phd student at mohammed v university in rabat the same university where fatima mernissi did her undergraduate work. One womans global journey elizabeth warnock fernea on. Circulating in much the same way as waduds book and eventually translated into many languages in its turn, barlass book became widely regarded as another seminal islamic feminist text. A brief history of feminism islam versus feminism al. Islamic political thoughtislamic feminism contemporary.

By claiming that islam is feminist, these selfappointed advocates seem to be trying to convince. Were told we dont understand the religionculturesocial structure, and that we shouldnt interfere with it we get told were imperialists basically, and few of us are equi. The veil and the male elite is a tricky book to rate, since i am definitely not its target audience. Her book is the journey of an american muslim woman struggling with her identity, her tradition, and most importantly, her desire to simultaneously fit in with american culture while preserving her faith. As an atheist feminist, i do place a lot of the blame on religion itself. This volume illustrates how women in islamic societies have become more actively involved not only in learning their rights under the sharia islamic law but in rereading this law to improve their status and gain increased equality and. In her book women, history and theory, joan kelly discusses the idea of two sociosexual spheres that have developed in feminist theory. Jun 27, 2011 the book i refer to is called muhammed.

Islamic traditions and the feminist movement confrontation. The emergence and evolution of egyptian feminism is an integral, but previously untold, part of the history of modern egypt. The grave implications of feminist islam jamiatul ulama kzn. The prophetic example is our model and standard for gender justice, not the often antireligious musings of susan b. After the september 11 attacks and other terrorist attacks in the early 21st century, hatred of islam grew alongside. When milletts book was published, it was a bestseller and she was feted as a darling of the feminist movement. Between feminism and islam challenges the common assumption in the media and the academy that islamism and feminism are quintessentially opposed ideologies. Islamic feminism is an active and vibrant movement that is the subject of inquiry not merely among academics and scholars but also among activists and bloggers on the internet. Islam to me, says abdelmagied, a sudaneseaustralian author, is the most feminist religion. Before summarising her opinions and contributions to the feminist interpretative movement, i wish to mention two wellknown names in the field of hermeneutics in the north african environment. In this careerspanning collection of influential essays, margot badran presents the feminisms that muslim women have created, and examines islamic and secular. Feminist converts to islam surprisingly, islam turned out to. The author goes on to describe the rise of islamic fundamentalism and the wests response to it. Books on islamic feminism below is a list of books that i recommend to anyone interested in understanding reinterpretations of islam, alternative readings to the traditionalist ones that are largely patriarchal in nature, or otherwise scholarship that complicate simplified ideas of islam, women, gender, and sexuality.

Through a careful sociological and ethnographic account of moroccan feminist and islamist womens organizations, zakia salime shows how the two have transformed each other through decades of activism. Books on islamic feminism freedom from the forbidden. The feminist majority foundation works for social and political and economic equality for women by using research and education to improve womens lives. Women covered in head scarves and chadors, islamic divorce rules favoring men, the view that women should be relegated to the private rather than public spherethese attitudes and practices. As a muslim feminist living in a nonmuslim society i found i could identify personally with many of the issues carland explored the belief that womens rights are inherent to islam, the concerns with exposing rampant sexism within muslim communities, experiencing this sexism as males use islam to justify it, experiencing the pitying attitude. Bid to boost feminism among muslim women world news. The best books on islam and feminism five books expert. Feminism is an idealogy that men and women are politically, economicly and socially equal. The complexities are numerous some muslim women, such as the granddaughter of irans ayatollah khomeini who wears the headscarf out of. Jordan peterson discusses whether men and women can ever be equal duration. Imam claims that islam is the most feminist religion. The term islamic feminism became popular in the 1990s, defining an emerging feminist paradigm by scholars including ziba mirhosseini, mai yamani, nilufer gole and shamima shaikh. Thats like saying you can be a ku klux klan member and an antifascist. The books listed in the different sections below are merely a small selection to help you begin to go indepth in learning about and researching the topic.

She was the first american woman to earn a doctorate in catholic theology at the university of fribourg in 1963. Criticism of islam has existed since its formative stages. For many feminists the hijab is a glaring symbol of male oppression and the patriarchal power. The jews, israel, and womens liberation, andrea dworkin 2000 shakespeares sonnets and the mystique of the sheikh, annie laurie gaylor. Major themes women and islam muslims frontline pbs. In this careerspanning collection of influential essays, margot badran presents the feminisms that muslim women have created, and examines islamic and secular feminist ideologies side by side. In the book she was described as being 40, 15 years older than prophet muhammed saws. To recognize the influence of national, political, and social contexts, particularly nationalism and imperialism, on islamic feminism. The book, based on extensive interviews, archival research, and her own analytical understanding of postcolonial morocco, probes beneath the surface of both the liberal feminist and islamist women movements to reach some surprising and provocative conclusions about the struggle for womens rights in morocco. Marxistfeminist theory takes on the publicprivate spheres concept to show that the separation of society into workleisure spheres was true only for men.

Nprs linda wertheimer talks with her about her book, if oceans were ink. Margot badran american historian if we are muslims, whether or not believing or practicing, islam is part of our identity, our way of life, a culture, a system of. The term islamic feminism began to be heard in the 1990s in various global locations. Between india and pakistan comparative feminist studies kindle edition by khan, nyla ali. Feminists are concerned about what happens in the name of islam but they also understand that unchecked fear can hurt progress rather than aid it. Is feminism relevant to arab women third world quarterly. Islamic feminism is a feminist discourse expressly articulated within an islamic paradigm and behaviours and activisms inspired by it are enacted in islams name. By employing an islamic feminist discourse, we can discern the authors criticism of some muslim religious practices, especially those that are dominated by a system of patriarchy, which includes the abuse of womens rights in islam and is a hindrance to progress in muslim society. Barlas explains that her book is in dialogue with waduds quran and woman.