Islamic Feminism: A Critique

MALIM: JURNAL PENGAJIAN UMUM ASIA TENGGARA (SEA JOURNAL OF GENERAL STUDIES), 2016

This article surveys the feminist movement in Islam by delving into its origin, development and diversities within the Islamic tradition. The article starts its survey from the very beginning of the Islamic religion to the time after the demise of the Prophet and the modern and contemporary periods. Using the historical and analytical methods, the paper looks at the spectrums of the Muslim women struggle for their rights and the different dimensions that this struggle has taken at different times in the historical progression of the Islamic religion and the result of this on the religion itself. The submission of the paper is that, just as in other feminist movements from other traditions, the Islamic feminist movement is diverse and varied in its approach to the issue of claiming the rights of Muslim women. There are those who advocate for the reinterpretation and restructuring of the religion to meet modern day demands and views of women and because of their feeling of a strong sense of rejection and they hold that the Islamic religion should abdicate talking it views about women and embrace modern reforms concerning the rights of women in the society. On the other hand, there are others who want the religion to remain as it is while the rights of women are respected and given due regards as was the case during the time of the Prophet. Thus, all these points to the diversity of the discourse in the Islamic Tradition and speak of the fact that women's right is a very important issue in the contemporary Muslim societies which needs serious attention from Muslim scholars and leaders alike.

Journal for Islamic Studies, 2009

New Series. Issue No. 4 (18) /2015 Unveiling the Feminisms of Islam

Contemporary Islamic feminisms, already quite diverse, deconstruct preceding Islamic interpretations, proposing more egalitarian re-readings and reconceptualizations of Islamic tradition while preserving the centrality of classical textual sources (Qur’an and Sunnah) as fundamental references, the valoric hierarchies being reorganized according to the principles of Islamic ethics. The integration of social, economic, and political analysis that explain power dynamics, alienation, marginalization, and the liberation of women is another defining dimension of Islamic feminisms. Some Muslim feminists plead for the preservation and the innovative exploitations of traditional jurisprudence’s categories and purposes, while others propose a radical reform of the fundaments of Islamic disciplines. Another category of Muslim feminists prefers to adopt and integrate the discourses, approaches, and terminologies of Western feminists; some translate these in the referential Islamic system, others import them and use them as such, sometimes even from a secular perspective. In the following article I will very briefly outline some of the main determinations of this complex contemporary phenomenon – Islamic feminism(s).

2021

This research article aims to examine women in Islamic studies who have occupied a very top position. Dialogical studies on women have been widely discussed by gender activists, especially discussions on gender equality. Among the feminist figures who advocate for women's rights and gender equality are Qasim Amin, Amina Wadud Muhsin, Fatimah Mernissi, and Asghar Ali Engineer. They look at women through their own thinking glasses. This paper only presents some of the opinions of these feminist figures, however, apart from the two opinions above, it is rarely mentioned that the presence of the Qur'an text on the theme of polygamy is a social response to the situation in pre-Islamic society, which tends to marry women in order to dominate. orphan properties. In addition, at that time polygamy was considered a symbol of prestige and social status, so it was not uncommon to find a tribal chief marrying many women and even tens or hundreds of them. Therefore, Islam actually comes with a message of social change to regulate unlimited polygamy, to restrictions and finally to monogamy; where women are no longer seen as property, but as equal partners to men. a more in-depth study there are still many thoughts of other Muslim feminist figures

Al-Tahrir: Jurnal Pemikiran Islam, 2019

Feminism always be a favorable discussion among academics. It is supported by the increasing blending of nondichotomous intellectual and study area, between the pure-Islamic studies and anti-Islamic studies. The studies were started to be integral since the 19 th century marked by the emergence of the various Islamic studies. Muslim scholars have conducted research on women from various perspectives, family-law, and humiliation in the society. The study of women has attracted attention of international Muslim scholar that respond to the methodological reconstruction. It occurred due to the concern of women existence especially for women who require a distinct protection. This paper employed a historical-methodological approach which analysed the views of two Muslim scholars which are well-known with western education and concern about women's issues, namely Khaled Abou el Fadl who reviewed the notes on the fatwa of the middle eastern scholars at the CRLO institutions (council for scientific research and legal opinion) and Ziba Mir Hosseini who studies about the sacredness and profanity of Islamic law, especially the position of women in family law.

2014

There has been much misunderstanding, misinterpreta tion nd mischief concerning feminism and Islam. Islamic feminism explicates the idea of gender equality as part and parcel of the Quranic notion of equality of all insan (human beings) and calls for the implementation of gender equity. This paper is an attempt to present the debates concerning its place in the Islamic discourse, and its various paradigms. I hav e tried to present the vexed questions that have emerged in various writings about Islamic Femi nism, and the divergent responses given by eminent theoreticians. The aim of this paper is not to justify the paradigms of Islamic Feminism. I have just made a humble attempt to give a succinct overview of this new discourse that the contemporary Muslim Ummah is con fronting.

Acta Scientific Women's Health, 2022

The term "Islamic feminism", which has emerged more recently in comparison with "Western feminism", has become the subject of heated debate both among scholars and among the general public. While Islamic feminism, like Western feminism, focuses on women's rights, it is different in nature. Islamic feminists see the Quran as the source of the struggle for their rights. They argue that the oppression of Islamic women continues due to misinterpretations of the Quran by elite men. Nevertheless, some scholars, especially Western ones, argue that the reason for gender inequality lies not in interpretation, but in the Quran itself and specific verses. This article focuses on Islamic feminism by analyzing the arguments of both sides. In the end, I came to the conclusion that although the position of women has improved with the advent of Islam, there are points in the verses that make gender equality almost impossible in Muslim countries. Thus, this article argues that for meaningful change, Islamic feminists must change their approach on this issue.

Feminist Muslim scholars, such as Amina Wadud and Kecia Ali, are inevitably situated in conversations on Islam and women that are historically entrenched within discourses of power. Originating in the colonial period, these discourses have accused Islam of being misogynistic and, hence, backward, because of practices with regard to women that the West had deemed oppressive. Historically, colonial arguments have been internalized in the Muslim mind and are ingrained in feminist discourses. Two-Thirds World feminists have attacked this ethnocentrism hand have argued for the legitimacy of other cultural notions of justice and have advocated for a " multi-critique " within feminism. It is against this backdrop that the works of Wadud and Ali will be compared to discern how each deals with the complexity of the task of multiple-critique. You know brother, if only we, Muslims in America, can get our act together, then we can give direction to the whole Muslim world. 3

Journal of Feminst Studies in Religion, 2013

This essay argues for maintaining a critical space between two intellectual paradigms that inform Muslim women's anticolonial equality struggles in the neocolonial present, Islam and feminism. Seedat distinguishes between scholarly trends that preclude the convergence of Islam and feminism, that argue for a necessary convergence, and finally, those that make no argument for or against the convergence but “take Islam for granted” using feminist methods suited to various reform aspirations. The last group may consider their work the natural continuation of historical Muslim consciousness of the treatment of women or as redress for the historical absence of sex equality in Islam. This article argues that Islamic feminism may appear to be the inevitable result of the convergence of Islam and feminism yet it is also inadequate to concerns for sex equality in Islam. Not only do some scholars resist the naming but, as an analytic construct, Islamic feminism also precludes new understandings of sex difference originating in non-Western and anticolonial cultural paradigms.