Islamic feminism
The condition of Muslim women has always been an issue of discussion. A number of people have raised questions about women subjugation and women related issues. The issue was highly publicized when Muslim women came out and gave voice to their issues. Some women extensively talked about their issues. This awakening about women related issues was termed as Islamic feminism. This paper intends to discuss the Islamic feminism and major contributors of this idea, Amina Wadud, Fatima Mernissi and Lila Abu Lughod along with discussing other related aspects.
The idea of Islamic feminism moved on a new trajectory during the nineteenth century. Islamic women scholars like Amina Wadud and Fatima Mernissi expressed their ideas extensively on women related issues. They raised issues of women that affected Islamic society substantially. A new wave of Islamic feminism took place in the society that affected the condition of Islamic women. Ideas of Wadud and Mernissi inspired other women to speak up about their issues.
Aamina Wadud was a Christian who embraced Islam in her twenties. Wadud wrote extensively and expressed her views against the religious inequalities of Islam. She demanded equal religious rights for Muslim women. Wadud presents various arguments and tries to prove her point that women have been given equal rights in the Islam. She suggests that Quran does not support inequality and only misinterpretation of Islam suggests that women have lesser rights than the men.
Fatima Mernissi, a Morocco born woman who was raised in a Harem, studied the Islam comprehensively and then spoke up against the fundamental practices of Islam that affect Islamic women. She expressed her views on wearing Hijab and other orthodox religious practices that consider women as second grade and not equal to men. Mernissi’s views revolutionized women of Islamic world and inspired other women to speak up against all kinds of discriminatory practices.
Amina Wadud and Fatima Mernissi played very significant role in Islamic feminism. Both these women expressed their views against the religious practices that discriminate men and women. Both of them also raised their voices against malevolent social practices that consider women as subjugated to men. These women expressed their views openly and boldly instead of being a spectator of ill practices. Their bold expression inspired other women to fight against discriminatory practices in Islam.
Both Amin Wadud and Fatima Mernissi did not only expressed their views on women related issues and advocated for women rights but also lived their views in the real life. Amina Wadud read a Khutbah in a mosque in South Africa. This was her way of challenging orthodox religious practices of Islam. A number of Muslim men demonstrated against her for her act. On the other hand, Mernissi openly criticizes Islamic practices that discriminate between men and women. Hadith has been targeted by Fatima Mernissi for its discriminatory preaching against women.
Wadud and Mernissi affected Islamic feminism in significant ways. Their bold views exasperated extremists but inspired Muslim women to speak up against all injustices and discriminatory practices. Muslim women realisd that they are being fooled by some men in the name of religious practices. Wadud and Mernissi logically proved that Islam does not support discriminatory practices against women. They suggest that certain section of Muslim society are involved in discriminatory practices of women and are responsible for the deteriorating condition of Muslim women.
Wadud and Mernissi have expressed their views because they are aggrieved by the current condition of Muslim women in the society. They want to prevent all the evil practices that people are practicing. Both these scholars tend to remove the negative practices of Islam. They believe that women do not get the equal and respectable position in the Islamic society. Wadud and Mernissi believe that Muslim women have been made subjugated of Muslim men due to discriminatory practices of Islamic ideas.
Lila Abu Lughod is a known scholar and academician on the issue of women and gender studies. She expresses her views on women related issues in a new perspective. She does not believe in playing the victim card for Muslim women. Lughod has authored few book and all of them present the issue of Muslim women with some difference. Usually Muslim women are portrayed as subjugated by traditional scholars but Lila Lughod does not believe blindly in this theory.
Lila Lughod believes that western scholars has always portrayed Muslim women in a subjugated role. They have portrayed them as victims of Islamic orthodox views. She says that Islamic women are always portrayed in Hijabs and they are portrayed as if they are the biggest victims of religious oppressions by their men. She is anxious about the condition of Muslim women but does not believe that they are the biggest sufferers.
Lila Lughod considers this issue in the light of Islamic traditional values. She compares condition of Muslim women with women of other religions. She tries to prove that Christian women are also oppressed like Muslim women. Lughod also appears proving that Muslim women are unnecessarily portrayed as victims. She suggests that Muslim women are not that much oppressed as they are portrayed and women of other religions are not that much free as they are portrayed to be. Lughod suggests that everyone whether he is a Muslim or a non-Muslim on this earth wants to save Muslim women without analyzing the issue which is not correct.
Lughod connects the issue of Muslim women with the capitalism, colonialism and gender justice. She says that everyone believes that Muslim women are the most oppressed women on the earth and the main reason of their condition is the religious views of Islam but this is not the truth. Lughod suggests that though the condition of Islamic women is not good but she refuses to believe that Islamic religious views are solely responsible for the same. Lughod suggests that colonialism, capitalism and on gender related insensitiveness along with other reasons are responsible for the deteriorating condition of the Muslim women.
Having observed an overview and succinct analysis of the abovementioned subject, this paper concludes that Amina Wadud and Fatima Mernissi have played very significant role in Islamic Feminism. Both of these women have expressed their views extensively on women related issues and advocated for women rights. Wadud and Mernissi talk about religious, educational and social rights of Muslim women. They do not criticize Islamic religious views but they criticize all evil practices that take place in the name of Islamic tradition. Their views have inspired other women to speak up on the issues that affect their interests.
