Islamic Feminism is generally presented as an umbrella for different tendencies including new

feminist traditionalists, pragmatists, secular feminists and neo-Islamists which share a common
concern, which is, the empowerment of their gender with a rethought Islam.However, Islamic
feminists may or may not share the main tenets of Western feminism.

Feminists generally criticize a number of discriminatory Islamic rules. A large number of these
feminists formulate their criticisms from within the Islamic framework. They profess a double
allegiance, to Islam and to womens rights. They generally express the belief that the divine
message of Islam is inherently egalitarian. Yet, its egalitarian content has been partly or wholly
destroyed by human interpretation.

Feminism and IslamLegal and Literary Perspectives edited by Mai Yamani brings together
renowned women researchers and academics-historians, political scientists, lawyers,
sociologists, social anthropologists and literary critics- who examine the phenomenon of feminism
within the Islamic cultural framework. It brings along eclectic views and opinions pertaining to
women rights and privileges in Islam and how theyre exploited by the religious upholders
themselves in the name of religion. The feministic views presented in the text fall into different
categories; Marxist, cultural, liberal and post-modern feminism to name just a few.

The book itself quotes Feminists do not all think the same way or even about the same kind of
problems and the immensely diversified topics considered in the book are a self-speaking proof of
this. The book deals with the issue of marriage and divorce, it talks about the veil and its
necessity as an adornment for Muslim women in order to protect them from causing seduction or
discomfort to the society in general. It also takes into consideration the struggles that women
have faced over centuries and the pain that they have borne to make their place in the
mainstream market. Some articles deal with the role of women in politics over time. Hence, this
book is an agglomeration of highly assorted thoughts stacked together in an interesting mix.

The book Feminism and IslamLegal and Literary Perspectives has been carefully divided into four
parts-Beginnings and History, The Language of Literature and Culture, The Politics of
Interpretations and The Confines of Law. The first part deals primarily with the pre-Islamic era
and the woes of polytheism and polyandry. It tells about the despair of women burdened by highly
discriminated societal views and how they dimmed through it. It tells of rituals like the killing of
young girls at birth, restricting of women to household chores, giving women no right over
property or land and depriving them of the most essential human rights. The second part raises
questions on traditions such as the Crimes of Honor and tells how, for honors sake, the protectors
of women take away their lives supported nonetheless by our religious scholars. It explains the
helplessness of a woman in a male dominated society; she is merely a puppet whose strings can
be tightened, loosened or even cut by her guardians. The third part of the book deals with the
influence of political strategies on providing women rights and at times exploiting them. It tells of
times when women were looked upon as commodities that could be bought or sold upon will and
also of radically different times when women were in power and ruled states. Immense struggle
and passion accounted for the change and this aspect has been weaved in the text very
beautifully. The final part of the book limits women upon certain restrictions. It explains that
though women deserve equal rights and privileges, there are certain boundaries that are not to be
crossed by a Muslim woman. She should maintain her dignity and self-respect at all times and in
front of all people. Thus this book says it all- from rights to duties, from privileges to limitations
and from isolation to independence and self control.

Heading off towards the first part of the book, Mona Siddiquis article Law and the Desire for
Social ControlAn insight into the Hanafi Concept of Kafaa with reference to Fatawa Alamgiri is
one of the best written articles contained in the book. The writer uses an amalgam of Arabic,
English and French to explain her point. This makes her article not just distinguished but also
impressive as she draws in support using texts from three languages proving her vast exposure
to the literary pieces of work available and her deep insight of the subject. She quotes Chehata
as saying:
La notion gnrale de contrat na jamais fait Iobjet dans les
ouvrages de doctrine,dune thorie gnrale

Here, she uses evidence in a foreign language to prove her claim that marriage whether regarded
as an institution, a ceremony or simply a male-female relationship; it is infact a contract in law.
Although fiqh doesnot particularly use the term contract for a marriage, it is accepted as a verbal
agreement.

Mona Siddiqui adopts an explanatory style of writing in her article, and does not leave any
technical term unattended rather all such terms are followed immediately by their meaning. The
article starts off by explaining the significance of Islamic Law- why is it needed and how can it be
applied effectively. She defines Islamic Law beautifully:

With Islamic legal texts, it is the symbiotic relationship that religion

shares with the law which is its most distinguishing characteristic, making
Islamic law a reflection of the religion. The texts reveal the interaction
between Islamic religious values, how they determine legal principles
and how these principles subsequently formulate their own life forms.
Law articulates a way of looking at society and Islamic Law is no
exception. Its essence is its religion but its expression is a response
to the formal exigencies of juristic style in language, logic and structure.

Her article chiefly describes the law of marriage as in the Hanafi School. She discusses the
principle of Kafaa which means equality and compatibility between husband and wife. With a root
meaning of equality or capability in Islamic legal terminology, it has assumed a specific meaning
whereby it is required that a Muslim husband must be equal to or superior to his wife; in other
words, although a woman may choose her partner in marriage, every effort is made to ensure
that she does not marry beneath herself and more importantly beneath her family.

Ka faa is the presence of equality or compatibility required between

husband and wife and is measured according to the six considerations
of descent, Islam, profession, freedom, good character and wealth or means.

Many Muslim scholars will oppose this belief, however, as they claim that Quran uses the word
qawwam for a husband. When translated from Arabic it means nothing more than the provider of
the family. It is thus argued that the relation between a husband and a wife is not one of superior
and subordinate position, but one of camaraderie (rafaqat).What God requires from both of them,
is their submission to Him and no one else.

The best aspect of Miss Siddiquis article is that it not just transmits Islamic knowledge with regard
to the principle of kafaa but also discusses the relevance of kafaa today. With certitude, all
Muslims believe that Islam can never go obsolete but some of the themes that it engulfs may be
relevant to some particular period in time and targeted towards some particular group of people.
However, kafaa is no such concept. Nonetheless, the changes in societies today have shifted our
values to some extent so that economic and social factors are compromised for the sake of
mental compatibility and even love. The most significant social change in many Muslim societies
is that women have left their homes for work. They socialize with people from all walks of life for
reasons such as education and employment. The inevitable result of this mingling has been the
fragmentation of a social pattern based on segregation leading to greater social discourse and
even intimacy between the two sexes. This has not only broadened womens perception of the
outside world but also has granted them their own gender experience. Now they are capable of
making more informed decisions regarding their marriage. Today, most women upon reaching
adulthood prefer to choose their soul mate themselves; this is no longer a game of random
selectivity. Thereby, although the guardians right of intervention as implied in the principle of
kafaa remains a legal right, its significance has faded to some extent. As women have become
more aware of rights accorded to them by Islamic Law, the distinction between use and abuse of
law has become more manifest. Thus Siddiquis article implies that women do not oppose social
order as suggested by kafaa but the problem is that in a male dominated society, males tend to
safeguard women honor and their authority by impinging on a womans emotional needs and her
legal rights.

Next, is Women, Islam and Patriarchalism by Ghada Karmi. It is a more deeply felt approach
towards feminism and social subjugation of Muslim women. The writer uses intense vocabulary
directed to make the reader aware of the helplessness of a Muslim woman in a male-dominated
world.

The sexual umma is based on the sexual segregation and social

subordination of one sex to the other. Women, members of the
domestic universe, are subject to the authority of men, members
of the Umma universe. Separations and subordination are
embodiedin institutions which enforce non communication and
non interaction between the members of each universe.

Ghada Karmi, gives statisticalfigures to prove her point. Often it is numbers that reflect the gravity
of a situation and the writer, in this case, exploits this fact.

Employment statistics for the Arab world in the late 1980s

show amarked discrepancy between men and women, with
the women being consistently and significantly less active.
The propotion of women in the workplace, expressed as a
Percentage of the total work force was 4.4% in Algeria,
6.2% in Egypt, 5.3% in Jordon and 8.3% in Syria.

The gist of her article is to shed light on the adherents of Islam who provide apologist
interpretations for those Quranic verses which seem inescapably discriminatory against women.
Likewise, opponents of the religion have found in these verses, a convenient stick with which to
beat the back of Muslims and Arabs whom they despite for other reasons. In order to expose that
what is true to her readers, Karmi examines the supreme source of Islamic dogma, the Quran,
and reviews the major passages that deal with the position of women. These verses are not
studied in isolation, but in the historical and social context of the Quran. By doing so, she shows
that punishment by God is meted out equally for both sexes, modesty is enjoined for both sexes,
reward in the Hereafter is promised for both sexes and religious obligations are enforced upon
both sexes equally.

The best thing about the article is that it refutes all claims made against the Quran as being a
misogynist document.It says that the very arguments posed by the non-Muslims can in fact be
implied to say that women are infantilized in the Quran. Women are to be protected and
economically provided for by men, but admonished and punished if they are disobedient. Their
testimony is only half as reliable as that of men. Their welfare is in the hands of their guardians-
father, brother and husband. Yet, there exists a paradox that they are equal to men in terms of
their religious duties and punishment for transgression.
The only discrepancy in the article, albeit a great one, was that Karmi concluded that Islam,
instead of ameliorating women plight in the world, exacerbated it. Feminists like her fall into the
modernist or pragmatist category; she is skeptical that the arrival of Islam led to greater rights for
women. In her reading of the Quranic injunction on evidence, divorce, custody and polygamy, she
finds little evidence of a message of equality and much that points to an explicit scriptual bias
against women. Karmis stance is interesting as it incorporates the notion of reinterpreting Quran
but, in opposition to many other feminists, offering interpretive methodologies, Karmis reading of
the Quran is not predicated upon a belief in the transformative nature of Islam. In other words,
Karmis analysis of women status at the time of introduction of Islam demonstrates that Islam had
a regressing effect on womens rights. She proves this by stating that before the advent of Islam,
women could marry more than one man at a time and had the right to decide the paternity of her
offsprings, she lived in her house even after marriage, and even female goddesses like al-Uzza,
Manat and al-Lat were worshipped. After Islam, women were mistreated and subjugated.

To sum it up, one cant gulp in all that Karmi has to say, in fact all the arguments provided by her
should be scrutinized under the light of the Quran. She gives in contradictory views and they
should be evaluated before any view point regarding the subject under discussion may be
formulated.

Unlike Gadha Karmi, Raga El-Nimr can be categorized as a new feminist traditionalist in her call
for return to orthodoxy. In her article, Women in the Islamic Law, she emphasizes the biological
differences between men and women. She maintains that the sexual difference is a difference
ordained by the divine will and that this justifies and explains the resulting inequality that women
face. For El-Nimr the advantageous legal rights that men benefit from such as the principle of
male guardianship, male witnesses possessing greater evidential weight and the male
prerogative of polygamy do not denote a lower status for women rather confirm their temporal
difference from men. She maintains that the acknowledgement of this sexual difference, does not,
in any imperil weaken the notion of spiritual equality of men and women. She narrates incidences
from Muslims of the past and that has a grave impact on what she tries to convey. As an
example, she quotes :

It is reported that once a man came to Umar, the second Caliph, with
the intention of complaining about his wife. When he reached the door
ofUmar he heard the Caliphs wife railing against him, so he turned
back. Umar saw him, called him and enquired about the purpose which
had brought him. The man answered that he came with some complaints
about his wife but he found that the Caliph himself was subject to the
same treatment. Umar replied She has certain rights over me. She cooks
my food, washes my clothes, and suckles my children although she is not
in the slightest degree responsible for any of these duties. I enjoy peace of
mind on her account and am protected from committing the sin of adultery.
In view of these advantages, I put up with her excesses.

What a beautiful example indeedEl Nimrs article is indunated with many such stories and Quranic
verses which contribute towards a greater understanding of the subject and stamp proof all that
she says. To sum it up, El Nimrs article has all that it takes to make an impact.

Next up is Lama Abu-Odehs article Crimes of Honor and the construction of gender in Arab
Societies. Crimes of honor refer to the regulations of a legal practice known as honor killings. In
some Muslim cultural contexts, an honor killing takes place when a woman is killed by a male
member of her family for engaging in, or being suspected of engaging in, a prohibited sexual
practice before or outside marriage. The spilling of blood of the victim is seen necessary to erase
the shame that she has inflicted upon her family by her sexual misproduct.

Most schools of Islamic jurisprudence treat as legitimate, the killing by private individuals of a
married person caught committing adultery red handed. They argue that since death is the hadd
punishment assigned under Islamic law for adultery committed by a married person, an adulterer
has made his blood halal. The legal punishment for fornication is a hundred lashes but killing of a
minor caught involved in fornication has also been allowed by most Muslim countries today.

In her comparative examination of Arab legal provisions on this subject, Lama Abu-Odeh has
observed that the Egyptian provision adheres more closely to the idea of passion rather than that
of honor; it limits the beneficiaries to that of the husband and only in cases of adultery, granting
him merely a reduction. On the other hand, the commentary cited and critiqued by Abu-Odeh in
explanation of the provision indicates the honor rationale:
The legislature has taken into account the psychological state of mind
that hits the husband whose honor has been violated, the most precious
thing that he possesses. At the moment that he catches his wife committing
adultery he will no doubt lose his reason and kill his wife and her partner.

Abu-Odeh cites legal articles pertaining to these laws in different Muslim countries in order to
show to her reader how hollow and biased these laws are. In a way the law bearers have
legitimized the taking away of a womans life merely on suspicion. Part 3 of her article regarding a
sexual typology of Arab Women under Nationalist Patriarchy is a must readIt tells of the famous
tradition of belly dancing in Arabia and narrates how these women were first looked upon as
prospective wives and daughter-in-laws and today are marginalized as not having any sexual
integrity or self respect.

Abu-Odehs article, is by far the most informative article in the book which uses formal, legal
terminology and quotes articles of laws of different Muslim countries. The writing of this paper
was surely determined by the feminist impulse that crimes of honor should be abolished in the
Arab world through a withdrawal of all forms of legal sanctions available for them. The writer has
undoubtedly been successful in bringing across her aim to her reader explicitly.

Haleh Afshar is a prominent feminist particularly active in Iranian politics. As her contribution to
the book under discussion, she wrote the article Islam and FeminismAn analysis of political
strategies. In her article, she has taken the Iranian debate regarding the plight of women in a
male dominated society to a new level. She says that over the years, Iranian women have
adopted the strategy of re-reading the Quran, Hadith and Islamic history to highlight their
egalitarian and emancipatory underpinnings, and to challenge the longstanding and conventional
patriarchal interpretations that have found their way into Islamic laws, codes, and practices. She
says that women today are no longer barred inside their houses rather are free, independent
beings capable of making their own decisions. She maintains that Islam has given a woman this
liberty. Very aptly, Afshar quotes the example of Khadijah(RAH) who helped the Prophet(PBUH)
in his early years and she did so by supporting him financially and consoling him in times of
despair.

One of the most distinguished paragraphs of the article was the one where Afshar talks about the
veil as being a contested domain in Islam. She says that Muslim women have chosen the veil as
a symbol of Islamization and have accepted it as a public face of their revivalist position.

For them the veil is a liberating and not an oppressive

force. They maintain that the veil enables them to become
the observers and not the observed; that it liberates them
from the dictates of the fashion industry and the demands of
beauty myth.

Usually the veil is presented in Islamic texts as a burden on a woman, but Afshar, very beautifully
suggests it to be a means of bypassing sexual harassment and gaining self-respect. She says
that in Iran it is seen as a means of liberation from the plight of being the unveiled, exploited
slaves of imperialism and facilitating their full participation in the public domain.

Afshar applauds the Iranian women for not being daunted by the onslaught of patriarchy, as
women world wide had been for the past hundred years or more. In her words

Although some bowed to the pressures of the Islamic Republic, many

remained firm, both as womenand as believers of the faith. It was
only the devout Muslim women who could counter the demands made
of them by the Islamic Republic For Iranian women revivalism has
almost literally been God-sent. They have fought against their economic
legal and political marginalization and although victory is yet to come,
they have won considerable ground and are continuing to do so.

Afshar mentions that the rule of Islam in Iran has not been easy on women. They lost much of the
ground that they had won in the previous century and the way to recapturing some of those rights
has been very slow and barred by prejudice and patriarchal power. Undaunted, Iranian women
have struggled on. For the moment they have had to concede the veil and its imposition in the
name of Islam, though they have done so reluctantly and have continued the discussions of its
validity, relevance and the extent to which it has been imposed. But the bargain that they have
struck has enabled them to negotiate better terms. They have managed to reverse the
discriminatory policies on education; they are attacking the inequalities in the labor market and
demanding better care and welfare positions. Although the road to liberty is one that is strewn
with difficulties, Iranian women, as ever, have come out fighting and have proved difficult to
dominate. Undoubtedly, Afshars article is a very engaging one, which would grant every female
reader a ray of hope, to live, laugh and succeed.

HYPERLINK http://books.google.com.pk/books?
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Eva Brems, Human RightsUniversality and Diversity. Martin Nijhoff Publishers.

Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic CulturesFamily, Laws and Politics. Vol 2. Brill Academic
Publishers.
Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic CulturesFamily, Laws and Politics. Vol 2. Brill Academic
Publishers.
Eva Brems, Human RightsUniversality and Diversity. Martin Nijhoff Publishers.
Yamani, Mai. Feminism and Islam. Introduction.
Afshar,Haleh. Feminism and Islam. Chap 8
Yamani, Mai. Feminism and Islam. Introduction.

Mai Yamani. Feminism and Islam.p53

Matalib Al Furqaan by Parvez. Vol 3.p.364
The Rights of Women in Islam by Asghar Ali p.50
Islam and Feminism. p. 66

Feminism and Islam p70

Feminism and Islam p 72

Women and IslamWomens movements in Muslim societies by Haideh Moghissi

Women and IslamWomens movements in Muslim societies by Haideh Moghissi

Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. Volume 2 . brill academic publishers.

Honor byLynn Welchman, Sara Hossain

Women, religion and culture in Iran By Sarah F. D. Ansari

Feminism and Islam p.199
Feminism and Islam p.201
Feminism and Islam p203