THE FEMINIST ENCOUNTER WITH MUSLIM LEGAL TRADITION

Abstract

The religious legitimation of patriarchy has been the subject of heated debates among Muslims since the 19th century, debates tainted with the legacy of colonialism and orientalism. For long, Islam and feminism have been perceived and portrayed as incompatible, and there is a plethora of literature and a host of arguments seeking to demonstrate this, both in the media and in academia. In the late 20th century, however, new forms of gender consciousness, activism, and scholarship have emerged that challenge patriarchy from within Muslim tradition have emerged, and have acquired the label ‘Islamic feminism’. Here I sketch the origins and development of this phenomenon, of which there are inevitably diverging accounts; and I shall argue that the struggle for gender equality in Muslim contexts is part of the larger struggle for social justice and democracy, intimately linked to a growing democratisation in the production of religious knowledge. I explore the potential of feminist voices and scholarship in Islam to bring about this rethinking, with reference to a project recently undertaken by Musawah (www.musawah.org), a global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family.