Home page > Articles > THE WOMEN OF ALLAH: A PERSONAL JOURNEY THROUGH ISLAMIC FEMINISMS / Anna (...)

Anna Vanzan, University of Milano,Italy

Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies: Alam-e-Niswan, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2012, pp.1-10, ISSN: 1024-1256

Abstract This paper, drawing upon discussions and dialogues with Muslim women, examines the concept and meanings of ‘feminism’ and ‘Islamic feminism’. These Muslim women, including some recent Western women converts, not only reinterpret the holy texts by applying new hermeneutics to them and claim their right to use the veil in a public space but they also fight for making changes in the family laws in their respective societies. The paper brings the voices of these women explaining what feminism or Islamic feminism means to them.

Keywords: Islamic feminism, feminist discourse, Muslim women, veil

There is not just one “Islamic feminism”; this is the conclusion I reached after observing the phenomenon for quite a long time and meeting several theologians and activists normally labelled as “Islamic feminists”.1 Rather, the locution implies a diversified reality of women who fight for their rights in an Islamic frame, either in the country of origin or in a migratory context. The phenomenon popularly called “Islamic feminism” embraces a variety of Muslim women who fight for their rights while simultaneously affirming a strong religious identity. Many of them have embarked on gender-progressive readings of the Qur’an and of other Islamic sacred scriptures, others are engaged in social activities, but they all struggle for gender equality and justice using the Muslim doctrine. However, these feminists do not constitute a real movement, if, by this term, we mean a public and collective action: rather, we can describe them as women who are searching for a flexible and personal way of carving a model of life that might conciliate faith, rights, faithfulness to autochthonous culture and modernity.

The Western world, as usual, has been quick in laying hands on this novelty coming from “other” cultures, but, as it often happens, it did not grasp the real meaning of the phenomenon. So much so that now, in the West, many Muslim women who wear the veil and/or simply declare they are persuaded that “Islam guarantees women’s rights” are labelled as “Islamic feminists”. In the popular discourse, activists such as the Egyptian Nawal al-Saadawi or the Moroccan murshidates (female preachers appointed by Moroccan authorities) are labelled as “Islamic feminists”, whereas the former is a Marxist feminist and the latter oppose the idea of a female ijtihad.

Perhaps the most important feature of “Islamic feminisms” is that followers are reinterpreting the sources of Muslim religion that also constitute the roots of the jurisprudence; therefore they claim their rights while remaining within the frame of Islam. According to “Islamic feminists”’ vision, women’s rights have already been guaranteed by the egalitarian ethics spread by Islam since its very beginning; but, in practice, the original Islamic message has been hindered by the jurisprudence produced by patriarchs in the course of the centuries. Now it is necessary to re-establish Qur’anic justice, in the light of contemporary life and its exigencies.

I totally believe in the efficaciousness of the “Islamic feminisms” project; however, at the same time, I am deeply convinced that this “democratization of ijtihad” (as it has been defined by some scholars2) though revolutionary and effective, is not enough to subvert the status quo.

In fact, it is mandatory that both female theologians and activists who are inspired by the principles of “Islamic feminisms” become enabled to reach and influence political and religious authorities, thus coming out from the periphery of theoretical discussion in order to be heard and accepted by the ones who control power. The principles shared by Muslim female thinkers have to be converted into political and legal rights; this is the only way to improve women’s conditions.

The Iranian case

Such a target can be reached only by coagulating the energy from various feminist/female movements, from the secular ones to those who are deeply imbued by religious principles. In this respect, Iran can be taken as a real laboratory of feminist strategies. In fact, Iranian feminism, which was born as early as the beginning of the 19th century as a secular movement (according to the models also spreading in the West) underwent several transformations, including a phase of “feminism of State” under the Pahlavis, to be reborn in these last turbulent decades. Now the movement is channeled into two major groups, i.e., “Islamic/Muslim feminists” and “secular feminists”. Naturally, in these two wide and loosely delimited bodies are situated women who are deeply different from each other, who might have contrasting ideologies and who put in practice heterogeneous actions. However, some of these women periodically convene in order to reinforce a common agenda for the benefit of all Iranian women. Suffice to mention here the coalition which was born in spring 2009 when women from the major associations gathered in order to sign a program to be presented to the candidates running for the Presidency of the Islamic Republic. In this program, in particular, stood out the request to sign the CEDAW treaty and to revise some Constitutional articles that endorse women’s juridical inferiority. This common program was elaborated by both “Islamic” women (i.e., Zahra Rahnavard3, Farideh Mashini4, Minou Mortazi5, Nahid Tavasouli6, to name just a few), and secular women usually related to the Madrase ye feministi,7 i.e., The Feminist School which is animated also by radical feminists such as Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani.8

Though this long post-election phase cannot be considered positive to women’s rights, nevertheless this ladies’ platform is still operating and it has been even enriched by new contributions, such as that of Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani.9 She is an “Islamic” woman who has been fighting because she wants Muslim girls around the world to be able to take part in sport competitions while wearing the hejab, but who, at the same time, is very critical of polygamy and other misogynistic institutions. Islamic feminisms”, therefore, are taking root in the country, because even women for whom the religious dimension is indispensable can now find a tool which allows them to fight for their rights without betraying their identity as true believers.

This assertion does not mean to suggest that there is complete harmony between “Islamic” and secular women (by the same token, we may add that there is no agreement in general among international feminist movements both inside each single country and at the global level); but it would be a great mistake to fall into the trap of the total rejection of “Islamic feminisms” by marking them as an “oxymoron” or as a “by product of feminism” as someone has affirmed.10 Naturally, we can argue that there might be women activists who, in a more democratic context, would adopt a more secular type of feminism, but who are bound to a more religious choice in order to adjust their struggle to the socio-political situation in which they live and act. However, this option confirms the force of “Islamic feminisms” also as a strategy, i.e., as an ideal form to combine women’s rights, local culture and adverse political situation.

Good news, bad news

This process, as any other process in human history, takes time. In 1975, Fatima Mernissi, a forerunner in preaching the need to reread Islamic sacred texts and to unmask false and misogynistic ahadith,11 wrote that Arab woman’s liberation would have taken less time and would have been more radical than that achieved by Western women.12 More than 35 years have elapsed since then: we may say that deep and crucial changes have happened in gender relationship in the Arab world, but it also true that change for better is not linear, due to many factors, from wars (civil and external) to political and economic hardships. In addition, improvements in a country often correspond to a return to the past in other geopolitical contexts.13

Therefore, it is important not to create useless and damaging divisions inside women’s movements, that are too often prey to internal fights, but rather to reinforce the idea that women, be they secular or religious, are struggling for the same common goal, i.e., to improve their conditions of life. At any rate, the progresses obtained so far, thanks to the rereading and the reinterpretation of sacred texts according to a gender perspective, are undeniable, if for no other reason than that women have proved that it is possible to challenge ’ulama’s authority. “Islamic feminists” have inscribed the woman question in the agenda of both the male “repositories” of religious wisdom and of the policy makers who rule their countries.

The global dimensions

Another important aspect of the so called “Islamic feminisms” is their globalized and dislocated dimension: in fact, the movements are not restricted to a determined geographical situation or to a single ethnic-linguistic context. The new activists respond to the conservators who claim the necessity of being native (or quasi native) speaker of Arabic in order to interpret the Qur’an with the linguistic and exegetic competence of American converters (i.e., Amina Wadud), of Iranian theologists (Azam Taleghani among the others), of Turkish activists, of Indonesian bloggers, etc. As Pakistani thinker Asma Barlas wrote: “...interpreting does not necessarily requires a mastery of Arabic since interpretation is not an exercise in philology”.14

One of the consequences of this shifting perspective is that the main articulators of Islamic feminist discourse are non-Arab Muslims: they are located at the so-called "periphery" of the Muslim world in countries like Iran, Turkey, Indonesia, and also among Muslims in the West. As a consequence, much of their publishing work is coming out not in Arabic, but in languages such as English, Persian, Turkish, and Bahasa Indonesian. While working for my book15 I have met some of these women who reinterpret the holy texts by applying a new hermeneutics to them; and/or claim their right to use the veil in a public space; and/or fight to improve the family law in their countries. I have interviewed Iranian, Turkish, Bosnian, Malaysian, Egyptian and also Western women converted to Islam, each of them engaged in a different articulation and practice of “Islamic feminism”. Many interviewees do not recognize themselves as feminists, others openly admit to using the religious frame as a strategy, and still others try to merge secular and religious feminisms. Here I give a brief account from three of these interviewees, as they well represent the rich cultural spectrum offered by the women who animate the complex mosaic of “Islamic feminisms”.

From the Balkans

In the West, the Balkans are often neglected in the common discourse about Islamic societies, as if those regions were not home to eight million Muslims, roughly one-third of all Muslims in Europe. However, when Western media cover Bosnia, they like to scream about “the spread of radical Islam” in the area by representing “victimized” Bosnian women with the hair covered by scarves. The realty is, of course, quite different: Islam came to the Balkans with the Ottomans (about 15th century), and remained silent only during the forty years of real socialism, to flourish again after the recent wars in the 1990s. There are several versions of Islam which are competing in the Balkans, such as the Wahhabi and the Sufi; women are crucial for the final success of one of these interpretations.

I talked about these issues with Dzevada Susko, who well represents Bosnian women’s new deal: she is a fervent Muslim who teaches International Relations at Sarajevo University and she is an activist of the NGO “Nahla”.16 Nahla organizes courses for women who want to reinforce their knowledge about Islam from the basic level up to a specialization in Islamic law and in tafsir. I asked Dzevada to locate herself in the debate about women’s rights and feminism in Islam, and here is her answer:

Basically there is no need for feminism in Islam, as women are not inferior according to our religion. On the other hand, massive misinterpretations of the Qur’an and of Sunnah, lack of dealing with the original sources of Islam, traditional influences and lack of education of men and women have led to an inferior position of women in Muslim societies. I am not a feminist if you consider “feminist” a person who aims to change the religion: I am a feminist if you think of a person who tries to understand the religion’s original message in the current context.

Bosnian women are perfectly aware of the potentiality of “Islamic Feminisms”, so much so that some of them qualified themselves as “Islamic feminists” as early as 1993.17 Moreover, it is interesting to underline how Bosnian women are trying to develop an autochthonous Muslim feminism, a model that might combine their religious identity with the principles of the Bosnia-Herzegovina constitution, a secular law which ratifies the separation between state and the religious communities who live within it. For instance, Bosnian Family Law forbids polygamy, prescribes the same inheritance share between male and female heirs, grants children’s custody to both parents when they divorce, etc. However, an individual may attempt to bypass the law by contracting a second “secret” marriage; therefore local “Islamic feminists” rise up by both supporting the new perspective and the re-reading of Muslim holy texts, and by reminding the community of the tenets of the local model of Islam, which has always been open and fair towards women. Bosnian women are particularly proud of their national religious blend, so much so that NGOs such as Nahla invite people to join them and see how their real life is. In addition, one of their aims is to show how their potentiality and agency are being reinforced, thanks to the “rediscovery” of Islam.

Agency and türban in Turkey

Bosnian Muslim women are also inspired and helped by several Turkish female associations. In Turkey, in fact, traditional secular feminism is accompanied by a rising movement of religious-Muslim inspiration. In the last few decades, “Islamic Feminisms” have become influential as Muslim/Islamic women are particularly active in many aspects of Turkish society.

In Turkey there are several associations of “Islamic feminists”, very diverse and sometimes conflicting with each other. However, not only do these groups often meet and interact, they also cooperate with secular feminists’ associations from which they receive training in order to acquire the necessary skills to play an effective role both at a domestic and at an international level.18 One of the crucial issues on which they work together is the problem of the so called “honor killing”, a scourge which afflicts Turkish women, including those who migrate abroad. “Islamic feminists”’ support is crucial in this battle: for example, the NGO AKDER (Organization for Women’s Rights against Discrimination), whose members are mainly lawyers and judges, is particularly active in lobbying for better legislation regarding women’s protection; in urging municipalities to build shelter houses for abused women; and in counteracting the possible “religious justifications” that underline these crimes, by declaring that Islam never preached the right to mistreat women.

To my question about the nexus between Islam and feminism, AKDER’s secretary Neslihan Akbukut replied: We members consider AKDER as an association that works for human rights, especially for women’s rights. We do not consider ourselves as a feminist association...we monitor women’s status in our country whose constitution declares equal rights between men and women, but whose national statistics show a deep gap between genders in matter of opportunities and rights. However, we believe that men and women are not genderized by social constructions, as the feminists would assert. We Muslims believe there are differences between men and women. Feminism has its own values that cannot be renounced, but also we Muslim women have laws and traditions that cannot be renounced. If we are forced to make a choice, we choose to be Muslim. But I hate to say that I am not a feminist!

Maybe some Turkish Muslim women might suffer from the apparent contradiction between religion and feminism and do not feel like proclaiming themselves to be feminists. However, in any case, their life, actions and engagement for women’s rights prove that they are true feminists, with no need for the specific label.

The converts

The same conflict, between being framed by a definition (i.e., that of Islamic feminist) and clinging to the true essence of their deeds, is also shared by some Italian women who converted to Islam. More often than not, converts to whatever religion or belief have to prove that they are overzealous, sometimes to the detriment of reason, in order to be accepted by the new community: or, at least, this is how they believe they have to behave.

In the light of this quite common situation, the position of Patrizia Khadija del Monte, a former Catholic lady trained in theology who later became Muslim, is particularly interesting. Patrizia Khadija, who does not need to prove her faith, as she is well known and esteemed in the Italian Muslim community (so much so that she recently became vice President of the largest Muslim association in Italy), fully approves the “Islamic feminism” project: I am very close to the Islamic feminism’s discourse ... because it works on the interpretation of the holy texts and therefore it goes to the very heart of the matter. In fact, the arbitrary exercise of power against women (and we cannot deny the existence of despotic abuse of authority against women) is due to the misinterpretation of some Qur’anic verses inside certain Muslim communities.

Patrizia Khadija also points out the importance of changing the approach according to the context; by explaining why she does not belong to any female associations, she says:

Perhaps, if I had to live in one of those Arab countries whose laws need to be changed, I would devote myself exclusively to the feminist discourse... Here [i.e., in Italy] I prefer to devote my engagement to general problems... because we need to talk to everyone, especially to men. What I like about Islamic Feminism is also its capacity of placing itself in a non conflictual position towards men.

Conclusion

At this time, there cannot be a conclusion, as the phenomenon of “Islamic feminisms” is still underway. However, as a final comment, I want to restate that the so called “Islamic feminism” in reality is a variegated discourse that mainly proves how Muslim women, who are aware of their multiple identities, cling to the religious one while striving along the path of justice and equality. As such, “Islamic Feminisms” constitute a crucial process that everybody should encourage, regardless of her/his own religious belief and political agenda.

Endnotes

1 I keep the locutions “Islamic feminism” and “Islamic feminist” in quote because the majority of the new Muslim thinkers do not want to be labelled as such. As a mater of fact, few of them want to be addressed as “feminists” at all.

2 Y. Haddad e B. Stowasser, Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity, Walnut Creek, AltaMira Press, 2004, p. 7.

3 Zahra Rahnavard was until recently the chancellor of Al-zahra University in Tehran and a political adviser to the former Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami. She was the first female chancellor since the Iranian revolution, but she was ousted because of her active participation in her husband Hossein Mousavi’s protest movement (the Green Movement).

4 Farideh Mashini was the chairwoman of the Women’s Committee in the reformist Participation Front Party. Now she is working for several female ONGs.

5 Minou Mortazi is an women’s rights activist who belongs to the religious reformist movement “nouandish-e din” (new religious thinking) whose aim is to propose more modern interpretations of Islamic jurisprudence.

6 Nahid Tavasouli is an expert in tafsir and holds readings on the Qur’an. She launched and directed the monthly feminist magazine Nafeh, now suspended.

7 The Madrase ye Feministi (http://www.feministschool.com/) was born as an electronic journal in which women could voice their demand for equality. It has been filtered several times, and now it is available on Facebook

(http://www.facebook.com/FeministSchool).

8 She is a writer, an editor and women’s rights activist. Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani is one of the founding members of the One Million Signatures campaign launched in 2006 in order to collect one million signatures in support of changing discriminatory laws against women.

9 Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of the former President of the Islamic Republic Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is woman’s rights activist, a politician (she served one term in Iran’s parliament), the head of several female NGOs. She was the founder and chief editor of Zan, Iran’s first ever daily women’s newspaper, closed down by the authorities.

10 One of the most critical observers in this respect is Haideh Moghissi. See her: Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism: the Limits of Postmodern Analysis, New York, Zed Books. 1999. Another harsh critic of Islamic Feminism is the late Hammed Shahidian, “Feminism-e islami va jonbesh-e zanan-e Iran” (Islamic Feminism and Women’s Movement in iran), in Irannameh, 16,4, 1998, pp. 611-639.

11 Plural of hadith- sayings of the Prophet.

12 In Beyond the Veil. Male-female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Societies, Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, 1987 (1st edition 1975), p. 177.

13 For instance, women in Iraq and Palestine have been suffering from a serious setback after the wars they went through and are still suffering in the never ending post-war period.

14 “Still Quarreling over the Quran. Five Interventions”, in ISIM Review, 20, 2007, pp. 32.

15 Le donne di Allah. Viaggio nei femminismi islamici (Women of Allah. A Journey through Islamic Feminisms), B. Mondadori, Milano, 2010.

16 Nahla (www.nahla.ba) is a Bosnian NGO founded in 2001, whose main aim is to provide women’s education and well being. Their course range from foreign languages (English, Arabic, Turkish) to aerobics, from Quranic readings to jewellery making. While Nahla is opening to everyone, it has a strong “Islamic” bend.

17 See Elissa Helms, “The Nation-ing of Gender? Donor Policies, Islam, and Women’s NGOs in Post War Bosnia-Herzegovina”, in Anthropology of East Europe Review, 21, 2, 2003, pp. 85-92, p. 89.

18 According to Nilufer Narli, a secular Turkish feminist who has taken part in some of these training projects: see in particular her “Turkish Women’s Movement and Turkish Migrant Networks in Europe”, paper presented at ASA conference, University of Maryland, 2009.

Anna Vanzan holds a degree in Oriental Languages and Cultures (University of Ca’Foscari, Venice) and a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from New York University. She is currently teaching Arabic-Islamic Culture at the University of Milano and is visiting lecturer at the European Master M.I.M. Ca’Foscari University (Venice) where she teaches Gender and Islamic Thought. She has many publications in Italian and English: her book, La storia velata: le donne dell’islam nell’immaginario italiano, (Edizioni del Lavoro, Roma, 2006) a history of the image of Muslim women in Italian culture from the Middle Ages has been awarded with the International Prize Feudo di Maida 2006. Her book Figlie di Shahrazad, scrittrici iraniane dal XIX secolo a oggi (Bruno Mondadori, Milano 2009) is the first story of Iranian women’s literature. Her last book, Le donne di Allah, viaggio nei femminismi islamici, (Bruno Mondadori, Milano, 2010) is dedicated to the emergence of Islamic Feminisms. She is editor of the Italian journal Afriche & Orienti.

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