Islamic Feminism: A Contradiction

Islamic Feminism. A controversial ideology, an even more controversial term. To be Muslim and to be feminist is to be dry in the water or to be Iranian and to like Ben Affleck’s film “Argo”. The realm of possibility seems limited and beyond our capacity to imagine. The general perspective in the West and quite frankly any non-Muslim society is that Islam and feminism cannot coexist as they are inherently at odds. We are strung into this idea with mainstream rhetoric, that to be a woman in Islam is to be oppressed, to be silenced and at the whim of men. Feminism as a movement was shaped by the imperialist ideology. It started as a white woman’s movement and despite later sectioning off into more inclusive factions, it retains the original westernised view of womanhood. Secular feminists often propagate the oppressed Muslim women trope, the veil used as a symbol of the social and political inequalities that exist, a debasement of the real intricacies and nuance that exists within the religion. The basis for this thinking cannot only be attributed to the colonial nature of power which propagates ignorant and one-dimensional thinking across societies. There is reason to believe that Islam is a manifestation of patriarchal thinking in the Middle East. We need only to look at interpretations of Quranic verses wherein violence against women is condoned and even encouraged. There are interpretations of the Quran which are prevalent that encourage the oppression of women and provides evidence to sustain the oppressed Muslim women trope. But we must understand that that is all they are: Interpretations.

For centuries, it has been men that have read and interpreted the Quran and the will of God, and as we know too well, humankind is flawed and the social fabric in which we live inevitably affects our understanding of the world around us, particularly when we are talking about the will of the divinity. Patriarchy is no different. Some patriarchal interpretations have led to the imposition of the veil, a ban on women’s right to drive, laws of inheritance, and a condonation of violence. What Islamic feminism presents is a revisiting of Islamic texts to claim that the verses that are oppressive and sexist and applied today have been interpreted wrongly. A woman’s interpretation differs from that of a man’s and through legal reasoning and the process of ijtihad, legal interpretation. Islamic feminism challenges patriarchal interpretations and offers new ones from the same sources, retaining the legitimacy of using holy sources. In addition to incorporating women’s interpretations, Islamic feminism contextualises the time in which Prophet Muhammad’s words were said; challenging the subjective interpretations of men who were exposed to a very specific patriarchal social fabric to recount his sayings and hence added their own understanding of the words to their meaning. In fact, if we begin to contextualise Prophet Muhammad’s words, we begin to see that women’s empowerment had always been a core part of his doctrine, which begs the question: Why does Islamic feminism even exist?

In a time where women were enslaved and treated worse than animals, Muhammad’s attitudes towards women were revolutionary. It was him that recognised and acknowledged women and men are equal before God in all essential aspects, and embodied this value through his encouragement and empowerment of his wives who became leaders and teachers of Islam after his death. He explicitly taught and advocated for the equality of women and men as part of the divine will and improved the status and role of women in society greatly. Islamic feminism, one might argue, is not then an emerging or separate school of thought but it is Islam in and of itself, as women’s empowerment is a key part of the religion itself. The question that emerges then is whether or not the term ‘Islamic feminism’ is even necessary when women empowerment projects are an inherent part of the Islamic framework?

It is important that we question the existence of the term and ideology itself but rather than doing it through an Imperialist Western lens, where Islam is considered contradictory to feminism, we must do it through an anti-imperialist lens that allows us to see women’s empowerment as a key part of Islam. Islamic feminism is often spoken in relation to secular feminism, as an alternative decolonial road to feminist emancipation without compromising Islamic values. But the mere fact that the existence of the term and its emergence is spoken in relative terms to secular feminism, Islamic feminism has become a reaction to colonial imposition rather than being an independent school of thought emerging from Islam’s own cultural and political history. The term itself is misleading, a clear example of a reaction to colonial imposition and is no wonder is regarded as contradictory; Islam and feminism have been born in different cultural and historical contexts, and the combination of these two ideologies which come from inherently different roots and understandings of society is difficult to reconcile. By choosing the term ‘Islamic Feminism’ they have chosen to use the language of the colonialists. Islamic societies have seen a very different trajectory of history than that of Western societies, speaking in extremely broad terms, but their women empowerment projects have manifested in a different way than that of the West. One could argue that using the language of the colonisers is merely an effective strategy to compromise and negotiate for a better standard for women and their roles in not only Islamic countries, but non-Muslim countries where Muslim women are viewed as ‘in need of saving’ through neocolonial mechanisms. Kandiyoti, a gender relations academic, introduced the notion of ‘bargaining with patriarchy,’ exploring how women often negotiated and compromised within the framework of patriarchy, to advance their rights or improve their standard of living. Islamic feminism bargains and compromises in a neocolonial framework to empower Muslim women in all cultural contexts, a practical strategy to attract power and status in both.

Islamic feminism is in its essence a bridge between these two different societies, offering a foundation for those who don’t understand Islam to get on board with it, and to shift patriarchal thinking in Muslim societies concurrently. In an age of neocolonialism, it is inevitable that various cultural ideologies meet and clash and even complement each other, leading to new schools of thoughts and ideologies, that borrow and compromise cultural components from various societies. However, the question remains for those who have been subjected to colonial exploitation to determine whether or not through the process of rethinking and reanalysing our realities, we are subconsciously compromising our value systems in an attempt to appeal to the west. Perhaps this is the best strategy forward to empower women in Muslim societies, and change the way non-Muslim societies talk about Muslim women. Perhaps a complete rejection of colonial language and a refusal to engage with the oppressor is a better strategy altogether. That is for you to decide.