Unveiled: Women and Gender in Islam

Women in Iran: Images of the Action

2007-12-04T00:30:00.000-06:00

"La Mujer en Iran"

From the first paragraph:

"We arrive at this point from these lines to explain, although succinctly, the situation of women in Iran. Unfortunately, this has been a topic often used in the West to complain about Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, centering the debates in trivial questions about the veil without taking into account the fact that it has been used to retain modesty throughout the history of Iran - for all women, it was freedom to veil or not to veil."

My Spanish isn't good enough to really go through thoroughly and read, but the images speak for themselves. As a collection, they break through some firmly held stereotypes and offer a great portrait of a population within Iran.

Homosexual Advocacy and Islam: Emphasizing "Sameness", Rather Than "Otherness"

2007-12-03T20:45:00.001-06:00

p. 113/114 - Brian Whitaker introduces a very interesting tidbit criticizing the international gay rights activists for "oversimplifying the problem" when focusing on Muslim countries. Their oversimplification, according to Whitaker, means attributing intolerance to religion and/or culture (which, presumably, are perceived as immutable and static).

Yes, yes! This is almost exactly mirroring the original feminists' position in the West and its "gaze" into the East during the early and mid-20th century. There are two huge parallels:
1) Gay rights activists are just becoming accepted in the West, and have broadened their scope to "liberating" those who are still oppressed, in their eyes. This mirrors the development of feminism and its subsequent focus on liberating the "veiled and oppressed Muslim woman" during the 20th century.
2) Gay rights activism has now become a "homegrown" phenomenon - much like the adoption of the feminist paradigm into the Middle East, there are now gay rights activists within the Middle East themselves. Although, like the early feminists, they have little room for public protest and/or visibility, they are becoming a more dominant force for social reform with regards to gay rights.

So, what does Whitaker suggest reform-minded activists focus on? Social reform, with little resort to using terminology such as "culture" or "religion" when looking for reasons for the lack of gay rights. "A different and perhaps more profitable way of addressing the problem is to pay less attention to the 'otherness' of Arab-Islamic culture and more attention to its sameness".

So here, Whitaker is taking a position a little bit different than my previous post: it is our sameness that drives our common interests and our the "lowest common denominator" (so to speak) will unite individuals across borders.

I have a couple issues with this (I discussed this a little bit earlier with regards to my criticisms of Satrapi's Embroideries). First, we must respect our differences - which often presents a contradictory reality: respecting differences across nations, but also within nations. The notion of respect of differences is very much a Western, American ideal in the first place. Do we chastise those who do not accept our values for not accepting the values of their "others"? Strange paradox there. Of course, I'm not calling for pure cultural relativism. Things like human rights must be respected, but I'm not sure the UN Declaration of Human Rights necessarily makes sense as a pretext for unfettered gay activism in the Middle East... If we are to prosecute all countries violating human rights, most of the US government themselves would be jailed in international courts...

Next, taking a teleological viewpoint - even of social reform (as Whitaker suggests is done), may ignite the usual conflict between the hard-liner religious scholars and the international gay rights activists. Imposing a model of "social development" is not always the best way to inspire reform - if reform is even necessary. Western focus on identifying oneself with one's sexuality is often confusing to Arab youth, who are constrained by a culture (or society) that does not support sexual identification (or takes heterosexual identification as a given for 'male-ness').

Whitaker's book excels in its research, but leaves many questions unasked. How has the process of identifying with one's sexuality changed within Middle Eastern cultures versus that of Western cultures? What are the minimal requirements for reform from gay rights organizations within the area, but also outside of the area? How have homosexual practices changed in the centuries in the region? (He touches on that a little bit), and why does homosexuality need to become a public identity, rather than a private one?

Many issues still need resolution here... There is not one answer that will fit the "Muslim world". Each country will develop at its own pace, although this does not rule out the idea that international pressure can ensure that human rights abuses are not taking place...

Embroideries: A Direct Connection to the West

2007-12-03T18:35:00.001-06:00

Marjane Satrapi's Embroideries is, like her other works, highly entertaining and an extremely fun read. Like Persepolis, her subtle wit, imagination, and fine storytelling make for a vivid picture of Iranian private life - this time focused on the hidden worlds of gossiping women. These women, as depicted by Satrapi, are much like their Western counterparts - chatting away about other families', friends', and lovers' sexual lives and encounters.

One reviewer (from Madison's Capital Times) praises Embroideries as "most effectively tearing down the divide between Iranian and American culture, showing how women everywhere are similar". This is certainly true! Embroideries was written for a Western audience without doubt. With the success of her Persepolis series of graphic novels, it is no surprise this is the audience she would aim for.

And while it is all fine and dandy to be light-hearted and present this entertaining side of Iranian life, it might also be a bit misleading. To me, the most entertaining, intellectually-stimulating, eye-opening books are not those that attempt to present all of us as essentially the same people in different places. Martyn, this is somewhat like your criticism of Babel, if I remember correctly - saying that it is somewhat misleading in presenting this image of humanity as simply the same, but speaking different languages.

The biggest danger I see in this style of representation is that it presumes that all Iranian women are "just like us", and therefore that perhaps Western values and styles of living would be proper or best for all Iranians. It would reinforce this view of the veil as oppressive, and women as oppressed bodies, simply waiting for a private space to enact their Western tendencies and talk about their sex lives...

That said, it is a good little novel about the elite (and it might be fair to say that most of the elite Iranian women may all be similar to these liberal elites). In presenting these similarities, it might be offering something to avoid the usual Western "gaze at the Other", that so many intellectuals warn about...

Nit-picking! But, it's just personal preference...

The Ideal Muslim Woman: Changing Values In Changing Societies

2007-11-26T22:11:00.000-06:00

I was particularly struck by the Mir-Hosseini's illustration of the changing status of Fatima Zahra, the Prophet's daughter and wife of his cousin, Ali. The official Iranian discourse, according to Mir-Hosseini, portrays Fatmina as embodying Islamic ideals of womanhood, dating since a mid-1970's lecturer addressed the crisis of identity faced by women in Iran. The speaker, Hoseiniyeh Ershad, urged all women to follow Fatima's example as ideal: embracing the values of defiance, struggle, and protest against tyranny and unjustice.

Since the Islamic Revolution, Fatima as a role model has fit neatly as a source of legitimacy for Islamic gender discourses. However, Fatima and her image have undergone a critical transformation: she no longer stands for defiance, struggle, and protest, but for chastity, piety, and submission. The image remains, but its value is transformed to reflect that of a changed society.

Of similar interest (and somehow related, although I'm not exactly sure how) is the change in discourse regarding women before and after the Revolution. "Whereas old narratives were silent on women's social roles, the new ones accept women's participation in society and politics, but they retain the traditionalist assumptions about gender" (Mir-Hosseini,49). A critical political shift created perspective changes, but not necessarily ideological ones. The recognition of women as active agents in social reality and changing religious imagery seem somehow related - and further, they seem to testify to this grand idea of the fusion between religious dogma and social ideologies. But do social realities have exclusive rights to change religious discourse, or is this a two-way street? What are the limits of an Islamic empire?

Somehow, I think we're back to this idea of holding Islam accountable (perhaps I have abandoned that terminology - accountable for what?)... I still ask - what are its common denominators? For example, I think it is Bouhdiba who mentions that Muslim life is, in some fundamental way, always looking backwards to the traditions: the Sunna, hadith, and an ancient written text. In its quest for perfection and alignment with the divine way...might that be the essential trait? But then, is it unique to Islam, or just more dominant of an ideology?

I digress...

Altorki and "Women in Saudi Arabia"

2007-11-26T21:02:00.000-06:00

Soraya Altorki's Women in Saudi Arabia depicts patterns of continuity and change within three generations of Jeddah elite - focusing particularly on women. Of primary importance is Altorki's assertion that social change articulates with ideological changes and creates new strategies and opportunities for women in Saudi Arabian society. According to Altorki, it is elite Saudi families that are leading the changes and spreading these new social practices and beliefs to the rest of Saudi society.

The strength of the work is in her depiction of how the population's views and ideologies have created social change through the generations. Any ethnography about Saudi Arabia without a keen awareness of the rapidly changing social dynamics would be severely crippled, and as a Saudi citizen, Altorki is highly sensitive to this reality. Her ethnographic approach, by nature of her Saudi citizenship, forces her to avoid viewing her population as a "static" Other. She's writing as a Saudi herself - thus, she cannot be criticized, as many have, as attempting to understanding the culture from the outside.

Although extremely outdated (published in '86), she tackles some critical issues within the Kingdom. For instance, how are women renegotiating the practice of veiling? Younger generations fear divine retribution less than they fear the social stigma that attaches to shameless behavior. Limits to exposure are culturally negotiable, and these negotiations take place in a framework of fused social norms and religious dogma. Community norms (especially for unmarried girls) operate as double edged sword: protective, but also punishing if social codes are violated.

Thus, women in elite families have been reinterpreting their ideology by choosing to give nuance to particular significations (and not others) within the range of meanings the dominant Saudi ideology encompasses. They are actively interpreting and otherwise modifying patterns of meaning featured in the established ideology (presumed as religious). This is the strategy of reform between the generations, and serves to widen the gap between official Wahhabi dogma and "on-the-ground" understandings of social norms and religious practices.

Altorki's ethnography also serves to break some stereotypical images of the submissive and powerless Saudi female. In detailing women's domination over the world of arranged marriages, Altorki illustrates how it is actually women that have control over society's reproduction - not men. It is, in fact, their segregation from men that allow them this type of control. But unanswered is how new social practices (such as consensual, independently-controlled marriages based on "love" between one man and one woman) might reinforce, undermine, or reshape women's roles in Saudi society.

The work, well-researched and well-written, offers a great insight into an otherwise elusive culture. The life and role of Saudi women has often been treated simply as exotic and/or ignored. Today, however, more and more Saudis are emerging as academics - in a global sense - and providing us with highly informative vignettes. Altorki, especially as a Saudi woman, has done her readers a great service.

Sex Change in Iran?: Two Competing Dialogues

2007-11-19T21:41:00.000-06:00

Mir-Hosseini's investigations into the contemporary discourses on gender and sexual relations in Iran present a world dominated by textual interpretation, judicial rulings, and traditional duties. It is a world, like Bouhdiba's, where the sexes are firmly segregated by a divine law.

For me, one of the most interesting discussions in Mir-Hosseini's work regards Grand Ayatollah Madani's exegesis and rulings on "Problems" - questions submitted to him for clarification and published in a consistently updated book he releases to the general public. One of the questions deals with hermaphrodites and the possibility of sex change. This is a profound, yet naturally occurring challenge to the dichotomy and strict segregation of sexes - a person born in-between these two very opposite humanities.

So, what does Madani say about sex change for a hermaphrodite (or a conflicted man or woman who desires it)?

"Sex change by means of surgery in a person who is essentially man or woman is not permitted; and according to the shari'a it is not correct to remove a man's testicles and penis by surgery and make him a vagina, even if he feels emotionally a woman [and vice versa]..." (Mir-Housseni, 36).

However, in the case of a hermaphrodite, because there is the possibility of either maleness or femaleness, a medical specialist may make the decisions as to which is most appropriate, and then surgery is permissible.
But, the unnaturalness of the creation of sexes, to Madani, is never overlooked. Humans cannot make a "really barren" woman give birth, nor can they make a man give birth with an operation. This, to Madani, proves that real change has not taken place. Sex remains in the realm of the infinite knowledge and power of God.

But what about this?

"Changing one's sexual identity is not forbidden by religion." Yet, by Madani's examination, it certainly is. Any mutilation of vital organs (including penis or vagina) is against hadith.

If there is a huge strength of Mir-Hosseini's work it in her illustration of the competing discourses between religious scholars and their underlying natures. Are there political dimensions to these understandings of an "immutable Islam"? Of course. Why might Khomeini allow this to happen, but Madani condemn it with reference to scripture and hadith? Why might Madani's analysis be dismissed or thrown out (as it seems to have been - his work was written in 1997, the broadcast aired in 2005) and Khomeini's accepted? These are the political, economic dimensions of Islamic culture which fascinate.

Sexuality in Islam pt.1: Bouhdiba's Perspective on Homosexuality

2007-11-18T16:48:00.000-06:00

This work introduces a new facet of our study this term of gender study within the Islamic consciousness and societies: that of sexuality. Bouhdiba's work is certainly coming from an "insider" Muslim position, but his analysis of sexuality's place within Islam is certainly unique and quite nuanced.

His first move is to illustrate what he believes to be a fundamental element not only in sexuality within the Islamic world, but in all things. "Everything is double and that is the sign of the divine miracle," he notes in his first sentence. "Bivalence is the will of God...and sexuality, which is the relating of male and female, is merely and particular case of an absolutely universal devine wish" (p.7). Sexuality, to Bouhdiba, is a continuous, ever-renewing search for an ultimate unity.

Furthermore, sexuality, as a means to procreation, is THE "sacred mission". It is a unification of life's devotion to divinity: "In assuming [the mission], man takes part in a divine work whose majesty is enough to give a new meaning to his existence" (p.13).

These two fundamental elements to understanding sexuality foreshadow Bouhdiba's extremely critical and negative view of homosexuality within Islam. As duality and separation of the sexes is paramount in Islam, any violation of this is deemed heretical. In particular, male homosexuality (liwat) incurs the strongest condemnation - it is identified with zina and punished dearly. Bouhdiba goes as far as to say that it is the "great sexual taboo of Islam", as it violates the "order of the world". Satisfaction thus must only come from legitimate pleasures within the framework of nikah, the legal, socialized form of the sexual relation.

By subverting procreation (the divine mission) and violating the divine order and quest for unity, male homosexuality becomes one of the biggest no-no's within Islam's sexual code of conduct.

Of course, what this neglects is the differences between ideal and real cultural practices. Within any culture, there are strong differences between idealized moral codes and actual practices that strive for those ideals. How has the label of homosexuality been used historically in Muslim societies in the Middle East? What constitutes and homosexual act, according to Bouhdiba? And the label of a homosexual - how is it applied? When did sexuality become a part of individuals' identities? I'm curious to see other authors' perspectives on homosexuality within Islam and Islamic societies.

Saudi Domestic Space: A Virtual Tour

2007-11-11T14:39:00.000-06:00

Here we have a great tour of the domestic, private space in a middle class Saudi home:

Very interesting how they built a door between the homes to avoid public eye.

The home is, in some ways, similar to my own home in Saudi - however, there are glaring differences. The separate dining practices are unknown in my home, although we rarely have large gatherings. The separate entrance for women is also absent from my own home.

But otherwise, it retains a certain familiar flavor to it - the high walls, the "bottleneck" design (whereby spaces initially get tighter, and then open up as one gets into the heart of the private and domestic space), and the maid/servant quarters next to the garage.

Hosseini's Three Discourses: Addressing The Need For Clarity

2007-11-09T15:20:00.000-06:00

In beginning her book "Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran", Ziba Mir-Hosseini wastes no time in calling out a need for clarity when addressing the subject of gender in Islamic societies. Her first priority is to address three different levels of analysis:

1. Varied interpretations and reinterpretations of the sacred texts, invoked as sources of legitimacy and authority for particular ideologies on women's rights, gender roles, and relations.

2. Local and national political ideologies, with all their local peculiarities, which inevitably produce their own discourses on women and gender roles.

3. Lived experiences of individuals and local communities - actual opportunities, power, control of resources, and expressed or embodied facets of the concepts of gender roles in these smaller populations. This level, to Hosseini, is qualitatively different from the previous two, which are fundamentally political and nature.

Her contention is that debates and narratives about gender and its relation to Islam tend to either confine themselves (artificially) to one level, or worse yet, shift between the levels without acknowledgment of doing so. This is a huge problem in Mernissi's Women's Rebellion and Islamic Memory; using the generic "Muslim woman" as a conceptual device for her arguments with little elaboration on what woman she is talking about.

These analytical levels and Housseini's call for clarity make a ton of sense and, in my opinion, are extremely important in a call for creating more cohesive, scholarly works on this topic:

"No meaningful discussion of gender in Islam is possible unless we are prepared first, to be clear about the level and which we are arguing and to be honest when we shift between the levels, and second, to bring our own perspectives and agendas to the surface. Otherwise, we risk being locked in old polemics or in essentialisms, and end up with nothing but cliches, platitudes, and sweeping generalizations" (p.4).

These pitfalls have plagued the literature on gender and Islam for many reasons, says Housseini. What ends up happening is that the two types of arguments (the insider, defensive, religiously-backed "shari'a" arguments and the feminist, secular positions) talk past each other, never indicating which levels they are addressing. Not only have the topics been elusive, but the authors themselves have changed their theoretical stances and have used totally different levels of analysis in their works without explicit formation of why and how they have reconceptualized their own positions on Islam and gender.

Thus, in 7 pages of her introduction to her fieldwork, Housseini has broached a hugely broad topic and provided an excellent critique of the relevant trends within the literature. As usual, it takes an anthropologist to come into the scene with a critical eye to deconstruct some important features of the issue. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to combing her work for relevant details to this course.

The Globalized Arab Woman: Intro to al-Amir's The Waiting List

2007-11-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

As I read through The Waiting List by Daisy Al-Amir, I'm constantly struck by how rootless and displaced the narratives leave me feeling. These vignettes are intended as such - they are coming from a woman who was from Baghdad, but displaced to Britain and then for 25 years to Lebanon, with frequent stints in embassies in Iraqi.

Our writer is "homeless" (although well-educated and upper class), and most importantly, independent - during these years she lived alone and without close associates. In her own words, "economic and emotional independence gave me strength which enabled me to face all difficulties...Solitude became my companion."

Her terse prose and ever-present tension permeate every one of her extremely short stories - and yet within them are resignations to the present and the future, in spite of uncertainties. Important questions plague the characters of these stories and offer an intimate look at the inner workings of Arab individuals, mainly women, and particularly in the context of an urban environment. Constantly on the move, yet always searching for an inexpressible "past", these characters carefully express al-Amir's lingering nostalgia and her uncertainties about her future.

I have not read enough to give particular examples of male-female interactions (there is supposedly an important interaction between husband and wife in one story), but these seem to act as extremely effective vehicles for al-Amir's message, which is firmly embedded in the context of an Arab world in turmoil - unsure of its own present and future.

I'm curious to know whether or not she is still producing short stories and whether or not she is still in Beirut - and how she feels about losing Iraq to this awful war...

Personal Note:

These short stories are excellent to read while listening to Radiohead. Particularly - imaging them as short films makes me want to start shooting right now.

Public and Private Islams: A Gendered Division

2007-11-05T16:39:00.000-06:00

In her autobiographical work "A Border Passage", Leila Ahmed introduces the conception of varieties of Islam as it is embodied in its adherent populations. Particularly, she focuses on the division between what she calls "women's Islam" and "men's Islam". This distinction, of course, harps on the oft depicted "public v. private" analytical consideration, but she also delves deep into the idea of a "textual, official, formal" Islam of the men's world and the "informal, private, oral" Islam of the women's domain.

While men attend mosques and listen to the orthodox interpretations of the Qur'an, women come to understand Islam in a profoundly different manner: through the process of trying to understand their own lives and actions, talking with the men, and returning to talk concepts over with their respective communities of women. This is Islam as the fundamental common denominator between populations - not as a formal, written official religion, but as a fundamental element of moral conduct and as defining a broad ethos and ethical code.

This conceptualization and distinction between elements of religious observance bring forth some interesting questions: Although women have not issued judicial rulings or interpreted official texts, might their oral heritage constitute a tremendous role in the creation of the ethos and ideologies of particular communities - including the communities of men? How are these interpretations of Islam shared and passed down between generations of women? (Ahmed has a good section detailing this on p.122 - her mother and grandmother shared with her the most essential understandings of the religion).

As Arab and Muslim female literature becomes more and more global and recognized, and most importantly, begins to emerge from the lower class females, the primarily "oral, private, informal" domain of the female is fundamentally disrupted. Indeed, how does Ahmed's text undermine each of these conceptions? What role will women play as they change their roles?

Interestingly, Zeinab al-Ghazali's perspective of the reawakening of the Muslim woman was for all Muslim females to cross over into the domain of orthodoxy, textual, and official Islamic discourse. According to Ghazali, Islam already provided women with "everything - freedom, economic rights, political rights, social rights, public and private rights." It was officially her goal to "acquaint the Muslim women with her religion...by means of study. Indeed, this was a prime goal for the Muslim Women's Association chaired by Ghazali in the 50's and 60's before it disbanded.

And as a final note: I would like to ask Ahmed how she is defining the "private Muslim woman" - is this an immutable category (on 127 she says that "this oral and aural tradition of Islam no doubt stretches back through generations and is as ancient as any written tradition")...have these women permanently been relegated to the private domain and informal interpretation, and if so, what happens when this changes? Is it really changing, and if so, which populations of women are representative of this change?

Mernissi: Confounded Critiques of Islam and the Arab World

2007-10-31T15:59:00.000-05:00

Fatima Mernissi, a renowned Arab feminist scholar, writes in "Women's Rebellion & Islamic Memory" that "writing is better than a face-lift". This is the beginning of her rather fury-laden critique of the Arab world - in particular its treatment and subversion of the female. What follows is a rather schizophrenic, scattered, and highly generalized critical appraisal of the modern Arab world.

Her focus remains political, but also is inherently religio-cultural as well, arguing that the negative Arab governmental policies toward women are primarily aimed at stifling the possibility of democratic reform throughout the Middle Eastern countries. However, subtly lacking in her analysis is the inherent inequality present in capitalist democratic societies - even toward women. What about Muslim women in America? She entirely believes that democratic ideals are the answer to the Muslim female's liberation.

She then diverts her focus to the changing interpretations of Islam - particularly targeting the contemporary conservative perspective toward females in Muslim societies. Explicitly saying that "any reading of Islam is a political one", she points out how easy it would be for Islam to reclaim its own memory of strong females, as those who surrounded the Prophet in his social world. Strangely enough, she seems to fall into her own trap - creating a representation of Islam that itself is politically-charged with values such as egalitarianism and democratic ideals. Furthermore, her overuse of the terms "Muslim man" and "Muslim woman" without further contextualization create a sense of a homogeneous whole of gender relations between Muslim populations.

It's not as easy to "throw this book out" as an "Orientalist" or Euro-centric text (even though it was originally written in German, presumably for a German audience) mainly because Mernissi herself is Moroccan. Of course, this doesn't lend the text more legitimacy than any other (nor is this the "insider's perspective" in pure), but it makes it harder to toss it aside as an outsider's representation of "the Other" oppressive world of the Muslim. Strangely enough, it seems to straddle this gap - an insider's critique for those presumably outside of the cultural reality of the Middle East and North Africa (is this even where her focus is? With statements like "Muslim woman" and "Muslim man", she isn't specific enough). It certainly occupies a new niche for this critical writings of the Arab world.

But that said, it cannot be thrown out as entirely inaccurate or unqualified. Some of her points and criticisms are valid. But just how constructive is this work for scholars and those wishing to make a change? Would a democratic Middle East really be the answer to the oppression of the 'Muslim woman'? I'm highly skeptical (and in fact, would say no).

A Cacophony of Voices

2007-10-28T12:58:00.001-05:00

When one switches their focus from Muslim women of the past to Muslim women of the present, there is a qualitative shift in the kind of work and sources one has to utilize. The difficulties that I read about all throughout Beyond the Exotic and the earlier parts of Ahmed's Women and Gender in Islam - those of textual analysis and finding alternative sources to combat women's invisibility - fundamentally are minimized.

What emerges (slowly, of course) from the late 19th, early 20th, and now 21st centuries is nearly a cacophony of voices from women in these Islamic societies. Once invisible, they are now numerous and plentiful in their depictions and stories. It's at once incredible to see how a once marginalized group begins to represent itself in the collective conscious, but also frightening to think about how many of these stories have been lost over the centuries.

The large volume of works written by Muslim women also dramatically change how one might approach the study of the contemporary Muslim woman - indeed, it has perhaps changed how many have viewed the Muslim woman of history; they no longer seem a homogeneous group of oppressed, demur women who have no stories to tell. Like good anthropology or good literary analysis might suggest - this wealth of material forces readers and watchers to make very careful generalizations regarding females in these extremely diverse cultures and societies.

I, for one, am excited to begin digging into all these stories and finding out what these women have to say about their lives.

Defining Islamic Feminism

2007-10-22T20:44:00.000-05:00

It was the beginning of the 1900's that truly saw the rise of gender advocacy and advancement in Muslim societies, particularly in Egypt. However, the term "Islamic Feminism" remains difficult to fully define - as usual, a careful analysis is required. To begin: in order to understand the two words together, let's look at them apart.

"Islamic" generally situates something (usually a person) somewhere along a large continuum: on the one side - purely a cultural identity that contains some components of Muslim identification (and religious observance) with deep secularism, and on the other, a way of life committed to fighting for the establishment of an Islamic state and the propagation of Muslim ideals. Thus, the term "Islamic" tends to be used somewhat loosely when applied in political, social, and cultural discussions (particularly with the first of the three).

"Feminism" most broadly can be understood as a paradigm focused on or particularly attentive to the fact that women are unjustly treated simply because they are women. It is an analytic category with a foundation in gendered belief and social structure.

Thus, Islamic Feminism might be understood as "describing the speech, action, writing, or a way of life committed to gender justice and also an engagement with Islamic epistemology as an expansion of a faith position rather than a rejection of it" (Source)

However, the indeterminacy and cryptic nature of both words in describing individuals leads to difficulties in understanding what exactly this concept might apply to: is it an individual who is an "Islamic Feminist", is it a movement, or a category of scholarship and study? Some individuals have even criticized it further, calling it an oxymoron. One thing is for sure - it is not homogeneous in its approach and ideology.

Two members of the Egyptian Feminist Union (EFU), formed in 1923, illustrate the difficulties in creating a broad definition of Islamic feminism. The founder, Huda Sha'rawi's feminism was political and nationalist in scope - it opposed the British occupiers of Egypt, but did not call for a break with a Western "advancement" in ideas and practices. It called purely for Egyptian liberation from colonial domination, but assimilated the Western ways and accepted these more "civilized values".

Other feminists during this early movement, particularly Zeinab al-Ghazali (daughter of the other al-Ghazali written about earlier?) reacted against this ideal - she sought to forge a feminist path within the terms of Muslim faith and sociopolitical consciousness (this mirrors her father's shift

So immediately, we see a diverging set of opinions and approaches to the idea of "Islamic feminism". Arguably, Sha'rawi's feminism may have been abandoning the "Islamic" portion of the descriptor, but not all Westward-looking feminism during this period did so.

So here we are again - back in the realm of the inadequacies of descriptive terminology, especially terminology created in the 1990s and applied to history and times without these terms floating around there. As with much of scholarship like this, we're relegated to making careful observations of etic/emic views. We must continually be careful about manufacturing versions of history that fit into our conceptual models created far past the times when these individuals were acting within their respective socio-cultural climates.

A New al-Ghazali: Changing Islamic Worldviews

2007-10-22T17:21:00.000-05:00

Haifaa Khalafalla's article entited Public Authority, Scripture, and "Islamic Law" offers great insight into how Muslim scholars have continually changed rules for the Muslim populations throughout time using Sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazali's (1917-1996) views on women as her key example. This article is extremely important for a number of reasons: 1) It offers illustrations of how Muslims engage in law/edict reformation within their own Muslim tradition, and 2) how critique of erroneous hadith have been overlooked and misused for socio-political reasons.

Khalafalla traces the transformation of al-Ghazali's views on women through his first publication of Min huna na'lam in the 1950's through his late-1980's publications espousing his new, reformed perspectives.

Of key interest is how al-Ghazali changed his perspectives on gender without abandoning his Islamic methodology. First and foremost, it was the economic revolution of the 1970s and 1980s and women's emergence into the workplace that prompted Ghazali to abandon his stance on Islamic prohibition of work for women. He was, in certain fact, responding to his times - yet Ghazali of the 1990s was not a feminist, had not adopted a paradigm of modernity and egalitarianism. It was through his experience of new cultural realities and his renewed interest in revisiting his scholarship of the Muslim past that his views changed (gradually). He himself discovered how his sociopolitical circumstances had shaped his own decisions and opinions about what he labeled "Islamic".

Through his focused study on controversial hadiths, Ghazali found many to have been labeled fraudulent, and he subsequently wondered why so many individuals had still used them to justify their use in formulating Muslim code of conduct. His conclusion was that hadith were often used not purely in religious context, but for political and cultural manipulation.

His restructuring of views on women continued with study of the Qur'an and eventually led to a total transformation of his views. He had totally transformed the way in which the tenets of Islam connected to his changing cultural and social realities in Egyptian life.

So what does Ghazali's example teach us? His primary lesson, as I see it, is that of the flexibility and adaptability of Muslim societies. As Khalafalla says:

"It suggests that, fortified with a nuanced knowledge of its past, a Muslim society may have within its long-established intellectual traditions the tools for radical and effective reform."

Ghazali identified this - along with the Muslim's "childish understanding" of their faith - as the primary obstacles of the Muslim community of the current day. It is hard to disagree with him there.

Reshaping the Past: Women's Invisibility

2007-10-15T22:10:00.000-05:00

As I skimmed Leila Ahmed's section on "Medieval Islam", I pondered to myself about the fundamental challenges faced by any scholar attempting to understand women and gender in Islamic societies, particularly during the Medieval period.

The pure fact that women were nearly invisible during this period in Islamic history makes one question the fruitfulness of historical discussion regarding women and gender in the Medieval age. As Ahmed states:

"...the invisibility of the concept of gender as an analytic category has meant not only that the import to women of historical change has remained unexplored but also that the extent and the specific ways in which dominant cultures and societies have been shaped - in all areas of thought and social organization - by the particular conceptions of gender informing them have similarly remained unexplored" (p.69).

So what we see is limited methodologically and conceptually in two related, but distinct ways: 1) documentation is fixed chiefly on elite women and their lives and 2) the few outsider narratives are extremely focused on the exotic element of women and have a tendency for Orientalist thought. The former documents give us a male-dominated emic view, while the latter give us too much of the Orientalist etic perspective. We're left with very little. As Denise Spellberg notes in her article "History Then, History Now":

"The question is not whether Arab Muslim women have a history, but rather who has written and shaped the construction of that past as preserved and who will now engage to direct this critical cultural process in the present (my emphasis)" (p.3)

Islam's continually reconstructed and "shared past", as a source of fused history, religion, and culture, provides a perfect source of invisibility for endless debate about gender issues. Indeed, "hidden" histories and scriptural reinterpretation by male figures forces a reconceptualization and reconstruction in developing a guiding concept when studying Women and Gender in Islam. Is it even fair to force an analytic category into the past, or does it leave out a critical component of the "reality" of the social situations?

Just as I may be afraid of creating categories that did not exist previously, I am also afraid of overlooking the histories we do not have access to - those personal, private places where women reigned supreme. The Muslim woman is not a demure, passive creature relegated to a non-existence - she has been and always will be a prime figure in the private world of the Muslim umma. It makes me wonder where all those stories have gone, and what they might do to the modern debate about women and this controversial religion. The Muslim woman of medieval times might be invisible to us now, but she was potentially a source of great change and influence behind the scenes. The sadness is that we will never know - and a great history has been left to the ashes of time, reflected only dimly in the present day Muslim woman.

Holding Islam Accountable (pt.1)

2007-10-15T20:03:00.001-05:00

In beginning the study of women in Islamic societies, one is immediately confronted with the Western, Euro-centric criticisms and representations of the Muslim woman. Oppression, patriarchy, invisibility, veiling, and other issues of misogyny tend to characterize the Western representations of the Muslim woman and can easily color one's scholarly inquiry. Furthermore, this is often fused with the rhetoric of neo-conservative and neo-colonial political domination over the Middle East, which relies strongly on these representations and generally holds Islam as accountable for these "transgressions against human and gender rights".

I would seek to penetrate the discourse a little bit deeper. I've struggled with how much blame to place on a religion - especially one so deeply entwined with politics, culture, and society as Islam. This struggle, I feel, is essential to beginning any contemporary scholarly attempt at understanding the religion of Islam and the Arab peoples. For the sake of this argument, the issue of accountability must be placed in a gendered context - an essential fact, if simply to contain the arguments to reasonable length (and to avoid Sam Harris fans).

So where do we start? Perhaps at the beginning with Leila Ahmed's historical perspective in her classic work Women and Gender in Islam. In discussing the historical context of emerging Islamic values (particularly concerning women and gender), Ahmed is keen to note a couple of important things:1) That a vast majority of the decline of the position and rights of women in Egypt occurred under the influence of European dominance and laws, and 2) Islam did not bring about a radical change in the views and positions of women, but rather established a continuity and accentuation of the lifestyles and cultural values already in place by the Mediterranean (and predominantly Christian) cultures preceding the rise of Islam. This, we find, is not unique to issues of gender.

But it certainly brings about the question of holding Islam responsible for its own gender issues and treatment of women. Are we to hold this religious institution fully responsible for these developments if it simply created continuity with its surrounding cultures and civilizations? Furthermore, if what Ahmed says is true, and the "original" Islam featured a much more egalitarian viewpoint, which of the "Islams" are we to hold accountable? Fortunately, Ahmed qualifies these initial observations with a more thorough look at Islam's own developments (especially during the Abbasid period) leading to the deterioration in the status of women.

An important consideration is to give leeway to a concept of "Islam" as a peoples existing through time and geographic space. Indeed, perhaps it is even faulty to consider Islam as an analytical tool and concept holding together populations over a given period of time. It might be that particular social and political elements held individuals together over time - regardless that they shared strong and similar claims to "Islam". Are we to assume all Muslim women are Khadija, Fatima, 'Aisha? Do we truly need to search for the essential characteristics of "Islam" as a guiding concept for a historical as well as contemporary study and analysis? Finally, what do we look to: the Quran or the individuals interpreting the Quran? What does an Islamic perspective even suppose?

These are important questions to ask if one is to considered a any approach to the religio-political study of a controversial religion such as Islam, especially with regards to gender issues. No doubt historicity and temporality will play huge parts in any perspective one takes, and no doubt I will keep my thinking cap on as I consider the historical foundations and as I consider both modern and founding principles and developments. The rhetoric must be couched in a sensitive understanding of time, place, and must continually redefine the limits and validity of the knowledge of history and peoples.