Muslim Feminism in the Third Wave.
According to Pam Alldred and Sarah Dennison, the first wave
of feminism was about the "struggle for equality and integration,"
the second wave was about criticizing "dominant values and sometimes
inverted value-hierarchies to revalue qualities associated with the feminine,"
and the third wave is about "deconstructing the presumption of a gender
binary or the conventional womb," and feminism in its third wave is about
"deconstructing the presumption of a gender binary or the conventional.
Is
there a place for Muslim feminism in third wave feminism?
The pluralities accepted by third wave feminism certainly
provide a more inviting environment than prior feminisms. Patricia McFadden,
citing African feminist awareness, refutes the premise that gender, feminism,
and woman are inevitably Western, claiming that the problem with this
theoretical paradigm is that it sees "women" as a construct [as]
equally western. When gender and women are removed from the conceptual
landscape, feminist resistance politics is evacuated as well, leaving us
without a political response to patriarchal exclusion.'
As a result, an adversarial approach has emerged, pitting
the West against the East, and one feminism against the other.
Susan Muaddi
Darraj uses the terms "Arab" and "feminist" to summarize
the apparent difficulties for the West:
Many Western women and feminists are
surprised to hear that there is, and has been, a significant Arab feminist
movement in the Middle East from at least the beginning of the twentieth
century.
When I use the phrase "Arab feminism," I usually get
responses like
"That seems like an oxymoron!" and "Can you be a
feminist if you're still veiled?" from American feminists.
“How can a
Muslim woman be a feminist if she shares her husband with three other wives?”
and
“How can a Muslim woman be a feminist if she shares her husband with three
other wives?”
While promoting a broader definition of the "third
wave," this article will sidestep the binaries prevalent in many feminist literatures
to identify the same difficulties that women confront across borders, faiths,
and orientations. Muslim feminism is a feminist movement that arises from
Islam, both as a religion and as a historically and culturally reinforced
belief framework. This isn't to claim that all women who use Islam as a
foundation for their advocacy are Muslim feminists.
Muslim feminism is also known as Islamic feminism.
However it should not be confused with Islamist feminism,
which is the realm of women who are part of the organized conservative Islamist
movement's rank and file. Muslim feminism, like Islamist feminism, originates
from the same intersections between Islam and woman.
Is Muslim feminism capable of empowering and emancipating
women?
The emancipation gap between Western and non-Western feminists should
not be interpreted because of arguments that one culture is superior to another
or that one brand of feminism is superior than another.
What it should be regarded as is the expression of debates
about feminism's "ownership" — something that third wave feminism
opposes. Deniz Kandiyoti agrees with Mcfadden, claiming that “there is a
culturalist bias in [such] a conversation that reduces it to questioning
whether particular concepts of rights and citizenship, and for that matter
feminism, may find any resonance in a Middle Eastern environment.”
This disparity is primarily due to power dynamics mediated
by culture and the defining of gender roles. Contextual distinctions must be
acknowledged as shaping feminist emancipatory techniques while defining the bounds
of a Muslim feminist awareness.
Determining the meaning of Muslim feminism.
The link between religion and feminism is viewed differently
by different people, ranging from proponents of a culturally defined feminist
movement to a more critical group of researchers who see the interplay between
Islam and feminism as crippling to the feminist mission. The case for Muslim
feminism, on the other hand, should be made based on empowerment and a
rights-based approach, refuting the claim that it is only a culturally
relativist form.
This would amplify its influence as a movement reacting to most
post-fundamentalist Muslim cultures' current political and socio-economic
realities. This isn't to say that a pluralist feminist movement that represents
and includes all "women" isn't important. Rather than being a non-feminist
aim, Muslim feminism should be a tactical shift in the feminist movement. To do
so, one must be able to determine who, among the many activists who use the
phrases "woman" and "Islam," should be allowed to claim the
feminist name.
The contrast between different forms of Challenges feminism
when these concepts collide is critical because it allows for a differentiation
between the emancipatory movement and, for example, activism with a
conservative purpose.
Azza Karam proposes three types of feminist activity in
contemporary Muslim societies:
- Secular feminism (a discourse grounded outside
of religion and engaged with international human rights);
- Islamist feminism (a
discourse emerging from the socially and intellectually conservative Islamist
movement, Al Harakah Al-Islamiyya);
- Muslim feminism (a discourse engaging
with Islamic sources writ large).
The first group, secular feminism, originated in the early
twentieth century in the Middle East, when women like Hoda Sha'rawy, Ceza
Nabarawi, and Bint El Sahti' began to challenge women's status. In Muslim
nations, secular feminism is still a prominent movement that has achieved
noteworthy results. Secular feminists, on the other hand, have increasingly
encountered difficulties from the state, the public, and conservative religious
groups as they attempt to separate religion and feminist discourses.
Alternative feminist movements, such as Muslim feminism, have risen as a result.
The contrasts between Muslim feminists and Islamist
feminists, as well as the classification of the former as a third wave feminist
movement, will be the topic of this article. There seems to be little
differences between Muslim and Islamist feminists on the surface.
Within
Islamist feminism, however, women are oppressed precisely because they aspire
to be "equal" to men and are therefore placed in unnatural settings
and unjust conditions that demean them and take away their integrity and dignity
as women. [Islamism] instils in women a sense of worth, political purpose, and
self-assurance.'
The Islamist argument reflects neo-patriarchal values,
indicating a conservative rather than progressive approach to change.
Muslim feminism, on the other hand, allows for the presence
of liberated women inside Islam. Sharazad Mojab echoes many contemporary
critiques of post-feminism, claiming that while ‘focusing on identity, culture,
language, discourse, desire, and body... has made enormous contributions to our
understanding of patriarchy,' this new form of post-feminism lacks the
political impetus of liberal feminism's legal equality achievements.
‘In this theory, women across the world are divided into
faiths, ethnicities, tribes, cultures, nations, and traditions, all of which
influence the agenda of feminist and women's organizations. The political
implications of cultural relativism are obvious.'
The risk of a postfeminist
stance is that it implies that the goals of second wave feminism have been
achieved. I believe it is more helpful to refer to feminism as a "third
wave." This third wave should be viewed as having a globalized worldview
that embraces commonality while transcending differences.
This new wave of feminism symbolizes a new generation of feminism/ists
committed to finding constructive solutions to women's problems while
respecting their differences. Instead of seeking to fit all women into the
frameworks conceptualized by the second wave, this enables for a non-monolithic
feminism that reacts to the increasing needs and genuine concerns confronting
women today.
This is not to dismiss the second wave's ideas, but to recognize
that today's global systems and interconnections necessitate a "new"
feminism. In terms of the link between Islam and feminism, Mojab's claim that
post-feminism is just a modern form of liberal feminism is supported by the
grouping of all Islamized discourses into one basket.
Recognizing the different
character of feminism today, particularly Muslim feminism, is an important part
of embracing diversity.
Miriam Cooke emphasizes the significance of
distinguishing Islam from Islamic fundamentalism (Islamism).
This is, in essence, the major point of critique that guides
the argument in this article. Supporting and objectively analyzing Muslim
feminism's rights-based discourses helps to define the boundaries of cultural
relativism in favor of a culturally sensitive universalism of rights, chances,
and activism. Islamist feminists should be viewed as female campaigners for the
Islamist movement in this context.
Islamist "feminists'" worldview systems, in many
respects, contradict feminism's emancipatory principles. Zeinab Al-Gazali and
Safeenaz Kazem, for example, are proponents of established Islamist
conservative views about women's conduct and space.
On the other side, Muslim feminism is a rights-based
movement with Islamic implications. It does so by reinterpreting religious
discourses to make them more compatible with global feminism (s). For the most
part, Muslim feminism is a desire for equality, equity, and empowerment within
an Islamic environment. Muslim feminists like Asma Barlas, Leila Ahmed, and
Fatima Mernissi, to mention a few, are challenging the existing quo of
male-dominated Islamic interpretation and acculturation, which perpetuates
women's oppression.
As Amy E. Schwartz points out, this interpretation and
acculturation must be understood independently of Islamic texts: ‘Islam rightly
understood reflects a philosophy of enlightenment and egalitarianism... unsavory
practices relegating women to second-class citizenship are not intrinsic to
true Islamic values or to the Shari'a [Islamic Law] and never have been'.
The
goals and techniques of Muslim feminists and Islamist feminists are clearly
different.
When public intellectuals position themselves as Islamic [Muslim]
feminists, according to Cooke, they engage prevailing religious discourses.
They derive their tactics for constructing a feminist
viewpoint that rejects exclusion and locates power within the same cultural bounds
from official Challenges history and hermeneutics. Cooke's acknowledgment of
the distinction between Islamic/Muslim and Islamist discourses is a clear
solution to an issue that plagues this field of research. That is, semantic
ambiguity facilitates ideological ambiguity. Cooke asserts that "Islam and
Islamism are not the same," however this article asserts that Muslim and
Islamist are equally separate.
While initiating change within the context of Islam's
universal terms of reference, a Muslim feminist movement is tolerated by Muslim
society. Islamist feminists, on the other hand, take a more conservative stance
on women's rights in Muslim nations. Islamism, sometimes known as Islamists,
associates feminism with the "unthinkable."
As a result, it is critical to recognize the existence of
ultraconservative movements that perpetuate the status quo while defining the
substance and logic of Muslim feminist methods. Mojab verifies that Islamist
feminism, in its different manifestations, does not have the capacity to pose a
major alternative to patriarchy, using the legal reforms to increase maternal
custodial rights in post-revolutionary Islamist society in Iran as an example. The
Islamic Republic's experience has proved that Islamic theocracy strengthens the
existing patriarchal society.
As a result, rather than being a complement to secular,
radical, and socialist feminisms, [it] defends unequal gender relations.
The
goals and limits of this women's movement are defined by the context.
Not
because women were refused access to their children, but because children were
denied access to their mothers, these changes were implemented.
The core of Muslim feminism as conveyed in various
circumstances is in stark contrast to Mojab's example. After a determined
struggle with the established 'ulama (religious academics) and orthodox
Islamist groups in Egypt, the principle of Khul' (women's right to begin
divorce by economically forfeiting themselves) was restored, as was the
appointment of female judges. Under the latter situation, Muslim feminist
ideologies were empowering, but activist practices in Iran's Islamist
government were, in essence, non-feminist. Despite their progressive nature,
they were conceptualized using Islamist concepts.
Islam and feminism, on the other hand, are incompatible,
although Islamism and feminism are not.
Subversion as a cultural paradigm is being challenged.
Understanding the structural and hierarchical processes that Muslim feminists
are striving to remove is crucial to comprehend the problems they encounter.
Is it Islam itself,
or its relationship with the host culture(s), that allows for the dynamics of
interpretation and practice, and hence defines the justification for
male–female power dynamics in Muslim societies?
Special attention must be paid to the interpretation of the
original Islamic Texts and the behaviors that influenced these readings while
attempting to comprehend the nature of the connection between religion and
culture. In this approach, a separation is created between religion as a holy
Text, its interpretation, and the level of practice, which is heavily impacted
by cultural and historical amalgamations.
Religious acculturation is the result
of the interplay of the Text, interpretation, and cultural practice.
Too frequently, acculturation consists of distinct and
distinct practices and ideas that are closed to debate and difficult to change.
When it comes to religious ideas, particularly fundamentalism, Shahin Gerami
believes religion has a little but important impact in defining culturally
established gender roles: ‘Men and women's political, economic, and geographic
places within social structure are determined by culturally defined
disparities. Gender identities that further review and reinterpret previously established
sex roles' are promoted by religious beliefs that strengthen these functions.
This argument is helpful in forming assumptions regarding
the influence of culture and religion in the identification of gender roles and
sexual identities. The impact of culture on religious conceptualization –
rather than the other way around – is critical in defining the paradigm of
religious interpretation and practices that perpetuate patriarchal power
patterns in Muslim communities by strengthening specific beliefs about gender
and gender dynamics.
This is the foundation upon which Muslim feminists aspire to
bring about change and women's empowerment.
‘Muslim women may battle for
equality within the context of the Qur'an's teachings,'
Asma Barlas, like other
Muslim feminists, believes the significance of interrogating
the contextual/extratextual realities that molded the understanding of the
original Qur'an Text and its interpretation, as well as the interplay between
the three levels of religion - the Text, interpretation, and practice.
Scholars have stated that "inequality and
discrimination [against women] stem from secondary religious books, not from
the teachings of the Qur'an [the Text]." Despite the possibility of
egalitarian and non-patriarchal readings, Islam, and notably the Qur'an, has
become more conservative in regards to women's roles.
As a result, religious comments and exegesis contributed to
a developing tendency throughout history in which male-dominated interpretation
perpetuated women's imprisonment and inequality. One of Muslim feminism's top
concerns is to reply to such interpretations. Part of this is due to
male-dominated interpretation and jurisprudence.
This, on the other hand, was tied to the environment in
which such Challenges occurred, as well as the cultural differences that shaped
ideological and political frameworks throughout Islamic history.
The secondary theological writings that accepted and
reinforced women's subordination mirrored the effect of these cultural realities.
This religious acculturation is the result of an interplay between three
overlapping levels of religion – the Text, (male-dominated) interpretation, and
cultural practice – that results in a specific understanding of Islam.
As a result, traditions and belief frameworks emerge,
policing power dynamics and gender roles. Muslim feminists are addressing the
limitations and difficulties of religious acculturation to achieve freedom for
women in Muslim countries.
To have a better grasp of the grounds of reference
from which Muslim feminism draws its ideas, Muslim feminist academics must
engage with the dimensions and dynamics of Islamic acculturation.
Religious
acculturation's sources and dynamics
When viewing the Qur'an against the backdrop
of pre-Islamic civilization known as Jahiliyya, Barbara Stowasser claims that
it is clear that "both the social standing and the legal rights of women
were enhanced by Qur'anic legislation."
Nonetheless, she observes that
‘the process of growing exclusion and growing limitations imposed on women [was
plainly] discernible via comparison of the original Qur'anic laws with the
succession of interpretations created by succeeding centuries. Fatima Mernissi
also claims that the Qur'anic morality has harmed women's rights.
Mernissi displays a strong female power dynamic in this
culture by referring to pre-Islamic history and using instances from the
historical period that witnessed the emergence of Islam as a religion. This is
supported by Leila Ahmed's research of male–female power relations in the same
time and the change from a matrilineal to a patriarchal social order in Arabia
following the birth of Islam in Gender and Islam.
As a result, Islam might be establishing a new social
compact that restricted gender roles and women's space. According to Ahmed, the
Qur'an established an ethical guideline for Muslim society's organization.
This ethical code should be separated from Islamic law's
legal code, which has evolved over centuries and throughout several Islamic
empires and caliphates.
‘The particular substance of laws derived from the
Qur'an is very dependent on the interpretation that legists choose to apply to
it, as well as the components of its complex utterances to which they choose to
give weight.'
One cannot deny the historical realities that these legal codes
ushered in a regulating social order that, in many cases, had the ethical
protection of women at its core.
The Qur'an is founded on the 'man as provider' concept, in
which women are dependents due to the division of labor. This, however, has no
bearing on the equality of men and women before God. However, current politics
and practice reveal a strong conservative tendency within modern Muslim
communities, which denies women the rights guaranteed by the Quran and the
Sunna.
The “textualization of misogyny” in Islam was made possible
by secondary religious writings.
These texts have surpassed the Qur'an's
influence in most Muslim societies today, demonstrating not only the triumph of
some texts over others in Muslim discourses, but also the triumph of history,
politics, and culture over the sacred text, and thus of cross-cultural,
transnational, and nondenominational ideologies on women and gender in vogue in
the Middle East, over the Qur'an's teachings.
These conflicts give rise to Muslim feminism, which works
within these "cross-cultural, transnational, and nondenominational
ideals" while claiming freedom for women through Qur'anic interpretation.
This allows them to "plant themselves in the soil of Islam in order to
demand authority and speak out against those who seek to glorify them as
symbols while excluding them as humans."
At the level of religious practice, which is formed by the
junction of the previous two levels of religion, Text and interpretation, the
more transitory components of acculturation occur. This indicates that, though
most Muslim nations have a dominating Islamic practice in terms of gender
roles, there are differences amongst them.
The usage of female isolation and segregation is example
of Dominating Islamic Practice in Gender Roles.
In contrast to more traditional nations such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt
has virtually abolished this practice. Despite this diversity, the main
concepts apply to most Muslim communities, where women nowadays face more segregation,
isolation, and power limits.
In contrast to what has happened in other
celestial religions, Islamic historical memory has helped to strengthen the
patriarchal underpinnings that had already been built in the Arab civilization
where Islam originally originated.
It has also included other external cultural
characteristics and ideas that were adopted through the rise of the Islamic
Empire, allowing for the resurgence of sexual inequity. Thus, through centuries
of ‘Islamic historical memory,' the concept of the ‘submissive condition' has
been preserved.
The interaction of many cultural practices has resulted in
this historical memory. Some of the characteristics seen in today's Muslim
communities can be traced back to a non-religious cultural activity.
This is
part of the existing quo that Muslim feminists are contesting by bringing their
own interpretation of the Qur'an to the fore.
As a result, they put their
arguments within Islam's universal terms of reference, securing their standing
as true proponents.
Their purpose, Challenges analyzing cultural practice via
the Text, is to promote structural change that leads to attainable objectives.
Third wave feminism/Muslim feminism.
The goal of this article was to outline the fundamental
elements of Muslim feminism, which is a junction of Islamic and feminist
discourses. Even though both Muslim feminism and Islamist women's movement are
inspired by the Quran, the former is concerned with worldwide human rights, not
merely rights granted by religious teachings. Religious acculturation and its
influence in determining gender roles, power dynamics, and women's space in
contemporary Muslim societies have been highlighted as crucial to understanding
the condition of both women in Muslim societies and Muslim feminism in
identifying the sources of challenges to Muslim feminism strategies. The
historical and dialectical components of this acculturation process are both
present.
The combination of the Text, interpretation, and practice
results in a complex religious acculturation that characterizes distinct
Islamic interactions in society. It has also had a significant impact on
patriarchal systems and the perceived inflexibility of gender roles. Cultural
norms and traditions in Muslim cultures promote a conservative and patriarchal
structure.
In addition, while dealing with the Kadiyyat Al Mara'a, or
woman question, one must consider several other factors, including the loci of
traditionalism vs modernization, ‘Westernism' vs ‘authenticity,' and the local
vs global. These definitional systems split rather than unify, and the
separation is often expressed as a divide between the East, Islam, and the
West. Within these disputes, feminism has become one of the binary concepts.
Different types of feminism, such as Western and Muslim feminism, have
competing overtones. We discover a way out of these binary oppositions in the
third wave of feminism.
Third-wave feminists have based their arguments on US
Third-World feminism, suggesting a commitment to feminist discourses that
extends beyond the Anglo-American models advocated by the second wave.
Third-wave feminism allows for diversity, and by rejecting
the strict paradigm of universal "feminism," the third wave allows
for a pluralistic approach to the feminist mission. This encompasses both
Western and non-Western feminisms, as well as emerging tendencies like Muslim
feminism. Muslim feminism has a broader influence than secular feminism, which
has faced opposition in Muslim communities due to its perception as a Western
incursion and hence a danger to "authenticity."
While this may be arguable from an academic standpoint, the
intersection of cognitive realities and worldviews in Muslim civilizations
attests to the contrary.
As diverse sorts of feminist activity show empowerment and
purposeful life choices, preconceptions and understandings of what feminism is
altering. Difference does not imply the presence of the "other," but
rather is a genuine and alternative manifestation. Third-wave feminist
discourses provide a space for Muslim feminism to be both authentic and
‘other.' Secular feminism, on the other hand, borrows from second-wave feminism
in its conception of a "universal" woman and does not allow for
culturally specific authentication.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, third wave feminism
provides a platform for emergent feminist strategies. Pluralism, as a result,
should be aggressively promoted to eliminate the disparity between Western and
Eastern feminist ethos, whether genuine or imagined. We could wish to redefine
feminism as we strive to define third wave feminism. Rather than an
ethno-specific ideal type, feminism should be characterized by emancipatory
activity. This is where Muslim feminism excels, and it is for this reason that
Muslim feminism is one of the many voices of third-wave feminism.
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