WISE Muslim Women Standing Up
"Why don't moderate Muslims stand up and say something?" I've been asked frequently on my book tour in the last year. My response is, "We are, but not everyone is listening." Our media, for example, prefers to feature oppressed Muslim women, rather than the thousands of Muslim women advocating social justice or running for public office or promoting women's rights.
So I thought I'd write about an electrifying conference I just attended in Malaysia - the Women in Islamic Spirituality and Equality (WISE) conference. Along with over 200 other Muslim women from 55 countries, I attended panels and seminars, all focused on educating and empowering Muslim women and promoting their rights from an Islamic perspective.
Why an Islamic perspective? Promoting women's rights from any perspective is requisite. An Islamic perspective is just one of many avenues. But for Muslim women's rights, this avenue is crucial, because Muslim women need to know that their religion gives them rights that their patriarchal culture often takes away. Muslim women do not wish to abandon their religion in order to gain equal rights (and who does?). They want both. That's why we must promote women's rights as an Islamic imperative, not as a contradiction to Islam.
Unfortunately, in Muslim-majority countries, often what masquerades as religion is actually culture, tribal custom, patriarchy, or all three. Even worse, tribal and other authorities themselves gain power by framing their non-religious actions as religious. Given that most Muslim-majority countries have gained independence only in the last century and struggle with the same problems as the rest of the developing world - e.g., lack of education and poverty - it's no wonder that women suffer disproportionately.
Educating Muslim women to understand that Islam itself grants them equal rights gives them the tools to effect change. At the WISE conference, attendees shared stories of effecting change in their various countries, strategies they used, and methods they found most valuable.
For example, Eman, an effervescent Egyptian woman with blond-streaked hair, described her efforts to stop female genital mutilation (FGM) in rural Egypt. Primarily practiced in Egypt and parts of Africa, FGM goes back to the time of the pharaohs and predates Islam by a thousand years. It is not Islamic, and has been practiced by Egyptian Christians as well as Egyptian Muslims. FGM is cultural: the Saudis are against it; the Pakistanis don't do it; and overwhelming numbers of Muslims worldwide still have never heard of it. Designed to ensure a woman's chastity, FGM is now illegal in Egypt, and has been banned by Islamic legal opinions, or fatwas. Even so, it persists.
Eman, the executive director of an Egyptian NGO, traveled to rural areas to investigate why and how FGM occurred. Because FGM is illegal, villagers now take their daughters to barbers and midwives, for whom FGM is a critical source of income to barbers and midwives. Eman and her colleagues approached a barber who performed hundreds of these procedures and showed him the fatwas and the laws banning FGM.
Eman offered the barber a deal: stop this practice, put the fatwa in your window, sign a contract, and we'll fund the renovation of your barber shop so you get more business. He agreed, and for the price of a barber's chair (he'd been sitting people on the ground for their haircuts) a television, and a new paint job, his business is thriving and he is a new poster boy for the elimination of FGM. Hundreds of girls a year saved and the word against FGM is spreading - all for the price of a few hundred dollars.
Eman succeeded because she addressed the underlying motivation behind FGM: not religion, but economic incentive and ignorance.
Less dramatically, but just as importantly, Laisa - a Muslim lawyer from the Philippines -described how her organization persuaded Muslim religious leaders to assist in promoting equal rights for women. Together, they developed a handbook filled with rigorously researched sermons that promoted gender equality on the basis of Islamic scriptures. Laisa and her colleagues have been using this handbook to train other Muslim religious leaders in promoting gender-sensitive interpretations of Islam in the Philippines.
Laisa and Eman are just two of the many women working for equality through Islam. The Muslim world is increasingly populated with women's rights activists challenging patriarchal culture, tribal custom, and oppressive governments. They are taking back Islam, which - as so many people forget - clearly sought to improve the status of women.
Islam never held me back from being an American Muslim woman lawyer and writer. I was lucky enough to be raised in a free democracy with education and available opportunity - it is lack of these that holds women back. Islam should not, and does not, hold other women back, either.
The WISE conference is one example that proves it.
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Great post. Thanks for speaking up on an issue that mainstream media seems content to ignore.
I am 55 , american from at least 5 generations of Americans , and muslim for 6years . It has been my experience that Women revert to Islam at a rate of 4 or 5 to one and this is after they understand what islam really is . I am a man so i am saying that because it is what i have seen with my own eyes. Many of them are happy to no longer be seen as sex objects and love the dignity of the Hijjab and modest clothing. And these sisters are in America so no one can force them one way or the other. Before you judge Islam by the actions of less than 1/2 of a % try going and talk to a muslim about Islam . You just might be surprised
B-b-b-but. Moderate Muslims don't speak up! How DARE you not reinforce that meme!
I want to make clear that Islam is not inherently misogynistic. The Prophet Mohammad advocated for unprecedented women’s rights like the right of inheritance and divorce – a fact often ignored by some Islamic clerics and critics alike. Furthermore, there are multiple examples of strong, independent women in early Islamic history. For example, Mohammad’s wife Khadijah, a very successful merchant, first met Mohammad after hiring him to lead one of her trade caravans.
While there is no doubt that Muslim women do not currently enjoy equal rights, Islam is not to blame. We have culture, misinterpretation and economics for that. More importantly, articles like this one show how Muslim women are not waiting to be saved – they are perfectly capable to help themselves. They do so every day.
Islam is to blame, it stands as one of many pillars for the cultural misogyny. And it should be shattered.
that argument is weak, especially after ms ali karamali's article...what do you even know about islam to conclude that it should be shattered? are you just saying that because some muslims are terrorists? some catholic priests r@pe children, should catholicism be shattered?
Ghost,
I think you need to re-read the article by Sumbul. She just attended a conference in Malaysia for Muslim women from 55 countries who met to discuss how to promote the rights of women from an Islamic perspective. Sumbul discusses in her article how patriarchy, culture & tribal practices hold back women, not Islam. Instead of condemning their religion, why don't you celebrate & support their efforts to tackle the issues that hold back women in their societies? The same issues that have held back women in all societies, whether Muslim or not.
Ghost,
I am confused because on a previous post you identified yourself as a Muslim.
The history of Islam has many examples of women playing prominent roles and not remaining hidden in the house as some backward folks would have .
Before they were married, Khadijah - who was a successful businesswomen --hired the Prophet Muhammad to manage some of her ventures.
Nasibah (Umm 'Umarah) fought at the Battle of Uhud. When the Muslim Army disobeyed and broke ranks she stopped tending wounded, picked up a sword and rushed to side of those who stood fast.
Aisha (wife of Muhammad) was present at the Battle of the Camel (though unlike Nasibah she didn't fight).
After the massacre of her brother the Imam Husayn at Karbala, Zeinab made a series of speeches as she journeyed to Damascus where she confronted the ruler Yazid. And, no, her speeches weren't "women only".
Shajarat AdDurr was a military leader in Egypt and her Army captured Louis IX during his "Crusade" in Egypt 1250. Eventually she was recognized as Sultana (the ruler) - with the customary honor of the time -- her name on coinage and her name mentioned in Friday prayers.
Sitt AlMulk ruled Egypt for two years after the death of AlHakim. (Somewhere in early 1000 CE)
Razia AdDin ruled in Delhi for four years. Her father appointed her because his sons were more interested in wine women and song. (1230's or 1240's CE)
Fanned. And yes, there are more.
"Unfortunately, in Muslim-majority countries, often what masquerades as religion is actually culture, tribal custom, patriarchy, or all three."
Yes, patriarchy & culture were what kept both of my grandmothers & their sisters unable to vote for a good part of their young adult lives. The vote to women was "granted" the year my mom was born. Where did they live? Right here in the USA. They weren't Muslims! These same reactionary forces are being challenged by women in Islamic societies. We ought congratulate them, wish them success as you do, & point out Eman's & Laisa's good works as you do. Encourage other Muslim women rather than conjuring up the old prejudices.
Sumbul,
Your detractors will be here & be entirely dishonest about understanding the content of your article. You represent the new generation of extemely well-educated, articulate Muslim women in the USA. This group is already making a huge difference in how Americans perceive Islam, despite so many efforts to the contrary by our corporate media. I am looking forward to reading your book; please also post more articles here.
It's not just in Muslim countries that folks conflate folkways with religion.
I enjoyed your list of gallant Muslim ladies!
Verily. But most are not honest enough with themselves to see it in their own culture.
Thank you for much needed perspective, alexa07. Fanned.
Bravo and thank you. Well said - and from a Muslimah. I wonder if they will listen - I've tried for years to say the same thing. So glad the conference in Malaysia and other places are active and progressive in dialogue and follow through. Always leave it to the ladies to get things done.
I sure wish the UN committee on human rights would even mention the plight of women in Islamic countries. For some reason, this is not on the docket.
I think Libya holds the Chair at the moment......
There are no equal rights for women in Islam. You want equal rights, you have to challenge the superstition of religion. It is what it is, not what you want it to be and people believe in it, that is the problem.
You are correct...only the multi-culti appeasement lobby will never agree with you.
Who is this lobby and where can I find out more? or is it just some other pun xenophobes made up, like "boarders"?
Great article. It was right on point.
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