Why Islamic Feminism is not a good alternative?

Islamic feminism is a phenomenon that became increasingly discernible in the 1990s and continued to spread in different regions by the following centuries.[1] It is not only situated in one period or a place but, as Huria Batulja argues, place and time are important to understand Islamic feminism. She also says that Islamic feminism is a universal concept that endeavors to redeem and refute both secular feminism and colonialism.

In different periods and places, different scholars with diverse concepts have elaborated on Islamic Feminism and its workplace. This geographical and periodical rejuvenation of Islamic Feminism in its concepts and working place is evidently clear from the period of the 19th century and 21st century onwards. Between these important phases, many Muslim Feminist activists like Ayisha Taymur (1840-1902, Egypt), Begum Rokeya (1880-1932, Bengal Region), Qasim Amin,[2] Muhammed Abdu,[3] Fatima Mernissi, Amina Wadud, Kecia Ali, Ayisha Hidayatollah and etc. had been actively participated and intervened in the right retrieval politics for Muslim women. From above, it is clear that Egypt has a salient role in the growth and culmination of Islamic Feminism and its reach to different geographical areas.

Islamic Feminism has been shaped by both post-colonial and decolonial concepts. And it has been verily influenced by the Cold War and the destruction of the World Trade Center. When many Muslim-majority countries like Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Pakistan (2011), and Syria (2017) were attacked after 9/11, feminism was only defined as the white people's activism to rescue Muslim women from alleged patriarchal oppression. In this context, Islamic Feminism entered the postcolonial enterprise as a political issue and vis-a-vis.[4]

After this phase, Islamic Feminism entered a workshop of decolonialism where Post-colonial Feminism, intersectional feminism, and Islamic Feminism were being criticized and scrutinized. Huria Butalja, Sihame Assabague, and Zahra Ali are important figures in this field. Considering Post-colonialism debates on Islamic Feminism can be classified into three different chronological structures where it constantly succumbed to theoretical change and other intra-developments: Firstly, the debate between decolonialism and Islamic Feminism before the Cold War and 2001 September 11. Secondly, Islamic feminist discourses after 2001, September 11. This phase dealt with important discussions like the critics of Western feminism, rebuttal on how Islamic Feminists and western Feminists understood patriarchy, etc. The last one is the decolonial phase, whereas intersectionality, post-colonialism, and Islamic Feminism faced severe criticism.

Convergence of Islam and Feminism

Islamic feminism is a movement that seeks to promote gender equality within the framework of Islam, but it is also an area of contradiction and tension. On the one hand, Islamic feminism seeks to reconcile Islam and gender equality, but on the other hand, it can also be seen as the result of the convergence of secular and religious feminisms that have historically been in opposition to each other. Actually, Islamic feminism can be seen as a contradiction in terms, as it seeks to reconcile two seemingly incompatible discourses: feminism and Islam.[5]

Arguments of Zara Faris

Zara Faris, International Speaker, Researcher, and Debater for the Muslim Debate Initiative, in an interview with Claudia Mende, answers the question, ‘Do you think that Muslim women need feminist theology?’ “The very core of my view on this is that theology is studying the will of God. But feminism is not about studying the will of God. Rather, it is more about studying the will of feminists and oftentimes imposing presupposed conclusions onto the study of God and the will of God. In short, I do not think that a feminist theology meets the purpose of studying the will of God."  She also responds to the interviewer on the question of the contributions of Amina Wadud and Asma Barlas, saying, “I feel that they do not achieve the objective of theology.” Likewise, in all her arguments and works, the sole point she wants to stress is that feminism and Islam/theology are a complete oxymoron.

Challenges of Islamic Feminism

The essential charge or challenge against Islamic feminism is the influence of Western-constructed feminism contrary to Islamic interests.[6] Therefore, according to large Muslim feminists, a convergence between both dubious ideologies is impossible. However, the attempt to redeem the equality of women with a feminist identity has been most resistant among Muslim feminists. Because there may be entanglement with the feminism of colonial enterprise.  According to Badran, who resists convergence and yet believes in the dire need for Islamic feminism, Islamic feminism is a conceptual construct for the convergence of Islam and feminism. Her insistence claims Islamic identity to Muslim feminists' thought and feminist identity for Muslim women's equality work.

Islamic feminism's call for gender equality within the framework of Islam can be seen as a convergence of Islamic and liberal feminist perspectives, but it can also be seen as a challenge to the Western-centric assumptions of liberal feminism.[7]

Interpretations of Quran and Hadith reductionism

Zara Faris, in the aforementioned interview, answers the question, ‘Is there a specific way for women to read the Quran?' She answered, “I would say that there is a human way of reading the Koran. Understanding scriptures requires intellect — something that both sexes possess. Different human beings have different experiences and different skills. It is just about the intellect; it is not about gender."  In addition, in the case of hadith reductionism, Islamic feminists have questioned the authenticity of classical texts, especially hadith literature. They opted to expunge hadith from their ideology altogether in favor of a movement focusing only on Qur'anic principles. Riffat Hassan was a sheer advocate of this movement. She tried only to prioritize the universal rights of humanity outlined in the Quran and avoided contextual analysis and regulations. Riffat Hassan, in one of her articles, has argued that appropriation of sharia’ is essential to redeeming the rights of Muslim women.

Different Approaches
Two groups are there. The first one denies the possibility of convergence and keeping two poles apart. Zeenath Kausar, Haidah Moghissi, and Raza Afshari are the proponents of this school. The second type of school is of naming the convergence with the term 'Islamic feminism'. Those who kept this position are Margot Badran, Mariam Cooke, and Jeenah. In her book, ‘Toward Islamic Feminism’ Badran claims that she found Islamic feminism in the writings of Muslim women, namely Najmabadi, MirHosseini, and Shamima Sheikh. She says that Najmabadi and Mir Hosseini were circumspect in their use of the term.

In the case of Shamima Sheikh, as Badran says, she only quotes the term once, three weeks before her death.[8] Badran also predicted Islamic Feminism is necessary for Muslim women. The third school is formulated by Amina Wadud and Asma Barlas. They challenged how the convergence of Islam and feminism is presented. They are reluctant to label their works with feminism. They defined their works in the faith context and resisted feminist labels.

The scholars of the last group, such as Kecia Ali and Ziba Mir Hosseini, agree that gender issues exist in Islamic culture. They question the notion of equality in the Islamic legal framework. These groups had been actually engaged in vehement debates over the convergence of Islam and feminism, the historically and ideologically contradictory things. Some Muslim feminists are trying to show that the West does not have the monopoly of defining feminism. Omaima Abubakr says that 'Islamic feminism' allows me to qualify my own indigenous brand of feminism and work out a feminist discourse stemming from Western culture and religion.[9] Totally, Some Muslim feminists have adopted an Islamic feminist identity from the beginning. Others have resisted the label due to the concept's implicit advantage with secular feminism. But both categories have been referred to as Islamic feminists in the academic literature, thereby employing the term as an analytical term.[10] Islamic feminism has been characterized by the greatest diversity. Some argue that it is loaded with political stuff and unable to describe local women's activism.[11]

References

• Islamika Feminism, Ummul Fayiza
• Beyond Islam vs feminism, Ziba Mir-Hosseini
• Toward Islamic Feminism, Margot Badran
• Islam, Feminism and Islamic Feminism: Between inadequacy and inevitability, Fatima Seedat
• ‘Feminism is about stereotypes on how women should live’ Interview with Zara Faris, Qanatara.de

[1] Badran, Exploring Islamic Feminism Event with Margot, Nov 29 2000, wilsoncenter.org

[2] He considered as father of Egyptian feminist movement and auther of Tahrir al mara

[3] Egyptian nationalist and proponent of Islamic Modernism

[4] Fayiza, Islamika feminism p169

[5] Ahmed, L. Women and Gender in Islam. (Yale University Press, 1992), p65

[6] Seedat, Islam, Feminism and Islamic Feminism: Between inadequacy and inevitability, p33

[7] Mir-Hosseini, Z, Muslim Women's Quest for Equality: Between Islamic Law and Feminism. Critical Inquiry, (2011), 629-645

[8] Badran, Toward Islamic Feminism p161

[9] Interview with Omaima Abu Bakr, https://www.musafira.de/Islamwissenschaft/interview-with-omaima-abou-bakr-on-science-Islamic-feminism-and-history/

[10] Islamic feminism a public lecture by Liv Tonnessen, (Regional Institute of Gender, Rights, Peace & Diversity, Ahfad University for Women, Sudan, University of Bergen), p6

[11] Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Beyond 'Islam' vs 'feminism'. (IDS Bulletin, 42 (1),2011) pp. 67-77