In spite of being initiated and supported by 150 Islamic reform activists, three New York mosques refused to host proposed mixed prayers, under the direction of Imam Amina Wadud. Ultimately, the religious office took place at the cathedral of St John the Divine instead.

As is often the case when women attempt to comment on the divine word, uproar ensued, as did fatwas launched from across the Muslim world. But in spite of these uprisings, a growing team of women and men stands firm, willing to reform Islam practises and offer women positions of power. Imam Wadud spoke, in her most controversial sermon, of equality between women and men in Islam, stating, “Gender equality is central to Islam. Unfortunately, Muslims have used only restrictive interpretations to adopt archaic positions.”

Muslim Feminism and Islamic Feminism

The word “feminism” appeared early on in the history of Muslim countries. It was part of the Third World trend flowing along nationalism, communism and socialism. The Egyptian writer Margot Badran quotes a writer from Sri Lanka: “In 1986, the founding work of the scholar Kumari Jayawardena, ‘Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World,’ portrays the different Feminist trends that were surfacing in various countries of Asia and the Middle East. These feminisms were part of the national liberation struggles and of the religious reform movements, Islam included.” (Colloquia l’UNESCO, 18 & 19 September 2006, « What is Muslim Feminism ? » www.islamlaicite.org)

With the newly experienced circulation of women between the different Muslim countries, this Feminism evolved and split into a variety of branches. At the beginning, it seemed there were two major trends. On the one hand, the most popular at first: secular feminism, which took its roots in modern law and whose adopters lived their religious experience as something personal, or altogether abandoned the religious practice to live with mostly the Muslim Identity. On the other hand were the Islamic feminists, amongst whom Imam Wadud is a pioneer and a leader, who are working with the sacred texts as their basis to advocate for their rights.

Since 9/11, the Muslim communities in Europe have retreated and the latter trend has taken over secular Muslim Feminism, and is still taking ground, as it is reflected in the media. The secular feminists are seen as having relented in the face of the growing arrogance that Muslim women face in Europe. Asma Lamrabet gives another reason for the mistrust in women’s liberation movements in the former French colonies: “The women’s liberation movement, as it was lived in the West, was perceived as part of the colonial project, therefore opposed with fervour to remain faithful to the Muslim identity…this explains the social diversity of these women who far from forming a monolithic bloc of women “victims of all misfortunes” -as they are so often quoted in the West- emerged in each country with original ideas to counter the traditional social ruling without imitating the Western model…" (Colloquia UNESCO September 2006)

In Europe, the secular feminists were accused of denial, having sold their dignity against the promise of jobs they never got, in a society that to this day still doesn’t accept them and their children. They were also seen as having abandoned their religion because some extremists (not acknowledged as Muslims by many) used it to claim their malevolent acts.

The French “Exception”

The promulgation in France of a law banning the wearing of Muslim headscarf apparel in schools has propelled Islamic feminists onto the frontline of the political scene. Danish cartoons which brutally and critically sidelined Islam, as well as the increased discrimination that stemmed from it, brought water to the well of the “resistance” of the conservative Islamic feminists. Before, secular Muslim women (those who didn’t wear a headscarf) were practically the only ones to claim some rights for the Muslim women in France.

Let’s remember the very popular movement, ni putes ni soumises, at the beginning of their struggle, a time when the French suburbs, actually cheap ominous modern ghettos for immigrants, brewed more and more violence, and particularly towards women and teenager girls. Today the Islamic feminists’ speeches are best understood by these same communities. They are under the media spotlight.

France is an example of how the translation slowly took place from one feminism to another. With six million Muslims, France had a rather well blended community of immigrants from its ex-colonies. Recent events have changed that, and it flashed out clearly during the suburban riots of 2003. The negative reaction of French politicians, the daily news coming from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, have brought more and more women followers to a devoted Islam they are discovering. French Islamic Feminists are on the rise. It is a refuge for women to ease their worries and find solace in the face of the new “outcast” status endorsed over their religion.

At last, and this is where most observers get things wrong trying to establish classifications, the secular feminists, proud of the success of their pious sisters confronting a society in which all of them suffer close to equal contempt, these secular feminists slowly altered their opinions. Bridges were drawn between the more modern and the more pious sisters to reflect on Islam in Europe. Therefore some Muslim feminists or secular feminists are more or less conservative, there are more or less open minded Islamic feminists. Some like the Canadian, Irshad Manji, are definitely open to reforms, even though they are placing their line of thought within the perspective offered by the Koran. Some secular feminists are now more old fashioned, unchallenging patriarchal values unlike the young headscarf wearing students.
These young devotees are all over, however they are not a monolith and each is unique in her social and religious experience. They don’t form some underground organized menace for Modern women, they are very much each on her own. They share the common experience of being born in Europe, of being literate, articulate and assertive. When mainstream society kept their disdainful remarks a whisper, they kept silent, but now that 9/11 has stigmatised their religion, they have been compelled to react.

Again France’s example is striking. When the conflict arose, school commissioners realized they had no statistics on the number of headscarves worn in the French schools. Just as in colonial times, when religious practises amongst the natives of their colonies remained ignored, basic data regarding the practises and needs of minority Muslim communities in France remained absent.

We now know that a mere 1200 young women on all French territories worldwide wear the headscarf, and that a handful of 22 young women have ignited this pervading controversy.

But just as European colonial powers, unaccountable as dominant forces amongst the people they ruled, failed to produce any documentation about the religious and social needs of the people in their colonies, so too have the principles of assimilation which prevail in France negated the possibility of acknowledging, much less understanding, the needs of Muslim communities in France.

The voices of Muslim women have been stifled in this process. With respect to cultural or religious practises, personal aspirations for education and employment, housing and a stake in the political process which has continued to ignore their needs. Muslims have been marginalized from statutory processes which might otherwise address their changing socio-economic, cultural and educational needs. Political convenience has pushed these needs to the bottom of a national agenda such that Muslim voices emerge instead through riots and are answered by police force and xenophobic speeches from government ministers.

Thursday 3/22 - Part II: The Islamic Feminist Trend

Originally published in French by Kulturissimo.