women in islam - Bibliothek der Friedrich-Ebert

WOMEN IN ISLAM –
FEMINIST
ORIENTATIONS
AND STRATEGIES
FOR THE
21ST CENTURY
DOCUMENTATION

PAGE 2
WOMEN IN ISLAM
Editor:
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Politische Akademie
Berliner Akademiegespräche/
Interkultureller Dialog
Hiroshimastraße 17
10785 Berlin
www.fes.de/BerlinerAkademiegespraeche
Editing:
Dr. Johannes Kandel
Translation:
Claire Labigne, Elisabeth Moucors (French)
James Turner (English)
Proofreader:
ad litteras, Dr. Christian Jerger
Layout:
Pellens Kommunikationsdesign GmbH
Photos:
Sepp Spiegl
www 2009
Herausgeber:
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Politische Akademie
Berliner Akademiegespräche/
Interkultureller Dialog
Hiroshimastraße 17
10785 Berlin
www.fes.de/BerlinerAkademiegespraeche
Redaktion:
Dr. Johannes Kandel
Übersetzung:
Claire Labigne, Elisabeth Moucors (französisch)
James Turner (englisch)
Korrektorat:
ad litteras, Dr. Christian Jerger
Layout:
Pellens Kommunikationsdesign GmbH
Fotos:
Sepp Spiegl
Webfassung 2009
Éditeur :
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Politische Akademie
Berliner Akademiegespräche/
Interkultureller Dialog
Hiroshimastraße 17
10785 Berlin
www.fes.de/BerlinerAkademiegespraeche
Rédaction :
Dr. Johannes Kandel
Traduction :
Claire Labigne, Elisabeth Moucors (français)
James Turner (anglais)
Correcteur :
ad litteras, Dr. Christian Jerger
Mise en page :
Pellens Kommunikationsdesign GmbH
Photos :
Sepp Spiegl
www 2009
WOMEN IN ISLAM –
FEMINIST ORIENTATIONS
AND STRATEGIES
FOR THE
21ST CENTURY
DOCUMENTATION
OF THE
FES-CONFERENCE 2008
LES FEMMES
DANS L’ISLAM
ENTRE
OPPRESSION
ET ÉMANCIPATION
DOCUMENTATION
DE LA CONFÉRENCE 2008
DE LA FES
FRAUEN IM ISLAM
ZWISCHEN
UNTERDRÜCKUNG
UND
SELBSTBESTIMMUNG
DOKUMENTATION
DER FES-KONFERENZ
2008
3 69 143
213 213 213Biographies Kurzbiographien Profi ls des intervenants

Muslims’ views on the role of women in Islam are of great diversity, all the more
so as there is no homogeneous “Islamic world view”. Above all, however, the
traditional conception of women in the Arabic world as well as in mainstream
Islam is shaped by an understanding which is fundamentally different from
Western countries. Men and women, so Muslims usually say, are “equal in value”
before God. This, however, is not equivalent to the “equality of rights” claimed
by the West, in the sense of the universal human rights, i.e. equality on earth, in
society. The traditional, in most cases patriarchally moulded Islamic conception
of women assumes a basic gender inequality, allegedly intended by the Qur’an.
To harmonise this inequality man and woman are supposed to “complement
each other”.
Nowadays many Muslims do no longer accept this (very roughly outlined) tra d-
itional “image of women” in Islam, rather is there an increasing number of
Muslims, particularly women, all over the world, who are striving for and propa-
gating a new, up-to-date viewpoint. They do this in different ways – some by
translating the respective Qur’an verses in a woman-friendly manner, others by
trying to view these verses within their historical context and thus come to a new
up-to-date interpretation. These courageous women are often ignored and left
alone by Muslim men, especially by traditional Islam scholars and imams. There
are a signifi cant number of Muslim men who hardly appreciate the emancipation
efforts of women and who watch them with suspicion. Moreover, there are
hardly any exchange networks between individual Muslim women and their
often very small groups in the various countries. Such linking networks would
allow them to advance more effectively with united strength, so as to gain
acceptance and appreciation with their “women’s power” in public life.
In order to offer a forum to Muslim women with very different social and polit ical
backgrounds and to strengthen their individual and public self-reliance, the
Friedrich Ebert Foundation had already carried out a fi rst special conference on
“Women in Islam” in Cologne in 2007. In June 2008 a follow-up conference gave
the opportunity to deepen the subject, this time focussing on “Feminist Orien-
Preamble
WOMEN IN ISLAM
PAGE 3

tations and Strategies for the 21st Century” – again under the patronage of Lale Akgün,
an SPD member of the German parliament, who is also responsible for Islam in the
Social Democratic Party. The women activists coming from countries all over the
world welcome this conference as a forum for exchanging experiences, getting to
know each other and to establish links for the future, in order to progress in their
work for gender justice and also to encourage one another in their fi ght for women’s
rights. Prominent experts were invited to speak about their work. Their lectures
(shortened in some parts) are to be found in this documentation of the conference.
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WOMEN IN ISLAM

WOMEN IN ISLAM
PAGE 5
I begin as always in the name of Allah whose grace I seek in this and all other mat-
ters. The work I have been doing for three decades now is based on two principles
that are equally important to me. One is belief in Allah and the other is the belief
that women and men are equal before Allah.
The Qur’an began with the single imperative “Iqra!”, which means “Read!” or “Recite”.
“Iqra!” opened one of the greatest transformations known to human kind, the origin
and epitome of Islam. And the historical movement Islam is a movement in time.
As it developed across the pages of time, much has been distorted from the core of
that original moment and the essence of the message by the human fear and frailty.
Patriarchy is one of these frailties. The long reach of patriarchal fi ngers has nearly
choked the very life’s breath from the throats of well-meaning Muslim women and
men before the end of colonialism, this time through the hands of the white men
on the collective Muslim’s throat. Removing these hands has freed a voice, a song
and a message of one half of the population of the umma or Muslim community – the
women. And so it is, Muslim women speak.
Two cooperative sources authenticate this voice: the Qur’an itself, both at its core
and in its content, and the ever unfolding reality of a road made by the feet that
travel it – experience. In my lecture I will focus on why the voices and experiences
of Muslim women matter to Islam, to Islamic reform and to global pluralism. This
is not merely a consideration of human rights and gender, it is also part of the
very consideration of what it means to be human and how gender, inclusive hermen-
eutics, unveils the feminine voice within the Qur’an and authenticates the female
interpreter of the Qur’an – a voice, almost silent in the past 1,400 years.
Any consideration of Islam directs our attention back to the Qur’an as revealed
word of Allah to the prophet Muhammad. His normative practices or Sunna built
upon that text constitute the two primary sources of Islamic thought and practice.
Therefore I start with these, most notably the Qur’an. I start with a few signifi cant
quotations, with the commentary that helps to indicate why this source is instru-
mental for reforming Muslim laws and public policies. It is worth noting that these
two sources, the Qur’an and the Sunna, are also considered primarily for under -
Prof. Dr.
Amina Wadud
Why Women
Matter in
Islam – Feminist
Perspectives
on Qur’an and
Tradition