Essay: Feminism in Islam (analysing Michael Grech, Fatima Seedat)

Feminism in Islam has been thought to be practically non-existent and something off-limits to the women in Muslim countries. This is most likely due to the stereotypes that numerous cultures have built up concerning women and their opinions of equality amongst the men in their countries. However, contrary to popular belief, feminism in Muslim countries is alive and well. Feminism and Islam are interpreted in different ways amongst scholars and it has shown to cause debate on which feminism, secular or Islamic, is the correct and proper feminism for Muslim women. Grech, Michael. “Feminism In Islam?.” Implicit Religion (2014): 349-359 and Seedat, Fatima. “When Islam And Feminism Converge.” The Muslim World (2013): 404-420, will give a more in depth perspective of this debate.
In Michael Grech’s article review, “Feminism in Islam?” he evaluates the main points of Margot Badran’s book, “Feminism in Islam: Secular and Religious Convergencies”. He starts his evaluation by stating that Badran focuses mostly on Egypt and acknowledges, “…feminism in Muslim countries exists, is not a new phenomenon, and is thriving” (Grech 350). With that in mind, he shortly discusses some of the key differences between the feminism in Muslim and western lands. For example, while most western feminism concerns itself with just the rights and voices of women, feminism in Islamic regions is usually paired with other issues, such as anti-colonialism.
In fact, the first real initiative involving the advocacy for the rights of Muslim women was in 1882, when issues at the time were colonial occupation and nationalism in Egypt. This first period, which would last until 1922, involved no structure within the movements and was limited to “individual initiatives” which were more so geared towards informing upper and middle class women of their rights (Grech 351). Although unstructured, Grech informs the reader about Badran taking note of the importance of autobiographies, which aided feminist advocacy.
After the first period was over, the feminist movement went from unstructured and limited to “more militant and organized” (Grech 351). This new wave began to focus more on the sexual oppression that women faced, leading to male-dominated religious areas strongly denying feminism. This was followed by the end of Nasser’s regime, which supported liberation, gave women the right to vote, and motioned for women to be included within the workforce. However, they failed to revise “personal status laws” (laws dealing with marriage and divorce) and ultimately destroyed the movement’s aim towards independence (Grech 352).
The movement only took more of a decline when Sadat came into power and attempted to introduce a capitalist reform whilst combining it with religious communication. This set the movement back as Sadat discouraged female employment and encouraged women to go back to their traditional role. However, Sadat did promote a woman’s right to divorce and discouraged polygamy.
Eventually a new wave arose in the 1980s where two kinds of feminism, Islamic and Secular, came to be. Islamic feminists support their claims through the recitation of the Qur’an and giving examples from the life of the prophet. They believe the main concept is “…that gender equality and social justice are fundamental Quranic values” (Grech 353). However, secular feminists refer to science and history rather than the sacred text. Despite this main difference between the two feminist groups, Grech tells the reader that Badran made a note to not make the groups out to be enemies. Islamic feminism is not against other means of communication nor is secular feminism opposed to the idea of religion in feminism.
Grech follows this with a brief look into Badran’s thoughts on Islamic feminism’s growth and its advantages. He states that due to Islamic feminism’s Grech concludes the review with his critique. Some of his main critiques were that Badran’s book was “extremely Egypt-centered” and that material was repeated often in different chapters (Grech 356).
In When Islam and Feminism Converge by Fatima Seedat, Seedat analyzes different approaches to feminism and the various opinions surrounding them. Seedat begins this by explaining the status of women in Islam in three important approaches. Crucial readings interpreting the differences between the men and women in the faith lead to this view of the overall elimination of historical gender bias that acted as a sort of emancipation for women. This therefore points to the conclusion of, “…women’s spiritual equality with men and therefore the Qur’an and Prophetic example hold the means to women’s empowerment” (Seedat 405). This first approach resists the convergence of the two paradigms.
Seedat also highlights on the stance taken by Leila Ahmed and Fatima Mernissi. Ahmed analyzes “pragmatic social regulations” otherwise known as the law, and “an ethical vision, also known as social morality (Seedat 405). She entertains the idea that those who followed the prophet after his time here on earth, did not continue to adhere to his ideals of equality.
However, this leads to the second approach of the term known as “Islamic feminism”, where many well-known scholars, such as Amina Wadud, reject the “label” itself (Seedat 406). Wadud, along with Ahmed, and Mernissi, use readings and write in a feminist way, but reject the title of their work being called Islamic feminism. This is what Seedat identifies as the third approach, otherwise known as “taking Islam for granted”.
Seedat goes on to explain the concept of “taking Islam for granted” by looking into Valentine Moghadam’s idea of how while feminism exists in Islam; it is a feminism that one must tread carefully with. Seedat references scholars like Afsaneb Najmabadi and Ziba Mir-Hosseini are in agreement as they both arrive at similar conclusions of addressing Islam and feminism with tentativeness and care (Seedat 408-409). Other scholars like Margot Badran, believe that the term of Islamic feminism is “confining and potentially misleading” so she in turn, uses the term of “gender activism” (Seedat 410).
Seedat then goes into the concepts of resisting a convergence and the label. She addresses Zeenath Kausar, a scholar who has resisted convergence for over a decade. Her beliefs state that Islam and feminism are to remain separate and that “…accountability to God must be the basis of Muslim women’s empowerment” (Seedat 414). Seedat also makes mention of Haideh Moghissi, one of the strongest voices against the convergence, as she believes a woman, “cannot believe in both the Islamic and the feminist concepts of equality” (Seedat 415).
In terms of resisting the label, scholars like Asma Barlas and Wadud simply argue that faith is the motivation for their gender analyses and not feminism. Wadud elaborates “negotiation distances her from the political project of feminism” (Seedat 416). Seedat comments that even though negotiation can be seen as contradiction acceptance of the feminist method and rejecting its label, many Muslim women are in agreement with Wadud.
Ultimately, Seedat states, “Here Islam is taken for granted as the substance of analysis and feminism as a method for analysis” (Seedat 419).
Taking everything that has been stated in this paper so far, both articles have their fair share of strengths and weaknesses. However, after reviewing both, When Feminism and Islam Converge by Fatima Seedat appeared to be much greater in strength than that of “Feminism in Islam?” by Michael Grech. While it will be stated how this is, it will be highlighted that there are certain strengths to the latter as well.
One of the key strengths that were demonstrated in Seedat’s article was a more vivid depiction of the more unaccepted side of Islamic Feminism. It elaborated on a refusal of being labeled an Islamic feminist but also the downright rejection of the term itself. Seedat paints a picture of a movement that appears to not be appealing to women. Grech’s article detailed a religion, as stated above, accepted by most men and women due to its religious discourse, with not much detail on the refusal of Islamic feminism.
As Seedat’s article goes more into detail about the struggles of convergence between the paradigms of Islam and feminism, it is more convincing that there is less acceptance of Islamic feminism than Grech is telling the reader.
However, at the same time, Grech’s article was strong in his critique of such a weakness as Badran herself did not exactly seem to learn more towards the Islamic feminist side or secular as, according to Grech, her stance changes throughout the book.
Another strength in Grech’s article was analyzing one piece of work and dedicating the article solely to that, whereas Seedat’s article was easier to tangle information by using too many sources. It was quite difficult to really grasp the material and the purpose of the work itself when so many different stances and resources were being used all at once. At the same time, that was strength for the article as using more than one work helps the reader understand more sides of the argument, rather than one person’s stance.
Both articles do incorporate theological themes and concepts into their works. For example, Grech explains that “male-dominated religious quarters” looked down upon feminism (Grech 352). This could be tied back to the Abrahamic faith and how women were looked at as unclean strictly because of their gender. This a possible reference to how women who are seeking equality amongst men are perhaps more unclean than the average Muslim woman.
Seedat also incorporates the idea of keeping faith in the center of our lives. For example, Luke 16:13 says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” As stated above, Haideh Moghissi explicitly states that a Muslim woman can’t dedicate themselves to Islamic and feminist ideals. Here, faith is the way and in order to fully and actively practice it, one can’t focus on other issues as well.
Feminism and Islam has come into conflict on what exactly is the correct and appropriate way to convey it. Some scholars believe that the two can co-exist but some believe a Muslim woman is not capable of being able to perform both. However, given the differences in stances of Feminism and Islam, many people are under the impression that feminism and Islam is a lie. However, it exists, it is growing, and it is here to stay.