Cross Cultural Analysis of Feminism in the Muslim Community

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Muslim women in modern Muslim states encounter numerous predicaments and challenges particularly with the advent of Islamic conservatism worldwide. Muslim women are often oppressed and discriminated because their religion is used as a vehicle to propagate political ideas and form the basis with which the role of women in the society is determined.

The significance of Islamic law in the Muslim culture is extremely strong and one that cannot be ignored. Muslim women cannot snub Islamic law since they would be considered as discarding their identity and heritage. When they inquire about certain facets of Islamic law, they are accused of rebuffing their religion.

Meanwhile, accepting feminism is considered as betraying their political, religious and nationalist identity. However, some Muslim women consider this argument as a misplaced premise and believe that there are other options for Muslim women to make (Othman, 2006, p.339). This paper will thus analyze feminism in the Muslim societies.

Majority of the modern Muslim states have displayed a tendency towards implementing Muslim laws in all facets of life. Sadly, the tenets of these laws are awkward and in most cases, do not subscribe to the modern concepts of equal rights for men and women in the society.

Ever since the worldwide Islamic renaissance began in 1970 in the Muslim states, majority of rulers in these countries, whether contemporary or secular have reacted to these demands of their Muslim brothers. The concessions made by Muslim governments have led to the adoption of progressive Muslim laws that are discriminative and oppressive to Muslim women in the Muslim societies (Othman, 2006, p.340).

The mounting pressure on the majority of Muslim governments to adopt democracy also creates a problem to Muslim feminists. In the many contemporary Muslim societies, democratic structures have been initiated without any political traditions in place.

Therefore, the creation of political space in Muslim states has incorporated a number of political Islamic organizations, in addition to conservative and tribal leaders who do not subscribe to principles of equality in Islam. Consequently, the period after liberty from colonial rule, women have lost a number of achievements made with regard to their personal status and their rights in the marriage institution (Othman, 2006, p.340).

For example, in Malaysia, an Islamic agenda was adopted with a relative success in economic policies from 1981 to 2003.

The Barisan Nasional, the coalition party led by United Malays National Organization (UMNO) attempted to attract political support from the Muslim electorate that through the adoption of Islamic policies. As described below, some of these policies restricted citizenship and human rights of Muslim women in the country (Othman, 2006, p.341).

The ideologies fronted by Islamic movements in Malaysia are similar to those practised in many Islamic organizations in Arab world. These organizations have attempted to implement Islamic ideals by enforcing a collection of Islamic communal morals. They seek to reschedule tenets of social life, through the adoption of what they consider as authentic Islamic principles.

Their foremost target is usually the rights and status of Muslim women in the society. Their attempt to control women in terms of their societal roles, sexuality and movements shapes the basic tenets of Islamic view of gender roles in the Muslim societies. For instance, the veiling of Muslim women and promotion of gender separation forms the core tenets of majority of Malaysian Islamic organizations.

The subject of donning the hijab in all Muslim societies is a very sensitive issue. A Muslim woman’s commitment to her faith and Islamic identity is usually associated with donning the hijab.

Thus, the impact of this religious requirement on their human rights is that it denies Muslim women the freedom of choice with respect to dressing (Othman, 2006, p.342). The persistence demand by most Islamists movements that women must wear hijab restricts the moral freedom and personal liberty of Muslim women in the society.

An honor killing is without doubt an extreme form of domestic violence against Muslim women in Muslim societies. An honor killing is defined as a “premeditated murder of preadolescent, adolescent, or adult women by one or more male members of the immediate or extended family” (Yurdakul, 2001, p.964). The form of execution is usually determined by the family council which also set the day of the event.

The natures of charges leveled against Muslim women are tremendously vague and accusations may vary from dating, holding hands, kissing and having sex with someone who is not the woman’s culturally authorized husband (Yurdakul, 2001, p.965).

Although domestic violence against family member is prohibited in many Muslim countries, incidents of honor killings in these states are rarely addressed by the judicial system of these countries. For example, in Turkey, the law enforcement process against incidents of honor killings is hazy. The principal participants in the criminal justice system are usually male who subscribe to discriminative Islamic tenets against women.

For example, a recent survey revealed that over 65% of the police acknowledged that women were to blame for domestic violence against them because of their provocative dressing manners (Yurdakul, 2001, p.971).

The majority of amendments to Muslim family bylaws exhibit gender biasness in nature. They have made divorce and polygamy more favorable for men and financial obligations of men towards women has been ignored.

Muslim women who are deserted, divorced or beaten up by their spouses have no other options to seek legal redress other than through the shariah legal system which in most cases, rule in favor of men. It is usually easier for Muslim men to marry many women or divorce their wives because the law allows them to do so (Othman, 2006, p.344).

Muslim women are not oppressed; on the contrary, they are liberated. When women don hijab and dress in loose fittings, they are complying with instructions of their Lord to be humble (Al-Oula, 2007, p.6). Islam acknowledges and promotes the inherent differences between women and men in spite of their equality.

These differences do no favor Muslim men over their female counterparts because God is impartial. Islam teaches that Muslim women should be loved and be treated with respect. For example, wives have a right to receive bride price as a gift from their husband for the marriage to be legal (Al-Oula, 2007, p.12). These rights are from God and aim to preserve a balance in the society.

Feminist social movements refer to the escalating tendency of national feminisms to politicize women’s matters beyond the frontiers of the nation state. The term points to the position taken by Muslim women against oppressive Islamic practises in Muslim the societies (Mendoza, 2002, p.314).

With regard to new challenges to oppressive Islamic practises, Muslim women have adjusted their traditional roles within the modern American Muslim spheres. For example, National American Council for Muslim Women (NACMW) is among organizations that have redefined tenets of Islamic leadership by augmenting authoritative female voices.

The organization educate Muslim women about new concepts regarding gender issues, Muslim culture and their religious roles, concepts that cannot be disputed by traditional Islamic practises (Abugideiri, 2001, p.1).

The manner in which Islamic leadership is practised in Muslim societies- both inside and outside the western world- exhibits the models practised in the early customs. As a matter of fact, Islamic leadership symbolizes masculinity, to which, the role of Muslim women is nonexistence (Abugideiri, 2001, p.2). As a result, some Muslim women have responded to Islamic chauvinism by starting feminist social movements.

For example, the National American Council for Muslim Women (NACMW) was founded by Akhateeb in response to the cynicism encountered by Muslim women in Muslim organizations in the United States. NACMW was set up to provide education to Muslim women and arm them with Islamic knowledge so that they can control their lives (Abugideiri, 2001, p.10).

NACMW has therefore confronted the traditional tenets of Muslim organizations in the United States. Apart from teaching Muslim women about Islam, the NACMW has been bold enough to tackle taboo issues such as domestic violence, polygamy and honor killings against Muslim women (Abugideiri, 2001, p.11).

In spite of the unfavourable cultural and religious practises that restrict the freedom of women in many Arab societies, a good number of feminist social movements have come out to fight for the rights of Muslim women in the society. The National American Council for Muslim Women, for instance is committed to ensuring that the oppressive Islamic practises against women are brought to an end.

References

Abugideiri, H. (2001). The Renewed Woman of American Islam: Shifting Lenses towards Gender Jihad. The Muslim World, 91, 1-18.

Al-Oula, J. (2007). Are Muslim women oppressed?. Web.

Mendoza, B. (2002). Transnational feminisms in question. Feminist Theory, 3, 313-332.

Othman, N. (2006). Muslim women and the challenges of Islamic fundamentalism/extremism: An overview of Southeast Asian Muslim women’s struggle for human rights and gender equality. Women’s Studies International Forum, 29, 339-353.

Yurdakul, SA. (2001). Culture of Honor, Culture of Change: A Feminist Analysis of Honor Killings in Rural Turkey. Violence Against Women, 7,964-998.

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Cross Cultural Analysis of Feminism in the Muslim Community

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