Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Muslim Feminism: Contemporary Debates

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives

  • 1764 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter discusses Muslim feminists’ engagement with issues around the rights of Muslim women in contemporary Muslim societies, particularly in the realm of Islamic jurisprudence. The chapter begins by defining Muslim feminism: a field of endeavor developed by Muslim female theologians and activists who aim to generate an egalitarian family law from within an Islamic legal framework. Muslim feminism is based on a holistic framework that combines the teachings and objectives of the Qur’an and the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad with international human rights principles, constitutional guarantees of women’s equality, and the lived experiences of Muslim women. The chapter then discusses Muslim feminist organizations acting as pressure groups asking governments for legislative reforms, raising public awareness about the discriminatory experiences of Muslim women, and building woman’s solidarity to expand the idea of egalitarian Islamic jurisprudence. The sections which follow analyze the arguments and activism through which Muslim feminists support the equal rights of women in matrimony, defend women’s postdivorce rights, and combat all forms of violence against women.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abou El Fadl, K. (2001). Speaking in God’s name: Islamic law, authority and women. Oxford: Oneworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abou-Bakr, O. (2015). The interpretive legacy of Qiwamah as an exegetical construct. In Z. Mir-Hosseini (Ed.), Men in charge? Rethinking authority in Muslim legal authority (pp. 44–65). London: Oneworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Lughod, L. (2002). Do Muslim women really need saving? Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others. American Anthropologist, 104(3), 783–790.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Lughod, L. (2013). Do Muslim women need saving? Cambridge, MA/London: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed, L. (1992). Women and gender in Islam: Historical roots of a modern debate. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Azhar & UNICEF. (2005). Children in Islam: Their care, upbringing and protection. Cairo: Al-Azhar University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Hibri, A. (1982). Women and Islam. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Hibri, A. (1998). Islamic law. In I. M. Young & A. M. Jaggar (Eds.), A companion to feminist philosophy (pp. 541–550). Malden/Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ali, K. (2006). “The best of you will not strike”: Al-Shafi’i on Qur’an, Sunnah and wife-beating. Comparative Islamic Studies, 2(2), 143–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ali, K., & Leaman, O. (2008). Islam: The key concepts. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alipour, Z. (2018). Violence against women at center of debate on landmark bill in Iran, July 22. Al-Monitor. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/07/iran-domestic-violence-women-bill-rouhani-khamenei-judiciary.html.

  • Al-Krenawi, A. (2014). Psychosocial impact of polygamy in the Middle East. New York: Springer E-books.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Anwar, Z. (2001). What Islam, whose Islam?: Sisters in Islam and the struggle for women’s rights. In R. W. Hefner (Ed.), The politics of multiculturalism: Pluralism and citizenship in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (pp. 227–253). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anwar, Z. (2009). Introduction: Why equality and justice now. In Z. Anwar (Ed.), Wanted: Equality and justice in the Muslim family (pp. 1–11). Malaysia: Musawah.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anwar, Z., & Mir-Hosseini, Z. (2012). Decoding the “DNA of Patriarchy” in Muslim family laws, May 21. Open Democracy. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/decoding-dna-of-patriarchy-in-muslim-family-laws/.

  • Arat, Y. (1997). The project of modernity and women in Turkey. In S. Bozdoğan & R. Kasaba (Eds.), Rethinking modernity and national identity in Turkey (pp. 95–112). Seattle: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azam, H. (2015). Sexual violation in Islamic law: Substance, evidence, and procedure. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Badran, M. (1995). Feminist, Islam, and nation: Gender and the making of modern Egypt. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Badran, M. (2009). Feminism in Islam: Secular and religious convergences. Richmond: Oneworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barlas, A. (2002). “Believing Women” in Islam: Unreading patriarchal interpretations of the Qur’an. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, B. (1994). The women’s awakening in Egypt: Culture, society, and the Press. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basarudin, A. (2016). Humanizing the sacred: Sisters in Islam and the struggle for gender justice in Malaysia. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bedner, A., & van Huis, S. (2010). Plurality of marriage law and marriage registration for Muslims in Indonesia: A Plea for pragmatism. Utrecht Law Review, 6(2), 175–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Çakır, S. (2007). Feminism and feminist history-writing in Turkey: The discovery of ottoman feminism. Aspasia, 1, 61–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Çakır, S. (2011). Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi. Istanbul: Metis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, L., & Kapoor, H. (1996). Talaq-i Tafwid: The Muslim woman’s contractual access to divorce: An information kit. Grabels: Women Living Under Muslim Laws. http://www.wluml.org/sites/wluml.org/files/import/english/pubs/pdf/misc/talaq-i-tawfid-eng.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charrad, M. (2001). States and women’s rights: The making of postcolonial Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaudry, Z. (1997). The myth of misogyny: A reanalysis of women’s inheritance. Albany Law Review, 61, 511–555.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaudry, A. S. (2006). The problems of conscience and hermeneutics: A few contemporary approaches. Comparative Islamic Studies, 2(2), 157–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaudry, A. S. (2013). Domestic violence and the Islamic tradition: Ethics, law, and the Muslim discourse on gender. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cooke, M. (2010). Nazira Zeineddine: A pioneer of Muslim feminism. Richmond: Oneworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douki, S., et al. (2003). Violence against women in Arab and Islamic countries. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 6(3), 165–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duben, A., & Behar, C. (1991). Istanbul households: Marriage, family and fertility, 1880–1940. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duman, T. (2016). Change of the status of Syrian women as a result of migration to Turkey. In International Middle East Conferences: Migration issues in the context of conflicts in the Middle East, Conference Proceedings (pp. 46–55). Kilis: 7 Aralık Üniversitesi Matbaası.

    Google Scholar 

  • El-Hajjami, A. (2013). The religious arguments in the debate on the reform of the Moroccan family code. In Z. Mir-Hosseini (Ed.), Gender and equality in Muslim family law: Justice and ethics in the Islamic legal tradition (pp. 81–107). London: I.B Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haeri, S. (1986). Power of ambiguity: Cultural improvisations on the theme of temporary marriage. Iranian Studies, 19(2), 123–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haeri, S. (2014). Law of desire: Temporary marriage in Shi’i Iran (revised ed.). Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hajjar, L. (2004). Religion, state power, and domestic violence in Muslim societies: A framework for comparative analysis. Law and Social Inquiry, 29(1), 1–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hasso, F. (2011). Consuming desires: Family crisis and the state in the Middle East. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holts, F., & Schafer, S. (2014). Anti-feminist discourses and Islam in Malaysia: A critical enquiry. In C. Derichs & D. Fennert (Eds.), Women’s movements and countermovements: The quest for gender equality in Southeast Asia and the Middle East (pp. 55–79). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, H. (2005). There are worse things than being alone: Polygamy in Islam, past, present, and future. William and Mary Journal of Women and The Law, 11(3), 563–595.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones-Pauly, C., & Dajani Tuqan, A. (2011). Women under Islam: Gender, justice and the politics of Islamic law. London: I.B Tauris.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kadivar, M. (2013). Revisiting women’s rights in Islam: Egalitarian justice’ in lieu of ‘Desert-based Justice’. In Z. Mir-Hosseini (Ed.), Gender and equality in Muslim family law: Justice and ethics in the Islamic legal tradition (pp. 213–237). London: I.B Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamaruddin, Z., & Abdullah, R. (2008). Protecting Muslim women against abuse of polygamy in Malaysia: Legal perspective. Hawwa, 6(2), 176–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kandiyoti, D. (1988). Slave girls, temptresses, and comrades: Images of women in the Turkish novel. Feminist Issues., 8, 35–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kandiyoti, D. (1991). End of empire: Islam, nationalism and women in Turkey. In D. Kandiyoti (Ed.), Women, Islam, and the state (pp. 22–48). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lambaret, A. (2015). An egalitarian Reading of the concepts Khilafah, Wilayah and Qiwamah. In Z. Mir-Hosseini (Ed.), Men in charge? Rethinking authority in Muslim legal authority (pp. 65–88). London: Oneworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mir-Hosseini, Z. (1993). Marriage on trial, a study of Islamic family law: Iran and Morocco compared. London: I.B Tauris.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mir-Hosseini, Z. (1999). Islam and gender: The religious debate in contemporary Iran. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mir-Hosseini, Z. (2010). Criminalizing sexuality: Zina laws as violence against women in Muslim contexts. Women Under Living Muslim Laws. http://www.zibamirhosseini.com/documents/mir-hosseini-article-criminalizing-sexuality.pdf.

  • Mir-Hosseini, Z., et al. (2015). Men in charge? Rethinking authority in Muslim legal authority. London: Oneworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moghissi, H. (1999). Feminism and Islamic fundamentalism: The limits of postmodern analysis. London: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Najmabadi, A. (1991). Hazards of modernity and morality: Women, state and ideology in contemporary Iran. In D. Kandiyoti (Ed.), Women, Islam, and the state (pp. 48–77). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Nurmila, N. (2009). Women, Islam and everyday life: Renegotiating polygamy in Indonesia. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Osanloo, A. (2009). The politics of women’s rights in Iran. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Osanloo, A. (2012). What a focus on ‘family’ means in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In M. Voorhoeve (Ed.), Family law in Islam: Divorce, marriage and women in the Muslim world (pp. 51–77). London: I.B Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paidar, P. (1995). Women and the political process in twentieth-century Iran. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paidar, P. (2001). Gender of democracy: The encounter between feminism and reformism in contemporary Iran. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powers, D. S. (1986). Studies in Qur’an and hadith: The formation of the Islamic law of inheritance. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quraishi, A. (2008). Who says Shari’a demands the stoning of women? A description of Islamic law and constitutionalism. Berkeley Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Law, 1(4), 163–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rehman, J. (2007). The Sharia, Islamic family laws and international human rights law: Examining the theory and practice of polygamy and Talaq. International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 21(1), 108–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaikh, S. (1997). Exegetical violence: Nushuz in Qur’anic gender ideology. Journal for Islamic Studies, 17, 49–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sonneveld, N. (2012). Rethinking the difference between formal and informal marriages in Egypt. In M. Voorhoeve (Ed.), Family law in Islam: Divorce, marriage and women in the Muslim world (pp. 77–110). London: I.B Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, J. E. (2008). Women, family, and gender in Islamic law. Cambridge, UK/New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vakil, S. (2011). Women and politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Action and reaction. New York/London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wadud, A. (1999). Qur’an and woman: Rereading the sacred text from a woman’s perspective. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wadud, A. (2006). Inside the gender Jihad: Women’s reform in Islam. Oxford: Oneworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wadud, A. (2015). The ethics of Tawhid over the ethics of Qiwamah. In Z. Mir-Hosseini (Ed.), Men in charge? Rethinking authority in Muslim legal authority (pp. 256–275). London: Oneworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welchman, L. (2007). Women and Muslim family laws in Arab states. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welchman, L. (2015). Qiwamah and Wilayah as legal postulates in Muslim family laws. In Z. Mir-Hosseini (Ed.), Men in charge? Rethinking authority in Muslim legal authority (pp. 132–163). London: Oneworld.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, J. (2003). State feminism, modernization, and the Turkish republican woman. Feminist Formations, 15(3), 145–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamani, M. (2008). Polygamy and law in contemporary Saudi Arabia. Reading: Ithaca Press.

    Google Scholar 

Reports and Websites

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Adjunct Faculty Member, Department of Politics and International Relations, Istanbul Şehir University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Merve Kütük-Kuriş

Authors
  1. Merve Kütük-Kuriş
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Florida, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    Ronald Lukens-Bull

  2. Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Mark Woodward

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Kütük-Kuriş, M. (2021). Muslim Feminism: Contemporary Debates. In: Lukens-Bull, R., Woodward, M. (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32626-5_45

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation