Nowadays, feminism comes in many forms. The current existence of an array of feminisms disqualifies (or should disqualify) the commonly held notion that feminism is a singular movement that represents the values of a group of women who are predominantly western, white, and middle-class. An interesting thread of the collective fabric known as ‘feminism’ is Islamic feminism. Generally speaking, Islamic feminism seeks establish gender equality through the use of a distinctly Islamic paradigm. However, given that there is widespread and documented subordination, repression, and abuse of women throughout the Muslim world, much of which done in the name of Islam or via one Islamic prescription or another (a favorite theme in many Western denigrations of Islam), the coupling of the words ‘Islamic’ and ‘feminism’ seems contradictory. In other words, Islam is incompatible with feminism, and vice-versa.
It is within this contradiction that Islamic feminists find their raison d’être. They assert that Islam itself is a gender-equal religion that has been distorted by the male-dominated tradition of Islamic jurisprudence. At the core of this man-made distortion is patriarchy, which was the form of familial and social ordering that dominated the Arabian Peninsula prior to the birth of Islam. Islamic feminists argue that the patriarchal constructs and nature of 7th century Arabia were infused and incorporated by the male jurists who, over the centuries to come, developed and formulated the Islam that we see today. In order to rectify this, Islamic feminists have tasked themselves with deconstructing the gendered Islamic discourses that are unfortunately in the mainstream, especially in contexts where shariah law is implemented, such as in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
See full Article: http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/blog/islamic-feminism-combating-gender-inequality-with-islam/
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