by Karine Ancellin Saleck
– Belgium –
Part II of III
The Islamic Feminist Trend
Women are no longer prepared to offer total submission to paternalistic and colonial models. When scrutinizing the Western women’s liberation model, Asma Lamrabet speaks of new trends in women’s religious liberation, whether in Muslim or European countries.
“A colonialist speech of ‘Orientalist’ type, that categorizes the Muslim women in her grid of ‘eternally submissive’ victim and who cannot match the picture of the liberated modern women. This ‘otherness’ seems to be the dynamic of the universalist vision and which uses a language of paternalistic domination still linked to its colonialist project: we don’t want to liberate the Muslim women to liberate her as an individual, but mostly to value the Western Model and keep this power balance that has enabled us to better dominate the other…between the West imposing its ultimate Liberation Model and the Muslim world’s answer of draw back and rebellious identity, we should be able to find alternatives that are able to transcend these two suicidal strategies…”
Western feminists and observers who wish to support and promote women’s rights are confused by this discourse. How do we define what serves the real emancipation of Muslim women? How can we distinguish between the women who are actively redefining their own spirituality and inner reflection from those who are politically manipulated? What lies between these two attitudes?
The real challenge lies in a need to fully understand the history, traditions and very specific make-up of political and socio-economic dynamics within Europe’s Muslim communities, which are badly understood and often represented by basic documentation and research which excludes a wealth of informative voices. The emergence of feminist perspectives on Islam have only recently and suddenly surfaced, leaving a wider audience at a loss as to how to best understand what has been misrepresented by existing poor documentation and research in this field.
In the face of raging waves of Islamophobia promoted by weekly editors, schoolteachers and mainstream Judeo-Christian communities in Europe, progressive Muslims are now in search of a voice which promotes a wide spectrum of Muslim scientific or philosophical ideas which were previously excluded from sensational Western medias who are keen to promote extremist Muslim views. It is from this base of frustrated Muslims that support lies for people defending the cause of Islamic Feminists within the framework of Islamic law.
Freedom of Belief
The work of Muslim feminists does not constitute a reform of Islam as an answer to secular sisters, but rather a corrective re-interpretation of the sacred texts, with a new understanding of words misunderstood by men. Islamic feminists speak of the universal rights of women, which have been confiscated by patriarchal governors in Muslim countries in spite of being clearly stated in the Koran. Their new motto is that it is not Islam that has allowed oppression, but rather the macho interpretations made by men not as a result of divine right, but rather, as a result of cultural heritages which have traditionally favoured men.
Nathalie Dollet sheds light on this position when speaking of current trends amongst Muslim women in Mali: “…these Muslim women include the rights of women in the ‘human rights’ promoting freedom of religion with freedom of speech, work, get an education, live in peace and security. It is in the name of religion that Djiangarey Maiga (an association for women and human rights) fights traditions like female genital mutilation: It is a common practice in the South of Mali in the name of Islam. I come from the North, the first region that was converted to Islam and this practice is considered as pagan.”
In spite of the continued work of outstanding Muslim women who actively reflect, interpret and consider the nature and voice of Islam, the paraphrase of ‘Muslim Feminism’ continues to read, for many, as an oxymoron. In spite of the care, thought and skilful scrutiny of researchers and scientists, executives and entrepreneurs, Heads of State such as Benazir Bhutto, Ministers such as Nawal El Saadawi and Fatima Mernissi, writers such as Tasleema Nasreen and Nobel Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi, Muslim women’s voices continue to be marginalized by the more reactionary elements in Islam.
It is therefore vital for women such as Irshad Manji to continue to speak up and claim her erudite status while maintaining her originality. To conclude, consider the words of Asma Lamrabet, who helps lead the way to wisdom by teaching us to “acknowledge and respect the diversity of strategies of liberation to form strong alliances…..To rethink the universal human as an addition of human diversities to build a living together that seems now everyday more difficult to conceive and to live ….. This will only take place if on all sides we hear our common values rather than our respective fears…”
Friday 3/23 – Part III: From Molenbeek to Baghdad
Originally published in French by Kulturissimo.
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