Are Muslim women in need of Islamic feminism? In consideration of a re-imagined Islamic educational discourse

Abstract

In its remonstrations against male patriarchy, common understandings of Islamic feminism have, on the one hand, claimed attachment to other forms of feminism. On the other hand, because of its location within the structures of Qur’anic exegesis and prophetic traditions, it has claimed a detachment from what has been understood as the largely secular base of other forms of feminism. Inasmuch, however, as there continues to be disagreement about feminism in its conceptions of the identity of women, gender recognition and inclusion, Islamic feminism has remained unproblematised. In this article, I wish to address two questions. Firstly, to what extent is Islamic feminism based on a bifurcationist or divergent understanding of Islamic education? And secondly, to what extent should Islamic feminism be reconsidered as a discourse of Islamic education? In addressing these questions, I argue that there are two possible solutions to the prevalence of social inequality experienced by Muslim women. One is a reformation of Islamic education. And secondly, that Muslim women need to engage and deliberate with the discourse of the Qur’an, so that they can begin to bring into contestation the privilege of male interpretation.