Transforming Faith: The Story of Al-Huda and Islamic Revivalism among Urban Pakistani Women * By SADAF AHMAD

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a surge in studies examining the emergence of female preachers within the sphere of formal religious authority in Islam, namely the mosque and madrasa. There are two primary drivers of this interest. First, the study of these movements offers insights into the changing nature of Islamic authority, which has traditionally been invested in male ulema. Second, the feminization of Islamic authority presents the complexities of modern Muslim societies, which are experiencing growing pressures of Western modernity at the same time as growth in Islamic revivalist movements. Sadaf Ahmad’s book, which presents ethnography of a fast growing women’s educational movement in Pakistan called Al-Huda, approaches this subject primarily from the second perspective. Based on a doctoral thesis, the book maps the growth of this movement in fine detail. The seven chapters of the book take us into different dimensions of the movement: the history, the everyday working, the message, and the packaging of that message. In the introductory chapter, Ahmad situates herself and the study within the broader context of Pakistani society. She sets the movement in terms of the puzzle it poses to ‘modern’ Pakistani women. She notes the mixed response to this movement within Pakistani society, and emphasizes the need to understand the plurality of experiences among Muslim women. Much of the chapter then elaborates the methodological issues posed by a study where the researcher hails from the same society but would ordinarily find herself in the opposite camp to those that are the subject of study. The solution is found in placing emphasis on listening to the voices of those being studied.