Publication – Women’s Rights in Muslim Contexts

The international solidarity network Women Living Under Muslim Laws
(WLUML)¹
and the Lahore-based women’s collective Shirkat Gah (also acting as the
WLUML Regional Coordination office for Asia) have undertaken a ground
breaking historical research. Its aim is to reclaim women’s rights
activism as grounded in Muslim societies.

The resulting publication – the Great Ancestors, Women Asserting
Rights in Muslim Contexts – highlights the lives and deeds of
women from diverse Muslim countries and communities who have, in the past,
engaged in the struggle for gender equality. Richly illustrated, it
provides dozens of examples of women’s rights advocates ranging from the
8^th century to the 1950s and encompasses regions as varied as
the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Muslim Spain, India, Pakistan, Algeria,
Iran, Turkey, Central Asia, Nigeria or Indonesia.

In the words of the author, Farida Shaheed from Pakistan, the research
allows to connect “the contemporary struggle for women’s rights [with our] historical past, engendering a sense of linkage with – and ownership of –
both women’s assertions in the past and the contemporary movement.”

Feminism belongs to all

The impetus for the project came from a need to challenge a common
assumption that defines feminism as a project which originated in the West
in the course of the last couple of centuries. This misconception,
combined with the portrayal in mainstream Western media of “Muslim women”
as passive victims, serves the proponents of the so-called clash of
civilizations – who would like us to believe that boundaries of identities
negates the very possibility of a global feminist agenda.

On the other hand, it also serves the interests of the religious Right
in Muslim countries and communities. These politico-religious forces
(“fundamentalists”) systematically denounce feminism as a foreign
discourse and practice. The goal is to de-legitimize feminists as
“Westernized” women who betray their culture or religion by opting for a
“non-indigenous” strategy.

It is clear that the challenges women faced (and continue to face) are
influenced by historical, social and political circumstances, and that the
strategies they designed (individually or collectively) are, accordingly,
varied. Yet, Great Ancestors sets to demonstrate that the
efforts undertaken by women towards achieving gender equality in Muslim
contexts have been ongoing for centuries. In the process, it “explodes the
myth that struggles for women’s rights are alien to societies that
embraced Islam.”

The wealth of illustrations – from portraits to covers of
19^th century women’s magazines to reproductions of early
miniatures, some of them exquisite – also goes a long way in making this
statement not only politically valuable but also enjoyable for the
eye.

Documenting women’s struggles in Muslim contexts – A WLUML
approach

Reclaiming a feminist past in Muslim contexts is not a new endeavor.
For more than a decade already, scholars have documented prominent female
figures, or focused their research on women’s activism in a given
region.

For example, Margot Badran has translated the Memoirs of Hoda Shaarawi,
an early Egyptian feminist leader (Harem Years – 1879/1924).
Badran subsequently drew upon a wide range of women’s sources (memoirs,
letters, essays, journalistic articles, fiction, treatises, and extensive
oral histories) to record the spread of feminism at the turn of the last
century in Egypt in her Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the
Making of Modern Egypt (1996).

Other well-known researchers include Fatima Mernissi in Morocco, who
brought back to life the Forgotten Queens of Islam (1993).
Or Kumari Jayawardena in Sri Lanka, whose research on women’s political
struggles from the last 19^th century onwards did include women
in some Muslim countries (Feminism and Nationalism in the Third
World, reprint 1994).

Yet, Great Ancestors adds an international dimension to
this previous scholarship. In addition to its stated aim to uncover an
“indigenous” feminist past that can inspire younger generations of
activists, it also differs from earlier work at other levels.

The unique format will prove invaluable to women’s advocates, trainers
and educators alike. The 2 volume kit offers, on the one hand, a narrative
part which is organized chronologically from the 8^th century
till the contemporary period. Varied illustrations enrich the almost 200
pages of text. The “Narratives” portray women according to the specific
area of activism on which they focused. The scope of their activities is
an eye opener – reminding us that a number of issues (such as polygyny,
divorce rights, child custody, etc.) remain sites of struggle to this
day.

Shaheed underlines three main “strands of women’s assertiveness” – at
times interconnected, at times developing independently from one another:
“The first strand consist of women asserting control over their personal
lives, especially in terms of bodily integrity, including sexuality, and
rights within the family. The second, much less documented strand is
women’s solidarity actions, that is, initiatives by women to support other
women. The third strand is women’s efforts to improve their societies.”²

Some women worked towards ensuring access to education (for themselves
or others) and thrived on intellectual achievements or the knowledge of
scriptures. Others fought to secure rights within marriage or refused the
marriage institution altogether. Yet others engaged in collective
solidarity projects, including anti-colonial struggles or early forms of
transnational feminist networking. For the reader, the combination of
chronological and thematic within the “Narratives” (as well as the index)
makes the various chapters easy to navigate.

The second volume of the kit – the “Training Module” – also mirrors the
three broad “strands” of women’s activism. It provides texts and
illustrations (as well as guidelines and glossary) that are specifically
designed for teachers and trainers to run a one hour training session. The
Training Module’s script, to be read aloud, offers a series of
monologues/cameos either based on original sources or, where possible,
using women’s own voices. These concrete examples of women’s activism,
each lasting no more than 60 seconds so as to keep attention focused,
start with the provocative sentence: “How could you have forgotten me?”.
Indeed, participants will no doubt wonder how so many powerful women could
have been silenced and made invisible throughout history.

The content is also original in terms of its
orientation.
Great Ancestors is not focused exclusively
on famous women. In the words of author Farida Shaheed: “it is about women
who intervened for women’s rights and social justice, whether they were
subsequently famous or not.”³

It also, deliberately, does not limit itself to “Muslim women” – for
two reasons. First, because WLUML is aware that there were, and there are,
non-Muslim women who live and struggle in Muslim contexts. Second, and
importantly, because there are women from Muslim backgrounds who – whether
they are believers or not – choose other markers of identity than
religion.

Finally, Great Ancestors includes some male voices, to
pay tribute to the men who took a stand in favor of gender equality and
advocated for women’s rights. As Farida Shaheed emphasizes: “The notion
that all men in Muslim societies are misogynistic is as much a myth as the
notion that women are only silent victims.”⁴

Sources and Limitations

Historical sources rarely do justice to women’s struggles. Apart from
the recurrent issue of male monopoly over knowledge, there may also be the
fact (at least in some contexts such as sub-Saharan Africa) that a number
of societies tended to rely on oral rather than written traditions.

However, in the early days of Islam (during the 8^th and
9^th centuries), various historical data do include prominent
women. Shaheed notes that, among the 4,250 names entered in the earliest
Tabaqat al-kubra (the “First Generations” – a record of important
figures), about 15% are women.

Between the 11^th and 15^th centuries, scholars
continue to record the lives of Muslims from royal and elite families –
but now also move towards documenting less affluent or influential people.
This includes “women merchants, poets, midwives”, etc. The geographical
range increases as well: early works focus initially on Mecca and Medina
later ones, starting from the 14th century, also mention women from Egypt
to Syria.

But, from the 15^th century onwards, “women mysteriously
disappear”. In the 16^th century Al-Ghazzi’s (died 1651)
compilation of 1,647 illustrious people includes only 12 women. In the
17^th century, Al-Muhibbi (d. 1699) lists no women at all. In
the 18^th century, Al-Muradi (d.1791) refers to one single
woman. And in 19^th century, Al-Baytar (d.1918) mentions only
two women.

What happened?
Shaheed suggests this sudden disappearance could be a
consequence of the “fragmentation into disparate structures and empires,
each with its own priority and language.”

Badran situates the time when “notable women [began to] rapidly drop
out of Islamic history” earlier, possibly linking it to the increased
practice of concubinage around the 10^th and 11^th
centuries. She states: “The ‘Abbâsids [832-950] preferred having
concubines to wives. Wives were free Muslim women who could exercise their
rights, while concubines were slaves with few rights. The emphasis on
concubinage affected the whole society and engendered attitudes that
canceled the exercise of women’s rights and freedom.”⁵

More research would help establish whether this was one of the early
factors which led to women’s exclusion from historical records.

For the 15^th to 19^th century period, court
records would have no doubt offered a wealth of information, as many women
took advantage of legal means at their disposal to settle disputes (as a
delicate 13th century miniature from Baghdad shows, with a wife and
husband consulting a qadi, or magistrate). But the Great
Ancestors‘s small team could not take advantage of such sources –
at least not for this volume (it is conceived of as an ongoing
project).

Another limitation, acknowledged by the authors, is linked to the fact
that the research relied primarily on information available in English or
Urdu – leaving unexplored large sections of the “Muslim world” (such as
Chinese, Indonesian Muslims or communities from sub-Saharan Africa and
Europe, etc).

However, overall, Great Ancestors proves to be an
exciting, well researched, and attractively illustrated book. Hopefully,
the present publication will encourage groups with access to local data to
undertake further research in other countries. Reclaiming history is an
endeavor most oppressed constituencies – from indigenous to women, from
gays and lesbians to disabled people – are engaged in. By documenting
their own great ancestors, such groups are able to trace the roots of
their activism, and sustain contemporary struggles. Similarly, a
large-scale history of feminism in the Muslim world⁶
can go a long way in confronting the challenges posed to women by foreign
intervention, the failure of nation states to provide for citizens’ basic
needs or the rise of the Muslim religious right.

Notes

1. See https://www.wluml.org; Note that most WLUML
   publications, published since 1986, are downloadable on line from the
   above website
   
2. Introduction – “Training” volume, p.vii-viii
   
3. Introduction – “Narratives” volume, p. xi
   
4. Introduction – “Narratives” volume, p. xvii
   
5. Margot Badran, “Muslim Women Reclaim Their Original
   Rights”, https://members.aol.com/yahyam/mwomen.html
   
6. In 1998 and 1999, the WLUML network and the Center for
   Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) jointly held two intensive trainings
   institutes in Istanbul, Turkey, and Lagos, Nigeria. More information on
   these “Feminism in the Muslim World Leadership Institutes” can be found
   at https://www.wluml.org/english/pubsfulltxt.shtml?cmd%5B87%5D=i-87-3005

   ---

   Vivienne Wee’s responses to Anissa’s interview questions about
   Farida’s Great Ancestors (September 2005)
   Vivienne Wee is the Associate Director of the Southeast Asia
   Research Centre and an Associate Professor at the City University of
   Hong Kong

   Anissa: How did you come across the Great Ancestors and
   why do you think we need to write about them?

   Vivienne: I learnt about the Great Ancestors when it
   was still a project in process. When I met up with the author, Farida
   Shaheed, at an international women’s meeting in Capetown in late October
   2004, we spent many hours discussing and comparing different endogenous
   women’s movements that had emerged out of their own historical and
   cultural contexts. In our discussion, we agreed on the need to make
   visible these endogenous women’s movements, especially those that are
   not linked to European or American women’s movements. So I was very
   pleased to learn from Farida at that time that she was shortly
   publishing a whole book on women asserting their rights in historical
   Muslim contexts and even more pleased that this book has now been
   published.

   I think there is an urgent need to write about our ‘great feminist
   ancestors’, because there is a widespread belief in post-colonial
   societies that all progressive values, such as human rights, women’s
   rights, social justice or sustainable development, have been transmitted
   to us as part of the ‘white man’s burden’ of civilizing us. As a result,
   such values tend to be known as ‘Western values’, as if prior to
   European colonization, there was no indigenous notion of justice or
   rights in the societies that were colonised. In fact, we should realise
   that this myth was constructed precisely to legitimize the colonial
   presence as a ‘civilising process’.

   In this context, Farida’s work Great Ancestors is more than
   just a compilation of women who had lived and asserted their rights in
   different Muslim countries and communities. Indeed, this work serves to
   debunk the myth that the notion of women’s rights was imported from
   colonizing countries to the colonies. The persistence of this myth in
   our post-colonial contexts only emphasizes the continuing ‘coloniality’
   of our situation. It is thus crucial for feminists in post-colonial
   countries to stake ownership over the notion of women’s rights as an
   indigenous value that is part of our own heritage. Failure to do so will
   lead to us losing home ground from which to assert women’s rights as a
   legitimate nationalist concern. I must thus congratulate Farida for
   pioneering this important work of anchoring women’s rights deep within
   diverse Muslim histories and cultures.

   Anissa: Mainstream and conservative discourses tend to see
   feminism as a project originating in the West in the last 200 years or
   so. What does this book have to say about that?

   Vivienne: The book points out that mainstream discourse about
   feminism as a Western project has become a myth that is accepted by
   people both inside and outside of Muslim contexts. The former uses this
   myth to ‘discredit women’s rights advocates and their cause’ (Great
   Ancestors, p. xi), with feminism construed as an alien intrusion
   from the West that post-colonial nationalists should therefore
   reject.

   In reality, this mainstream discourse is itself part and parcel of an
   earlier colonizing discourse that was constructed expressly for the
   purpose of legitimizing colonialism. Such discourse stems from an
   ‘othering’ process that depicts the non-Western Other in terms of
   ‘Oriental despotism’ or some other form of barbarism from which
   non-Western women must be ‘saved’. It is very ironic that post-colonial
   nationalists should now embrace this colonizing myth and identify
   themselves as people who do not value women’s rights.

   The book Great Ancestors thus performs a great service by
   helping to restore women’s rights to their rightful historical place
   within Muslim cultures and societies. As noted in the Introduction,
   ‘over the centuries, many men from within Muslim contexts have called
   for better gender relations and justice, and…innumerable men have been
   key supporters and facilitators of women’s assertions of self. The
   notion that all men in Muslim societies are misogynistic is as much a
   myth as the notion that women are only silent victims’ (p. xvii).

   Anissa: Can you give us one or two striking examples of the
   women featured in the book who inspired you?

   Vivienne: The women who particularly impress me are those who
   promoted the collective rights of girls and women, rather than just
   their own individual rights. In this regard, I am struck by the women
   who contributed to the founding and maintenance of the ribats
   that had flourished from the twelfth to the fifteenth century as
   socially sanctioned spaces for women ‘who chose a different life pattern
   than the norm of marriage and children as well as for those who had no
   other choice or space’ (p.21).

   Even more significantly, ‘a large proportion of the inhabitants of
   the ribat were of various Sufi orders. Like their male
   counterparts in mysticism, some came to these institutions not for
   refuge from an unstable or abusive situation, but for the freedom to
   practise heterodox forms of Islam’ (p.22). I found this particularly
   inspiring in relation to something that the author, Farida Shaheed, said
   in another context. In her address to the Asia-Pacific NGO Forum on
   Beijing+10 (July 2004), she spoke of her right not only to choose and
   define her individual identity but also her collective identity
   [emphasis added]. Her description of the ribats, as quoted above,
   amply illustrates how 900 or so years ago, women were already exercising
   their right to shape their identities as Muslims and indeed their
   religion. What is more, this right was institutionalised within a Muslim
   context and was not imposed as an intrusion from outside.

   Another account that I found inspiring was that of the woman in
   15^th-century Cairo, who was outraged by the marital rape
   suffered by her niece, and who managed to mobilize her entire
   neighbourhood to lobby for justice from the court. As a result of this
   collective action, Shaheed notes, ‘this fifteenth century court
   acknowledged the concept of marital rape and denounced it as a violation
   of women’s rights. It is ironic indeed that five centuries later, we
   should have elements in different Muslim societies who deny the very
   concept of marital rape as being non-existent or even contrary to Muslim
   jurisprudence’ (p. 35).

   I am also impressed by Amina Sarauniya of Zazzau (1533?-1610?), in
   what is now Nigeria, who became a ruler in her own right, who was able
   to conduct military campaigns, and who refused to subject herself to any
   patriarchal marriage. It seems to me that the heritage left by Amina is
   more than just old city walls. She has left behind a path for women to
   assert their right to be political leaders in their own right, to shape
   their countries politically, and to live independent lives of their own
   choice.

   Anissa: There’s a ‘training module’ in Great Ancestors, in
   addition to the narratives section. How could this work be used by
   professors and students and also by activists? And are you planning to
   use it in your own practice?

   Vivienne: The training module brings to life these ‘great
   ancestors’, capturing the essence of their personalities and deeds. I
   found this so even after I read the volume of narratives. Farida Shaheed
   has masterfully expressed similar contents in two quite different voices
   – a more reflective third-person voice in the narratives and a more
   direct dialogic voice in the training module. The two volumes are thus
   complementary in their approaches. For teaching purposes, both volumes
   should be used – the narratives for discursive knowledge and the
   training module for knowledge through experiential role-playing.

   The training module is relevant for educating both Muslim and
   non-Muslim students and activists. I plan to use it in my course ‘Women
   and development in Asia’ which I am teaching this semester.

   Anissa: At a time when the religious right seems to be on the
   rise, what impact do you think a work like Great Ancestors can
   have on debates and struggles around the world? Do you think the book is
   likely to inspire you or others to undertake similar research in your
   own context (or in contexts not yet covered in detail in the book)?

   Vivienne: Great Ancestors is definitely significant in
   relation to the religious right that is bent on portraying their
   religions as void of rights and justice. By documenting
   well-substantiated research of great women in historical Muslim
   contexts, this work has the potential of debunking misguided claims that
   women’s rights are an alien import. In my opinion, the significance of
   this endeavour extends beyond Muslim contexts to other contexts of
   post-coloniality, where other, non-Muslim, women are also told that
   their rights are alien to, for example, ‘Asian values’.

   I am impressed by the extent to which Great Ancestors has
   given visibility to women’s capacity to shape their collective and
   personal lives. This rewrites the patriarchal script of women as victims
   or as passive participants. I feel inspired to trace the roots of
   women’s movements in China and Indonesia to indigenous beginnings. At
   this moment, I am exploring with my students the historical possibility
   or even probability that China was a matrilineal society, before
   patriarchal Confucianism was imposed as state ideology. I would like to
   trace continuities, in women’s deeds and thoughts, from this
   pre-Confucianist context to subsequent women’s movements that sprang up
   endogenously in various parts of China. Similarly, in Indonesia, I would
   like to do research on the indigenous roots of women’s movements in
   different parts of the country. This is particularly important at this
   time when extremist Muslims are trying to assert that women’s rights
   have no place in Islam or Indonesia as a Muslim-majoritarian
   country.

   ***