Femin Ijtihad

About Femin-ijtihad: An anecdote                                    

 The movement to re-discover gender neutrality in Islam is one that has caused the lives and security of many activists around the world. I come and live in a society where I am able to speak about gender-issues with little fear of what might happen to me. This is a luxury that many cannot afford. So this is my commitment. Somewhere down the line in history, someone has fought for my right to education. Today I make that same commitment. I commit to women's education.

As far back as I can remember, I have always felt strongly for the woman’s struggle. My inquiry into women’s rights in Islam started at the age of 12yrs after a harrowing read of an Afghan woman’s account of life in Afghanistan in an article titled ‘Strangers to Freedom’. I picked up my first book on Islamic feminism at the age of 14. It was by a Moroccan writer, Fatima Mernissi, who envisioned a more gender-neutral Islam which could manifest itself from merely re-reading the verses in the Quran; re-reading them in a gender-neutral manner by placing them in the context in which they were delivered. I learnt three things. Firstly, the Quranic text can be interpreted to oppress. But it can also be interpreted to empower. Take for instance the Quranic phrase ‘Men are the maintainers and protectors of women’. Does this confer upon men a responsibility or a right? Secondly, a word carries no meaning without its context. For instance, the Quranic provision permitting men up to four wives was revealed after a war which left many women widowed. In the absence of a welfare State, men were permitted to marry up to four widows (not any women, but widows) to shelter and care for them. And thirdly, no one holds a monopoly over Quranic interpretations. It is very much Her religion as it His’. Women’s rights in Islam did not have to be created, it only needed to be discovered.

During my teenage years, I used to tell myself, ‘All I have to do is to show the Afghans these gender-neutral interpretations of the Quran and they will change!!’ I have matured since. I have learnt it is not that easy. Change is never easy. But today, Femin-ijtihad has established itself as a student-led legal academic initiative drawing as many as 47 supporters in such short time; almost half of them, non-Muslims. Clinton Global Initiative even acknowledged FI as one of the most dynamic student commitments represented at the Clinton Global Initiative Conference in March 2008!

In 2007, I was in Afghanistan conveying to local lawyers a gender-neutral framework on the law on rape from an Islamic point of view. A female activist told me, ‘We need this knowledge. We need this specific knowledge of these interpretations. Send me all this information you have!’ Right then and there it occurred to me; I can make an instant decision to drop by the University library, take a bus down to Waterstones or arrange for Amazon to send me books on Islamic feminism if I wanted to. Afghans do not have the same access to books and journals on Islamic feminism as I do.  I could DHL these books to Kabul. But these books were not only written in English, they were written in academic English. At this point, I conceptualised the nature of FI's work. I asked myself:

What if I could compile all the different scholarly interpretations of women rights in Islam into an easy-to-read, conversational medium in the Afghan language which would appeal to both literate and illiterate Afghans? Could this medium conform to the Afghan literary traditions and linguistic conventions? Could this medium (book, leaflet) then be assimilated into the training and campaigning programs of existing Women and Human Rights Organisations in Afghanistan?

Though FI’s main project will be to increase the accessibility of gender-neutral interpretations in Afghanistan through the use of appropriate medium, FI does pursue broader objectives of raising awareness of these interpretations to both the Muslim and non-Muslim community in other parts of the world. 

                                                                                                           Natasha Latiff

www.natashalatiff.wordpress.com