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You Can Be Muslim & a Feminist – If That’s What You Want

by in Culture & Lifestyle on 28th February, 2018

I’m going to express an opinion that might not sit well with some, but it’ll resonate with many – here it goes anyway.

I’ve heard countless times this year that being a Muslim is not compatible with being a ‘feminist‘ and the reason for this is that Islam is empowering enough. I don’t disagree with that at all, truly Islam is a religion that empowers women like none other.

A while ago, I read a book called Women in Eighteenth-Century Europe by Margaret Hunt and it mentioned how women from other faiths at the time, would always, always want to have their matters dealt with by Islamic courts, simply because of how just and favourable it was towards women.

Whilst I wholly appreciate that the religion is empowering, society isn’t. And nor is our present society, running in accordance to the laws laid down by Allāh and the example of Muhammad SAW in how to treat women.

If it was, we’d all be winners.

The sad truth is that misogyny is probably more rife amongst Muslims, than in general society. And so many inject religion with culture, consequently poorly shaping how they view women and treat them. Understand now why some Muslim women might look to feminism? Because the empowerment that exists for Muslim women, isn’t actually implemented.

The injustice women face in society is staring us right in the face. FGM is rife in many parts of the world, thousands of girls cannot pursue an education, thousands are child-brides, every two minutes a woman is raped in India, in some parts of the world, women are paid less for the exact same job done by men, women also are very unlikely to attain leadership positions in workplaces (especially if they are of a particular skin colour). I’ve listed a few, but there are thousands more to add. This is social injustice with women bearing the brunt of it all, and this is social feminism that many root for – for men and women to be equal in these societal matters. And feminism as a movement works to address some of these issues – with active campaigns to address FGM, to educate girls and so on.

Women’s suffrage would not even be a thing right now if it wasn’t for the work of feminists. Give some credit to the movement where it’s due, without slating it entirely because of your lack of understanding of it.

The dear sister hashtag on twitter spoke volumes about the deeply embedded misogyny in the Muslim community women face.

#DearSister I mean I’ve slept with a few girls but I still expect to marry a virgin wife who’s never had history with males before

— Ladan ???? (@LadanXO) March 6, 2017

#DearSister my wife/sis/daughter doesn’t need an education but only a female doctor can touch her & be present during her childbirth

— Wurishmeen (@Afgeezy97) March 6, 2017


Related

How the Turban Hijab Became a Symbol of the Modern Muslim Woman

Whose Modesty is it Anyway?

Pride of Prejudice: The Conundrum faced by Job Hunters and Students of Colour


I entirely appreciate how toxic the term has become. But feminism has hundreds of dimensions, and it’s an injustice to write someone off for identifying as a feminist, without you even comprehensively understanding what their feminism is and entails. Often when a Muslim woman says she is a ‘feminist’, social feminism is probably what she’s getting at. It’s easy for men to gun these women down – but if you aren’t a woman, you will never know, nor appreciate or understand the oppression that women face, thus never fully understanding feminism.

Being a Muslim, you’re obligated to address injustice. And injustice against women is only one among many other forms of injustice.

Certainly wear the identity of a Muslim proudly before you wear the identity of a feminist (for those who might associate with the term – you don’t have to, but the choice is entirely yours), because Islam instilled those principles of addressing injustice in you before feminism did, and the identity of being a Muslim encompasses addressing all kinds of injustice.

Feminism, Black Lives Matter, these are just movements we can be a part of to actively – as Muslims – fight against injustice.

For now, the crux of my argument is that I don’t think being a Muslim & a feminist is incompatible, some of the ideals overlap – unless your feminism starts to transgress aspects of the deen – but I would say Muslims also need to start switching things up a little. We need to start placing ourselves at the forefront of addressing injustice in every regard, wearing just our Muslim identities so that we can do away with the heat over labels, but also use this as a form of da’wah to those not of faith.

P.S Truly can people refrain from talking about feminism if all they know of feminism is facebook statuses and tweets – there’s a big wide world out there; libraries, archives, books, documentaries, all sorts. The feminism spectrum is wide and vast. So before you jump on a Muslim woman who wants to call herself a feminist, find out what her feminism is about first. 9/10 times, it’s not the toxic western feminism that you know of.

Moral of the story: Feminism is not a manhaj, so everyone take a breather.

Amaliah Anonymous

Amaliah Anonymous

This piece was written by a member of the Amaliah community. If you would like to contribute anonymously, drop us an email us on contribute@amaliah.com