Inside the Gender Jihad: Women's Reform in Islam (3 page)

Ultimately, ambivalence does not only lead to a thoroughly compro- mised self, but also to the injustice of compromising others. Because of the moral offenses committed while in this condition, the Qur’an likens people who allow themselves to slip into this state of being to those who

Foreword
xiii

persistently forget God and so eventually God relinquishes them to their own charge – after having afforded them full autonomy and agency, and given them one opportunity after another, God leaves them to their own self-abandonment. In the Qur’anic expression, having forgotten God, ultimately God lets them forget themselves. In my view, it is this state of ethical and moral ambivalence, willful ignorance as well as well-fortified self-deceptions that precludes Muslims from critically confronting a whole host of dangerous challenges that haunt them today – evils such as patri- archy, despotism, fanaticism, puritanism, and the latest vintage brand of foreign domination and imperialism. I fear that both the moral oblivi- ousness and ambiguity found in confronting these evils – both of which grow from the widespread condition of moral ambivalence – are directly responsible for the vastly compromised sense of dignity that so many Muslims feel today. The very least that can be said about Professor Wadud’s work is that, besides articulating a resounding wake-up call to Muslims, her integrity, thought, and methodology provide a much-needed and effective antidote to many problems that plague Muslims today. In his final pilgrimage and sermon, after reminding Muslims of their ethical and moral obligations, the Prophet, standing on a mountain top, called out: “God, bear witness that I have discharged my duties and warned my people!” The clear implication of the Prophet’s sermon was that after Muslims had been duly warned, as fully autonomous agents it was now up to them to assume full responsibility for their own conduct and hopefully heed the Prophet’s teachings. After Professor Wadud’s valiant
jihad
in writing this insightful book, she has earned the right to say that she has discharged her duties, and may God bear witness that she has warned!

xiv inside the gender jihad

Over the many years that I have gathered research, participated actively, and simply prayed on each word, for each page, for each chapter, for this book, there have been countless others who have benefited me in the process. Although I will mention several specific people here, may Allah bless them all and all those who prayed, supported, encouraged, and challenged my transformations as well as all those who listened at confer- ences and workshops, asked questions, disagreed, and even directly humiliated me. Praise to Allah under all circumstances.

First I acknowledge institutional support. Virginia Commonwealth University first extended its support by way of a V.C.U. Grant in Aid, in 1996, to begin collecting data on “Alternative Concepts of Family in Islam.” TheV.C.U. summer workshop,“Survival in theElectronic Classroom,” brought

me up to speed, from my

dinosaur

days,

with the ever-expanding

technology that has played multiple roles in the work I have been able to do

on the gender
jihad
worldwide. It

still

remains a challenge. Finally, I

received two academic research leaves, fall 2004 and part of summer 2005, which I used explicitly for actually writing the manuscript. In 1997–1998, I appreciated the challenge of being Research Associate and Visiting Lecturer in the Women’s Studies in Religion Program, at Harvard Divinity School, in helping me to continue my work further with resources and time to inves- tigate “Alternative Concepts of Family and Muslim Personal Law Codes.”

While at the Divinity School, I was especially fortunate to create a bond that has sustained itself in love, faith, intellect, honesty, and laughter, with

Dr. Susan Shapiro, a

Jewish scholar

currently

at the University of

Massachusetts also working

diligently

on the research project she had

worked on there, to be published soon along with a second book. Thank

you, Susan, for the grace,

stamina,

and wisdom of your advice and

friendship; both have sustained me in faith and love.

Acknowledgments
xv

Of my Religious Studies colleagues at V.C.U., I wish to acknowledge the integrity of the collective, but especially to indicate my lifelong debt to Dr. Clifford Edwards, as mentor, confidant, art museum companion, and a soul at the center of the universe, whose very presence could remind me to keep my own center, and whose professional advice surely kept me sane in an insane world (or was it insane in a sane world?). I agreed to come to

V.C.U. on his example alone, as reflected in his person and his personal office, a living museum in its own right with the esthetics of one who can find and see the beauty of God in everything. I also especially wish to thank Rev. Dr. Lynda Weaver-Williams, whose lists of achievements go from the sublime to the silly. I would never have survived without the presence of these two friends and colleagues, whose consistent support, advice, and companionship helped remind me of the limitlessness in the grace of God.

Other V.C.U. colleagues whom I wish to thank for their friendship and advice, on and off campus, are Dr. Kathryn Murphy-Judy and Dr. Njeri Jackson from my earliest years on campus. And Mrs. Stephanie Yarborough Freeman for just “being there.” May the words we shared impact the good of the planet, in the ways they were so honestly expressed.

In the larger arena of Islamic Studies I wholeheartedly thank Dr. Omid Safi for continuing to include me in his Progressive Islam projects, assisting me in finding a publisher for this book, reading through the manuscript to help strengthen its presentation and final edits, and introducing me to his family. Hold on to the rope, even when only bare-threaded. Dr. Aminah McCloud, my true sister in multiple aspects of these struggles for nearly thirty years: thank you for letting me borrow your husband Frederick Thufurrideen whenever testosterone alone would suffice to move out of the trench. Safiyah Godlas, artist, graphic designer, and dear friend: thank you, for not only reminding me to stop and smell the roses, but also for teaching me to revel in esthetic appreciation of variant hues, compositions, foreground, shapes, sizes, and the subtle variety of smells from each rose itself. Salbiah Ahmad, the first human being on the planet that Allah blessed me with to open my eyes to the delicate yet necessary balance between theory and practice: thank you for your constant presence, endearing friendship, and earnest advise for almost two decades now. Dr. Gisela Webb and Dr. Mohja Kahf, for surviving academia without being soiled by its muck and mire. Na‘eem Jeenah for years of honest discourse and deep reflections. Dr. Ebrahim Moosa I mention specifically because he confirmed for me that the eloquence of articulation is nothing against the passion of direct experience. I am grateful to Allah for passion as its

xvi inside the gender jihad

experiences helped shape my greater goals in life. Zainah Anwar, Executive Director of Sisters in Islam, for countless opportunities to share my work in public, with her and with love and humor. Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl for the spirit and the substance of his work and his direct support in times of trouble. Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini for mirroring the struggles in making the discourse real to the lives of women and men. Sh. Noorudeen Durkee, his wife Hajjah Noura Durkee, and their daughter Saeeda Durkee for many encounters of spirit and brave faith, even sometimes over a cup of coffee, surrounded by books. My Richmond sisters of brave faith, Aminah Jennah Qadir, I will miss you the most, Latifah Abdus-Sabur for your patience, Zenobia for your vision, Hanan and Khadijah for sharing the outside world away from my retreat in the trees.

Several younger Muslim women inspired, respected, and encouraged me in my work and I admit more than most will know: they are the ones to whom this book is most specifically addressed. Shahidah Kalam-i-Din and Sham-e Ali al-Jamil were both readers of earlier chapters and still struggle in many ways toward greater justice and well-being. Aliyah Bilal was a personal research assistant in the summer of 2003 who not only helped me review resources for this book, but also read earlier drafts of chapters. She is still seeking knowledge, even as far away as China.

Several Muslim men associated with the L.B.G.T.Q. Muslim organiza- tions became friends and co-strugglers for greater tolerance, faith, and freedom. Thank you for helping me in my continued learning process as an ally: Daayiee, Siraj, Faisal, and el-Farouk.

Special thanks and adoration for my loving and wise teacher, Shaykh Ahmed Abdur-Rashid, who more than once saved my soul from the fires of hell that surrounded it and still kept the twinkle in his eye and the smile on his face while adhering to the formulas and wisdom of the
tariqah
in the deepest spirit.

Of course the last acknowledgment belongs to my children from whom I have learned more about the struggle to believe and practice Islam than through any of the various other gifts from Allah, over a period of thirty years as an active single parent with little or no support. My prayer is that one day they will come to understand the struggles of my life which made loving and caring for them even more difficult because I sometimes had work for Allah outside the home that did not allow me enough time to do the work for Allah that they might have wanted me to do for them inside the house; for that is the foundation of my gender
jihad
.

January 2006

Acknowledgments
xvii

The scarcity of works that challenge the underlying paradigmatic basis of Islamic thought for the absence of gender,
as a principle category of Islamic thought
and as an aspect of analysis in the articulation of Islamic ideals, could not be more glaring.
1

In the last decade, when humankind entered into the twenty-first century, Muslim women and men were already fervently engaged in discourses, activities, and developments in a struggle for greater justice in Islam and Islamic thought. The terms of this “greater justice” imply a belief that Islam, as an historical movement starting over fourteen centuries ago, was intended to establish and sustain a just social order. At different times throughout its past, it was successful in meeting that intention in many ways. It also met some failures. From both its successes and failures we learn that neither justice nor Islam is static.

Consistently, the Islamic justice tradition refers to two predetermined sources, the Qur’an, as revelation from God, and the
sunnah
, normative practices of the Prophet Muhammad who received that revelation. These have been the foundation for continued debate, interpretation, reinter- pretation, contestation, and implementation. Their continuity as references does not keep even these sources static. To continue with successful advancement and progress toward competing ideas that have developed about justice through this complex time in human history also requires thorough and ongoing re-examination of ideas of justice and their manifest

Introduction
1

forms as understood by engaging meaningfully with the Islamic intellectual tradition. This must be done in concert with ongoing interpretation of the two predetermined sources along with modern global discourse and civili- zational movements. Gender justice is but one, albeit significant, aspect of that re-examination. Some would assert that the very idea of gender justice, as first conceived and exerted as crucial to society, along with particular practices of gender inclusiveness and mainstreaming, as well as the essential integration of gender as a category of thought, are Western ideals in juxta- position to certain central ideas and practices throughout Islamic history. Others have rushed to conclude that gender justice is impossible in Islam itself, on the grounds that feminism originates in the West and is therefore incongruent with Islam. Meanwhile many think all strategies and methods of reform must stem from outside the religious framework. Yet many other thinking believers in Islam have engaged in a struggle to demonstrate a correlation between Islamic ideas of justice and more recent global develop- ments about the potential of women as full human beings in light of more gender-explicit analysis. One of my objectives here is to demonstrate part of how to transform Islam through its own egalitarian tendencies, principles, articulations, and implications into a dynamic system with practices that fulfill its goals of justice, by first admitting that concepts of Islam and concepts of justice have always been relative to actual historical and cultural situations. Our current global communalism requires more rigorous examinations and analyses into the basic sources of our tradition, then requires strategies to apply critical analysis to reform movements congruent with the Islamic core even – or especially – when occasionally it appears starkly different from some recent historical manifestations. In short, Islam, which is nothing unless lived by the people, must be lived by its people today, people who are no longer isolated from the pluralistic chaos and consequences of modernity and the after-effects of colonialism.

My life experiences as a believing Muslim woman, and Islamic studies professor, have been intimately connected with Islamic reforms. As a parti- cipant in these reforms, I struggle to knit together intellectual discourse, strategic activism, and holistic spirituality. I did not enter Islam with my eyes closed against structures and personal experiences of injustice that

continue to exist. In my “personal transition,”
2
most often called con-

version, however, I focused with hope and idealism to find greater access to Allah as
al-Wadud
, the Loving God of Justice. For many years and in many ways I have worked to keep that hope confirmed. While my experiences of verification form the core motivation for this book, many aspects of the