gender - nieuwkerk, women embracing islam

Question 1

islamic feminism vs. political islam

Answer 1

• ‘the gender projects of Islamic feminism and political Islam are diametrically opposed’ (192)
  o ‘the implementation of the Quranic message of gender equality and social justice that Islamic feminism supports is challenged by political Islam, which promotes a patriarchal gender system upholding the hegemony of men over women’ (193)
  o political Islam is seen in the ‘old Muslim-majority societies of Africa and Asia’ (193)
  o Islamic feminism spreads in West and older Muslim societies e.g. Iran is important in terms of spread of Islamic feminism
  o ‘Islamic feminism…is anathema to the projects of patriarchal political Islam and of cultural racism/Islamophobia, wherever they may exist’ (193)

Question 2

feminism as linked to individuals rights

Answer 2

o linked with migration, production of Islamic knowledge, the building of ‘modern progressive democracies in the East and South’ (193)

Question 3

3 stages in conversion

Answer 3

• 3 stages in Muslim women converst to Islamic feminism
  o path to conversion
  o moment of embrace
  o postconversion experience (194)

Question 4

context of emergence of islamic feminism - Netherlands and South Africa

Answer 4

• must look at context of the emergence of Islamic feminism – chapter focuses on UK, Netherlands and South Africa
  o UK and Netherlands – issues of identity. Complications with marriage to new European, Muslim converts
  South Africa – militant movement of Islamic feminism
  o Islam = ‘other’ in the Netherlands but ‘in South Africa, where there are old established Muslim communities, being or becoming Muslim is not ‘foreignizing’’ (199)
  ♣ ‘the rise of feminist in the “East”…and specifically in old Muslim societies during the colonial movement…firmly grounded in Islamic modernist discourse and militant nationalist anticolonial discourse, has not left its own mark’ (199)

Question 5

2 types of feminism in muslim societies

Answer 5

♣ secular feminism
• emerged in late 19th century, context of modernisation, struggle against colonialism
• demanded full equality
• predominated in 20th century
♣ Islamic feminism
• ‘this represents a paradigm shift in Muslims’ feminism from a feminism (secular feminism) in which Islamic modernism constituted one discursive element to a feminism (Islamic feminism) grounded exclusively, or primarily, in Islamic discourse taking the Quran as its central text’ (200)
• ijtihad – search for meaning in Quran, interpret it in the light of desire for equality
• theoretical and active
• ‘patriarchal readings of Islam still appear to most, it seems, as “Islam” itself’ (201)
• converts accept this view of Islam before they have learnt everything about the faith

Question 6

agency and conversion

Answer 6

o ‘in converting, women exercise agency, bravely and decisively, in going against the grain of their background, family, and culture and in opting for something strange and new’ (202)
o ‘convert women’s strongest expression of agency typically occurs in the process of coming to Islam and at the moment of conversion’ (203)
o after, agency = reduced

Question 7

attitude to conversion in south Africa

Answer 7

♣ South Africa – not much negativity towards Islam and towards Muslim women
• ‘the antiapartheid struggle and the current project of constructing the new South Africa must be among the explanatory factors’ (203)
• South Africa = fairly religious society
• ‘While the South African converts clearly exercised agency in opting for Islam, they did this in a less hostile social environment’ (203)

Question 8

attitudes to conversion in EU

Answer 8

♣ expected to assimilate
♣ conflict between maintaining personal identity and assimilating into wider society
♣ converting to Islam = converting to ‘unfamiliar public space within their own society’ (204)
♣ in a liminal state – in the middle of old and new space

Question 9

role of veil in agency

Answer 9

♣ 7/8 converts wear veil
♣ some say it is necessary, some say it is not
♣ ‘they explain that they cover in order to make a public declaration of their new identity’ (204)
♣ ‘This is in part to identify with the Muslim community and in part to make a statement to the wider society’ (204)
♣ some say it is the opposite of oppression: they have agency in their choice
♣ ‘in assuming distinctive public markers, these women positioned themselves by choice as “outsiders”, very much as most immigrant Muslims in European societies are positioned without choice through physical characteristics associated with Muslims (racial profiling)’ (204)

Question 10

veil in SA

Answer 10

♣ less negative reaction
♣ veil = not a big deal
♣ more shocking when people are fully veiled
♣ ‘if agency is associated with daring and bravery, more was demanded of women converts in the West than in South Africa. But if agency is about making independent decisions and taking charge of one’s life, all of the women display a stronger sense of agency in opting for Islam and in confronting gender issues in Islam’ (205)

Question 11

relational aspect to conversion

Answer 11

o Muslims do not only learn about Islam but also live it
o ‘the relational element is highly significant on the path to conversion’ (206)
♣ people are attracted to communitive aspect
♣ love as theme
♣ appeal of Islam as a supposedly rational RE
♣ ‘religious knowledge acquired through rational inquiry is limited prior to the moment of conversion’ (207)
♣ it is more emotional – conversion constitutes ‘an unconditional embrace’ (207)
post-conversion is when women separate into conventional vs. older Muslim communities

Question 12

Dutch approach to seeking knowledge

Answer 12

♣ women turn to eachother for support and knowledge
♣ in searching for knowledge, the feminist converts ‘begin to shape a new collective culture’ (208)
♣ e.g. Al-Nisa was established in 1982
• self-help organisation
• invited people to speak
• published articles about ethical conduct
♣ ‘they come to Islam as a religion and when they begin living Islam they are faced with a culture – or better, cultures – of Islam’ (209)
• can be dangerous – patriarchal cultures can become engrained in context of family life
♣ ‘converts often acquiesce in conventional patriarchal, so-called Muslim family practices, accepting a subordinate position, often euphemistically called a complementary position’ (210)
♣ women realise that expectation of Islam does not conform with the reality

Question 13

impact of 9/11

Answer 13

o Muslims became defensive
o ‘this period, however, function as a temporary retreat or regrouping and served as a moment of intense reflection’ (211)
o ‘convert women and other Muslim women moved from the defensive to the offensive’ (211)
o showed sense of pride at being Muslim
o did serve as stimulus for some women to speak about gender issues

Question 14

Al Toma - Dutch

Answer 14

o Ijtihadic narrative
o ‘her story tells us that when a person comes to Islam through an intensely rational path that enables her to critically examine her own religious background, and she has sufficient confident and strength, she will apply that same critical analysis to issues of gender within Islam. She will recognise the ‘authority’ of her own intellectual conclusions’ (216)
o created the New Muslim Project in 1993

Question 15

• Yvonne Ridley – British

Answer 15

o Went illegally into Afghanistan after 9/11 and was captured
o Interrogated and asked to convert to Islam
o Promised that she would read the Quran
o Started with gender in Quran – was surprised to see that the Quran elevates women
o ‘women read equality and justice in the Quran and conclude that patriarchal culture(s) intrude and steal the name of Islam’ (218)
o she began to dress more conservatively

Question 16

Aisha Roberts – South African

Answer 16

♣	Antiapartheid activist
♣	Learnt about Islam from students
♣	Felt Islam was spiritually satisfying 
♣	Questioned how it was lived
♣	‘Roberts…bring(s) two prior texts to their Islam: a prior text of feminism and a prior text of antiapartheid activism, a proliberation activism with an intense sense of equality and justice irrespective of…gender’ (222)

o ‘the South African convert women are at home in their own country. They do not feel they have to announce their new identity in any defensive way. They come to Islam with liberatory ideas, and these are the ideas of the new South Africa for which people so desperately fought’ (223)

Question 17

what does the juxtaposition of SA and EU narratives show

Answer 17

• ‘the juxtaposition of South African narratives with European narratives reveals the power of history, identity, politics and position in the lives of converts and how they impact gender thinking’ (225)
• ‘in…the path to conversion and the moment of embrace, the narratives of the converts are similar. It is after the conversion that the stories split…the South African converts entered…a world of progressive Islam….the British and Dutch converts entered new Muslim minority communities whose members are still in the process of finding their place in a larger society as new citizens’ (225)