Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs: where Islam meets radical feminism

where Islam meets radical feminism

Date: April 27, 2003 | 24 Safar 1424 Hijriah

Islam, Irigaray, and the Retrieval of Gender, by Abdul Hakim Murad, is one of the more unusual articles I've seen about feminism and Islam. The article is quite long and sometimes difficult to grasp because of the use of academese instead of plain English. But it has some novel insights.

For instance, some radical feminists advocate for "an almost insurrectionist refusal of contact with the male, and the creation of 'women's spaces' as citadels for the cultivation of a true sisterhood" and "a withdrawal from the irreducibly male and abrasive public space into nuclei of relaxed female sorority". Islamic society, of course, tends to feature separate male and female spaces. As Murad says, "The public space is primarily that of men, who may valorise it over the private; but the latter space is valorised by women, who may regard the public space as morally and spiritually questionable".

Other radical feminists are concerned about "visual theft" of women:

A woman who exposes her charms in public is vulnerable to what might be described as 'visual theft', so that men unknown to her can enjoy her visually without her consent. By covering herself, she regains her ability to present herself as a physical being only to her family and sorority. This view of hijab, as a kind of moral raincoat particularly useful under the inclement climate of modernity, allows a vision of Islamic woman as liberated, not from tradition and meaning, but from ostentation and from subjection to random visual rape by men. The feminist objection to the patriarchal adornment or denuding of women, namely that it reduces them to the status of vulnerable, passive objects of the male regard, makes no headway against the hijab, responsibly understood.

Who would have thought that Islam and radical feminism would have anything in common?

Murad also addresses issues such as Islam's understanding of God as beyond gender, Islam's positive attitude towards marriage and towards sexuality as expressed through marriage (both of these are contrasted with Christianity), and whether various Islamic rules and customs are actually anti-woman.

I expect that just about everybody will find something in this article that either challenges or outrages them, whether Muslim or non-Muslim.

~ Posted by Al-Muhajabah, a member of the reality-based community, at 12:39 PM

Comments

Bin Gregory said:

Total comments: 11 gold star

I'm a big fan of Sh. Abdal-Hakim's writings. That one is particularly good for anybody who has had to suffer through a University women's studies course. Another one of his on gender issues is Boys will be boys. There is a big stash of his writings here at Masud Khan's homepage.

~ Posted at April 27, 2003 08:23 PM | Comment Permalink

Al-Munaqabah said:

Total comments: 996 gold star

I posted about "Boys Will Be Boys" a couple weeks ago. I enjoy reading a really different perspective like Murad's.

~ Posted at April 27, 2003 08:37 PM | Comment Permalink

one of the top five commentors on this blog!

Jonathan Edelstein said:

Total comments: 91 gold star

I'm not sure about the "visual theft" argument. Presumably, a woman who dresses in such a way as to "expose her charms in public" is choosing to be viewed by men, so that the men who do so are neither thieves nor rapists.

I think that either hijab or Western dress can be liberating for women, as long as they have free choice in the matter. Both provide somewhat different freedoms and protections, and it is up to individual women to choose which accord with their own religious and moral preferences.

~ Posted at April 28, 2003 11:25 AM | Comment Permalink

PG said:

Total comments: 64 gold star

There's also a great deal of variety within Western dress, and the dress of other societies. Traditional dress isn't always more modest than Western dress. I'm more comfortable, modesty-wise, wearing jeans and a shirt than I am with a sari -- well, no, actually exposing my stomach is a vanity issue. But it could be about modesty.

As Jonathan said, in the end it boils down to choice. I think this was noted before on this site in a different discussion. Feminism is the right to choose, not just in reproduction but also in how exposed one wishes to be, whether one works in the home or out of it, whether one is a nurse or an engineer.

Any discussion of feminism should begin from this starting point, otherwise it is too likely to turn into "Well, look where feminism has gotten women." How can the abandonment of young mothers by the men who impregnated them be put down as the fault of feminism? Most of those women wouldn't choose to be abandoned. That isn't a problem with feminism, that is a problem with male responsibility.

~ Posted at April 28, 2003 03:26 PM | Comment Permalink

Al-Munaqabah said:

Total comments: 996 gold star

I actually find the views of the radical feminists mentioned in the essay to be rather strange, as far as feminist viewpoints go. But it also does provide an interesting look at how the Islamic society can be seen as feminist in some regards, if you choose to look at it that way.

I wouldn't begin to know how to wrap a sari so that it would stay on properly. I wear modest Western clothes; its the exterior veiling (headscarf, long coat or cloak, and face veil) that I suppose looks like it comes from a Muslim culture. I find the loose styles can easily be adapted to be comfortable in both hot and cold weather. Most of all, I find modest dress to be psychologically empowering smile

And I definitely agree that the woman's free choice is crucial, as I've said elsewhere on several occasions.

veiled4allah: where Islam meets radical feminism

where Islam meets radical feminism

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