Today, the issue of Muslim women is held hostage between two extreme perceptions: that of a rigid and conservative Islamic approach and that of a Western ethnocentric and Islamophobic approach. These two perceptions lead to an impasse in which it is virtually impossible, given how embedded ideas are fixed to respective certainties, to conceive of a fair and objective debate aimed at clarifying the two perspectives. Nevertheless, recent developments mean that at the heart of this intellectual effervescence, Muslim women are seeking to reclaim their right to speak in order to re-appropriate their own destinies. Indeed, today many female Muslim intellectuals living in Muslim societies and in the West, are questioning a number of negative preconceptions surrounding these issues. In particular, they contest the classical analysis which stipulates inequality between men and women and the attendant discriminatory measures, as being an inherent part of the sacred text by asserting that it is in fact certain biased readings, endorsed by patriarchal customs, which have legitimated these erroneous inequalities.
Author
Asma Lamrabet
Asma Lamrabet is a pathologist in Avicenna Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. She is also an award-winning author of many articles and books tackling Islam and Women’s issues. Her primary focus is on re-reading Holy Scriptures from a woman’s perspective.
From 2004 to 2007, Asma Lamrabet was the coordinator of a research and reflection group on Muslim women and intercultural dialogue in Rabat. In 2008 she was appointed the president of GIERFI (International Group of Studies and Reflection on Women and Islam) in Barcelona. Since 2011 she is the Director of Studies and Research Centre on Women’s Issues in Islam of Rabita Mohammadia des Ulemas – Rabat (www.annisae.ma).
Translator
Myriam Francois-Cerrah
Myriam Francois-Cerrah is a journalist, broadcaster and writer with a focus on current affairs, France and the Middle East.
Former assistant editor of emel magazine, she has had articles featured in the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the New Statesman, Al Jazeera English, The Independent, The New Internationalist, Your Middle East, the Huffington Post, The London Paper, Index on Censorship, The F-word and others.
Currently a post-graduate researcher (DPhil) at Oxford University, focusing on Islamic movements in Morocco, she tutors in Middle East politics. She has a BA in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University and an MA in Arab Studies, specialising in Middle East politics, from Georgetown University.
Her articles and lectures are featured on her blog: http://myriamfrancoiscerrah.wordpress.com
She tweets @MFrancoisCerrah
Published by
Kube Publishing, 2016
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Today, the issue of Muslim women is held hostage between two extreme perceptions: that of a rigid and conservative Islamic approach and that of a Western ethnocentric and Islamophobic approach. These two perceptions lead to an impasse in which it is virtually impossible, given how embedded ideas are fixed to respective certainties, to conceive of a fair and objective debate aimed at clarifying the two perspectives. Nevertheless, recent developments mean that at the heart of this intellectual effervescence, Muslim women are seeking to reclaim their right to speak in order to re-appropriate their own destinies. Indeed, today many female Muslim intellectuals living in Muslim societies and in the West, are questioning a number of negative preconceptions surrounding these issues. In particular, they contest the classical analysis which stipulates inequality between men and women and the attendant discriminatory measures, as being an inherent part of the sacred text by asserting that it is in fact certain biased readings, endorsed by patriarchal customs, which have legitimated these erroneous inequalities.