Translated by Irene Cecchi
“Can a Muslim woman be a feminist?”
If you asked someone in the West, a common answer might be full of prejudice and ignorance. Yet, among minarets, sharia courts and grassroots activism, a movement has taken root and continues to evolve: Islamic feminism. This movement emerged from within the Muslim community itself, because —as Islamic feminists argue— the problem isn’t religion, but the patriarchal and distorted interpretation of it.
The term “Islamic feminism” was first used in the 1990s in Iran, when writers Afsaneh Najmabadi and Ziba Mir-Hosseini began promoting a reinterpretation of religious sources in the magazine Zanan.
Islamic feminism claims that sacred texts are not inherently against women; rather, it argues that cultural and traditional interpretations have been used to justify inequality. While it’s undeniable that religious sources carry patriarchal tones, Islamic feminists advocate for a critical, objective rereading of these texts.
The birth of this movement was motivated not only by the need to overcome patriarchal oppression, but also as a response to Western stereotypes. Today, Islamic feminism is trying to find its place in the global feminist landscape but this integration has met with strong resistance and criticism from secular and Western feminist circles which often still see Muslim women as submissive and incapable of emancipation.
The Quran, in the surah An-Nisā (“The Women”), underscores gender equality before Allah, while also emphasizing different social and familial roles. Throughout Islamic history, women have held a variety of roles. For example, the Prophet Muhammad’s first wife, Khadijah, was an entrepreneur and merchant and even his employer. For many Islamic feminists, the only legitimate form of submission is to God (after all, Islam means “submission” in Arabic, in a spiritual sense). This applies equally to men and women. It is not a hierarchy between human beings, but a theological concept, not a political or social one. Islamic feminists analyze sacred texts to show that original Islam upheld the dignity and spiritual equality of women. Some fight for fair divorce rights, especially the simplification of bureaucratic procedures; for the right to education (knowledge, according to the Quran, is a religious duty for both sexes), particularly in more fundamentalist countries.
Despite challenges, Islamic feminism has not remained a utopia since it led to tangible social progress. In Morocco, the work of organizations like the Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc led to the 2004 reform of the family code, the Moudawana, achieving legal equality and raising the minimum marriage age from 15 to 18. In Malaysia, the collective Sisters in Islam has promoted a progressive interpretation of the Quran, advocating for equal rights in marriage and criminal law, and even influencing politics.
Islamic feminism does not ask women to remove the veil but rather the blinders. It doesn’t seek to replicate Western thinking, but to reform from within its own cultural and historical roots. It offers the possibility to say: one can be a woman, Muslim and free. All at once.
On this basis, Western thought could engage more constructively with Islamic feminism instead of distrusting or belittling it, as it does. After all, both movements share the same goal: to speak to and include women. That’s why dialogue between the two should be pursued. Just as Western feminism speaks on behalf of women who demand equality, Islamic feminism gives voice to those who refuse to choose between faith and freedom.
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