Equality, liberation, and justice are actively preserved, not merely obtained and expected to survive unchecked and abandoned; thus, a power struggle over the applications of Quranic interpretation will always prevail with relevance in the future as it has for the previous centuries. As the feminist message of the Qur’an is exposed, the justification for gender …
Continue reading Reclaiming Shari’ah: (Part III) the Significance
Discrepancy between the ideal vision of an Islamic state as one that adheres fully to the employment of the shari’ah as perfect law embodying the integrity of Islam and the reality of the actual implementation amounting unimpressively to policing women’s bodies and exercising a pre-Islamic model of social gender relations is often attributed to Muslim …
Continue reading Reclaiming Shari’ah: (Part II) the Opponents
While nearly all Muslims believe with their own understanding the Islamic scholars who claim that justice and equity are intrinsically incorporated into Islamic principles and thus the shari’ah (the laws derived from those principles), most countries that claim to be guided by the shari'ah do not reflect these laws of justice and equity, especially not--despite …
If you’re unfamiliar with this little routine (since it’s been a while since I’ve written a post like this) long story short(ened): the majority of Muslims believe that one cannot perform the ablution ritual before prayers with nail polish on her fingernails because the polish creates a barrier between her nails and the water, thus …
Continue reading I am menstruating, so nail polish obviously.
A common practice before the introduction of Islam—and continuing afterward illegally despite severe restrictions by the Qur’an on the gratuities of men in pre-Islamic divorce—was for a man to perpetually divorce his wife, each time pretending to take her back and divorcing her again to coerce her either to surrender her dower for autonomy or …
Continue reading Quranic Verses and Misconceptions: Divorce and Male Privilege
Recently a friend of mine sent me a 25-minute video in the mail titled “We Will Not Be Hidden” about disabled Muslims and the (lack of) accessibility in mosques. Most of those who spoke in the video made points I had heard; then one woman mentioned that she would love to actively contribute to her …
When I was very little, I attended Quranic classes at the mosque with other small children. On one occasion, I stood lined up for prayer while the instructor lectured on prayer etiquette. It was midsummer in California. The heat was almost unbearable. My hair was uncovered, but I was wearing a sweater, and I felt …
the fatal feminist 