Feminism in Islam

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Feminism in Islam

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Feminism in Islam
Secular and Religious
Convergences
M A R G O T B A D R A N

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A Oneworld Book
Published by Oneworld Publications 2009
Copyright © Margot Badran 2009
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available
from the British Library
ISBN 978–1–85168–556–1
Typeset by Jayvee, Trivandrum, India
Cover design by Lyn Davies
Printed and bound in the USA by Thomson Shore Inc.
Oneworld Publications
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Oxford OX2 7AR
England
www.oneworld-publications.com
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find out about our latest titles and special offers at:
www.oneworld-publications.com

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C O N T E N T S
Preface
vii
Introduction
1
Part I: Egypt – Late Nineteenth to End of the Twentieth
Centuries: First Century of Feminism
1. Competing Agenda: Feminists, Islam, and the State in
17
Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Egypt
2. Women, Qasim Amin, and the Rise of Feminist
55
Discourse
3. From Consciousness to Activism: Feminist Politics in
65
Early Twentieth-Century Egypt
4. Expressing Feminism and Nationalism in
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Autobiography: The Memoirs of an Egyptian
Educator
5. Independent Women: More Than a Century of
116
Feminism in Egypt
6. Gender Activism: Feminists and Islamists in Egypt
141
7. Body Politic(s): Women, Power, and Sexuality in Egypt
168
8. Gender Journeys into Arabic
192

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vi Contents
Part II: Muslim World – Late Twentieth to Twenty-First
Centuries: Widening Circles, New Directions
9. Towards Islamic Feminisms: A Look at the Middle East
215
10. Islamic Feminism: What’s in a Name?
242
11. Unifying Women: Feminist Pasts and Presents in Yemen
253
12. Shar‘ia Activism in Nigeria in the Era of Hudud
279
13. Between Secular and Islamic Feminism(s): Reflections
300
on the Middle East and Beyond
14. Islamic Feminism on the Move
323
Index
339

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P R E F A C E
A few years ago it was suggested that I bring together some of my
scattered work for publication in a single volume. With the expand-
ing interest in feminism in Muslim societies, both from within
the academy and the broader public, I decided to heed the suggestion.
Here I present a selection of articles on feminism in Egypt and in
other Muslim societies that I have written over the past two decades.
Many chapters originated as articles that grew out of public lectures
and conference papers presented in different parts of the world,
with many subsequently published in scholarly journals and books.
A few chapters originated as essays appearing in the popular press
and specialized bulletins. Several of the recent pieces have also
appeared on the web in various e-publications. One article is
published here for the first time, and another appears for the first
time in English. I draw attention in endnotes to some of my work
which I would like to have included here but could not for lack
of space.
Placing works such as these, which were composed at different
moments, in juxtaposition, can provoke new readings of the feminist
past and present. The works gathered are “of their time,” giving win-
dows into the building of women’s history, and as such can, in part, be
read historiographically. I have indicated dates of prior publication or
original presentation of works at the end of each chapter. I would also
like to note that in a collection of pieces that were composed over a
long span of time and that were meant to stand on their own, a certain
repetition and overlap is to be expected. I have gathered this material
together in a single book in the hope that it will be of interest to stu-
dents, scholars, and a wider readership.

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viii Preface
Assembling this collection has brought back memories stretching
back over a long time, evoking moments of enthusiasm and hope, of
anxiety and despair, as I proceeded from enthusiastic graduate stu-
dent along the bumpy road forward at a moment when some of us
were trying to create the new discipline of women’s studies and the
new related field of women’s history. By now women’s studies is a
well-established discipline, or “inter-disciplinary discipline” that has
secured its place within Middle East studies and Islamic studies in the
United States, parts of the Middle East, and the broader Muslim
world. New questions continue to be asked and new methodologies
to be devised as the field is constantly expanding and is being taken
into exciting new directions by both established scholars and newer
generations entering the field. It is a rich and dynamic time.
It is a happy moment when bringing a book to close to thank peo-
ple for their contributions on many fronts. Because the list is too long
and the line goes back so far, I issue a most sincere general thanks to
colleagues who have been an important part of this broad venture and
to friends and family who have sustained me along the way. I would,
however, like remember and thank those who helped me early on. I
mention with gratitude three mentors – all male, it will be noted, in
the days when women were scarce in the academy – who played a role
in facilitating the rise of women’s studies by encouraging their
persistent students: Carl Brown, who taught me at Harvard; Yehia
Hashim, who taught me at al-Azhar University; and Albert
Hourani, who taught me much as he supervised my D.Phil. thesis at
Oxford University. While at Oxford I joined the Women’s Social
Anthropology Group which Shirley Ardener organized, and would
like to register my appreciation to her and to the other women who
provided a special atmosphere in which to share our work. I also
express gratitude to the many women I met and worked with through
the Berkshire Women’s History Conference (revived as an organiza-
tion in the 1960s) for creating vibrant triennial conferences where we
shared work at a moment when the academy at large, including area
studies, was wary of the new venture of women’s history and women’s
studies, and which still continues to be at the cutting-edge of women’s
studies. While doing research on first-wave feminism in Egypt count-
less women helped me in so many ways and were living, remembering
repositories of precious knowledge of the feminist past. In particular
here I point to Saiza Nabarawi and Hawa Idriss (a long list of others is
recounted in my book Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the

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Preface ix
Making of Modern Egypt). Over the years in Egypt and elsewhere in
the Muslim world, colleagues who form part of the large silsila (chain)
of women’s studies scholars and feminist activists are too numerous
to even begin to name in this preface. I have, however, acknowledged
many in chapter endnotes.
I have received numerous fellowships and grants for which I
remain grateful and am pleased to acknowledge. These include
awards from the American Research Center in Egypt, the American
Institute for Yemeni Studies, the Research Institute in Turkey, the
Fulbright Foundation (for several fellowships, the most recent being
the New Century Scholars award), the Annenberg Research Institute,
the Ford Foundation, the Institute for the Study of Islam in the
Modern World (ISIM), the Rockefeller Center at Bellagio, the Social
Science Research Council, and the United States Institute of Peace.
The support of these organizations has greatly facilitated my research
in numerous locations and provided me with extended opportunities
to engage in the give and take of exchange and debate that has been
invaluable to me and for which I thank all who were most generous
with their time and ideas.
I have put the finishing touches on this book while a senior fellow
at the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding
at Georgetown University and would like to thank John Esposito, the
founding director, and other colleagues for their welcome and the
staff for their help. At Georgetown University Library I thank Brenda
Bickett, bibliographer for Islamic & Middle Eastern studies, for her
swift and generous assistance, as well as the many reference librarians
who steered me in the right direction. In bringing this book to a close
it gives me special pleasure to thank those at Oneworld Publications
who have made this book a reality: Novin Doostdar, founder and
director of Oneworld, for his enthusiasm for this project and more
broadly for playing a key role in supporting the development of
Islamic studies, and within this field, women’s and gender studies;
Omid Safi, supportive scholar and energetic series editor at
Oneworld; Kate Smith, production manager, and Mary Starkey, the
sensitive copy-editor of this volume. Finally, I thank Ali Badran, who
has been there from the very beginning of my engagement with
feminism.

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