Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam

The Islamic tradition has always been flexible, changing over time and constantly adapting to the different societies Muslims find themselves in. Few Muslims today would abide by the fatwa against the printing press under the Ottomans. Moreover, although Islamic law legislates for slavery and child marriage, only a vanishing minority of Muslims consider these practices acceptable today - and some will even argue that Islam never permitted them. Yet some issues, like the prohibition on female-led prayer and female interfaith marriage seem curiously impervious to change. Why is that? Through a mixture of interviews with ordinary Muslims in Texas and critical analysis of contemporary and historical scholarship, Shehnaz Haqqani demonstrates the gendered dimensions of change and negotiation in Islamic tradition. She argues that a reliance on a mostly-male scholarly consensus means that the 'tradition' preserves male privilege at the expense of justice for Muslim women.

Review:

'In this powerful and essential work on Islamic gender ethics, Shehnaz Haqqani skillfully engages both the classical textual tradition and the lived realities of contemporary Muslims. Presenting Islamic tradition as a dynamic process in which everyday Muslims arrive at their own senses of the negotiable and non-negotiable, Haqqani rethinks and retheorises the mechanics of Islamic ethical and legal thought in real Muslim lives. For anyone interested in questions of gender and tradition in Islam, especially at the level of real-life communities, this book is required reading.' Michael Muhammad Knight, author of The Taqwacores and The Five Percenters

'Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam is essential reading. With this compelling account of how lay American Muslims make sense of controversial issues from sexual slavery to woman-led prayer, Shehnaz Haqqani shows how what is deemed sacrosanct and immutable, and what is considered amenable to change over time, involves gender and power. By taking ordinary Muslims' perspectives seriously, she reshapes our ideas of how Islamic tradition is formulated and lived out in and beyond the twenty-first century West.' Kecia Ali, author of Sexual Ethics and Islam