30 RIGHTS OF MUSLIM WOMEN

Traditional Islamic teachings support a surprisingly progressive stance on women’s rights, according to Khan’s searching brief for a Muslim feminism.

The author, founder of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, cites verses from the Quran and the Hadith, writings by religious scholars and jurists, and latter-day feminist intellectuals to argue that Islam reserves 30 crucial rights for women that have often been overlooked in Muslim society. These include the right to exercise political leadership (the Quran portrays the Queen of Sheba as the model of a wise ruler, Khan notes); the rights to freedom of speech, a secular education, and a career (the Prophet Muhammad’s first wife, Khadijah, was a merchant trader who used her wealth to support his religious mission); the rights to not be subjected to a forced marriage or child marriage, to divorce, and to have access to contraception and abortion (scriptures permit the termination of pregnancies up to the 17th week of gestation, the author contends); the rights to travel freely without a male escort and to wear—or not wear—a hijab; and the right to protection against sexual assault, domestic violence, genital mutilation, and honor killings. Challenging stereotypes of Islamic social repression and sex-based constraints, Khan depicts the early Muslim world as inquisitive, humane, attuned to female happiness in every respect (“The Prophet counseled men, ‘not to fall upon their wives like beasts, rather to start it with stimuli for both, such as caresses and gentle sayings,’” she observes), and full of strong women like the Prophet’s youngest wife, Aisha, the author of many hadiths and a formidable leader who commanded an army in battle. (The author argues that Aisha was an adult woman when she married the Prophet, not a 9-year-old child bride as tradition holds.) Khan’s prose is lucid, insightful, and viscerally evocative of women’s struggle for equality. (“He threatened to throw acid in my face before others did….It wasn’t just about my hair; it was a fight for my independence.”) The result is a stimulating exploration of Islamic doctrine that will encourage fresh thinking and debate.

A compelling case for recognizing women’s freedom and fulfillment as centerpieces of Islamic values.