Who speaks for Islam? by John L. Esposito

Author:John L. Esposito
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: islam -- 21st century., Islam -- Relations.
Publisher: Gallup Press
Published: 2007-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

that Muslim women must want to be liberated from their faith and protected from Sharia, their saered law.

The widely held perception that Muslim women are oppressed was one of the arguments used to support the invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan. Security and liberty were imperatives — ridding the world of terror cells and those who aid them and spreading democracy and freedom, with women's rights as a centerpiece in this goal of liberation. As First Lady Laura Bush put it in a radio address delivered in November 2001: "The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women." 84

What seems rarely to make its way into this discourse are the voices of Muslim women themselves. How do the majority of women in the Muslim world perceive Islam and their status in Muslim society? Do they feel they need to be liberated? And if so, from what and to what? Do anti-women views correlate with religiosity? Is gender as prominent an issue for them as it is for the West? What role, if any, do women want Islam to play in their daily lives and that of their societies? And perhaps most importantly, what is the best way for those concerned about Muslim women's rights to help?

Do Muslim Women Want Rights?

In the West, Muslim women have frequently been portrayed as victims of a repressive social order so severe that it renders most women in Muslim societies unaware that they even deserve rights. In 1906, a group of women missionaries held a

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