Sisters in Islam: A Voice for Everyone

by Zainah Anwar

Our first open letter was published in 1990 in all the major newspapers in the country: it questioned the interpretation and practice of polygamy. With this act, Sisters in Islam paved the way for the Malaysian lay public to question, challenge, criticize and offer alternative views on laws, policies, and pronouncements made in the name of Islam.

We justified our right to have our voices heard and our concerns considered on the following grounds:

•   We assert that, given the use of Islam as a political ideology and a source of laws and policies to govern our lives, Islam can no longer remain the exclusive preserve of the ulama [traditionally-trained religious scholars].

•   We point out that there exists in the rich and complex Islamic juristic heritage a diversity of positions and interpretations on a whole range of issues. Therefore, the one position taken by the religious authorities may not necessarily be the only "authentic" Islamic position.

•   We stress that there is a difference between what is the revealed word of God and what is human understanding of the word of God. The former is divine, the latter is fallible and changeable in accordance with changing times and circumstances.

Democratic advocacy through religious knowledge

Sisters in Islam began as a research and advocacy group with a focus on interventions in the law- and policy-making process. We write memoranda to the government on law and policy reform, as well as open letters in the press on current issues. Our aim is to generate informed public debate on these issues and to build a constituency that will support a more enlightened interpretation of Islam on specific matters in contention.

Central to our advocacy work is our research into the interpretation of the Qur'an and the juristic literature. That work feeds into our writing and press statements on contentious issues where conservative religious authorities or Islamic movements are pushing for laws and policies that discriminate against women or violate fundamental liberties. This work is important, because first, we are believers, and as believers we want to fight for change from within our religion. Second, the knowledge that the Qur'an supports the universal values of equality, justice, and a life of dignity for women is so empowering and liberating to us that it gives us the courage and conviction to stand up, speak out in public, and challenge those who proclaim, in the name of God, obscurantist views that discriminate against women and are detrimental to the best interests of a modernizing, industrializing, multi-racial and multi-religious society.

In recent years, our advocacy and research work has expanded from the area of women's rights to issues of democracy and fundamental liberties. This is a natural progression as it becomes increasingly clear that without that democratic space and right to speak out and offer alternative views, and without respect for the fundamental liberties of citizens in a democratic society, the space to speak on women's rights would eventually disappear. Thus, we have taken public positions on critical issues such as freedom of religion and freedom of expression.

Another important strategy is public education to raise awareness and build an essential core group of activists and opinion-makers. We organize a monthly study session on topical issues in Islam, conduct a monthly training workshop on women's rights in Islam, offer an annual public lecture series by prominent progressive Islamic scholars, and mount a biennial regional workshop on key aspects of Islam and women's rights.

As an advocacy group, our success and ability to mobilize, support, and influence laws and policies made in the name of Islam is very dependent on an effective networking strategy. We network with key state actors and NGOs, especially women's groups, human rights groups, and Islamist groups. We work closely with the media to maintain the space for our voice to be heard and to air debate on emerging issues.

Backlash

Of course, our achievements have come at a cost. The work that we do is considered controversial. We are often attacked and condemned by the Islamic party, Islamist activists, and others in government and the media who don't agree with what they see as our liberal Islam or our feminist perspective on issues. They say these are nothing but alien Western values that we are trying to impose on Islam. The attacks usually take three forms.

First, they undermine our legitimacy by questioning our credentials. These critics say we have no right to speak on Islam because we are not traditionally educated in religious schools, we do not have degrees in Islam from recognised Arab universities, we do not speak Arabic, and we do not cover our heads. To them, the discourse on Islam belongs exclusively to a certain group of Muslims—the ulama with the right education, status, and position. Others do not have the right to express their opinions.

Second, they accuse us of having deviated from our faith. They equate our questioning and challenging of their obscurantist views and interpretations of the Qur'an with questioning the word of God. Therefore, they say, we doubt the infallibility of God and the perfection of God's message. Consequently we are accused of being against Islam. They also accuse us of using our brains, logic, and reason (`aql) instead of referring to the classical exegetical and jurisprudential texts of the early centuries of Islam. They claim that these texts by the great theologians and jurists of centuries past have perfected the understanding of Islam and the "doors of ijtihad" [free inquiry and sincere interpretive effort] should therefore remain closed.

Third, they contend that it is dangerous to offer alternative opinions and interpretations of the religion, as this could confuse the ummah [Muslim public] and lead to disunity. There can only be one interpretation, to be decided upon by the ulama; all citizens must abide by this interpretation. Alternative views that differ from the views of the ulama are an insult to the Qur'an, inculcate hatred against Shari'a, and degrade women, they assert.

It is ironic that many of those who criticize us themselves do not speak Arabic and have not been classically schooled in Islamic sciences. Their right to speak out, however, is not questioned. The issue therefore is not so much who has a right to speak on Islam, but what position a speaker holds on various issues.

Anyone who supports the death penalty for apostasy, the hudud [capital and corporal punishment] law, and an Islamic state based on the imposition of Shari'a, can, it seems, enjoy the freedom and space to speak on Islam even if he or she is a third-rate engineering graduate from a third-rate American university. But anyone who disagrees on these issues, is, it seems, required to have the "right credentials" before he or she can speak out, because what is being said does not serve the political agenda of those who use Islam as a tool to mobilize public support for their political cause.

Every so often there are attempts by segments of the religious authorities to ban those with "no in-depth knowledge" of Islam from expressing themselves publicly on Islamic issues. While some of them recognize the validity of our concerns, they prefer that we raise these issues privately with them behind closed doors, so as not to cause disharmony, alarm, and confusion.

We have publicly resisted such attempts to silence lay Muslim scholars and activists from engaging publicly in the discourse on Islam in Malaysia. For silence reigns among traditional Muslim scholars, who are reluctant to speak out in public for fear of being embroiled in controversy or accused of being anti-Islam by colleagues in the fraternity. Others just prefer to remain detached and isolated in their ivory towers, where they lead privileged and protected lives.

The work is then left to women's groups and lay Muslim scholars and activists like ourselves. Someone must claim the public space for Islam as a religion upholding equality, justice, freedom, and dignity! Yet such groups are often accused of having no knowledge of Islam—even though their effort to offer alternative views is undertaken after much in-depth research and study in consultation with highly qualified Islamic scholars.

If we, as citizens of a democratic country, have the right to participate fully in the economic, social, and political development of the country, why is it that when it comes to religion, we must suddenly shut up and be denied the right of public participation?

We pose this challenge to those in the vanguard of the Islamist movement: If an Islamic state means an authoritarian theocratic political system committed to enforcing androcentric doctrinal and legal rulings, and silencing or even eliminating those who challenge its authority and its understanding of Islam, then why would those whose fundamental liberties are protected by a democratic state support an Islamic state?

If as believers we want to live a life according to the tenets of our faith, a simplistic call to return to an idealized golden age cannot be the answer. And yet the answers can be found within our faith—if only we have the intellectual vigor, the moral courage, and the political will to truly engage with our changing times and circumstances. For us in Sisters in Islam, this is not heresy, but an imperative if religion is to be relevant to our lives today.

Zainah Anwar is Executive Director and founding member of Sisters in Islam, a Malaysian NGO working on women's rights in Islam. She is a member of the Malaysian Human Rights Commission and the author of Islamic Revivalism in Malaysia: Dakwah Among the Students. A longer version of this article was published in May 2004 by Islam21 (www.Islam21.net).