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Key arguments from my research

1. The paper argues that the issue is not the emancipation of Muslim women but itis about relocating the struggle for the liberation of women. Privileging the

public over the private has resulted in ranking womens work below male

pursuits. This lament is not one that is unique to Muslim societies but it is

particularly marked in societies in Islamic countries or countries with Muslim

populations.

2. It is a belief in certain circles that veils and modest Islamic dress grant Muslimwomen private spiritual space particularly in the public sphere. Muslim women

who observe the veil should not be pitied but they should be seen as free from

the male gaze and from sexualized attention, and must rightly be understood to

be observing, and drawing pride from three tenets central to the behaviour of a

Muslim: privacy, humility, piety and moderation.

3. The aims of the secular liberal feminists have seemingly been to liberate Muslimwomen completely from the oppressive belief system represented by Islam while

the aims of the Muslim feminist have been ostensibly to free Muslim women

from the oppressive interpretations that govern the Islamic public sphere. It is

evident that young Muslim intellectuals may at times have found an ideological

partner in the liberal feminist stable but this partnership would seem to be a

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tenuous one. It is possible that the resistance articulated by Muslim women in

the face of the hegemonic scholarly interpretations will be lost because they have

been trying to prove, not that the Islamic scholarly interpretations were biased or

prejudiced, but that the injunctions themselves have become irrelevant.

4. The Iranian Revolution: This event not only catapulted Islam to the top of thenon-Muslim world agenda but also the agenda of the Muslim world. The

incident spurred other Muslims, whether they were living in Muslim majority or

minority countries, to consciously adopt a more orthodox lifestyle. This meant

that Muslim men began to stay away from Western styles of dress, like the tie

and Muslim women began to adopt the headscarf and a longer dress length. This

very visible political solidarity was evident in South Africa as well and

manifested itself in other ways too.

5. Amina Wadud-Muhsin presented to the Muslim community in South Africa apicture of Islam that was completely incompatible to the religious orthodoxy that

existed here in 1994. Although South Africa had just emerged from a tumultuous

and somewhat violent period they had not entered the period of introspection

that would be ushered in by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Wadud-

Muhsin was an African-American Muslim woman professor. She inhabited

many worlds that had never before been open to black people, women or

Muslims in South Africa. Therefore in many ways she represented a complete

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unknown, a break with tradition that was too soon. In her hijab she represented

to the conservative Muslim clergy in the Cape the perfect picture of Muslim

womanhood. Or so it would seem. But then she started speaking, in the mosque,

on a Friday, in the main hall. In fact she has not stopped speaking.

6. This conflation between liberation and feminism did not bode well for theMYMs advocacy campaign and was eventually seen by the more orthodox

South African Muslim society as being a propaganda tool for militant western

style feminism.1

1 Ibid. p. 9.