Women and Islamic Movements

Abstract

Muslim women have long been the backbone of the development of Islam, including Islamic thoughts, practices, and movements. This chapter focuses on the complex trajectory of women’s movement and women’s activism in various Islamic movements, including their struggle for women’s rights. Despite their extensive contributions, Muslim women’s roles in the development of Islamic thoughts, practices, and movements are often overlooked. Establishing female religious authority, for example, has been an issue in many Muslim countries since the advent of Islam and throughout its development. Meanwhile those who have spoken on behalf of Islam, from its earliest days, were not only men but also women (see Krämer and Schmidtke 2006; Künkler and Nisa 2018). Both men and women have shared their thoughts and expertise to their Muslim fellows, becoming the sources of guidance for Muslims throughout Islamic history. In addition, Muslim women have been active in forming their own Muslim organisations and have become important agents in diverse Islamic movements ranging from ultra conservative to moderate and progressive movements. However, studies on religious authorities often mention Muslim women and their movements only as an appendix of men’s religious authorities, though theoretically women and men hold the same responsibility to understand and transmit religious knowledge.1 This chapter analyses Muslim women and their religious activism, both as individuals or part of diverse Islamic and Islamist movements. It cannot not be all-inclusive because of the complexity and immensely diverse affiliations and movements that Muslim women have been a part of to date. It also touches on but does not intend to problematise historical debates of women’s presence and their roles in the early community. Rather, this chapter will briefly