Breaking free from patriarchal appropriation of sacred texts: An Islamic feminist critique of Bol

ABSTRACT This paper is focused on Shoaib Mansoor’s feminist film, Bol (2011), seen as a commentary on religious “absolute explanatory schemes.” 1 Arguing that the film demonstrates how Pakistani patriarchy maneuvers sacred texts to construct comforting illusions for women, this paper uses the theory of Islamic Feminism to unravel the politics of religious interpretation and the discursive influence of Islamic fundamentalism. It notes that the protagonist’s inner conflict is a transgressional act and dragoons her into disrupting socio-religious boundaries. The paper also examines the film's confessional nature, exposing gender inequalities and injustices exercised through self-authorized religious dogma. Viewers of Bol enter a journey not only through the nodi that confront women and plague contemporary enunciations of Islam, but also through heterogeneous forms of iniquitous oppression, systematic bigotry, forced marriage, and endemic violence. The article concludes that by bridging the gulf between Islam and feminism, women’s rights movements can be effective in the Islamic world.