Muslema Purmul – The Concept of Feminism And Islam

			We need to start by asking some
basic questions, who's Islam?
		

			Who's feminism? Who is speaking
for Islam and who is speaking for
		

			feminism? These questions remain
unaddressed in most debates,
		

			whether in academia, media or
activist forums,
		

			who are we talking about now, as
far as who's feminism, just doing
		

			a basic search, and this is not,
you know, I'm not a gender studies
		

			major, but just doing some basic
research on it, there's, I found
		

			at least 29 different forms.
There's Amazon feminism, anarcho
		

			feminism, cultural feminism,
difference feminism, eco feminism,
		

			equality feminism, essentialist
feminism, feminism, feminism and
		

			women of color, first feminism,
fourth feminism, French feminism,
		

			lesbian feminism, liberal
feminism, Marxist, socialist
		

			feminism, material feminism,
moderate feminism, pop feminism,
		

			post colonial feminism, and there
are more so
		

			when we say, like, What do you
mean by feminism? There's, they
		

			literally have no ijma about every
about anything. There's no
		

			consensus. There's no like, this
is what we're about, that all of
		

			them will say, Yeah, that's what
we're about. Because there's,
		

			there's a difference of agreement
within that movement, and that's
		

			there and they acknowledge it. One
of my teachers used to say, beware
		

			of plastic words. And a plastic
word is a word that means a
		

			different thing to every person
who uses it, not that it evokes
		

			different emotions, but it
actually like denotes something
		

			different according to the person
who uses it. As an example
		

			different when people are talking
about, oh, this would be progress.
		

			Even though progress is a general
word, it can often be a plastic
		

			word, because it means it denotes,
in that context, something
		

			different for the person who's
using it. So it's good to actually
		

			spell out what it is a person is
advocating specifically. Right
		

			with feminism, it's become like
that. It's become a word that you
		

			actually cannot define
definitively,
		

			and there are many definitions of
them. One of the things that the
		

			author, the researcher in the
Forbes magazine, mentioned was
		

			that faith based communities have
a problem with the word equal now
		

			we as Muslims believe that
spiritually, we're all created
		

			equal. We recognize that as on a
spiritual level, we were created
		

			equal, but it might be a little
taboo to say this, but we also
		

			believe that Allah has privileged
both genders.
		

			There is male privilege and
there's also female privilege. We
		

			do have patriarchy, but we also
have matriarchy. There's a Fadl,
		

			right? There's a Fadl that's given
to men in certain regards, and
		

			there's a Fadl that's given to
women in certain regards. And
		

			then, even in the Quran, I can't
consciously advocate for quote,
		

			unquote, equal on a social level,
especially when we have the verse,
		

			Walesa, untha, right, and the male
is not like the female. Just side
		

			comment here. The interesting
thing about this verse, it doesn't
		

			say that the female is not like
the male. It says that the male is
		

			not like the female, kind of
linguistically, it puts the female
		

			as the standard just saying
		

			this so. So there's a we have.
There are, there are ways that
		

			Allah has privileged women and
mothers, the female in general,
		

			over other, over the over over
men. And there are ways that Allah
		

			has privileged men over women, and
he has made that as a compliment,
		

			if we as women acknowledge our own
privilege, and if we as women
		

			honor the god given privilege and
actually advocate for those
		

			privileges, honestly, it would
heal the whole society.
		

			I'm not going to ask just for my
rights. I'm actually going to ask
		

			for my divine privileges.