Azza Basarudin

Sisters in Islam and the Struggle

for Gender Justice in Malaysia

Decolonizing Feminisms
Piya Chatterjee

ty

si

r
ve

ni

U
n
hi

as
W
of
on
gt
s
es
Pr

r
ve

ni

Humanizing
the Sacred
ty

si

Sisters in Islam and the Struggle

for Gender Justice in Malaysia

as
W
of

Azza Basarudin

n
hi
on
gt
s
es
Pr

University of Washington Press

Seattle and London

ni

2016 by the University of Washington Press

Printed and bound in the United States of America
19181716 54321

ty

si

r
ve

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,
or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher.

as
W
of

University of Washington Press

www.washington.edu/uwpress

n
hi

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Basarudin, Azza, author.
Humanizing the sacred : Sisters in Islam and the struggle for gender justice
in Malaysia / Azza Basarudin.
pagescm. (Decolonizing feminisms)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-295-99531-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-295-99532-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. FeminismMalaysia. 2. FeminismReligious aspectsIslam.
3. Muslim womenPolitical activityMalaysia. 4. Womens rights
Malaysia. 5. WomenMalaysiaSocial conditions. I. Title.
HQ1750.6.B37 2016
305.4209595dc23
2015029222

on
gt

s
es
Pr

The paper used in this publication is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481984.

To Noerida Othman and Basarudin Abdul Manan

for their love and guidance

ty

si

r
ve

ni

U
n
hi

as
W
of
on
gt
s
es
Pr

Contents

si

r
ve

ni

Acknowledgmentsix
Note on Malay Names, Honorific Titles, and Terminology xiii
List of Abbreviations xv

ty

Introduction
Faith, Self, and Community3

as
W
of

1 Islam, the State, and Gender

The Malaysian Experiment39

n
hi

2 The Politics of the Sacred

Returning to the Fundamentals of Islam75

on
gt

3 In the Path of the Faithful

Activism for Social and Legal Reforms105

5 Negotiating Lives, Crafting Selves

Narratives of Belonging181
6 The Local in the Transnational
Gender Justice and Feminist Solidarities215
Conclusion247
Notes255
References269
Index295

s
es
Pr

4 Who Speaks for Islam?

Religious Authority and Contested Justice143

Acknowledgments

ty

si

r
ve

ni

This book is a collective endeavor. There are many people who have traveled with me on this political journey. It is impossible to thank all of
them, but there are some I wish to mention.
I appreciate the enduring support of colleagues and friends who
read various drafts, provided critical comments, and kept me motivated
with their camaraderie and intellectual integrity. For this and more I
thank Sondra Hale, Lara Deeb, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Nancy Gallagher, Karen Brodkin, Abdullahi An-Naim, Omaima Abou-Bakr, Gerry
Hale, Sarah Tasnim Shehabuddin, Azza Karam, Margot Badran, Michelle
Wolfe, Rachel Adelman, Julia Watts-Belser, Bernadette Brooten, Ann
Braude, Hauwa Ibrahim, Shahla Haeri, Leila Ahmed, and Jane Smith.
I am grateful to my sister-friends for our thought-provoking conversations that helped shape this book: Khanum Shaikh, Elora Chowdhury,
Tina Beyene, Himika Bhattacharya, and Neetu Khanna. Their fighting
spirit and boundless love made the lonely process of writing bearable.
Research for this book was made possible by generous funding from
the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the
National Science Foundation, and the Paula Stone Fellowship. Numerous
UCLA grants and fellowships provided early support for this project. The
Future of Minority Studies (FMS) Postdoctoral Mentoring Fellowship
at Syracuse University and the Womens Studies in Religion Program at
Harvard Divinity School (HDS) provided institutional support and intellectual space to concentrate on writing. I am also grateful to the Center
for the Study of World Religions at HDS, specifically Frank Clooney and
Susan Abraham for providing a lovely home and collegial environment.
This book also benefited from affiliations with Pusat Penyelidikan Wanita

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

ix

ty

si

r
ve

ni

dan Gender (Centre for Research on Women and Gender, KANITA) at the
Universiti Sains Malaysia and Institut Kajian Malaysia dan Antarabangsa
(Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, IKMAS) at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
My heartfelt gratitude goes to the members of Sisters in Islam (SIS).
Despite their busy schedules, they patiently tolerated my presence,
shared their journeys with me, and made my research meaningful. They
inspired me with their dedication to justice. Specifically, I thank Zainah
Anwar, Norani Othman, Nora Murat, Rashidah Hashim, Yati Kaprawi,
Jamilah Ibrahim, Sharifah Zuriah AlJeffri, Askiah Adam, Rose Ismail,
Salbiah Ahmad, Rashidah Abdullah, Masjaliza Hamzah, Shariza Kamarudin, Rashidah Shuib, Rozana Isa, Marina Mahathir, Shanon Shah,
the late Toni Kassim and the late Nik Noriani Nik Badli Shah, Azeezah
Mohideen, Razlina Razali, Hartini Abdullah, and Farha Ajir LaHue. I am
especially grateful to Amina Wadud for her generosity in discussing her
history with SIS. For encouraging my research in Malaysia, I thank Shanthi Tambiah, Cecilia Ng, tan beng hui, Francis Loh, Maznah Mohammad,
Noraida Endut, Chandra Muzaffar, Sumit Mandal, and Sharifah Zaleha
Syed Hassan. Thanks also to the many activists, journalists, state officials, politicians, and lawyers who openly shared their views with me.
I am grateful to Piya Chatterjee, Larin McLaughlin, Jacqueline Volin,
and Tom Eykemans at the University of Washington Press for their
patience and dedication. I am appreciative of two anonymous reviewers for their generous comments and suggestions. It goes without saying that any flaws in the book are my own. I was privileged to be a part
of a fantastic group at the FMS Summer Institute at Cornell University.
They reinvigorated my commitment to scholarship grounded in social
justice. Specifically, I thank Chandra Mohanty, Satya Mohanty, Beverly
Guy-Sheftall, Sharmila Lodhia, Slyvanna Falcon, and Rachel Afi Quinn
for stimulating exchanges during those intense two weeks. Students in
my graduate seminar at Harvard each contributed to this book in their
own way. Sarah Griffiss attention to detail helped transform the manuscript. I thank Kathleen McHugh and Pamela Crespin at the UCLA Center for the Study of Women for providing an academic home for the past
several years.
For their care and unfailing support I am grateful to my families. My
parents belief in me continues to inform every step I take and every deci-

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

xAcknowledgments

ty

si

r
ve

ni

sion I make. My brother Adi, sister-in-law and friend Safiza, and their
beautiful childrenAyman, Adylla, and Aydinfill my life with adventures and laughter. My sister Aida inspired my study of gender and Islam
and together with her husband Andrew Pigott, gave me a home away
from home in Chicago. My grandmothersChe Wan Hassan and Che
Pah Ahmadpassed away during the course of this project but their
resilient spirits live on. I thank Judy Francis for her interest in my work
and for never refusing to provide emergency childcare. To Myla Zuri, who
often plays under my desk while I write, you nourish my soul and are a
reminder of everything beautiful. I am deeply indebted to Chris Hartman for his commitment to this project and for pushing me to say what
I mean. I value the life we created and continue to sustain with love and
loyalty, amid all of its complexities.

n
hi

as
W
of
on
gt
s
es
Pr
Acknowledgmentsxi

r
ve

ni

Note on Malay Names, Honorific

Titles, and Terminology

ty

si

In-text citations and bibliographic references to Malay names follow

standard scholarly practice. Malay names are listed in full, with given
name followed by surname or family name. For instance, Saiza Bari is
cited in text as (Saiza Bari 2013) rather than (Bari 2013). In the bibliography, Malay names are alphabetized by first name; for example, Saiza Bari
is alphabetized under s.
The names of my interlocutors, however, are cited in full only at first
mention.
In Malaysia, the federal or state authorities, or a monarch, confers
Malay honorific titles. These titles include Tun (male)/Toh Puan (female),
Datuk Seri (male)/Datin Seri (female), and Tun Sri (male)/Puan Seri
(female). These honorific titles are much coveted, because they elevate a
persons social status. I have chosen not to use any honorific titles in this
book. For instance, Yang Amat Berhormat Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak is
referred to as Najib Razak.
I retain the original Malay spelling for syariah instead of sharia, syariat, syarak, and shariah, kadi instead of qadi, and ulama instead of ulamak. However, I resort to my interlocutors usage of syarak and ulamak
when appropriate.

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

xiii

Abbreviations

Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia)

Allied Coordinating Committee of Islamic NonGovernmental Organizations (Gabungan Pertubuhan
Islam Bukan Kerajaan)
Aliran Kesedaran Negara (National Consciousness
Movement)
Association of Single Mothers
All Womens Action Society
Association of Women Lawyers
Barisan Alternatif (Alternative Front)
Badan Bertindak Anti-Inter Faith Council (AntiInterfaith Council Action Body)
British Broadcasting Corporation
Barisan Nasional (National Front)
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Centre for Egyptian Womens Legal Assistance
Canadian International Development Agency
Coalition of Malaysian NGOs
Convention of the Rights of the Child
Democratic Action Party (Parti Tindakan Demokratik)
domestic violence
Friends of Sisters in Islam
Persatuan Kebangsaan Hak Asasi Manusia Malaysia
(National Human Rights Society)

r
ve

ni

ABIM

ACCIN

on
gt

s
es
Pr

CEWLA
CIDA
COMANGO
CRC
DAP
DV
FOSIS
HAKAM

n
hi

BBC
BN
CEDAW

as
W
of

ASM
AWAM
AWL
BA
BADAI

ty

si
ALIRAN

xv

IFC
IFL
IIUM
IMI
IRF
ISA
ISMA
ISTAC

xviAbbreviations

s
es
Pr

MAMP
MASW
MCA
MCKK
MFL
MIC
MPF
MTUC
MWRAF

on
gt

LGT
MAIS

n
hi

JUST
KBC
KL
KPWKM

as
W
of

JAWI

ty

JAKIM

si

r
ve

ni

JAG
JAG-VAW
JAIS

Inter Faith Council

Islamic Family Law
International Islamic University Malaysia (Universiti
Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia)
Inclusive Mosque Initiative
Islamic Renaissance Front
Internal Security Act
Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (formerly known as Ikatan
Siswazah Muslim Malaysia)
International Institute of Islamic Thought and
Civilization
Joint Action Group for Gender Equality
Joint Action Group against Violence against Women
Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (Selangor Islamic
Department)
Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Department of
Islamic Development Malaysia)
Jabatan Agama Wilayah Persekutuan (Federal Territory
Islamic Religious Department)
International Movement for a Just World
Kelantan Bar Council
Kuala Lumpur
Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan
Masyarakat (Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development)
Large Group Training
Majlis Agama Islam Selangor (Selangor Islamic
Department)
Malaysians against Moral Policing
Malaysian Association of Social Workers
Malayan/Malaysian Chinese Association
Malay College Kuala Kangsar
Muslim Family Law
Malayan/Malaysian Indian Congress
Muslim Professional Forum
Malaysian Trades Union Congress
Muslim Womens Research and Action Forum

NCWO
NEP
NRD
NST
OIC
OSA
OWC
PAS
PEMBELA

ni

PERKASA

s
es
Pr

SOSMA
SUARAM
UDHR
UMNO
WAO
WCC
WDC
WI
WLUML

on
gt

SENADA

n
hi

RELA

as
W
of

PUMPP

ty

PJ
PKI
PKR
PR
PRM
PUM

si

r
ve

PERKIM

National Council of Womens Organisations

New Economic Policy
National Registration Department
New Straits Times
Organisation of the Islamic Conference
Official Secrets Act
Obedient Wives Club (Kelab Isteri Taat Suami)
Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party)
Pertubuhan-Pertubuhan Pembela Islam (Defenders of
Islam)
Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa (Organization of Empowered Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia)
Pertubuhan Kebajikan Islam Malaysia (Muslim Welfare
Organization)
Petaling Jaya
Persatuan Komuniti Ikram
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (National Justice Party)
Pakatan Rakyat (Peoples Alliance)
Parti Rakyat Malaysia (Malaysian Peoples Party)
Persatuan Ulama Malaysia (Ulama Association of
Malaysia)
Persatuan Ulama Malaysia Pulau Pinang (Malaysian
Ulama Association)
Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia (Volunteer Reserve
Corps)
Secretariat for the Advocacy and Empowerment of Muslim Women
Security Offenses (Special Measures) Act 2012
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Voice of the Malaysian People)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
United Malay National Organisation
Womens Aid Organisation
Womens Centre for Change
Womens Development Collective
Wanita Ikram
Women Living Under Muslim Law

Abbreviationsxvii

Humanizing the Sacred

ty
si
r
ve
ni
U

n
hi
as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction
Faith, Self, and Community

ty

si

r
ve

ni

Suhana Khalid, an activist with Sisters in Islam (SIS), was

walking a European journalist out of her office when I caught part of
her conversation: . . . but look at the small changes taking place. As I
explained, our strategy might not appeal to many, but it is fantastic for us.
It has been working for over twenty years, and Im certain it will continue
to work in the future.1 The journalist responded, I understand, but Im
not convinced about the strategys sustainability. Youre up against the
Islamic establishment and trained Muslim scholars. Not to be deterred,
Suhana responded, Were still going strong, shaking things up, and rattling peoples chains. Come back in five years and we might just blow your
mind! The journalist smiled politely but looked unconvinced.
Struck by the rather grandiose tone of her response, I looked at
Suhana and raised an eyebrow, and she winked at me with a slight smile.
After the journalist left, we went into her office and she proceeded to
tell me about the interview, chuckling at the journalists discomfort over
SISs commitment to the strategy of claiming rights for Muslim women
with Islam as a frame of reference. While discussing this matter Suhana
made her convictions clear:

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Islam is an integral part of my life. I can just be secular and use human
rights, but Islam matters to me. SIS founding members feel the same
way, and that is why we decided to advocate for womens rights from

within Islam. In the 1990s at international conferences, liberal Muslims

told us that religion has no place in public life. They said that by working
from within, we are validating the role of Islam in politics, supporting
the lack of separation between Islam and the state, and strengthening
the ulama [scholars of religion] class.2 They said we would never win
3

the battle for Islam because we are entering the ulamas turf. I always
felt that it was a mistake to leave religious matters to the ulama. Our
strategy is based on our context and conviction as believers. It is important for us to produce Islamic knowledge that supports kesaksamaan
[equality] and keadilan [justice]. However, things have changed. Those
who were unsympathetic to us are now seeking our expertise. I think
they realized that their rejection of Islam is based on patriarchal understanding of the religion. We do not believe that Islam is unjust. We do
not believe that God is unjust. While many Muslim women accepted the
patriarchal version of Islam, we never wanted anything to do with it.

ty

si

r
ve

ni

SIS is a nongovernmental organization consisting primarily of Malay

Muslim professional women. The office is in Petaling Jaya, a city close
to Malaysias federal capital, Kuala Lumpur. SIS is dedicated to promoting an understanding of Islam that recognizes the principles of justice,
equality, freedom, and dignity within a democratic nation state.3 It is
internationally renowned and its members include academics, journalists, and artists. The members draw on and engage in feminist interpretations of primary sources of Islamthe Quran and sunna (practices of
the Prophet that include hadith, traditions/narrations)alongside constitutional law and human rights principles as a strategy to advocate for
equality and justice in reforming Islamic law (commonly understood as
syariah). My conversation with Suhana took place in the SIS office.4
Suhanas perspective depicts a staunch belief in a struggle for selfdetermination and human dignity that is spiritually, intellectually, and
politically embedded within an Islamic frame of reference. It is a struggle rooted in the refusal to concede Islam to patriarchal interpretations
that have compromised the rights of Muslim women. These activists are
untangling human corruption from Gods injunction by clarifying the
difference between syariah (literally, the way) as divine will and fiqh (literally, the understanding) as human effort to make sense of the basic
concepts and purposes of syariah (maqasid al-syariah). They are producing and transmitting Islamic knowledge that accounts for womens
experiences and lived realities, as well as shifting cultural and political
landscapes of communities of Muslims.5 They are cultivating in Muslim
women an active interest in reshaping national laws and restructuring
power relations that regulate gender dynamics. Ultimately, their struggle

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

4Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

is to reclaim womens human dignity as believing Muslims and to call

on their communities to reevaluate communal and moral obligations, as
well as to ensure that Islam remains a living religion. That struggle, animated by the courageous voices, passionate minds, and dedicated bodies
of a group of women, is at the heart of this book.
My goals in this book are to demonstrate the possibilities and challenges of translating feminist interpretations of Islam into grounded
activism to effect change in social mores and legal codes, and to illuminate
how womens activism within Islam is a space of dissent and of remaking
Muslim self and identity. I suggest that the shift to feminist interpretation and transmission of Islamic sources by humanizing elements in the
formulation of legal codes generates new meanings of womens rights,
asserts a sharp challenge to institutionalized religious authority, and
reinvigorates faith and piety. I view this shift as fracturing the historical monopoly of textual interpretation in Malaysia and, consequently,
the states authority to define and legislate Islam. The fracturing signifies
how womens activism is seeping through the cracks of religious authoritarianism and causing ruptures in structures of power. My usage of
institutionalized religious authority and religious authoritarianism
refers to the state-controlled bureaucracy that oversees Islamic affairs,
law, and education, as well as propagates and monitors the normative
interpretation of Islam and Muslim practices. Feminist interpretations
refers to how women activists interpret sources of Islam based on their
understanding of Islams message of equality and justice, as well as on
their consciousness of womens subordination in society.
In these interpretive endeavors, women authorize themselves
through a certain measure of ijtihad (independent judgment) to circumvent normative stipulations that marginalize them as producers of
Islamic knowledge. In the process, they decide which aspects of Islamic
tradition to draw upon to establish new relations of religious texts to
cultural and historical contexts. In doing so, these women produce discourses of knowledge and power that move away from privileging patriarchal interpreters and jurists, which contribute to the transformation
of Islamic tradition itself. Eschewing the guiding voices of patriarchal
interpreters, they are claiming the right to interpret the Quran by virtue of a direct relationship with God. As believers, these women assert
the right to reconstitute Islam based on their belief that the sacred text

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction5

ty

si

r
ve

ni

encourages them to exercise their akal (mind or intellect) and pemikiran

rasional (rational faculties). This strategy allows them to call attention
to the corruption from within while creating a space for their feminist
interpretation.
Members of SIS work with an understanding that conceptions of
gender roles and rights as formulated in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) cannot be separated from the historical and cultural processes that produce
exegetes and jurists. Therefore, these conceptions, which are a product
of human agency, are amenable to change according to contemporary
realities. These women are developing a strategy of claiming rights that
combines feminist hermeneutics, constitutional law, and the principles
of human rights to reform laws and public policies. Their strategy is
distinct, as it transforms textual interpretation into a living tradition
through activism by which they claim the right to debate Islam publicly.
The strategy is based on their cultural specificity, social location, professional training, strategic connections, and access to resources. I use cultural specificity to refer to how these women draw from their internal
local elements, or their community, and to how these elements shape
their organizational subcultures and influence their ability to engage
effectively in their community. Moreover, these women draw on transnational ideas and practices and subsequently adapt them to their research
and advocacy. For these women, Islam is a central site for feminist dissent and political activism.
This brings me to my second goal in this book, which is to explore
activism as a space for women to transform themselves into political actors and visible religious subjects in the public sphere. As political activists, these women are intellectually aware, holistically educated,
communally beholden, and realistically committed to social justice. Their
sense of identity and subjectivity is intimately linked to the forces that
shape their existence, the social world they inhabit, and their negotiation of power relations. As Malays who are Muslims, these women belong
to the racial and religious majority who are entitled to special rights
or affirmative action.6 As women living under an increasingly politicized
Muslim society, their gendered bodies bear the brunt of discriminatory
laws while they themselves are excluded from the processes that produce
such laws. As activists struggling for the right to self-determination, they
subvert normative expectations of Malay and Muslim womanhood. These

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

6Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

women activists multiple positioning can be aptly described as outsider-within (Collins 1986) in that they have internal knowledge of their
faith community yet are relegated to the margins of power and excluded
from defining communal ethics. They occupy a state of nonbelonging,
and this vantage point provides them with both the adequate insight and
the critical distance with which to produce a distinctive knowledge of
self, family, and community.
By connecting the personal-spiritual with the political, I demonstrate
that SISs pursuit of equality and justice is not simply about asserting
agency la liberal feminist conceptions of individual rights and autonomy. Their pursuit is not necessarily about the overthrow of patriarchy,
but is rooted in a deeper desire to practice a lifestyle that balances faith
with reason, and personal values with public interest. It is about drawing on their cultural and religious values to shape notions of rights and
responsibility. I am especially interested in how these women are cultivating a self that balances religious specificities and a universal ethics of
rights. They strive to inhabit a Muslimness, an identity that has to be
struggled for by learning and striving to self-actualize outside the limits
of religious authoritarianism. In turn, their process of becoming political
subjects destabilizes the perception that there is a single concrete way of
being Muslim or practicing Islam. These activists are reinvigorating the
Malay culture and undermining the ways in which the Malaysian state
reinforces its role as guardian of religious and cultural authenticity.7

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

Managing Islam in Malaysia

s
es
Pr

Malaysia is a multicultural and multiconfessional country with a population of twenty-nine million people, consisting of a majority of ethnic
Malays and minorities of ethnic Chinese and Indians, as well as indigenous people. The country is divided into thirteen states and three Federal Territories. The Constitution defines Malays as Muslims, and Islam
is the official religion of the federation. While ethnic minorities are
allowed to practice their religions, they do so under strict condition that
they do not propagate their beliefs to Muslims. The state monitors interpretations of Islam that deviate from the sanctioned version through a
centralized agencyJabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM, Department of Islamic Development Malaysia)that is responsible for promotIntroduction7

ty

si

r
ve

ni

ing the creation of a progressive and morally upright umma [community

of Muslims] based on Islamic principles in line with the national vision
(JAKIM 2006). The management of Islam in Malaysia is complex and multifaceted due to both federal and local regulation of the lives of Muslims
by various institutions. The country has a parallel justice system, which
includes both civil law (at the federal level) and syariah (at the state level).
All citizens are bound by civil law, which governs matters related to the
Constitution, crime, property, contracts, and more. Muslims are bound
by syariah in personal and family matters such as marriage, divorce, custody and guardianship, matrimonial properties, and so on. Each state has
its own jurisdiction over syariah through enactments or ordinances.
This former British colony has successfully transformed itself from
a predominantly agricultural economy to one of Southeast Asias most
prosperous financial, telecommunications, education, and high-tech
manufacturing hubs. Of late, the country has been seeking to become
the global leader for halal food products (prepared according to Muslim
dietary law) and the Islamic banking finance industry. Under the leadership of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, state-defined Islam
was hailed as modern and moderate, where nationalism, capitalism,
and Islam thrived in a demokrasi terpimpin (guided democracy). Given its
Muslim citizens ability to balance Islamic obligations alongside mega
development projects, Malaysia has often been lauded as a model for
the coexistence of Islam and modernity. While modernization policies
expanded education and employment opportunities for women, conventional perceptions of gender remained unchallenged in society.
Religious discourse has customarily been the exclusive domain of
ulama. They are venerated as the sole authorities for interpreting the
Quran and molding pious Muslims and are generally independent of state
patronage. However, in states where Islamic credentials define political
power, the ulama class can be called upon to provide Islamic legitimacy
to sustain the political ideology of the state (Saeed 2003). As such, the
state and the ulama class mutually buttress and reinforce the organization of society. This also allows the state to claim exclusive control over
the meaning and practice of Islam and to silence dissenting voices. The
trend of religious monopoly is tied to notions of expert knowledge, and
only those who are authorized with consent of the state set the parameters of the discourses and practices. Those speaking outside of permis-

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

8Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

sible boundaries are branded apostates and threatened with punitive

measures under draconian laws. Ulama instill a non-expert complex
in Muslims that begins at an early age through state-sanctioned Islamic
subjects in school curriculums, mosque sermons, publications, and religious television programs. This effort is anchored by a majority of Muslims who subscribe to the practice of taqlid (uncritical acceptance of legal
precedent set by religious scholars or schools of thought).
The Islamist political party, All-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS, Parti
Islam SeMalaysia), has historically been the main opposition to the
state. In 2008, PAS joined Pakatan Rakyat (PR, the Peoples Alliance), a
triparty opposition alliance headed by de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.
PR has shaken the ruling coalitionsBarisan Nasional (BN, National
Front)political dominance by gaining control of state assemblies and
seats in Parliament in two general elections. PAS aspires to capture state
power and implement hudud laws to create an Islamic social alternative
that includes promoting gender segregation and veiling.8 Not to be outdone by PAS, the state embarked on extensive Islamization campaigns
that included strengthening religious bureaucracy and the role of ulama,
creating Islamic banking, building the International Islamic University
Malaysia (IIUM, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia) and the Institute of Islamic Understanding (IKIM, Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia), and establishing Islamic rehabilitation centers for apostates. Various
state initiatives have called for a return to family values, which subsume
womens rights under the discourse of family and national development.
Additionally, a significant portion of progressive reforms on polygamy
and divorce in the Islamic Family Law (IFL) (Federal Territories) Act of
1984 were repealed because religious leaders perceived them as too radical and in disharmony with the traditional syariah (Mohammad Hashim
Kamali 2000, 1213). The states Islamization projects have deepened not
only ethnic but also gender differences and have led to religious-based
citizenship status.
The contestation between the state and the opposition for political power and the flow of transnational political Islam in the context
of the War on Terror have resulted in the intensification of right-wing
Malay ethnonationalism and Islamic orthodoxy. Since Islam is intrinsic to Malay identity, this particular wave of nationalism has not only
witnessed the bellicose reaffirmation of Malay supremacy but, more

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction9

ty

si

r
ve

ni

importantly, the desire for syariah to replace the Constitution as the

supreme law of the land. A recent, unprecedented rise in intrareligious
and interreligious conflicts in relation to apostasy, minority rights, and
the destruction of minority houses of worship has called into question
Malaysias modern and moderate Islam. Each of these developments
has heightened the ways in which womens bodies have become a tool for
authenticating piety and morality, as well as how (hetero) sexuality has
become a normative marker of productive citizenship. SISs struggle to
reform laws and policies, then, must be viewed through the imbrication
of religion, racial and ethnic politics, the legal system, nation-building
policies, and electoral arrangement. I detail the role of the state in managing Islam and the political culture that shapes the activism of SIS in
the following chapter. In the remainder of the introduction, I provide the
theoretical and methodological framework on which this study is based
to demonstrate how a group of women crafts a model of activism that
merges experiences and lived realities, feminist interpretation of Islamic
sources, and local political culture.

as
W
of

Sisters in Faith, Sisters in Struggle

n
hi

On a particularly sweltering day in mid-July, I headed to the SIS office in

the bustling city of Petaling Jaya (PJ). PJ was designed in the 1950s as a
satellite town to accommodate the growth of Kuala Lumpur. Bungalows,
coffee shops, hawker stalls, food courts, factories, and strip malls dot
the landscape. I was anxious yet excited. This was the first time I would
be introducing myself to the staff, and the day I anticipated beginning
fieldwork. Driving carefully along a tree-lined residential street, I looked
for a signboard to indicate the location of the office.9 I must have circled
the block several times before realizing I had driven by the office twice
and missed the inconspicuous sign in the front window of a remodeled
bungalow (fig. I.1). I parked my car on the street, walked into the gated
compound, and rang the bell.
A young woman in her mid-twenties wearing a floral tudung, a typical Malaysian scarf that covers the head, came to the door. I introduced
myself, and she smiled warmly. Staff members had been told to expect
me. I waited in the reception area and took in my surroundings. The receptionists work space and a table displaying the organizations publications

on
gt

s
es
Pr

10Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

U
as
W
of

I.1. SIS office, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

n
hi
on
gt
s
es
Pr
I.2. SIS publications for sale in the office, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

ty

si

r
ve

ni

were lined up against the left wall, close to the entrance (fig. I.2). To the
right were a couple of leather sofas and a coffee table. The focal point of
the reception area was an atrium of potted plants and river rocks. The sun
was streaming through the atriums open ceiling at different angles, creating an abundance of natural lighting. A glass-covered enclave in the center of the atrium functioned as a kitchen. The walls were decorated with
feminist posters, artwork, and Islamic calligraphy, including an arresting satirical framed poster of a regional meeting of the Muslim League
against Polygamy. There were seven rooms in the house; four functioned
as small offices, and the rest served as a library and resource center, a meeting room, and a counseling and legal aid room.
The idea for SIS originated in the late 1980s when a group of friends
came together to discuss womens status under Islamic family law. Officially registered in 1993 as SIS Forum Berhad, the organization was the
first to publicly debate the question of womens rights in Islam. Today, the
small, elite organization remains the primary voice promoting the rights
of Muslim women in Malaysia. While there are many NGOs concerned
with Muslim womens issues, SIS is the sole organization that approaches
the rights of women in Islam from the perspective of equality and justice.
SIS is structured as an invitation-only membership to preserve a safe
space for decision making and to protect their highly contested activism.
There were eight founding members: five Malays, an American, an Australian, and a Singaporean. Two of the founding members are converts
to Islam. As a result of criticism of its elite status, and in an effort to
broaden its appeal, SIS has recruited a younger generation of employees
from diverse social strata and educational backgrounds, and with a variety of life experiences. Although it is an unwritten policy to recruit only
Muslims, several non-Muslims have been employed as project managers
and researchers due to the limited pool of talented Muslim applicants.
Membership has been extended to men who demonstrated commitment
to SISs vision; they are known as associate members.10 Shortly before
I concluded my field research, the category Friends of Sisters in Islam
(FOSIS) was created to broaden the national support base. For a small fee,
FOSIS are invited to events and informed of the organizations activities.
A former local newspaper editor conferred the name Sisters in Islam
on the organization. The founding members originally wanted to call
themselves the Putri Islam (Daugthers of Islam) after a group of Paki-

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

12Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

stani women organizing in Karachi.11 A few founding members attended

a Quranic interpretation workshop organized by the international network of Women Living Under Muslim Law (WLUML). At the time of their
return to Kuala Lumpur, there had been an uproar about polygamy in the
local newspapers about the decision of a syariah court to deny a man the
right to a polygamous marriage. A majority of Muslims supported mens
right to polygamy. The organization decided that gender-inclusive and
justice-oriented perspectives needed to enter the debate. They wrote a
letter to local Malay (Utusan Malaysia) and English-language (Star) newspapers, demonstrating their grasp of the interpretation of Islamic texts.
They deliberated whether to sign their letters as Wanita Pembela Islam
(Women Defending Islam) or Putri Islam, but decided on the latter.
The group wanted to reach a wide audience, and chose to republish their
letter in another English-language newspaper (New Straits Times, NST).
Since the group was not allowed to republish the same content under
the same name, the NST editor suggested the letter be modified and
the name changed to Sisters in Islam because he viewed the group as
women bringing change through Islamic sisterhood. The women thought
the name was fitting and adopted it.
SISs activism is divided into two segments: program and advocacy.
The program consists of legal services (a legal clinic, a legal literacy column, and a court watch), public education (study sessions, training
workshops, and public lectures), and research. The legal clinic offers pro
bono services three times a week, and the legal literacy column in Utusan Malaysia, the mainstream Malay newspaper, addresses family law
issues such as divorce, custody, maintenance, polygamy, inheritance, and
so on. The court watch program monitors and documents syariah court
proceedings. The public education program is aimed at raising awareness, building alliances with grassroots organizations, and demystifying
intricate religious discourses and legal processes. Study sessions such
as Spirit of Syariah and Historical Fiqh, Islamic Family Law from the
Legal and Live Reality Point of Views, and Principles of Syariah provide
the women with a comprehensive understanding of the formulation and
implementation of IFL. SIS also operates Talian TeleNisa, a help line for
legal counseling. SISs advocacy concentrates on law reform (memorandums) and media advocacy (letters to the editor, press statements, and
appeals and support letters). Media advocacy is the cornerstone of SISs

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction13

ty

si

r
ve

ni

activism. The memorandums, letters to the editor, and press statements

function as reactive lobbying tools. The lobbying process is supported by
the close working relationships that SIS members have established with
ulama, ministers, senators, and political leaders who are supportive of
their activism.
The organization also publishes books such as Sharia Law and the
Modern Nation-State, Islamic Family Law and Justice for Muslim Women,
and Muslim Women and the Challenges of Islamic Extremism, and booklets
such as Islam and Family Planning, Islam and Polygamy, and Hadith
on Women in Marriage. There is also BARAZA!, a biannual bulletin that
addresses relevant topics in articles such as Trends in Islamic Family
Law Reform, Diversity of Opinions: An Islamic Legacy, and Islam and
Human Rights: Conflicting or Complementary?
The conception and execution of SISs program and advocacy are
based on three interconnected areas: Core, Concern, and Support. Core
consists of law and policy reform. Concern covers issues related to the
Core, such as dress code, incest, domestic violence, marital rape, and
reproductive rights. Support consists of issues that affect both the
Core and Concern areas, including constitutionalism, freedom of
information, freedom of religion, religious celebrations, interreligious
issues, and religious extremism. Support issues are of utmost importance to SIS to ensure that the public sphere remains a democratic space
to advocate for the rights of Muslim women and to facilitate alliance
building with civil society organizations.
One of SISs first initiatives was a symposium in KL titled The Modern
Nation State and Islam that addressed the role of religion as a governing
force in an era of globalization. The members worked closely with Abdullahi
An-Naim, a Sudanese scholar whose work was the members guiding principle in understanding the interconnection of religion, law, and politics.
The blending of feminist interpretation, constitutional law, and human
rights principles has since characterized the organizations approach to
activism. While distinctly a local organization, SIS is also transnational,
given its interconnectedness with global networks such as WLUML and
the Womens Learning Partnership and scholars such as Amina Wadud,
Ziba Mir-Hosseini, and Muhammad Khalid Masud. This connectivity facilitates the cross-fertilization of ideas, increases exposure, and, in the event
of state crackdown, generates support for the organization.

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

14Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

Members of SIS promote an Islam that incorporates womens experiences and lived realities, supports critical thinking, respects pluralism,
and accommodates a Muslim lifestyle compatible with contemporary life.
SISs understanding of Islam is appealing to Muslims who value personal
relationships with God and seek to minimize the influence of ulama and
religious edicts in their lives. Muslims who abhor state regulation of
morality and piety, desire their own standards of modesty, and need to
reconcile the demands of their identity with global citizenship find comfort and empowerment in SISs activism. For SIS, if Islam is to remain
relevant in a global world, Muslim citizens must be allowed to participate in determining the laws and policies that shape their lives. SISs call
for Muslims to debate Islam critically on an individual level fractures the
balance of power and destabilizes religious monopoly, consequently presenting a formidable challenge to the state and the religious establishment that seeks to maintain the status quo.

as
W
of

The Approach of the Study

n
hi

My research is situated at the nexus of gender, Islam, and state. I bring

together works on feminist studies in religion, transnational feminist
studies, and feminist anthropological theories. Contemporary scholarship on the textual and historical study of sources of Islam and on the
ethnographic study of women in communities of Muslims negotiating
their belief system, political structures, and state policies, has made
significant contributions in challenging normative understandings of
Islam and womens agency (e.g., Ahmed 1992; Abu-Lughod 2000; Barlas 2002; Deeb 2006; Hafez 2011; Mahmood 2005; Mir-Hosseini 1999;
Mernissi 1991; Salime 2011; Shehabuddin 2008; Wadud 1999, 2006).
While much of the research and literature focuses on the Middle East
and North Africa, there are increasing publications on Southeast Asias
Islamic, gender, and feminist discourses (e.g., Brenner 2005; Davies
2007; Hefner 2001; Frisk 2009; Ong 1987; Peletz 1996, 2002, 2009; van
Doorn-Harder 2006). This book draws on these bodies of literature to
examine how womens pursuit of fundamental rights within the vibrant
Southeast Asian Muslim reformist traditions can contribute to broadening an understanding of the relationship of gender to the interconnection of Islam, state, and politics.

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction15

ty

si

r
ve

ni

Much of the scholarship on Malay Muslim women is relegated to

descriptive and explanatory frameworks, generally focusing on rural and
peasant women, gender and development, family and kinship patterns,
and women and work. The scope of studies on Malay Muslim women has
been enriched by notable works on the link between economic dislocation
and the production of new Malay subjectivities (Ong 1987), the implication of Islamic revivalism on gender and religious customs (Wazir Jahan
Karim 1992), and the spiritual development of affluent Malays through
religious learning (Frisk 2009). Yet a gap remains concerning how elite
Malay Muslim women work within an Islamic framework as a strategy to
engage the state to claim rights. My inquiry on the translation of feminist hermeneutical theories into strategic activism and policy initiatives
fills the ethnographic lacuna of how Malay Muslim women live that
interconnection as citizen believers.
I heed anthropologist Laura Naders (1972) tradition of studying up
by researching professional middle-class and upper-middle-class Malay
Muslim women. Similarly, Shahla Haeri (2001) embarked on a shared
ethnography of educated and professional Pakistani women to demonstrate their multilayered roles and multifaceted struggles in private and
public domains. I employ the notion of elite to refer to SIS founding
members, as they are instrumental in building, shaping, and sustaining
organizational culture, as well as ensuring its legitimacy and survival.
These women are well-respected and well-connected locally, regionally,
and internationally, and as such wield a relative measure of social power.
Moreover, the Malay founding members can be considered elites by virtue of their family lineage, influence, wealth, and connection to the ruling class. They are used to being interviewed by journalists, have traveled
and read extensively, are often invited abroad to speak at universities
and research centers, and are cosmopolitan in their outlook and self-representation. These womens educational level, social status, and strategic
connections produced a set of power relations and introduced additional
strands of complexity into the ever-intricate dynamics of research.
The term elite is usually considered a term of reference, rather than
self-reference (Shore 2002, 3). While the founding members cannot be
considered the normative powerful elites who exercise hegemony to
maintain control over their status or authority, they are elites in the
sense that they have developed their own particularistic set of interests,

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

16Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

norms and practices to differentiate [themselves] from the masses (3).

These women have subcultures such as language, methods of communication, and forms of solidarity that bond them to one another. This is not
an indication that they are a homogenous group or that the members
agree on every issue; these women remain distinct individuals.
Despite their social status and strategic connections, on a personal and
professional level SIS members are still subject to opposition. Although
their positionality provides them access to resources, their passion for
gender justice marks their bodies as subjects on the margin. Nonetheless, the space from which they produce knowledge, fracture religious
monopoly, and embody ethical agency is a powerful margin. I view these
activists as subjects on the margin imbued with a strategic measure of
power because, although they wield power and authority, the nature of
their claim to rights fragments their position of power and reinscribes
marginality over such possession of privilege.
In this ethnography, I hope to deepen an understanding of how Islam
is inextricably connected to womens struggles for equality and justice.
My methodology included participant observation, narrative analysis,
informal interviews, collective interviews, and discussions. I also used
archives such as newspaper reports, publications by SIS, pamphlets,
e-mail correspondence, and secondary scholarly literature. As the principal data-collecting method, participant observation allowed me to
ground my analysis within womens experiences and lived realities. I conducted direct observation at meetings, participated in the organizations
activities, and engaged in formal and informal discussions with organization members. My role varied between that of participant-observer and
full observer, as appropriate for each setting. I took part in SISs study
sessions, workshops, and training sessions, and acted as full observer
at their public talks and annual retreat. I interviewed thirty-seven SIS
members and thirty-five nonmembers. The nonmembers category was
designed to obtain a wide range of perspectives on how SISs activism
circulates and incorporates individuals such as Islamic scholars, state
religious officials, politicians, academics, and activists who were generally supportive of the organization but critical of its approach, as well as
individuals who were inimical to its activism.
I have taken careful consideration to circumvent theorizing Islam as
an ahistorical or predetermined factor. As Sondra Hale argues, Islam

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction17

ty

si

r
ve

ni

does not and cannot explain the condition of women. In each culture,
gender and religion intersect differently. Women embrace, resist and
subvert Islam and other institutionsi.e., have agency in their own
lives (1996, 186). I approach questions of Sunni Islams authenticity, continuity, and legitimacy as lived by my interlocutors through Talal Asads
(1986) insightful concept of treating Islam as a discursive tradition.12
This entails understanding the historicity of Islamic discourses and practices whereby the actions of actors and their production of meanings are
determined in relation to institutions, material conditions, and positions
of power. Asads formulation links the Islamic past, present, and future
with Michel Foucaults (1998) discourse of power and knowledge, which
provides a helpful technique for understanding Muslim ideas and practices that are authorized as Islamic. My interpretation of gender politics
in postcolonial Malaysia is based upon the dynamics of the contemporary reassertion of Islam into citizens lives and of the debates on the role
of religion in politics and the separation (or lack of it) between religion
and politics.

as
W
of

Feminist Debates on Scripture and Jurisprudence

n
hi

Feminist interpretation of religions focuses on critical deconstruction

of androcentrism and misogyny in theology and practices of worship in
order to reverse the silence and invisibility of women in religious traditions. This endeavor recenters womens lives and experiences, affirms
equality between men and women, and endorses women as religious
authorities. In both Judaism and Christianity, feminist theology has
made significant strides in encouraging recognition of the complete
humanity of women and in cultivating egalitarian faith-centered practices (Adler 1999; Ruether 1983; Plaskow 1990; Schssler Fiorenza 1983,
1992). Women are increasingly being ordained as priests and bishops in
Christian denominations, and rabbis in Jewish conservative, reform, and
reconstructionist movements, although challenges remain. In the past
two decades, there has been a significant increase in feminist scholarship
in Islam calling for the reexamination of faith traditions similar to efforts
that have taken place in Judaism and Christianity. Muslim women intellectuals, including Amina Wadud, Asma Barlas, Omaima Abou-Bakr,
Kecia Ali, and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, are at the forefront of this wave of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

18Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

knowledge production in Islam. SIS draws on this body of scholarship as

the foundation for its activism.
Debates on the interpretation of religious texts, particularly concerning womens rights and gender roles, have always been highly contested.
Issues such as marriage, sexuality, domestic violence, and inheritance are
fertile grounds for questioning whether Islam has an egalitarian or liberatory ethos. The Quran, which Muslims believe to be the word of God,
is the basic frame of reference for Muslims. It was revealed in a series
of communications to the Prophet Muhammad over a period of twentythree years and was not recorded as a written text until after his death. The
text contains moral, religious and social pronouncements that respond
to specific problems confronted in concrete historical situations (Rahman 1982, 5). While the Quran is considered immutable, an interpreters
positionality and context contribute to determining the meaning of the
text. As Khaled Abou El Fadl has aptly argued, Since Islamic text is mediated through human agents, it would make little sense to speak of an
authoritarian text. Rather, it is the human agent who would transform
the authority of the Islamic text into human authoritarianism (2002,
9). The politics of interpretationaccess, authority, and meaningis
embedded in the discourse of power and knowledge.
Throughout Islamic history, the interpretive enterprise has primarily been the domain of men; thus, traditional interpretation is reflective
of male experiences and interests (Aslan 2006; Barlas 2002; Haddad and
Esposito 2001; Shaaban 1994). A few notable women, such as Aisha bint
Abu Bakr, the Prophets wife, who was a respected transmitter of hadith
and erudite in matters of religion and jurisprudence, are the exception.13
Recent scholarship, however, has uncovered womens active involvement
in the production and transmission of Islamic knowledge, although
many of their contributions have been obscured or mediated through
mens words and writings (Abou-Bakr 2003; Kahf 2000). The difficulty
facing todays Muslims lies in how traditional interpretation, specifically
of womens roles and rights, has acquired a normative status. While this
interpretation reflects spatial and temporal influence, the androcentric
language of the Quran must be grappled with by paying attention to the
tension between uncongenial aspects of the text and interpretive choices
(K. Ali 2006; Moosa 2003). Kecia Ali argues that it is methodologically
and politically vital to recognize that gender equality advocated by femi-

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction19

ty

si

r
ve

ni

nist exegetes might not necessarily be the primary interest of the Quran.
In this vein, the Quran can be a thoroughly androcentric but not a
misogynist text (2006, 132). Ali encourages feminist exegetes not to be
blinded by commitment to equality, and the presumption that equality
is necessary for justice, as classical exegetes were by their assumption
about the naturalness of male superiority and dominance in family and
society (133).
Wadud and Barlas have approached Quranic exegesis and hermeneutics through a combination of gendered, historicized, and holistic frameworks to assert that the Quran is not a patriarchal or misogynist text,
but that it can be read in such a manner because interpretation is a subjective endeavor. Their premise is that God is just and merciful, women
and men are equal beings, and individuals are evaluated based on their
level of taqwa (piety) and not their sex or gender. They are critical of the
classical tradition of interpretation that has historically represented male
interests. They stress that it is the responsibility of individual Muslims to
exercise ijtihad and to apply its meaning to their lives without relying on
the traditional authority of a select few. They argue that the fundamental values of Islamequality, compassion, and justiceare values they
seek to recover through their interpretations to address the problem of
discrimination against women in communities of Muslims. These interpretations, along with the reworking of Islamic jurisprudence, or fiqh, are
integral to contemporary efforts to rally for reform of womens rights in
the social and legal domains.
Following in the footsteps of scholar-activists writing on Muslim
womens struggles for reform, I view feminist scholarship in Islam as
divided into two distinct yet connected strands, scriptural and legal. The
first focuses on exegesis of the Quran (Hassan 1995, 2000; Wadud 1999,
2006; Barlas 2002), and the second on fiqh (K. Ali 2003, 2010; Mir-Hosseini
2003, 2006). These two strands foreground the spirit of equality and justice and are the critical intellectual and moral tools used by members of
SIS to mobilize rights discourse within their religious heritage. As Kecia
Ali (2003) has convincingly argued, privileging scriptural exegesis at the
expense of fiqh is an inadequate approach in light of the need to reform
legal codes. The Quran contains a blueprint for how Muslims should live
their lives as moral beings; it is not a law book and cannot provide legal
methodology (182). The struggle for equality and justice, then, must be

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

20Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

fought on two fronts: scripture and jurisprudence. By examining how a

group of activists craft a model of activism that merges these two fronts
to educate the public on the rights of women in Islam and to advocate for
a more equitable Islamic family law, this book contributes a more complex understanding of rights-based struggle, womens agency, and feminist organizing.
On the scriptural front, Amina Waduds approach centers on contextualization of revelation, Quranic weltanschauung, and linguistic
analysis of the Quran. Waduds interpretive methodology focuses on
the significance of gender as a category of thought (1999, xi) to deconstruct interpretations that portray injustice and inequality as inherent
in Islam. Wadud argues that the Quran is universal; any attempt to limit
its interpretations or application to cultural particulars in the seventhcentury Arabian peninsula do an injustice to the text (95). She states
that the Quran emphasizes the existence of a single nafs (soul) in the
creation process and does not differentiate between moral and ethical
responsibilities based on gender, sex, race, and so on. Wadud coined the
term tawhidic paradigm (2006, 24), which underscores that a hierarchical relationship between men and women contravenes the unity of Gods
doctrine and implicates patriarchy as un-Islamic. As one of the founding
members of SIS, Wadud has been instrumental in leading her cofounders
to read the Quran for themselves and to understand that change within
a faith-centered framework is possible.
Asma Barlas (2002) builds on Waduds work to suggest that the Quran
is inherently polysemic and therefore open to multiple interpretations.
Barlas uses the concept of tawhid (oneness of God) to demonstrate that
the Quran does not view God as a father or male, or support rule by
father or husband. She argues that God is incomparable and genderless, and she rejects beliefs and practices that contradict the Quran. This
allows her to claim that the teachings of the Quran are radically egalitarian and even antipatriarchal (2002, 93) and to promote the struggle
for womens rights from within a faith-centered framework. She further
states that classical jurists, through hermeneutical moves privileging
sunna and hadith as equally or even more sacred than the Quran, have
shifted the authority of the text onto the interpreter (6768). Over time,
the Quran became reliant on sunna and hadith instead of remaining, as
it should have, a self-contained text. By raising this point, Barlas joins the

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction21

ty

si

r
ve

ni

ranks of scholars who have questioned the favoring of this hermeneutical

method, specifically feminists who have demonstrated that the process
of hadith transmission, fraught with selectivity, forgery, and power politics, disadvantages women.14
Waduds and Barlass interpretive models that privilege women as
agents of knowledge are central to recovering the Qurans egalitarian
ethos. These scholars have argued that premodern methodologies of
reading the Quran rely on a verse-by-verse approach that precludes a
holistic understanding of the text. While both have provided the tools to
engage rights discourse, there is a challenge to their interpretive models
that is tied to controversial verses in the Quran. An example is verse
4:34, which is commonly interpreted as sanctioning wife beating. Wadud
has argued that this verse is irredeemable.15 She says, There is no getting around this one [4:34], even though I have tried through different
methods for two decades. I simply do not and cannot condone permission for a man to scourge or apply any kind of strike to a woman (2006,
200). Given her dedication to understanding this verse, Wadud goes on
to say, This leads me to clarify how I finally come to say no outright to
the literal implementation of this passage (200). In this light, Wadud
echoes Abou El Fadls conscientious-pause in which one develops a
faith-based objection to the textual evidence (2001, 93).16 Wadud has not
always subscribed to this viewpoint. Her earlier understanding was in
line with scholars who read the injunction as a deterrent, not a solution,
and who maintain that interpretations supporting violence in the marital home violate Quranic ethics (see Shaikh 1997; Mubarak 2005). It was
by developing her work further that Wadud came to her current stance
about 4:34, which allows her to say no to its literal application. I find the
refusal of verses that are incompatible with principles of human dignity
a nuanced method of facilitating debates about interpretive accountability. I discuss this aspect further in chapter 3.
Since women are structuring their struggle through a combination
of scriptural and legal approaches, I now turn to the question of fiqh, or
jurisprudence. The distinction between syariah and fiqh is a critical point
because these concepts are often conflated and regarded as interchangeable. Muslims consider syariah, the path, as divine and infallible. Fiqh is
a body of law based on human reason, used to understand syariah. Since
human knowledge of God will never be absolute, fiqh is deemed fallible.

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

22Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

Classical usul al-fiqh,17 the theory and interpretive methodology upon

which fiqh is based, is marked by complex doctrines, a diversity of opinions, and rigorous debates (Hallaq 2009; Abou El Fadl 2001; Mohammad
Hashim Kamali 2008). In turn, these characteristics indicate that fiqh is
open to deconstruction and revision, which renders it flexible and adaptive. Ziba Mir-Hosseini has written extensively about the necessity of
dismantling perceptions that laws are divine: I contend that patriarchal
interpretations of the syariah can and must be challenged at the level of
fiqh, which is nothing more than the human understanding of the divine
will, that is, what we are able to understand of the syariah in this world
at the legal level (2006, 633). SISs pursuit of equality and justice in the
legal realm is based on reformulating fiqh, and this is where the bulk of
activism is concentrated. SISs approach of educating the public on the
difference between syariah and fiqh is of the utmost necessity to validate
their call for law reform. It is particularly significant in light of a survey in
Malaysia documenting that lay Muslims collapse the distinction between
syariah and fiqh and view them as divine injunction that should not be
subject to reform (Moustafa 2013).
Scholars such as Mir-Hosseini and Ali, whose work SIS draws on, interrogate Islamic legal tradition by focusing on the construction of gender
and sexuality in marriage. Mir-Hosseini, who approaches fiqh through
a critical feminist perspective, suggests that sustained discrimination
between men and women is rooted in the classical jurists construction
of the marriage contract that treats women as semi-slaves (2003, 4) and
an understanding of gender rights as a fixed notion (8) across time and
space. Marriage legalizes a mans access to womens sexual and reproductive capacities, which renders women a commodityas an object
of exchange in marriage (6). The marriage contract and its dissolution
process, in which fathers are guardians and men have a unilateral right
to divorce, are examples of how women are viewed and treated in the
juristic domain. Social and cultural norms of historical juristic communities are integrated into fiqh, braiding gender inequality into laws and
therefore invalidating the spirit of justice in the Quran. It is this legacy
of fiqh that Mir-Hosseini sees as in need of reform.
Kecia Ali (2003, 2006, 2010) has written extensively about early
Islamic marriage laws. Ali traces the underlying foundation of marriage in classical jurisprudence to a historical slave concubinage model

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction23

ty

si

r
ve

ni

wherein jurists conceptual framework of the husband-wife relationship

parallels a master-slave arrangement. Jurists vision of marriage is based
on a commercial transactionacquiring a bride is similar to purchasing
a slave and a mahr (dower) in a marriage contract that grants the husband rights to treat sexual and reproductive capacities as commodities
(2010). Within this context, the notion of milk (ownership or dominion)
undergirds the issue of sexual access and rights. Ali argues that Muslims
must engage the legacy of this hierarchical system rigorously even if it
causes discomfort and produces more concerns than solutions. For Ali,
to say that wives have sexual rights in Islam (ignoring that sex is a female
duty and a male right) or that wives are not required to perform domestic duties (ignoring the inequality that forms the basis of the marriage
contract) is to subscribe to apologetic discourses (2003). Instead, she
calls on Muslims neither [to] romanticize the tradition as it stands nor
be blindly optimistic about prospects for transformation within it by
studying their complex legal tradition and approaching their interpretive
endeavors honestly and consistently (2006, 153). Ali emphasizes that the
reformulation of marriage laws cannot be undertaken through a selective
employment of juristic opinion or a piecemeal strategy but must begin
from an ethical footing that recognizes mens and womens fundamental
equality and human dignity before God. Only then is a new jurisprudence of marriage that does not equate women to slaves and marriage
to purchase possible (2003, 183). Both Mir-Hosseinis and Alis scholarship, which interrogates the complex tradition of Islamic jurisprudence
and the teachings of Islamic ethics, is central to SISs activism to reform
family laws. By drawing on this and other scholarship, SIS has informed
knowledge on the genealogy of gender hierarchy in the marital contract
and on double standards in male and female sexuality. More importantly,
this knowledge allows SIS to demonstrate that fiqh is a product of human
endeavor, and is thus fallible and open to reformulation.

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Transnational Feminist Frameworks

My study builds on the extensive body of transnational feminist work by
scholars such as Chandra Mohanty, M. Jacqui Alexander, Inderpal Grewal, and Caren Kaplan, who call for ethics, accountability, and solidarity
in cross-cultural feminist theory, epistemology, and methodology. Grewal
24Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

and Kaplan (1994) stress the necessity for feminist political projects to be
rooted in comparative and collaborative practices in order to challenge
homogenizing tendencies that flatten womens complex subjectivities
and historicized realities. They propose critically engaging the analysis
of gender to scattered hegemonies such as global economic structures,
patriarchal nationalisms, authentic forms of tradition, local structures
of domination, and legal-juridical oppression on multiple levels (17) to
illuminate the interplay between local and global hierarchies and power
structures in the lives of women. In so doing, they seek to destabilize
the unitary humanist subject, demystify artificial binary constructs, and
decenter grand narratives for new possibilities of knowledge production.
Alexander and Mohanty (1997) eschew the concepts of global sisterhood and international feminism predicated on the center/periphery
model prevalent in white liberal feminist theorizing of women of color/
Third World women/Global South women. This model is one in which
the other women constitute the periphery, shoulder the disproportionate burden of difference, and suffer from universal patriarchy
(xviiixix). Alexander and Mohanty argue instead for the term transnational to denote the interconnection between the local and the global
that attends to historicity and specificity and centers the agential and
experiential. They envision transnational feminism as doing the work of
dismantling dichotomies (e.g., academia/activism) and reinvigorating a
commitment to social justice.
Richa Nagar and Amanda Lock Swarr (2010) have revisited the seminal aforementioned works and furthered them by proposing a transnational feminism that resists its position as a teleological end result of
progress narrative. Instead, they argue for the recognition of transnational feminism as the inherently unstable praxis whose survival and
evolution hinge on a continuous commitment to produce self-reflexive
and dialogical critique of its own practices rather than a search for resolutions or closures (9). Nagar and Lock-Swarrs refining of transnational
feminist frameworks is valuable to my work. I am mindful of their insistence that hierarchies in the location of knowledge producers and their
sites of privilege be engaged in a responsible manner to resist circuits of
power.
These formulations of transnational feminist frameworks, along with
Mohantys (2003) feminist solidarity model rooted in the shared his-

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction25

ty

si

r
ve

ni

tories, experiences, and struggles of women within and across national

borders, are indispensable to my work. In my focus on how women activists are reconstituting religious and cultural formations at a local level,
I draw on these frameworks to accomplish the following: to historicize
their struggles within the legacy of colonial processes and the realities of
globalization; to shed light on cross-border connections and differences
between Muslim womens textual interpretations, concepts of equality
and justice, and organizing patterns; and to elucidate the heterogeneity
of Islam and Muslim practices.
In this book I consider the complexities of multiple intersecting
power structures that influence understandings of gender and Islam, but
move away from privileging the transnational at the expense of the local.
Hale (2005) suggests that, based on her research in Sudan, within aspects
of womens culture there are intricate counter-hegemonic processes of
survival and resistance that have a lot to offer feminist theoriesthus
there is a need to be cautious of erasing localized forms of resistance in
transnational processes. My focus on the local level contributes situated
viewpoints while simultaneously elucidating shared feminist transnational practices that resist dominant forms of religio-national belonging.
I heed Elora Halim Chowdhurys suggestion that a truly transnational
feminism ... must be accountable to womens struggles of survival and
fulfillment in their incommensurable manifestations, as opposed to fitting them into the always already normative registers of patriarchy
or imperialism (2011, 189). As such, I strive to understand womens
struggles on their own terms and through their own experiences while
simultaneously attending to my own politics of location in the following
sections.

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

A Note on Ethnography
Memories of Self and the Field

My study is grounded in the tradition of feminist ethnography, where

reflexivity and accountability take center stage in defining ethnographic
research as a collaborative intellectual and political practice (Abu-Lughod
2000; Behar and Gordon 1995; Chowdhury 2011; Sangtin Writers and
Nagar 2006). As a feminist researcher from the Global South in the Global
26Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

North studying the Global South, I am deeply mindful of how hierarchies

of power and representational politics, as well as my identity and positionality, shape my methodological and epistemological approach. Richa
Nagar and Susan Geiger have suggested the integrated speaking with
and situated solidarities models to generate knowledge across differences that do not reproduce interests of the privileged and are attentive to
a material politics of social change of less privileged communities (2007,
267). This model, which continuously calls into question the process of
knowledge production in relation to shifting local and global processes,
is necessary if a researcher is committed to transformative possibilities.
My priority is to share the passion of these women activists in a manner that captures their imagination and commitment but does not freeze
them on these pages. In so doing, I follow Kirin Narayan in writing in the
style described as enactment of hybridity, which is a mixture of narrative and analysis that problematizes the dichotomies of theory and
praxis, personal and professional, insider and outsider, and authentic
and inauthentic knowledge. This style allows me to situate myself better
and to explore womens stories and make meaning of their experiences
without claiming them as the absolute truth. Narayans suggestion that
the world of engaged scholarship and the world of everyday life not
be separated in writing texts is central to presenting a more holistic story
of the struggle of SIS members. If I were to suppress my personal selfand focus on my professional identity, what would I have said to Aidas
heartbreaking story of her fathers decision to take a third wife a few
years older than she? How would I have responded to Eryanas quandary
about reconciling her SIS responsibilities to promote religious freedom
with her belief that apostasy is a crime worthy of a serious punishment?
In not separating the personal from the professional, I see my interlocutors as those with voices, views and dilemmaspeople [with whom I
am] bonded through ties of reciprocity and who may even be critical of
[my] professional enterprise (1993, 672). I view my choice to transgress
the artificial boundaries of researcher/researched as an antidote to foreclosing possibilities of building trust with my interlocutors.
In May 2006, I left Los Angeles to begin research in Kuala Lumpur.
Since my official fieldwork was not scheduled until early June, I decided
to spend some time in Pulau Pinang (Penang), my hometown. It had been
more than a year and a half since I had last seen my family and friends.

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction27

As the clouds parted and the plane prepared to descend, the city of my
birtha quaint mixture of Malay kampungs (villages), British colonial
architecture, high-rise buildings, world-class holiday resorts, and palmoil and rubber plantationscame into view. I was flooded with excitement and trepidation, and uncertain of how to negotiate those emotions.
I was thrilled at the prospect of seeing people I knew, indulging in my
mothers cooking, and beginning fieldwork, but apprehensive about
a series of unsettling e-mail exchanges with family members on issues
of professionalism, identity, and representation. A particular exchange
crystallized this delicate matter:

ni

U
Azza Basarudin: Why cant everyone just let me do my research on my own? I

r
ve

told Babah [my father] not to go to the office of SIS. Why did he?

si

Sheila Ahmad: In his purest intention as a father he might have crossed some

ty

of your boundaries. I believe he wanted to make sure that the office is in

a safe location. I am not defending Babah, but I do not understand your

as
W
of

objections. How does his visit to the office jeopardize your research? Dont
forget that this is still very much an Asian country and Muslim culture where
parents are very important and filial piety is a precious commodity. [Italics in
the original.]18

n
hi

on
gt

In an ideal world, my professional entry into SIS would have been solely
on my own terms, without families or friends playing a partat least not
until after I had established myself. Since the organization is made up of
professional Malay women, it was necessary for me to form a relationship with the members as a fellow professional Malay woman. My desire
to remain an autonomous individual in the crucial induction phase of
fieldwork was not to be because my father decided to facilitate an altogether different mode of entry into SIS.
A month prior to my arrival, my family took a five-hour road trip from
my hometown to SISs office to procure firsthand information about the
organization. Upon arrival, my father introduced himself as the father
of the UCLA researcher. He discovered that SIS was moving to a new
location and inquired about that location, but a staff member was reluctant to disclose any information. The staff member informed me much
later that she was suspicious of him because SIS had encountered problems with detractors trying to infiltrate the organization and vigilantes

s
es
Pr

28Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

breaking into their office. At that point they did not have any way of verifying who my father was. His protectiveness became material for goodnatured teasing and jokes throughout my time with SIS. While the jokes
were harmless and entertaining, and even served as icebreakers on many
occasions, they left an imprint on my self-representation and on how
others perceived me.
This story serves to illustrate how the boundaries of personal and professional, field and home are blurred, as well as the historically and culturally situated multiplex subjectivity, the multiple and fluid strands of
identity that shape interactions with interlocutors (Narayan 1993, 676).
Researchers are never devoid of lifes connections and responsibilities. As
a Malay Muslim woman studying her own society, I can be classified as a
native/insider/indigenous informant conducting research at home. But
as feminist scholars have aptly theorized, the distinction of native and
nonnative researchers is a problematic dichotomy that belies the shifting
nature of identity and subjectivity, the transnational flow of people and
ideas, and the value placed on authentic and exotic insider knowledge
(Abu-Lughod 1991; Altorki and El-Solh 1989; Kondo 1990). It overlooks
how a person can be simultaneously both insider and outsider, particularly someone who migrated from the society into which they were born,
only to return later to conduct research (Narayan 1993, 678).
My intersecting identities color my research and motivate my passion
for this work. As a Malay woman of Muslim heritage, I am deeply invested
in the Muslim womens movement for justice and equality. As a scholar,
my intellectual inquiry and political project are based on understanding
how these women activists claim their space, position of authority, and
leadership roles in Islam. As a Malaysian who has resided abroad for a
long time, my experiences have detached me from the Malaysian community. In the early phase of my fieldwork, my interlocutors perceived me
to be of a higher social class and chose to communicate in English even
when I was speaking Bahasa Malaysia. They assumed I was an American
citizen and inquired if I needed a visa to enter the country. My identity
as a Malay and Malaysian was suspended in a migration and citizenship
conundrum and replaced by an American identityan identification
that was unfamiliar to me. This belonging, or not, within a community,
culture, and nation illustrates the unstable landscape of identity and how
it shapes my relationship to people and place.

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction29

ty

si

r
ve

ni

While I have the advantage of understanding Malaysias cultural and

political dynamics, my time abroad has necessitated reacquainting myself
with the Malaysian manner of being and the linguistic nuances of
Malay-speak. My ability to adapt quickly mediated the state of being an
honored guest and made my transition to the fieldwork phase less complicated. Although I avoided cultural fatigue, that is, being a stranger in
an unfamiliar cultural environment (Altorki and El-Solh 1989, 8), I had to
negotiate my authenticity as a Malaysian, Malay, and Muslim woman
and my position as a researcher whose study is funded by American agencies in the post-9/11 political climate. I also had to manage expectations
that I would understand cultural nuances or that my conclusions should
mirror those of my interlocutors (i.e., you are Malay/Muslim, you know
what it means), which speaks to the conflict in distinguishing between
my own values and those of my interlocutors.

Friendships and Conflicts in the Field

as
W
of

n
hi

On my first day at SIS, a staff member named Melia Amiruddin and I

formed an instant connection over a local breakfast of roti canai (dense
flat bread) and teh tarik (pulled tea with milk) at a kedai kopi (coffee shop).
Melia and I were very comfortable with each other and remain friends
still. Since the beginning of my research coincided with the absence of
many senior and founding members who were conducting a training session abroad, I spent most of the first week getting to know the junior
staff at the office and at social events. Since we were similar in age and
shared similar interests, we developed close relationships and continued
to socialize outside the office for the remainder of my research. These
friendships, which nourished me in the field and are intimately interwoven into the research process, are complicated due to organizational,
class, and generational conflicts. In the rest of this section and throughout the book, I discuss these conflicts to demonstrate the day-to-day
realities of organizational dynamics, the challenges of collective action,
and the competing processes of self-determination.
Melia and I spent a significant amount of time together that first
week, with her briefing me on SISs activism and organizational culture,
and advising me about how to navigate the Malaysian civil society scene.
She is well connected to a wide network of NGO activists, lawyers, and

on
gt

s
es
Pr

30Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

politicians, and as such she was central in facilitating introductions to relevant civil society actors. I also accompanied her to social events to network with NGO activists and broaden my knowledge of NGOs. With her
assistance I gained access to several high-ranking individuals in political
parties and religious departments. As a middle-class, educated woman
interested in the rights of women in Islam, Melias views and experience
with SIS also informed my research process. Our friendship and working relationship became complicated after she resigned from SIS. Melias
strong opinions about the direction of my research and whose voices
should prevail in my writing conflicted with my research trajectory.
While Melia and I had a close and easy friendship, my relationship
with many of the founding members could be considered more formal. I
attribute this to several factors, including the founders status as influential women, the generational gap, and their busy schedules that precluded
active socialization outside the office. My own inability to relinquish a
cultural upbringing that dictates elders be treated with utmost respect
and deference was an additional factor. While these women were warm,
kind, and generous, I was unable to interact with them as I did with Melia
and the junior staff members.
The founding members of SIS and the management and junior staff
are from different social classes, with the former being urban and middle-class, and the latter mostly of the working class. The different educational levels (national vs. international universities, undergraduate vs.
postgraduate) and language preference (English vs. Malay), as well as
lifestyles and worldviews produced an organizational dynamic steeped
in generational and philosophical conflicts and contributed to relatively high turnover rates. The distrust between these senior and junior
members in relation to miscommunication, micromanagement, or lack
of management were factors disclosed to me as the catalyst for many
junior staff leaving the organization. Other factors, such as the contentious topic of religious freedom, saw the junior staff conflicted about personal beliefs and the organizations stance, which eventually led them to
silence their views to avoid conflict.
Melia, who saw herself as the protector of the junior staff, viewed
this practice as a violation of the organizations principles: SIS claims
to advocate for Muslim womens rights, but at the same time there is
a refusal to incorporate minority viewpoints into decision making. She

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction31

ty

si

r
ve

ni

was disappointed that a womens organizationperceived to be a space

of solidarityoperated from the top down, similar to other professionalized NGOs. The senior members classified these issues as conflicts of personality, poor job performance, misunderstanding that womens rights
are not tied to human rights, and lack of courage to stand up for specific
beliefs and issues. Conflicts are part and parcel of any organizations life
cycle, but in this case, the conflict was heightened because of my friendship with junior members and my relationship with the senior members,
as well as my refusal to be drawn into the conflict out of respect for both
sides and to protect my own research.
Aside from the aforementioned conflict, other componentsbetrayals, rumors, and silencesalso played a part in my research. However,
as personal processes, these components (with the exception of silences)
are not central to my research. Silencing was practiced by both upperand lower-level management. Whether silencing functioned as a refusal
of contestation, refusal to present a collective front, or refusal to allow
the researcher into an intimate organizational dynamic, the silences were
also strongly embedded within the discourses of power and knowledge
what was disclosed to me and what I was allowed to know were tied to
the limits of what I, as an outsider, can know. Silence, then, as anthropologist Kamala Visweswaran (1994) argues, functions as a potential site
of calculated resistance and is central in the construction of subjectivity and agency. She suggests that researchers stand to learn not only
from womens speech, but womens silences as well (31) and I agree with
her assessment. By paying close attention to the silences practiced by
both the senior and the junior members regarding various conflicts, I am
able to understand silence as the central site for the analysis of power
between [the members] (51). The refusal of junior members to remain
silent about conflicts and their grievances against senior members representation of their personhood and credibility shed light on the politics
of representation and the dynamics of power in collective organizing. As
Jayati Lal has demonstrated in her study of the relationship between garment factory workers and owners in India, Our research subjects are
not just responding to our agendas and to our questions but are also
engaged in actively shaping their presentations to suit their own agendas
of how they wish to be represented (1996, 122).
In reflecting on her fieldwork in multiple sites, Ruth Behar writes,

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

32Introduction

si

r
ve

ni

Vulnerability doesnt mean that anything personal goes. The exposure

of the self who is also a spectator has to take us somewhere we couldnt
otherwise go. It has to be essential to the argument, not a decorative
flourish, not exposure for its own sake (1996, 14). In writing vulnerably
about both my interlocutors and myself, I am not writing in a way that
implies that anything personal goes. I hope that my exposure of the
self, who is also a spectator, takes us somewhere we could not otherwise
go. In my view, these disclosures function as epistemological and methodological feminist interventions, and are essential to my arguments.
The disclosures are not simply a decorative flourish and, least of all, not
simply exposure for its own sake. Such insight into the complexities of
fieldwork is intended to deepen understandings of the challenges of practicing solidarity and accountability in feminist praxis.

ty

Organization of the Book

n
hi

as
W
of

Chapter 1 provides a background of the evolution of the Malaysian cultural and political landscape since independence from British colonial
rule in 1957, particularly the institutionalization of Islam in the form
of law, education, and public policies. To ground the discussion of SISs
activism, I demonstrate the connection of state building with gender
regime, the tension between ethnic nationalisms and Malay supremacy,
and the race for political legitimacy between the Islamist opposition and
the ruling coalition party. I unpack the meanings and practices of Malay
Muslim womanhood and examine how normative gender roles uphold
Malay culture and (hetero-) sexuality. I discuss the Malaysian social contract that marks differentiated national belongings for Chinese and Indians, the racial and religious other in this discussion. A visual and spatial
depiction of the rise of Islamization in the country is also included.
Chapter 2 tells the story of how SIS members began to organize collectively through their narratives of social class and family values, as
well as religious and educational backgrounds. I consider the founding
members journey to recover fundamental aspects of equality and justice
and how their understanding of Islam informs the strategy of claiming
rights. I draw attention to the members upbringing and socialization,
as their life histories illustrate the link between family values and community culture in shaping their consciousness. The decision of women

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction33

ty

si

r
ve

ni

activists to return to the fundamental sources of Islam to address gender injustice and discriminatory laws is illuminated by concentrating on
the bond between womens personal and political aspirations and on the
friendships between the founding members.
In chapter 3, I take up SISs activism to demonstrate how this group
of women activists lives Islam through their campaigns, memoranda,
workshops, and study sessions. I examine the process of translating feminist interpretations of Islams sacred texts into grounded activism and
the implications of such activism in challenging authoritarian interpretation by focusing on six topics: polygamy, domestic violence and gender equality, hudud bills, family law amendments, religious freedom, and
moral policing.
Chapter 4 traces the challenges confronting SIS by analyzing the nexus
of political activism, religious authoritarianism, and indigenized feminism.
The centralization of Islamic authority that is vital to state power is demonstrated by focusing on invalidation techniques used by institutions,
political parties, and religious leaders to silence discourses and practices
that contradict state-sanctioned and mainstream Islam. Despite working
with Islam as a frame of reference, womens activism remains highly contested, specifically in relation to accusations of promoting the secularization of Islam and Westernized feminist ideas, as well as aiding US imperial
expansion. Through an evaluation of these techniques, I contend that the
success of working with religion is contingent on tactical rethinking that
is able to negotiate the inherited burden of cultural imperialism and gendered agency alongside religious authoritarianism.
Chapter 5 delves into how women activists inhabit and exhibit specific ways of being and moving in the world through their negotiation
of multiple intersectional identities, such as Muslim, Malay, Malaysian,
and female, along with their desire for a cosmopolitan belonging. I concentrate on the cultivation of Muslimness, that is, how women activists reconstitute themselves as believers concerned with justice and the
greater good of their national communities and beyond. Furthermore,
as members of an organization that endorses women as producers
and transmitters of Islamic knowledge, these women activists provide
a model of female leadership for the younger generation of Malaysian
women (and men). I discuss how this model is slowly but steadily shifting
the public debate on the rights of women in Islam.

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

34Introduction

ty

si

r
ve

ni

In chapter 6, I consider Musawah (Equality), a transnational initiative

spearheaded and coordinated by SIS in collaboration with scholars, activists, lawyers, and policymakers to reform Muslim family laws based on
equality between women and men. The consideration of Musawah serves
as a lens for further refinement of the relationship between local and
transnational organizing, specifically how transnational visibility influences local activism and how the particularity of SISs strategy of claiming rights resonates beyond national borders. Moreover, by focusing on
SISs transnational organizing in relation to the case of a local Malay
Muslim woman arrested for consuming alcohol in public and sentenced
to caning, I illuminate the paradox of human rights and its implications
for feminist accountability and solidarity.
In the conclusion, I revisit how the religious marginality experienced
by a group of women facilitates creative forms of private-public expression because such positioning affords them the viewpoint from which
to understand how lived experiences of discontent can be transformed
into political action. Comparisons are made to gender justice initiatives in other locations to broaden understandings of Muslim womens
engagement with religion in different contexts. I reorient readers attention to historically situated struggles of Malaysian women activists who
are negotiating their grounded realities on a daily basis. In doing so, the
potential of a local activist project to unsettle the assemblage of power
and authoritarian religious configurations is assessed.
Discourses of gender and Islam have generated considerable interest
in the political, academic, and media realms. Increasingly, attention has
been paid to how a growing number of Muslims are seeking innovative
ways to link interpretation of religious ideas to the protection of rights
and freedoms. More specifically, Muslim womens participation in projects to reinvigorate Islam has yielded various transformations, including
the revision of Moroccan Mudawwana (family law) to protect womens
rights and gender equality; the inauguration of female-led, mixed-gender
Friday prayers in New York, Toronto, and Barcelona; and the appointment of female judges to syariah courts in the West Bank, Malaysia, and
Pakistan. This book sheds light on the activism of women in a Sunni Muslim community in urban Kuala Lumpur who are a part of this transnational movement of Muslims committed to justice and equality within
their religious tradition. Given the historic exclusion of Muslim women

n
hi

as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

Introduction35

from the development of Islamic tradition, as well as the transformations that reflect womens increasingly visible engagement with Islam
in public spheres, this book demonstrates how a localized strategy of
claiming rights within transnational contexts is vital for expanding our
understanding of how women are negotiating Islam and reclaiming their
identities and self-representations in the twenty-first century.

ty

si

r
ve

ni

U
n
hi

as
W
of
on
gt
s
es
Pr

36Introduction

ty
si
r
ve
ni
U

n
hi
as
W
of

on
gt

s
es
Pr

ty

si

r
ve

ni

U
n
hi

as
W
of
on
gt
s
es
Pr
1.1. (a) Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur; (b) segregated checkout counter,
Kota Bharu, Kelantan