Islam and Gender in the Thought of a Critical-Progressive Muslim Scholar Activist Ziba Mir Hosseini

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to highlight the scholarly contribution of the Iranian born Muslim scholar-activist Ziba Mir-Hosseini to the academic field of gender and Islam. In the first part of the paper Mir-Hosseini’s thought is positioned within the larger processes of the shifting loci of authority and normativity in contemporary Islamic discourses and in particular in reference to the emergence of what I here termed critical–progressive Muslim scholar activists that Mir-Hosseini is a prominent member of. Next, I provide a brief justification as to why a study of Mir-Hosseini’s thought in relation to gender and Islam warrants examination. In the following section Mir-Hosseini’s personal journey into the field of gender and Islam is briefly outlined and her major contributions to the field are noted. This is followed by a discussion on how Mir-Hosseini finds support for her ideas in the various hermeneutical theories employed by leading contemporary reformist Muslim male scholars. The next section examines Mir-Hosseini’s views on the troubled relationship between the emerging Islamic feminism discourses and politically oriented (neo-)traditional expressions of Islam. Mir-Hosseini’s deconstruction of the assumptions governing classical Muslim family laws and ethics that have been re-appropriated and legally enforced by some contemporary Muslim majority nation states is presented next. This is followed by a discussion on Mir-Hosseini’s proposals how to reform Muslim family laws and ethics. The final section discusses Mir Hosseini’s s activism with special reference to her involvement with Musawah, the global movement for equality in Muslim family laws based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Keywords: Ziba Mir Hosseini; Islamic law; Islamic ethics; Muslim family laws; critical Muslims; progressive Muslims; critical-progressive Muslims; Musawah