ISLAMIC FEMINISM FULLY EXPOSED: AMINA WADUD AND MARGOT BADRAN VIS-À-VIS ʿALLAMA YŪSUF AL-QARAḌĀWĪ AND JAMĀL BADAWĪ ON WOMEN’S ISSUES

Abstract

Discourses on Islamic feminism are traced back to the 1980s but within three decades, it has spread globally and attracted many Muslim scholars from all over the world. However, since its inception, Islamic feminism has remained controversial, due to its term, agenda and stance on several issues on women, which are never accepted by several eminent Islamic scholars of contemporary times. This article discusses the views of Islamic feminists—the renowned scholar Amina Wadud, and the strong advocate, Margot Badran — and contemporary Islamic scholars—ʿAllama Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī and Jamāl Badawī. Both the Islamic feminists and Islamic scholars are shown to ‘share’ their views on certain issues, somehow ‘bear’ each other on some others with some difference, yet ‘tear’ the views of each other on certain others due to diametrical differences. This raised a few questions on Islamic feminism which fully expose that the term ‘Islamic feminism’ has less of Islam but more of feminism  and that it is not created to present the Islamic stand  on women’s issues, but rather to promote feminism globally.