“I once heard a ridiculous fatwa that if you see breasts in your dream, it is an erotic dream and you should reconsider your conduct, repent and pray for forgiveness. I have five children and believe me, I have had many dreams including breasts and for me, this explanation could not have been any more wrong,” explained renowned international Islamic scholar, Amina Wadud.
She explains that religion has been viewed mostly from a man’s perspective, especially because it is men who are the ones behind legislations and rules. Negligence towards women’s perspectives and the imposition of a man’s rule over the general walks of life have led to many of the narrow interpretations of Islam.
Wadud is one of many women who have come together to set the record straight when it comes to Muslim women in today’s world. Under the umbrella of Women Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE), a Shura Council has been brought to life.
The vision of this council is to generate a space in which Muslim women can actively take part in debate, and collaborate on pressing issues of social justice, in order to articulate an ethical and egalitarian Islam. One of the tools through which the WISE women intend to make this happen is through the “Muftiyya-Training Program” which was launched during the 2009 WISE Conference in Kuala Lampur.
“Nowhere does it say in Islam that the act of issuing a fatwa should be monopolized by men. It has been taken for granted because women were usually subdued and not included in this discipline. With this initiative, we can empower women who are willing to be muftiyyas through adequate scholarly training,” said Tayyibah Taylor, Founding Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the Azizah Magazine, and WISE Shura Council Member.
According to its mission, a long-term goal of the Shura Council is to create Muslim women jurists educated in Islamic law and secular disciplines of relevance. These women, who will enjoy full legitimacy from the perspective of Islamic legal traditions, in addition to their proficiency in other critical fields such as international affairs and national and international law, will be capable of issuing fatwas that can guide Muslims in their own societies.
Once this initial group of muftiyyas is trained, an «Ifta’ Council» may be established with the requisite legitimacy to issue fatwas. As a council comprised exclusively of women, it would represent the first-ever global, institutionalized body of Muslim female scholars, an authority for Muslims around the globe.
“Obviously not anyone could and should become a muftiyya. We have decided on a number of requirements and necessary credentials for potential applicants who wish to join this training,” explained Daisy Khan, Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, and a Member of the WISE Shura Council.
Women who are going to be part of this project, according to Khan, must be very eager and willing to work hard in order to be able to answer to critics and appeasers. “We can’t afford to go wrong,” she explained.
These requirements include English language proficiency in order to be able to communicate internationally, outstanding academic credentials, a commitment to Islamic scholarship as a profession, whether in their home countries or in an international setting, and the ability to demonstrate a commitment to Islam and its fundamental values of peace, justice, respect and human dignity. It is hoped that the outcome of this project will result in correcting the image about Islam and actively involve Muslim women in their own lives.
“We must lift up the truth of Islam, a truth that has inspired positive social change for fourteen hundred years. It is time for Muslim women to come together and generate a collective genius, passion, and energy,” said Khan.
A muftiyya's educational program
According to the educational programs’ structure, it is not going to be limited to Islamic education, but also include secular education. The program’s curriculum will remain both faithful to the rigorous requirements of a classical education in fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence, and sensitive to the demands of the globalized world. It will impart the requisite tools and experience to enable the muftiyyas to apply Islamic legal tenets within the contemporary contexts in which they live.
The academic year will be spent at the site or sites of the training program. Here, students will join a 3-5 year training program in the Islamic sciences at a center of fiqh study in order to receive ijazas or licences to become legitimate muftiyyas. A necessarily rigorous process, this will comprise the bulk of their education. Combined with their secular education (see below), this training will provide them with a holistic, realistic and actionable perspective on Islam, Islamic law and the contemporary world.
Students will use their summers, or 1-2 contiguous years during or at the end of the Islamic education, to gain knowledge and training in interfaith seminaries and international settings. These intensive semesters will provide the women with the experience necessary to affect change within a globalized world. The women will participate in a variety of general interdisciplinary seminars and forums, which could include comparative religion, faith-based feminism and activism, national and international law, philosophy and sociology, international affairs, and economics.
Female Islamic scholars in Yemen
The issue of Yemeni female Islamic scholars has not received much media coverage, but not because of the lack of female scholars. Rather, dozens of women Islamic scholars graduate every year whether from mainstream public and private universities or from the Iman University.
The Iman University has so far produced over 200 graduates with the title of “sheikha” equivalent to a PhD in fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence. Scholars have studied continuously for ten years and have to conduct much research in fiqh before they are giving the ijaza which is a license to give judgments and rulings on Islamic matters, the practice generally known as ifta.
Established around four years ago, the Women Fiqh Forum is a center where Yemeni muftiyyas assemble professionally. The forum produces a quarterly magazine called Al-Muntada Al-Fiqhi on religious issues totally written by women.
The women’s section at the Iman University has its own periodical, Al-Shaqaeq, a monthly magazine that includes sections for fatwas managed by a different female scholar every month. Al-Shaqaeq prints over 20,000 copies a month, which at least doubles the circulation of many general newspapers in Yemen.
“A potential reason why Yemeni women scholars have not received much attention especially by the media is that most people who create media policies are leftist men,” suggested Fathiya Hazza’a who is soon to establish the Women Fiqh Forum’s marketing and public relations department.
She hopes that through this newly established department professional Yemeni women religious scholars will receive the attention they deserve.