The Idea of Woman in Fundamentalist Islam

Abstract

Lamia Rustum Shehadeh’s timely book, The Idea of Woman in Fundamentalist Islam, begins with a brief biography of influential “fundamentalists.” She examines the context in which they formulated their theories and the extent to which they influenced each other, a process that allows us to see their ideas as a response to the historical, political, and social environments in which they lived. For example, the Muslim Brotherhood, founded by Hasan al-Banna in 1928, not only helped formulate and consolidate Islamic revivalism in Egypt, but also helped provide a blueprint for a sociopolitical organization that promoted the political Islam or Islamism influencing chapters in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine. The ideas promoted by the Brotherhood also spread to Sudan, where they continue to guide the current regime’s policies. In some cases, as in Iran and Sudan, pronouncements of these ideologues influence state law and public policy. At other times they challenge the state, as in Tunisia. Al-Banna promotes the view that Muslim countries became impoverished and fell under European control because they have deviated from Islam. He suggests that Muslims see Islam as the solution to their problems. However, al-Banna and other Islamists believe that Islam’s historical traditions are irrelevant for modern times. Instead, they propose a return to what they believe to be the traditions of the Prophet’s time and that of the first four caliphs. Moreover, they advocate the use of ijtihad (independent judgment), a practice that allows them to interpret seventhcentury traditions in light of modern needs. Islamist ideologues reserve this practice for themselves, and thus largely marginalize its alternative uses by feminists and other progressive groups to advance women’s rights or minority rights ...