‘Muslim Feminist’: Oxymoron or Islam in Action?

Julia Suryakusuma

AYAT-AYAT Cinta (Verses of Love) is the blockbuster movie about polygamy that has been filling movie the- aters. People who have seen it—including our weepy President SBY—rave about it. But Musdah Mulia, the outspoken Muslim scholar and activist, sure doesn’t agree! In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that she is outraged.

“It’s a garbage film which is only trying to sell religious symbols. As a Muslim I am ashamed, and as a Muslimah (Muslim woman) who wears a jilbab (headscarf), I feel insulted!”

Musdah never minces her words, but she has a point. The film, a huge hit in Indonesia, portrays four women (which is a start), but all are seen through the lenses of conservative, patriarchal Islam. One is a cowardly liar who almost lets the man she loves be sentenced to death after she falsely accuses him of rape. Another dies of a broken heart because she can’t resolve her inner contradictions, while a third, married by arrangement, pushes her husband into a polygamous marriage.

The message here is that women in Islam are passive, sub- ordinate and weak. This fits the cliché, but it’s a very long way from the full story of women in Islam—and especially not Indonesian women.

The common perception is that Islam is conservative, and therefore incompatible with human rights, including women’s rights. Feminists, on the other hand, are usually considered left-wing conduits of Western, liberal values. So what to make of the term ‘Muslim feminist”? Is it not an oxymoron?

Not necessarily, it all depends on how you look at them. For starters, both feminism and Islam have universalizing values; Islam is the fastest-growing faith, feminism the fastest-growing ideology. Both Islam and feminism are besieged by detractors from outside and within: conservatives are always trying to run down feminism, while Islam is constantly linked to terrorism, as if all Muslims endorse the ideologies of extremists (which they most certainly do not).

Far from being an oxymoron, the “Muslim feminist” is, in fact, the true reformer. Secular feminists base their struggles on ideological grounds, but Muslim feminists look to both theology and ideology. They seek to highlight teachings of equality deeply rooted in the Qur’an, and question patriarchal interpretations of Islamic teaching. After all, as Musdah points out, “Islam liberated women 1,400 years ago, way ahead of the West.” According to her, much of the way Muslim women are being treated now is, in fact, un-Islamic: she blames gender inequity on Muslims, not on Islam.

In Indonesia, Musdah is just one of many Muslim feminists, but she stands out. A graduate of the State Islamic University (UIN), she was the first woman to receive a PhD in Islamic political thought and now teaches at her alma mater. She’s published books on contemporary Islam, Islamic public policy, gender equality and polygamy. She was the leader of the Gender Mainstreaming Team from the Department of Religious Affairs, and is a member of the board of directors of the International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), as well as being active in other research bodies and social organizations, including the Institute for Religion and Gender Studies

(LKAJ, Lembaga Kajian Agama dan Jender), the interfaith organization ICRP (Indonesia Conference on Religion and Peace) and the women’s wing of NU, the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia.

Whew! When did Musdah ever get time to watch Ayat-ayat Cinta?

And there’s more! On March 6, 2006, she was given the International Women of Courage Award, created by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to recognize women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in promoting women’s rights and advancement. For her devotion to both Islam and women’s rights, she has been condemned by conservative Muslim groups and radical Islamic groups have threatened her with death. But she told me she was ready to pasang badan, Indonesian slang which literally means to put your body up to receive whatever blows are aimed at you.

Musdah deplores the tendency that exists now within Is- lam for the teaching of hatred, which she says happens be- cause hardliners base their teachings more on fiqh (Islamic law, created by fallible humans) instead of the word of God in the Qur’an. But I think she hates the spread of hatred from any source. At the award-giving ceremony in the State Department, President Bush asked her what the US could do. Musdah’s reply was unambiguous: “Stop using violence as a solution, especially towards Islamic countries. Violence never solves anything.”

Pity he wasn’t really listening.

Not all Muslim feminists in Indonesia are as outspoken and forthright as Musdah, but in their own way they are all do- ing important work in many different areas: opposing violence against women, as well as violence in the name of religion, building women’s leadership in politics and as ulama (religious leaders) and working to reform our attitudes towards education, health, anti-trafficking, women’s empowerment and even sexuality. They engage in advocacy, run gender-sensitivity training programs and women’s crises centers (like Rifka Annisa in Yogyakarta), and support social programs like micro-credit schemes and income-generating projects, among many other activities.

One of the striking characteristics of Muslim feminists in Indonesia is that they constitute one of the most effective grass roots movements in the Islamic world. Chatting with Musdah, I said to her, “Wow, it’s just like Gerwani (the banned Indonesian Communist Party women’s wing): it’s a socio political movement!”“Yes,” she responded, “that’s true.” But perhaps not quite: while some Muslim feminists are affiliated to larger Muslim organizations, they all retain a large degree of autonomy. Their first loyalty is always to improving the position of their fellow Muslim women.

So how about a remake of Ayat-ayat Cinta so the women aren’t just a bunch of pathetic wimps? I reckon if they got Musdah Mulia to do a complete script rewrite Indonesia might just win its first Oscar!

*The writer is the author of Sex, Power and Nation. She can be reached at jsuryakusuma@gmail.com