Time for a Women's Jihad Against Violence

Former president Jimmy Carter and other world leaders issued this statement: "The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable." What's your reaction to these statements? Are 'male interpretations of religious texts' to blame for the 'deprivation of women's equal rights?'

I applaud former President Carter and others for identifying male interpretations of religious texts as one of the causes of discrimination against women. Regardless of faith tradition, we observe a similar pattern. Holy texts mitigate (and often, outright reject) socially-sanctioned inequality through more progressive legal rules or broader principles, yet later interpreters of these texts revert back to their culture, ignoring the spirit behind these principles, or in some cases, their specific stipulations.

This is certainly true of the Qur'an, where God granted women increased protections against abuse, financial vulnerability, and societal marginalization, just to name a few. Yet many later Muslims ignored these provisions. They found ways to read the text in a manner that weakened the position of women; or, they chose to give ascendancy to their culture over their faith. This is a shared story across faith traditions.

However, as societies are being transformed, women are demanding a greater role. As our primary scriptural texts are reinterpreted, it is critical that women step into this arena. They must take the lead in applying and attempting to understand scripture to contemporary society. This is what happened this past week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In front of over 200 Muslim women leaders from around the world, an advisory council of scholars and activists part of the WISE Muslim Women's Shura Council issued its first statement, "Jihad Against Violence: Muslim Women's Struggle for Peace."

This group, which is expanding, aims to build a global, non-violent campaign against violence, especially violent extremism and domestic violence. As part of this campaign, it is revisiting the primary texts of Islam to offer interpretations that fully reject violence in all its manifestations. War has become an obsolete institution in resolving problems. We are privileged to have witnessed historical examples of nonviolent transformation in which women, children and the elderly get mobilized and involved, groups which have been systematically rejected in the male war machine.

It is critical that women-led and faith-based groups like the WISE Muslim Women's Shura Council return to their respective holy texts and interpret as not only as believers but also as women. Only then will we truly witness justice for women, a justice that is owed to them in their religions. As the Syrian scholar Jawdat Said recently wrote in response to the Muslim Women's Shura Council statement, "You have a great future; for female gentleness will overcome the harshness of men who so far have filled the earth with corruption and bloodshed. With the permission of God, the High and Capable, women will be able to usher in a new era of peace on earth which has been polluted with blood. May God be with the female believers."

By Daisy Khan  |  July 22, 2009; 11:15 AM ET Save & Share:                 
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