Muslim feminists meet in U.S. to start Koran council


Muslim feminists from around the world vowed to create the first women’s council to interpret the Koran and overcome two stereotypes about their religion: Muslims are terrorists and Islam oppresses women.


Muslim feminists from around the world vowed to create the first women’s council to interpret the Koran and overcome two stereotypes about their religion: Muslims are terrorists and Islam oppresses women.

Many in the newly formed group, the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, or WISE, said strict sharia law was not divine because it was created by men and should be changed to incorporate women’s rights.

“In our societies men hold power and they decide what Islam should mean and how we can obey that particular understanding of Islam,” said Zainab Anwar, executive director of Sisters in Islam, a Malaysian organization working on women’s rights within the Islamic framework.

“I can’t live with a God that is unjust,” she said. “The law is progressive, but those men controlling the law aren’t.”

Does everyone understand why the meeting wasn’t held in one of the centers of the Islamic world - like Riyadh, Tehran or Islamabad?

Posted: Sat - March 24, 2007 at 12:17 PM