Today, the issue of Muslim women is held hostage between two
perceptions: a conservative Islamic approach and a liberal Western
approach. At the heart of this debate Muslim women are seeking to
reclaim their right to speak in order to re-appropriate their own
destinies, calling for the equality and liberation that is at the heart
of the Qur'an.
However, with few female commentators on the meaning of the Qur'an and
an overreliance on the readings of the Qur'an compiled centuries ago
this message is often lost. In this book Asma Lamrabet demands a
rereading of the Qur'an by women that focuses on its spiritual and
humanistic messages in order to alter the lived reality on the ground.
By acknowledging the oppression of women, to different degrees, in
social systems organized in the name of religion and also rejecting a
perspective that seeks to promote Western values as the only means of
liberating them, the author is able to define a new way. One in which
their refusal to remain silent is an act of devotion and their demand
for reform will lead to liberation.
Asma Lamarbet is a pathologist in Avicenna Hospital, Rabat, Morocco.
She is also an award-winning author of many articles and books tackling
Islam and women's issues.
Myriam Francois-Cerrah is a writer and broadcaster whose articles
have been published in the Guardian, Salon, and elsewhere.
