Religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment

The report is based on a two‐year research project in which we looked at women’s everyday engagement with religion. We aimed to gain insights into how women conceptualize religion, the norms and concepts through which they understand what it means to be religious and the manner in which these co...

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Main Authors:	Huq, Samia, Khondaker, Sahida Islam
Other Authors:	BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University
Format:	Working paper
Published:	BRAC University 2011
Subjects:	Religion Sexuality Empowerment Taleem Textual religion Agency Purdah Faith/Imaan Polygyny Rights Freedom
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10361/1530

id	10361-1530
record_format	dspace
spelling	10361-15302019-09-29T05:26:57Z Religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment Huq, Samia Khondaker, Sahida Islam BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University Religion Sexuality Empowerment Taleem Textual religion Agency Purdah Faith/Imaan Polygyny Rights Freedom The report is based on a two‐year research project in which we looked at women’s everyday engagement with religion. We aimed to gain insights into how women conceptualize religion, the norms and concepts through which they understand what it means to be religious and the manner in which these concepts and ideals are brought to bear on the construction of the feminine self. The research focused on three arenas of women’s understanding of themselves as women and Muslim. These arenas are purdah, sexuality ‐ by which we mean male female relations ‐ and freedom and rights. From the research findings we argue that women have moved towards a textually‐based learning and interpretation of Islam, as opposed to engaging with Islam as a form of knowledge passed down from earlier generations. We also found that, in line with the need to “authenticate” beliefs, women express much respect for taleem ‐ spaces where women congregate to learn about the Quran and other exegetical material as well as ideal Islamic comportment. From the findings we argue that the role of religion in women’s lives cannot be understood through the binary of religious/conservative versus secular/liberal. Rather, by exploring the norms through which women understand religion and deploy corporeal as well as noncorporeal capacities to engage with those norms in “living” Islam we can shed light on greater nuances that under gird religious engagement. We then turn our attention to the negotiations theses nuances represent and how they open up questions about the “contentious” relationship between women, religion, agency and empowerment. Samia Huq Sahida Islam Khondaker 2011-12-11T06:24:19Z 2011-12-11T06:24:19Z 2011 2011-06 Working paper 22230114 http://hdl.handle.net/10361/1530 Working Paper No. 02 38 pages application/pdf BRAC University
institution	Brac University
collection	Institutional Repository
topic	Religion Sexuality Empowerment Taleem Textual religion Agency Purdah Faith/Imaan Polygyny Rights Freedom
spellingShingle	Religion Sexuality Empowerment Taleem Textual religion Agency Purdah Faith/Imaan Polygyny Rights Freedom Huq, Samia Khondaker, Sahida Islam Religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment
description	The report is based on a two‐year research project in which we looked at women’s everyday engagement with religion. We aimed to gain insights into how women conceptualize religion, the norms and concepts through which they understand what it means to be religious and the manner in which these concepts and ideals are brought to bear on the construction of the feminine self. The research focused on three arenas of women’s understanding of themselves as women and Muslim. These arenas are purdah, sexuality ‐ by which we mean male female relations ‐ and freedom and rights. From the research findings we argue that women have moved towards a textually‐based learning and interpretation of Islam, as opposed to engaging with Islam as a form of knowledge passed down from earlier generations. We also found that, in line with the need to “authenticate” beliefs, women express much respect for taleem ‐ spaces where women congregate to learn about the Quran and other exegetical material as well as ideal Islamic comportment. From the findings we argue that the role of religion in women’s lives cannot be understood through the binary of religious/conservative versus secular/liberal. Rather, by exploring the norms through which women understand religion and deploy corporeal as well as noncorporeal capacities to engage with those norms in “living” Islam we can shed light on greater nuances that under gird religious engagement. We then turn our attention to the negotiations theses nuances represent and how they open up questions about the “contentious” relationship between women, religion, agency and empowerment.
author2	BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University
author_facet	BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University Huq, Samia Khondaker, Sahida Islam
format	Working paper
author	Huq, Samia Khondaker, Sahida Islam
author_sort	Huq, Samia
title	Religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment
title_short	Religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment
title_full	Religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment
title_fullStr	Religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment
title_full_unstemmed	Religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment
title_sort	religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment
publisher	BRAC University
publishDate	2011
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10361/1530
work_keys_str_mv	AT huqsamia religionandmuslimwomentrajectoriesofempowerment AT khondakersahidaislam religionandmuslimwomentrajectoriesofempowerment
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Religion and muslim women: trajectories of empowerment

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