Waging Peace and Justice

Zainah Anwar. Photo: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

"I think Islam is the means of establishing justice and equality. God cannot be God if God is unjust," says Zainah Anwar, prominent Malaysian human rights activist and one of the most influential Muslim feminists.

Zainah established a global movement called Musawah (Equality in Arabic) in February 2009. The establishment has become a pluralistic and inclusive platform of NGOs, scholars, activists and legal practitioners, ensuring justice and equality in Muslim families. She is also one of the founding members of Sisters in Islam which has successfully created a space for debate and discussion regarding women's rights and empowerment within the framework of Islam.     

Born in Johor Bahru, Malayasia in an urban Muslim family, Zainah has always been a rebel and used to question the traditional practices. However, she realised that these practices, mostly discriminatory to women, have nothing to do with Islam; rather these are purely social and imposed by the patriarchal community. 

"Husbands beat their wives, they marry twice or thrice to appease their insatiable sexual appetite, they don't give sustenance to their wives and they think these are their divine rights," she says. "I was outraged by these discriminations and oppressions against women that are done in the name of God, in the name of Islam."

Soon after, she began to study the holy Quran. She also studied the explanations of the holy Quran (tafseer), interpretation by different scholars belonging to different schools of thought and also the Quranic laws and principles (fiqh). According to her, Islam can actually be a means of women empowerment. "The Quran can be the tool to solve all the societal problems," she says. But to do so, she adds, a correct, practical and progressive interpretation of the Islamic laws is necessary. 

The world has changed profoundly in the 21st century than it was in the 7th or 12th century. Today, a woman can be the only earning member of a family; there are millions of single-mother families in the world. "These issues need to be addressed and articulated in the interpretation of Islamic laws," adds Zainah.

Recently Zainah visited Bangladesh to talk about 'Gender Justice and Religion' at the Speakers' Forum Series, arranged by BRAC University's Social Science and Economics Department in collaboration with Georgetown University's Berkeley Centre for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. Thanks to Zainah's courageous initiatives, Muslim women around the world now have the platform to speak, learn and struggle for their rights in the society.