Aditi Sharif :
Being born and brought up in a family, that is considered “secular” or “liberal” in Bangladesh, I used to differentiate us from the people who tend to practice Islam rigorously. As I grew up, I tended to be more influenced by the Western biases that led me to think of “Practicing Muslim Women” as the oppressed and subjugated. I was forced to reconsider my stereotypical thinking when I was introduced to the post-colonial feminist scholarship in my university life. Then I acknowledged the differences among women whole-heartedly and became aware of power asymmetries that dominated such stereotypical assumptions. However, I was quite influenced by the parameters of Western Feminism to measure the condition of Muslim women. Then I read the book “Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and Feminist Subject”(2005), by Sabah Mahmood, which enlightened me with alternative perspectives for studying Muslim Women.
Based on two years-long intensive fieldwork in Cairo, Egypt, Sabah Mahmood wrote the book entitled “Politics of Piety: The Islamic Subject and the Feminist Subject”(2005), which dealt with the participation of women in the Islamic Revival movement of Egypt beyond mainstream feminist discourses. The book was divided into seven chapters, where she investigates the agency and subjectivity of Muslim women involved in the Mosque movement of Kairo in terms of religious norms and practices. This movement was a response to the secularization of Egyptian governance that increasingly made Islamic ideas and norms marginalized. In this movement, women from different socio-economic backgrounds provided religious lessons to each other so that they could lead their lives, following Islamic Piety and virtue. By doing so, women tended to create a space in the male-dominated religious pedagogy. Mahmood (2005) illustrated that women involved in this movement intend to cultivate piety by following certain types of practices, including veiling, regular prayer, and moral conduct. According to Mahmood, these practices are not externally imposed. Rather, these are the products of ethical self-cultivation. While many liberal feminists or women’s rights activists consider such religious practices suppressive for women, Mahmood shows that these practices are highly empowering and meaningful for practitioners(Mahmood, 2005).
The fact that seems fascinating to me is that Mahmood (2005) reconceptualized agency beyond the dichotomous thinking of ‘Mainstream Feminism’. A significant number of feminists tend to equate agency with freedom and individual autonomy which is often expressed by resistance. To Mahmood, the concept of agency is much more than resisting patriarchal norms. She defines it as the capacity to act. By conceptualizing agency in this way, Mahmood (2005) illustrated that the agency of the Muslim women can be explained in different modalities. Nevertheless, she acknowledged the fact that these women utilized their agency to resist hegemonic masculine discourses. However, she didn’t want to limit it within any fixed framework. Rather, she stressed the specific historical and cultural contexts that can influence the process of subjectification and agency. In the cases of these women, religious ethics play an influential role in subjective transformation(Mahmood, 2005).
Now, one can question what will happen to the future of feminist politics whose main aim is to struggle against patriarchal norms and practices to attain freedom? According to Mahmood, we must analyse the historical and cultural contexts that influence the subjectivities of women. In this regard, the personal experience of Sabah Mahmood is relevant to me. Being involved in the ‘left politics’, she was very critical of the Islamization of Pakistan, her native country, and thought it a product of illiteracy and fundamentalism. However, while exploring the Islamic revival movement, she realized that she needed to question her own beliefs and stereotypes. Following her, feminists and human rights activists should be flexible enough to think beyond their worlds and consider the impacts of socio-cultural aspects.
Reference:
Mahmood, S. (2005). Politics of Piety. New Jersey: Princeton University Press https://libgen.li/ads.php?md5=7B2144D2628571338579758C84CE6D55
Biography:
Aditi Sharif is a Social Researcher, currently researching Gender Diversity, Historiography, Feminist Discourse and Methodology, Heritage, and Migration. She is also a volunteer writer in Women Chapter English.