Date: Dec. 5 2013 Session: "Mitigating Religious Extremism: Models of Interfaith in Action": Addressing the Roots of Extremism Speaker: Ms Ratna Osman; Executive Director, Sisters in Islam, Malaysia

1. RELIGION & CONFLICT
RESOLUTION
Ratna Osman
Sisters in Islam
Global Peace Convention
Kuala Lumpur, 5 December 2013

2. Islam – Historical Context
Practice during the period of Jahiliyah (Ignorance)
• Baby girls buried alive
• Women had no rights – marriage, inheritance, custom of
taking wives of deceased relatives against her will, wifebeating
When Islam came:
• A liberating religion that at its inception uplifted the status
of women and gave them rights that were considered
revolutionary 1,400 years ago — the rights to contract
marriage, to divorce, and to inherit and dispose of property,
the right to education, etc

3. Forced Marriage of Child

5. 2010 Progress Report to the UN on HIV in Malaysia
(report prepared by Ministry of Health)
Pre-marital HIV screening data reveals the following (2009 status):
Numbers
Age
Girls
Boys
Below 10
32
-
10 -14
445
2
15-19
6815
1911

6. Polygamy Made Easy
Sisters in Islam polygamy research:
• 70% of first wives cited a need for more counselling after
their husbands’ second marriage
• About 53% of them cited an increase in domestic violence.
• Dissatisfaction of first wives on emotions, time, resources and
communications with husbands
• Children from 1st family and 2nd family – psychological impact,
defence mechanism, difference in dealing with ‘absent
father’
• Not many Husbands able to divide time equally, or spending
quality time – and most children feel left out; yet taking the
role of comforter for their mothers.

7. CURRENT SCENARIO
In 1984,
Malaysia’s Islamic family law was regarded
the most progressive
in the
Muslim world at that time
BUT
changes to the law have reversed
many of these gains

8. Trends in Law Reform:
Discrimination Against Muslim Women
WOMEN OF OTHER FAITHS
MUSLIM WOMEN
Equality between women & men
Regressive amendments toward
further discrimination
Law Reform
(Marriage and Divorce 1976) -equal right to marriage and divorce.
monogamy
Islamic Family Law
Amended 1994, 2005 – easier
polygamy, easier divorce
Guardianship Act, amended 1999
Only Policy Reform – Mothers can
sign forms
Distribution Act , amended 1999 Faraid Distribution for Insurance,
amended 1996; and EPF – National
Fatwa Council , 2000

9. Rise of Political Islam
●Islam is the solution- Islamist forces invoke
Islam and Shari’ah as a legitimising devise to
support demand for Islamic state and assert
supremacy Shari’ah law;
●Use and abuse Islam – only one version of
patriarchal interpretation to maintain power;
opposition forces use Islam to de-legitimise
secular, autocratic government.
●Extremist voice deemed to be more Islamic

10. Dismantling of Reform
“Return to Shari’ah” - gains made by women in 1970s and 80s
reversed due to Islamisation of laws;
Patriarchal gender notions - in classical Islamic jurisprudence
dusted out from the closets and presented as authentic Islam.
Examples of discriminatory amendments to Islamic Family Law:
●Iran – age of marriage brought down to 9, custody of children
went to father and male line.
●Malaysia – divorce and polygamy made easier. Loophole to
allow illegal divorce and polygamy to be registered.

11. Feminist/Feminism Demonised
▪ Feminism as an extension of colonialist politics – seen
as plot by Western elites to undermine Muslim way of
life by imposing alien values on the ummah.
▪ Feminism and demands for equality and reform of
discriminatory family laws rejected as unIslamic, against
God’s teachings
▪ Warnings against
liberalism, etc
feminism,
secularism,
pluralism,
▪ CEDAW without reservation vs. Shari’ah without
reservation – constructed false binary to de-legitimise
women’s demands

12. Engaging with Islam
Using Sacred Texts to challenge Patriarchy and Extremism
● These voices are:
➢ Separating patriarchy from Islam’s sacred text
➢The universal message of Quran on peace and justice,
equality and kindness as opposed to extremism and
conservatism
➢Understanding what is ‘Shari’ah’ and what is ‘Fiqh’
➢To relate with reality on the ground and change in
society

13. Sisters in Islam:
FRAMEWORK
SIS work is grounded in:
• Islam as a source of Justice, Non-discrimination,
Equality, Freedom and Dignity for all
• Changing Lived Realities of both women & men
• Constitutional Guarantees of fundamental liberties,
equality and non-discrimination
• International human rights principles and Government
obligations to international conventions eg CEDAW,
CRC

14. SIS first letter 1990

15. Maqasid Shariah
Purpose of Shari’ah : to achieve goodness and benefit and to
ward off harm, injury and loss
● Religion
● Life
● Lineage
● Intellect
● Property
“We have the right to protection
that Islam gives us”

16. Musawah
❖A global movement of women and men who
believe that equality and justice in the Muslim family
are necessary and possible. In the 21st century there
cannot be justice without equality; the time for
equality and justice is now!
❖ Initiated by Sisters in Islam and launched in
February 2009 at a Global Meeting in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, attended by over 250 women and men
from 47 countries, including 32 OIC countries.

17. No to Religious Extremism
Yes to Equality & Justice
Final verse in Quran on male-female relationships based
on Surah At-Taubah 9:71:
“The Believers, men and women, are protectors one of another. They
enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil. They observe regular
prayers, pay zakat and obey Allah and His Messenger. On them will
Allah pour His mercy, for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.”

19. TERIMA
KASIHratna@sistersinislam
.org.my
Empowering Voices
for Change