When I began to speak publicly of finding equality and justice in Islam 20 years ago, a common response was "why bother?" Muslim feminists told me it was a waste of time because religion is inherently patriarchal: for every alternative interpretation I could offer to justify equality, mullahs could counter with 100 others.

The secularists said it was dangerous, as I was giving legitimacy to the position of religion in the public square. And human rights activists thought it was a losing battle. A feminist working within the religious framework, they argued, would never be recognized as having any authority to speak on Islam. For them, justice and equality could only be fought for through a human rights framework.

This decision of so many activists to ignore religion has had undesirable consequences. It has left the field wide open for the most conservative forces within Islam to define, dominate and set parameters of what Islam is and what it is not. They decide what a good Muslim is, they dictate how to be a good Muslim woman, wife and daughter, and then prescribe laws and policies that keep us shackled as second-class Muslims, indeed, second-class citizens. When we protest, they shut us up, saying we have no authority to speak about Islam.

Yet, Islam, in their own words, is a way of life. Islam has all the answers. Islam is the solution. But how can Islam be all this when those who question the orthodoxy are far too often intimidated into silence? How can it be a tenable solution when some quarters are persecuted in the name of the religion?

We've had enough. This was boldly declared by some 250 activists and scholars from 47 countries at a recent conference in Kuala Lumpur to launch Musawah (equality in Arabic), the global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family.

The meeting brought together feminists working with religion, those working within a human rights framework, scholars of Islam and the Muslim world, lawyers, journalists and activists. All came sharing a mission to break the monopoly that authoritarian governments and religious leaders have over how Islam is understood and used to govern their lives.

Conference participants served notice to the United Nations and to Muslim governments that there would now be an alternative global force led by Muslim activists and scholars. The movement would make it its business to challenge the use of religion and culture to undo advances in human rights and women's rights.

For me and Sisters in Islam, the group I helped to found in 1987, Musawah was in some ways a vindication of a long and difficult struggle to find liberation within my faith and to translate into collective action my utter belief in a just God. This is the last frontier in the feminist movement, to break the theological stranglehold of the patriarchs that prevents Muslim women from enjoying equal rights.

The message is simple and clear: For there to be justice in the 21st century, there must be equality.

For too long, Muslim women who demanded reform to discriminatory laws and practices have been told, "this is God's law" and therefore not open to negotiation and change. To question, challenge, or change would supposedly go against Shariah (God's revealed way), weaken our faith, and lead us astray. We have been accused of being Westernized elites, anti-Islam, anti-Shariah people who have deviated from our faith. Reports are regularly made against us to the menfolk in our families to keep us under control, to the police and to the religious authorities to charge us for insulting Islam and to ban our groups.

To all this we'd like to say: When Islam is used as a source of law and public policy, then all citizens must have the right to speak on the subject, Muslims or non-Muslims, secularists or Islamists. Public law and policy must necessarily be open to public debate, and pass the test of public reason.

No one demands that you have a degree in political science or economics or social studies before you can talk about politics, economics or social ills. We are deemed qualified to comment simply because we live these realities. But when it comes to talking about Islamic laws, qualifications suddenly become indispensable. We must hold a degree in Islamic studies, we must be able to speak Arabic. Once you've jumped through these hoops, a new condition is set: the hijab. And when we wear the hijab, their masterstroke is delivered - they say our ideas are against Islam.

In a world where women's rights are considered part of human rights, where modern constitutions of Muslim countries hold up equality and non-discrimination, where the reality is that many women are the providers and protectors of their families, the relentless discrimination found in many Muslim family laws is unacceptable.

There is a clear disconnect between reality and the family laws that govern us. In most Muslim countries, a man can divorce his wife at will. He can have four wives, whom he can beat with impunity. Women cannot marry without a male guardian's approval, and they must obey their husbands or lose their rights to maintenance. They are not entitled to guardianship of their children even if they have custody over them and act as their sole provider and protector. The list goes on and varies from country to country.

But in 2004 a corner was turned that ushered in new energy and hope. Morocco introduced comprehensive reform of its Islamic family law, changes founded solidly on Islamic teachings and the realities of life today. Marriage was now regarded a partnership of equals, with equal rights given to men and women. So why can't other Muslim governments do the same?

Evidently, the problem is not with Islam. It is with the position that men in authority take in order to preserve their privilege. Naturally, the easiest and most effective way to safeguard this position is to employ the divine sanctity of God's will. To conflate patriarchal laws and practices with Islam is nothing more than tactical power play.

While all Muslims accept that the Koran is one, it must be recognized that the interpretation of the Koran is a human effort and has thus led to diverse opinions. Hence, in Pakistan and Bangladesh, a woman can marry without permission from her father or male guardian, but not in Malaysia or Indonesia. In Malaysia a woman's role as a wife and mother entitles her to a share of the matrimonial assets, but not in most other countries. In Indonesia, the Gambia, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia and Turkey, men and women have equal rights to custody and guardianship of their children, but not in most other Muslim countries.

What Musawah brings to the table is a rich and diverse collection of interpretations, juristic opinions and principles that makes it possible to read equality and justice in Islam, and construe these twin values at national and international levels. It is a vital contribution at a time when democracy, human rights and women's rights constitute the modern ethical paradigm of today's world.

With its emphasis on knowledge-building, Musawah intends to bring to international attention that there is already a deep shift in perspective in Muslim theological and jurisprudential scholarship. The reform movement is hardly alien to the Muslim tradition, in which family laws have long been adapted to social standards of the time.

This time, however, the leading bearers of much-needed change will be Muslim feminists, working with progressive Islamic scholars. This last frontier will be conquered.

Zainah Anwar is project director of Musawah, a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family.

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