Malaysian Muslimah Activists’ Modes of Thought: Rereading Islamic and Alternative Sources of Knowledge

Abstract

This article focuses on the modes of thought of female Muslim (Muslimah) activists in Malaysia towards Islamic and alternative sources of knowledge and how these modes of thought inform their understanding of gender justice for the Muslimah. The Islamic sources of knowledge can be divided into the Quran and the Hadith (recorded sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). Western feminism, on the other hand, can be deemed an alternative source of knowledge as it approaches gender issues from a non-religious point of view and typically does not refer to religious texts when discussing gender justice. When the activists refer to the Quran and Hadith as their main sources of women’s issues, they acknowledge the importance of contextualising them to modern society. Next, they show an appreciation of alternative sources of knowledge such as Western feminism when talking about women’s issues in Islam. While being critical, they are generally not antagonistic towards Western feminism. Nevertheless, there are activists who cannot reconcile between Islamic and Western feminist discourses on women’s issues. Data for this article was gathered from in-depth interviews with seven Muslimah activists from six NGOs. Utilising Manheim’s sociology of knowledge framework, this article elaborates on how the modes of thought of the activists generally resemble one that is neo-modernist.