ARTICLES
- Home
- Articles
Neo-modernist Orientation of Muslimah Activists in Malaysia
Creeping Islamism in Malaysia is a subject that comes up time and again in the media. Topics range from interfaith relations to the constitution and hudud laws. Though, few are as controversial and personal as women and gender roles in the domestic realm. The discourse is often polarised, with activists uncritically labelled as ‘conservatives’ or ‘liberals’. But away from catchy headlines, what is the actual orientation of activists from Female Muslim (Muslimah) NGOs? To that end, I interviewed 14 Muslimah activists and explore their religious orientation using Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge (SoK) approach.
While women’s concerns in Malaysia were subsumed under nationalist concerns during British colonialism, the 1980s signalled a turning point in the articulation of women’s issues. Women could discuss topics in relation to their everyday experiences such as domestic violence. That same period also witnessed the phenomenon of Islamisation, where some segments of the Muslim population called for a greater visibility of Islam in Malaysian society. This call meant championing certain orientations of Islam, ranging from those that uncritically adhered to Islamic tradition to those that espoused ideals of progress and reform.
Integral to Islamisation was an emphasis on the role of women as wives and mothers so as to maintain the integrity of the patriarchal family. The domestic household and marital issues naturally became key concerns in Islamisation discourse. Female Muslim (Muslimah) NGOs emerged during this period, responding both to state and everyday discourses on Islam in Malaysian society. One principal response of the NGOs was to go back to Islamic and alternative sources of knowledge. These responses were also informed by particular orientations towards Islam such as neo-traditionalism and neo-modernism.
These orientations are important to study as they determine how the activists discuss women’s issues and the influence these discussions could have on the Malaysian public. Based on in-depth interviews with 14 activists, I explored their religious orientations as modes of thinking that were illustrated in their
1) attitudes towards different sources of knowledge,
2) approaches to specific marital issues, and
3) perceptions of a woman’s role in Islam.
An eclectic neo-modernism
In my opinion, Muslimah activists in Malaysia generally adopt a neo-modernist mode of thinking when discussing various sources of knowledge and specific marital issues but demonstrate a diversity in modes of thinking where they can interchangeably pick and choose positions that correspond to either neo-traditionalism or neo-modernism when explaining a woman’s role in Islam.
Broadly, I divide the sources of knowledge into four: 1) the Quran, 2) Hadith, 3) local ulama, and 4) Western feminism. Following the SoK framework, the function of the activists’ mode of thinking regarding these sources of knowledge was reflected not just in their modes of thinking towards specific marital issues, but also what they think a Muslimah ought to embody in terms of her piety and societal roles.
I discovered that the activists’ mode of thinking in approaching these sources abided by a neo-modernist framework. Like the modernists, neo-modernists advocate for the use of ijtihad (independent reasoning) in dealing with contemporary problems.
However, the main difference between the two is that neo-modernists have a more progressive outlook on Islam and a view of society that is inclusive, unlike modernists who are more focused on instituting Islamic law and the purification of Islamic rituals. The progressive outlook of the activists could be seen in how they sought to reconcile current societal conditions with Islamic values of justice and compassion rather than gear their focus towards a legalistic and literal interpretation of the Quran and Hadith.
Next, the activists acknowledged the religious authority of the local ulama, though they did not view them as infallible. They expected the local ulama to be open-minded and to be able to engage in discussions with ordinary Muslims and not uncritically use shari’a law as a solution to current problems.
Another key feature of the Islamic neo-modernist mode of thinking is an accommodation of Western culture and Western intellectual tradition as opposed to an animosity or ambivalence towards the two. With regards to Western feminism, I found that the activists generally acknowledged the breakthroughs it made for women in Western countries. Some activists even saw similarities in how Islam and Western feminism viewed women.
Understanding the nuances in their religious orientation is key to comprehending the activists approaches to specific marital issues. Afterall, the activists’ approach to marital issues are a necessary reflection of how they define justice in the realm of gender relations.
Polygamy and roles of women
In particular, I focused on polygamy and child marriage in Malaysia. These two issues have come to dominate the national discourse in the past few years, from media reports to academic conferences and publications. Using the SoK framework to explain their discourses on marital issues, one can see that the activists’ modes of thought towards polygamy and child marriage are a function of their Islamic orientation. A neo-modernist mode of thinking towards polygamy, for example, is informed by an understanding of Islam as a religion that values the subjective welfare of the individual and the ethical spirit behind Islamic rulings.
While the activists’ mode of thinking generally resembles neo-modernist orientations as they discuss various sources of knowledge and specific marital issues, their mode of thinking regarding a woman’s role in Islam encompasses both neo-modernism and neo-traditionalism.
I focused on what the activists had to say about the responsibilities of a Muslimah as a mother, her career ambitions, and her relationship with her husband. I discovered that there was a diversity in the activists’ mode of thinking in how they understood a woman’s role in Islam within these three realms. For example, activists with a neo-traditionalist mode of thought felt that a Muslimah could pursue a career only if she did not compromise her responsibilities as a mother and wife. On the other hand, activists whose mode of thought resembled that of neo-modernism felt that marital relationships ought to be more equal whereby the wife does not feel that she must make a choice between domestic responsibilities and her career.
Strategic use of modes of thinking
The diversity in modes of thought of the activists reflects how they constantly negotiate between traditional ways of understanding gender and religion and more contemporary ways of understanding that focus on the current realities of Muslim women. While the former perceives gender roles and Islamic practices as fixed and immutable, the latter emphasises on the reality of societies in flux, the relevance of particular contexts, and the rights and welfare of the individual within these contexts. What I found was that the activists’ strategic employment of modes of thought regarding women’s issues and women’s roles allowed them to pick from a spectrum of positions.
Imad Alatas
Imad Alatas is a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. He is author of What It Means to Be a Muslimah: The Religious Orientations of Female Muslim Activists in Malaysia (Gerakbudaya, 2022).