Faisal Yafai has a piece up at commentisfree advocating that Islamic feminists return to secular arguments, as the religious rhetoric they have adopted in the recent past is not serving them well. It is an interesting piece, but he fails to make the case that it's better to have only one kind of feminism among Muslims. Why can't there be religious feminism AND secular feminism? And to this argument:
Take the burning of women's schools in Pakistan (and Afghanistan). The now-resurgent Taliban say they are doing this because Islamic law forbids women's education; the Islamic feminists reply that in fact education is a religious duty. It becomes a theological argument. Remember who wins theological arguments? The side with the most guns.
I would just say that it's true, but I am pretty sure the side with the most guns wins non-theological arguments just as often.
