Vision, Mission and Objectives

Vision
To generate a space in which Muslim women actively dialogue, debate, and collaborate on pressing issues of social justice, in order to articulate an ethical and egalitarian Islam.

Mission
To act as a global and inclusive council of Muslim women scholars, activists and specialists that will accomplish the following:

• critically engage with dominant Islamic interpretations of social issues and practices;
• promote religiously grounded arguments that enable women to make dignified choices based on their own religious tradition;
• disseminate these authoritative opinions around the world;
• develop a variety of training programs, both short-term intensive and long-term, in order to equip women with expertise in the Islamic legal traditions.

Basic Objectives
The Council will fulfill four primary needs for the WISE community, Muslim women and society at large:

1. Educate women and men, Muslim and non-Muslim, on the principles of gender equality and social, economic and political justice in Islam.
2. Challenge unjust interpretations of the law and Islam’s primary texts by offering an analysis that is simultaneously faithful to Islam and a vision of women’s empowerment.
3. Employ extensive expertise in the Islamic legal traditions, humanities and social sciences and local contexts, in order to connect and apply the Islamic legal traditions to the most pressing issues facing Muslim women today and develop strategies for creating constructive social change.
4. Promote Council positions and members’ scholarship through the global media.

Background Top

The Shura Council is generating a space in which Muslim women can actively dialogue and collaborate on pressing issues of social justice, in order to articulate an ethical and egalitarian Islam. Comprised of Muslim women scholars and activists, the Council aims to promote equality for Muslim women by conducting research, providing Islamic positions on relevant issues, and disseminating this information to the media and WISE network. Operating under the framework of justice, the WISE Shura Council is creating a crucial space for scholarship and activism that contributes to Muslim women’s struggle for justice and a broad vision of acting in public spaces.

The Council networks and promotes the work of Muslim women that are articulate in the language of Islamic law and are capable of communicating their demands for women’s rights within an Islamic framework. To increase the influence and efficacy of these women’s efforts, the Council acts as convener, providing an institutionalized platform for their scholarship and activism. By distilling complex, sophisticated research into simplified, easily-disseminated forms and through its large network, it gives existing work a larger platform via the media, governments and NGOs.

Drawing upon its members’ expertise in both Islamic jurisprudence and fields like history, political science, theology, sociology and the arts, the Council will issue informed and religiously-grounded opinions on controversial issues of particular relevance to Muslim women in their personal, familial and societal lives. By advocating a constructive conception of women’s status, rights and responsibilities, these opinions will function as legitimate alternatives to oppressive religious arguments. Thus, the Council is providing members of the WISE community, as well as Muslims and non-Muslims worldwide, with comprehensive information and vital analysis from Islamic law and other fields of scholarship, in addition to proposing strategies for affecting positive and sound change.

Furthermore, in order to augment women’s ability to speak within an Islamic legal framework, the Council will establish a diverse range of training programs in the Islamic legal traditions, creating a critical mass of Muslim women equipped to more effectively advocate within their communities.

History Top

The Shura Council has held four critical meetings. Currently, it is working on its first project – “Jihad against Violence” – which will tackle both domestic violence and violent extremism. At the 2009 WISE Conference, the Council’s strategic plan will be presented, followed by track sessions discussing how it can best be utilized by the WISE community. Furthermore, the “Jihad against Violence” project will be launched, with discussions and debates.

November 2006: During the 2006 WISE Conference, WISE women expressed their frustration at the lack of women’s participation in the discourses on Islamic law. During one conference workshop, attendees were divided by region and asked to suggest the basic aims and structure for a body capable of addressing this need. They recommended a global, all-women’s Shura Council.

July 2007: A number of WISE members reviewed the WISE participant recommendations and feedback from 2006. They discussed the fundamental goals of the Shura Council and outlined a framework for its establishment. They determined, for example, the Council’s basic organizational, operational and programmatic structures, as well as the principle of scholar-activist collaboration.

February 2008: Shura Council members met in order to finalize the Council’s vision, mission and objectives, and delineate its organizational form and operational structure; furthermore, they began preparations for its first project.

December 2008: After polling the global WISE community on the issue(s) it would like the Shura Council to study (religious authority and domestic violence drew equal interest), Council members defined its initial project, “Jihad against Violence.” This combined study of violent extremism and domestic violence will address Muslim women’s religious authority by tackling an issue of immense social prominence.

March 2009: Building on the December meeting, Shura Council members further defined the “Jihad against Violence” project, including delineating Council operations and research, determining respective Council members' responsibilities, and beginning initial work on the project.

July 2009: At the 2009 global WISE Conference, WISE will formally launch the Shura Council and issue its “Jihad against Violence” statement.

Members Top

Afra Jalabi
Afra Jalabi is an Arab-Canadian journalist and peace advocate. She is currently working on her Ph.D in Islamic Studies at UCLA.

Asma Afsaruddin
Asma Afsaruddin is Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at Indiana University, Bloomington and chair of the Board of Directors of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington, DC.

Daisy Khan
Daisy Khan is Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), a New York based non-profit dedicated to strengthening an expression of Islam based on cultural and religious harmony and building bridges between Muslims and the general public.

Fawzia Afzal-Khan
Fawzia Afzal Khan is a writer, performer, professor, and speaker on South Asian and Islamic issues.

Gonca Aydin
Gonca Aydin is Vice-President of the Union of Muslim Theologians and Islamic Religious Researchers.

Hedieh Mirahmadi
Hedieh Mirahmadi serves as legal counsel and consultant for several multinational non-governmental organizations which cultivate an international network of support and expertise to combat the spread of Islamic extremism and the means by which they advance their goals.

Irfana Hashmi
Irfana Hashmi is an Islamic Law Consultant for the Shari'a Index Project (SIP) at Cordoba Initiative, a global non-profit that works on Muslim-West Relations.

Laila al-Zwaini
Born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and Iraqi father, Laila al-Zwaini holds master degrees in Arabic and Islamic Studies (MA) from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and Law (LL.M) from Leiden University, The Netherlands.

Laleh Bakhtiar
Laleh Bakhtiar, a Qur'anic scholar and psychologist, is the first American woman to translate the Quran.

Margot Badran
Margot Badran is a scholar specializing in the study of women and gender in Muslim societies.

Necva Solak
Necva Solak is a public policy attorney and former intern at the Center for Islamic Studies in Istanbul. She writes on various Islamic issues.

Nevin Reda
Nevin Reda al-Tahry is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, specializing in the Qur’an, with her major in Arabic and minors in Islamic Thought and Biblical Hebrew.

Sabeeha Rehman
Sabeeha Rehman is the Director of Interfaith programs at the American Society for Muslim Advancement.

Sumbul Ali-Karamali
Sumbul Ali-Karamali is a writer and lawyer with a graduate degree in Islamic law.

Tayyibah Taylor
Tayyibah Taylor is the founding editor-in-chief and publisher of Azizah Magazine, a magazine that highlights the accomplishments of Muslim women.

Ziba Mir-Hosseini
Ziba Mir-Hosseini is a legal anthropologist who specializes in Islamic law, gender and development.

“Jihad against Violence” Top

Violence is a human phenomenon that exists across diverse cultures and faith communities. It remains an ever-present reality in the lives of millions of Muslims, preventing entire societies from flouishing in religious, cultural, political, and economic spheres. Throughout the world, violence destroys the ability of Muslim women to thrive within their families, communities, and nations. Violent extremism and domestic violence, in particular, continue to devastate individual lives, families and societies. This is a clear injustice to those who suffer such indignities, as well as a violation of the teachings of Islam, whose mantle is wrongly used to justify such violence.

“Jihad Against Violence: Muslim Women’s Struggle for Peace” is the first statement of the global Muslim women’s Shura Council, an all women’s advisory council that promotes women’s rights within an Islamic framework. A combined study and condemnation of violent extremism and domestic violence, “Jihad against Violence” addresses two critical issues that are typically assumed to be separate. Thus, the Shura Council is studying violence in its larger context, offering connections and links rarely made, and taking a stand against all types and manifestations of violence. Because of the tremendous import of violent extremism and its prominence within public discourses surrounding Islam, studying this topic – in tandem with domestic violence – will register a strong statement that women can pronounce on all societal issues, not merely those traditionally limited to them.

Download:

• The Digest of the “Jihad against Violence"
• The “Jihad against Violence” poster

Muftiyyah-Training Program Top

A long-term goal of the Shura Council is to create Muslim women jurists educated in Islamic law and secular disciplines of relevance. These women, who will enjoy full legitimacy from the perspective of the Islamic legal traditions, in addition to their proficiency in other critical fields such as international affairs and national and international law, will be capable of issuing fatwas that can guide Muslim women in their own societies. Once this initial group of muftiyyas is trained, an Ifta’ Council may be established with the requisite legitimacy to issue fatwas. As a Council comprised exclusively of women, it would represent the first-ever global, institutionalized body of Muslim female scholars, an authority for Muslims around the globe.

Below is a tentative series of requirements for potential applicants to the Muftiyya-Training Program, as well as a preliminary outline of their training.

Summary of the future muftiyyas’ necessary credentials:

1. Applicants must demonstrate spoken and written fluency in English, in order to communicate in today’s lingua franca, as well as written competence in Arabic for their fiqh education in Islamic jurisprudence. The application process may include oral and written tests (English and Arabic), as well as interviews.
2. They must hold outstanding academic credentials from reputable high schools and/or colleges.
3. They must understand and accept the rigorous and long-term character of the Program.
4. They must commit to Islamic scholarship as a profession, whether in their home countries or in an international setting.
5. They must demonstrate a commitment to Islam and its fundamental values of peace, justice, respect and human dignity.

Vision for muftiyyas’ education:
The program’s curriculum will remain both faithful to the rigorous requirements of a classical fiqh education and sensitive to the demands of the globalized world. It will impart the requisite tools and experience to enable the muftiyyahs to apply Islamic legal tenets within the contemporary contexts in which they live.

1. Islamic education
   The academic year will be spent at the site (or sites) of the training program. Here, students will join a 3-5 year training program in the Islamic sciences at a center of fiqh study in order to receive ijazahs and become legitimate muftiyyas. A necessarily rigorous process, this will comprise the bulk of their education. Combined with their “secular” education (see below), this training will provide them with a holistic, realistic and actionable perspective on Islam, Islamic law and the contemporary world.

2. Secular education
   Students will use their summers (or, 1-2 contiguous years during or at the end of the Islamic education) to gain knowledge and training in interfaith seminaries and international settings. These intensive semesters will provide the women with the experience necessary to affect change within a globalized world. The women will participate in a variety of general interdisciplinary seminars and forums, which could include comparative religion; faith-based feminism and activism; national and international law; philosophy and sociology; international affairs; and economics.