The Women and Memory Forum (WMF) organized the international academic conference “Feminism and Islamic Perspectives: New Horizons of Knowledge and Reform” in cooperation with the Danish–Egyptian Dialogue Initiative (DEDI) and the Danish Knowledge Centre for Gender and Equality (KVINFO). The conference was held on 17–18 March 2021, at the headquarters of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Culture in Cairo, with participants from Egypt, the Arab World, and Europe. The WMF covered the participants’ travel and accommodation expenses.

The conference is organized within the framework of the WMF’s research interests in women’s and gender studies, and within the scope of the WMF’s mission to produce alternative knowledge on women in the Arab culture, in order to support the realization of justice and equal opportunities, and to reshape power relations in various social structures.

Although the term ‘Islamic feminism’ propagated in the early 1990s to describe and analyze the struggle of Iranian women activists for their rights in the public and private spheres from within the Shiite jurisprudence system following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the notion of linking women’s rights demands to an Islamic perspective had emerged in the late nineteenth century, driven by a number of pioneering women activists in the Arab region, yet lacked theorization and systematic analytical methodologies. In the last twenty years, the notion has evolved through the application of feminist consciousness to make sense of the disparity between the message of Islam and the on-the-ground translation of this message’s value system in the form of equal opportunities, partnership, and equal human dignity for both Muslim men and women.

Employing analytical feminist approaches and tools aims not only towards the reconstruction of much of the Islamic thought and sciences from the perspective of Muslim women, but also towards enabling women’s ijtihad and active production of Islamic knowledge that emphasizes gender justice, equality, and partnership. This knowledge can offer an alternative to the logic of exclusion, monopoly, and male advantage that characterized traditional heritage discourses and the ways by which male religious scholars deduced laws and rulings. These scholars, despite their scholarly prowess and efforts to adhere to the Sharia, were the product of their own eras, influenced by the cultures of those times, and were not concerned by the need to establish an equal status for men and women. It is time for the Islamic knowledge system to articulate this justice and equality in status, capabilities, and opportunities.

The main incentive behind Islamic feminist research today is to weave women’s perspective on justice and equality with a faith position informed by the doctrine and message of Islam, in order to activate Islam’s higher principles and purposes, and produce feminist knowledge with an Islamic frame of reference. This knowledge deconstructs patriarchy and gender bias in heritage discourses and interpretations, then reconstructs a new reformist vision.

In light of these aims, the Women and Memory Forum (WMF) launched its international conference “Feminism and Islamic Perspectives: New Horizons of Knowledge and Reform” to explore six main themes:

(1) Islamic Feminism, Arab Revolutions, and Democracy

This theme addressed the relationship between the previous ruling regimes and women’s issues, and the impact of a changing political context on the actual integration of women into society. It raised questions such as: How can Islamic feminist research become a project that resists all forms of authoritarianism, exclusion, and monopolization of knowledge in the context of Arab peoples’ liberation from political patriarchy? How do we promote women’s participation in research on jurisprudential issues and hermeneutical concepts, and in the production of effective and creative religious knowledge? Why do specialized women religious scholars remain excluded from participation in jurisprudence and fatwa councils, and local and international Islamic organizations? Why are they absented from leadership and positions of influence in official religious institutions?

(2) Islamic Feminist Research as an Intellectual Project and Alternative Discourse

This theme engaged with the research objectives and definition of Islamic feminism and the fields of study that need to be brought to the forefront. The theme posed critical questions: Does the research agenda of Islamic feminism focus on theorizing and defining an interdisciplinary field and an intellectual trend? Or does it include proposing methodologies and approaches by which this type of research would be carried out, and identifying the parameters and frameworks of Islamic feminist studies? How would the practical applications be implemented and analyzed regarding issues of Islamic interpretations, hermeneutics, and science?

(3) Islamic Feminist Research in the Arab World and Beyond

This theme discussed the contributions of Muslim minorities in European societies to the formulation of new Islamic visions regarding the roles of women and men within the Islamic paradigm, and new perspectives on gender relations in religion and life. The theme also examined how Islamic feminism is framed as a project that exclusively serves these minorities, and investigated the lack of research and intellectual production in the Arabic language compared to the accumulation of theoretical developments and academic contributions in other languages and academic circles outside the Arab world. This theme explored the importance of the Arabic language and heritage in renewing Islamic discourses and thought, and the future developments to what has already been achieved in Arabic studies.

(4) Social, Cultural, and Political Realities

This theme raised questions about the role of Islamic feminist knowledge in addressing the needs of women in Muslim societies and how its objectives can be materialized in practice: What is the actual impact of Islamic feminism on social reform, cultural practices, and laws? How does it contribute to Muslim women’s access to their rights in the public and private spheres, under state laws, whether in Muslim or Western societies? Is it enough to produce knowledge when it has no official endorsement nor authority to execute and apply such knowledge?

(5) Expansion, Interaction, and Dialogue

This theme explored the possible interactions between Islamic feminism and feminist movements in other religions towards a search for commonalities within the overarching faith-based emancipative values, and towards the rejection of gender discrimination and segregation in the name of religion. It also raised questions regarding the cooperation between different feminist movements in a single society, and the role of Islamic feminism in promoting South-North dialogue – between the societies with Islamic cultural heritage and their European counterparts.

(6) Ijtihad on Specific Issues

This theme addressed the compound relationship between women, fatwa advisory, and the judiciary concerning the exegetical and jurisprudential heritage, and the sciences of hadith, sunnah, and the Prophetic tradition, in order to rethink hermeneutical concepts such as qiwama, obedience, nushuz, the degree of advantage, the one first soul, the guardianship of the believing men and women over one another (al-Tawba 71), as well as God’s response to the believing men and women alike (Aal-Imran 195), equality in the assignment of religious duties, worship, reward, and punishment, and the Quranic perspective to patriarchal authority. Such feminist rethinking goes in line with Islam’s overall purposes and principles, and towards the aim of renewing jurisprudence to reflect the principles of gender justice and equal dignity, the values of monotheism in human relations, and the Quranic address to men and women.

The Women and Memory Forum (WMF) published the conference papers in 2013 in a publication entitled Feminism and Islamic Perspectives: New Horizons of Knowledge and Reform, edited by Prof. Omaima Abu-Bakr and translated into Arabic by Prof. Randa Abu-Bakr.