RELIGION AND WOMEN - ISLAMIC MODERNISM VERSUS FUNDAMENTALISM

This paper explains two diverse religious discourses on women. In Isla mic fundamentalism, women are instructed to cover their bodies from he ad to toe with the exception of the face and hands, barred from perfor ming certain social functions, given an inferior status to men, and pr eached to accept polygamy. In Islamic modernism, in contrast, a group of theologians advanced a modernist exegesis of the Quran, arriving at an Islamic feminist conception of gender relations. These scholars ch ampioned women's rights to education and involvement in social affairs , questioned the existing restrictions on women, criticized men's atti tudes and behavior toward women, and rejected polygamy. This paper exp lains this contrast by analyzing Islamic modernism in Egypt and India and fundamentalism in Iran in terms of the varying discursive context in which debates over women were waged. It argues that Islamic moderni sm emerged out of a pluralistic environment, and where the ruling elit e refrained from directly interfering in ideological debates and relig ious disputations. Islamic fundamentalism, on the other hand, emerged out of a monolithic cultural context where the means of culture produc tion were monopolized by a bureaucratic authoritarian state. This pape r then discusses the implications of this study for understanding the relationship between religion and women.