The Foreign Service Journal, April 2008

men and women is not without nuance, however. Islamic feminism, for example, ranges from the stark beliefs of Muslim female suicide bombers — an increasingly com- mon phenomenon — to the liberal ideas of Amina Wadud, who recently led Friday prayers before a mixed male and female congregation in New Jersey. She argues that the universal truths of the Quran have to be separat- ed from Mohammad’s cultural circumstances; in fact, equality of believers before God gives equal rights to men and women in their daily lives. In essence, the argument is whether the Quranic injunctions about the role of women were set for all time in the early days of Islam or whether Mohammad’s exam- ple of ending female infanticide and generally improving the plight of women should be emulated today. From the beginning of Islam women have played important roles. Mohammad’s wife Khadija was his first convert. His youngest wife Aisha, one of several he mar- ried after Khadija’s death, led an army in the Battle of the Camel in 656. And his daughter Fatima inspired the Shia Fatimid dynasty, which covered North Africa, Egypt and the Levant for two centuries. Many of the strictures affecting women most severely stem not from the Quran but from interpretations formulated by the major schools of Islam in the 9th century. In short, the treatment of women within the Muslim world has varied according to time and place. Age hierar- chies have also cut across sexual patterns, with older women commanding great authority even over younger men. Women have led political parties and governments in many Muslim countries, such as Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia. Religious Tolerance and Justice. The default posi- tion favoring Muslims still recognizes Christians and Jews as “people of the book;” i.e., those who, like Muslims, accept the Bible as divinely inspired. This status provides scope for tolerance and acceptance, so practice varies; extremist Wahhabis brook no other faiths, while the Sufi Gulen movement emphasizes religious tolerance. Overall, the cultural heritage of Muslim countries F O C U S A P R I L 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 21