Women and Islam in Pakistan

In: Middle Eastern studies, Volume 26, Issue 4, p. 449-464

Abstract

The author analyzes the question of women's rights in Pakistan in the light of the controversy between proponents of General Zia-ul Haq's martial law ordinances supporting the religious right wing and modernist Muslim scholars that do not accept the sole authority of the Ulama. He argues that the moral religious and social pronouncements of the Quran must be seen in a socio-historical context. After examining the question of purdah, Islamic views on family life and recent measures to islamize Pakistani laws he concludes that the question of wohmen's rights has deep cultural roots in the attitudes of Pakistani men towards women, nourished by economic factors, and is not just linked to political and religious exigencies. To overcome their present patriarchal-capitalist framework, modernist women theologians will have to lead women in their battle for equality. (DÜI-Kwe)