My article, "Can Islam Be Reformed?" included a number of religious changes in recent years. Many concerned women:
- Saudi Arabia's Shura Council has responded to rising public outrage over child marriages by setting the age of majority at 18. Though this doesn't end child marriages, it moves toward abolishing the practice.
- Turkish clerics have agreed to let menstruating women attend mosque and pray next to men.
- The Iranian government has nearly banned the stoning of convicted adulterers.
- Women in Iran have won broader rights to sue their husbands for divorce.
- A conference of Muslim scholars in Egypt deemed clitoridectomies contrary to Islam and, in fact, punishable.
- A key Indian Muslim institution, Darul Uloom Deoband, issued a fatwa against polygamy.
Other notable developments, not specifically about women, include:
- The Saudi government abolished jizya (the practice of enforcing a poll tax on non-Muslims).
- An Iranian court ordered the family of a murdered Christian to receive the same compensation as that of a Muslim victim.
- Scholars meeting at the International Islamic Fiqh Academy in Sharjah have started to debate and challenge the call for apostates to be executed.
This blog collects other examples of Islamic reform.
May 2002: "Turkish religious authorities ruled - completely contrary to Islamic custom - to permit women to pray next to men and to attend mosque services while menstruating. The High Religious Affairs Board decided this on the (distinctly modern) basis that men and women are 'equal and complementary beings.' Next month, this same board takes up the extremely delicate topic of permitting Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men, when it will perhaps again rule against centuries of practice."
May 8, 2008: The Penang Sharia High Court in Malaysia permitted a woman to convert out of Islam, but it only did so due to extenuating circumstances: In Malaysia, contrary to Shari'a, non-Muslim women must convert to Islam to marry a Muslim man. So, Tan Ean Huang, 28, converted from Buddhism to Islam in 1998, taking the name Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah. When the couple divorced, she asked the court's permission to revert to Buddhism, arguing that she had converted to Islam only to get married and never became a practicing Muslim. Relatives testified that her prayers and other customs indicate she did not live as a Muslim. This precedent only holds for Penang, and not for Islamic courts in the 12 other states of Malaysia. Also, the Penang state religious council opposed this ruling and indicated it would likely appeal the ruling.
Mar. 8, 2009: For a discussion of changes under Khomeini, see a comment by Sani on this website titled "Examples of re-interpretation of Islamic Sharia in modern times."
Also, today, Y. Admon of MEMRI writes in an article about "Rising Criticism of Child Bride Marriages in Saudi Arabia":
It should be noted that at least two religiously based practices have been previously changed in Saudi Arabia. The first is slavery. In 1962, King Faisal bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz issued a decree "abolishing all [forms of] slavery" and freeing all the slaves in the kingdom. The second is the Jizya (the poll tax on non-Muslims), which is no longer enforced in the kingdom.
Admon is likewise hopeful that recent developments mean that "the religious law permitting child marriages may be amended."
Apr. 30, 2009: "Scholars hotly debate treatment of apostates" reads the title of an article in the Arab News, a Saudi paper, by Badea Abu Al-Naja. It points to some interesting ferment:
In a session here [Sharjah, U.A.E.] on religious freedom, Muslim scholars from around the world yesterday debated how apostates should be treated according to Islamic law. More than 200 delegates representing 60 countries are discussing diverse issues in the light of Shariah at the ongoing International Islamic Fiqh Conference hosted by Sharjah ruler Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Qassimi. The event at the Zahra Hall Auditorium at the University of Sharjah has been organized by the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), an offshoot of the Jeddah-based Organization of the Islamic Conference.
In other words, this is arch-Sunni establishment fare.
While several scholars demanded a review of the punishment for apostates in the light of the changing modern values, others refuted their argument saying the original Islamic texts call for harsh punishments. "Religious freedom is a right that should be guaranteed to every human being. We have come here to present and discuss different viewpoints and we should do it in order to reach the right solution," said Mahmoud Zaqzouq, Egypt's minister of endowments.
Some participants doubted the validity of texts quoted in support of the beheading of apostates. On the other hand, several others were adamant in their refusal to the demand for a lighter approach toward apostates in the name of freedom of religion. "The view that Islamic scholars of the past had different views on how to punish apostates is incorrect. They only disagreed on how soon apostates should be executed; should it be done in three days, one week or few months. The waiting time is left to the discretion of the ruler," said Muhammad Al-Nujaimi, a professor at the Higher Institute of Law in Riyadh.
June 3, 2012: Darul Uloom Deoband, a key Indian Muslim institution, has delivered what MEMRI calls "a revolutionary fatwa (edict) against polygamy, advising Muslims in India not to contract a second marriage." Their fatwa reads, in the unedited English:
According to Shariah, it is lawful to keep two wives at the same time but it is not generally acceptable in Indian custom. Here in India it is like to invite hundreds of problems to keep two wives. Moreover, the husband generally cannot maintain justice and equality between two wives. Hence it is better to have only one wife as the Quran said: "And if you don't [meaning, are unable to] be just to all [wives] equally – then marry one [only]." You should discard the idea of second marriage; otherwise you would feel sorry later. Allah (Subhana Wa Ta'ala) knows Best.
(July 1, 2013)
May 9, 2017 update: A mosque has opened in Berkeley, California, where men and women pray side by side.
Sep. 15, 2017 update: Adding to the list above concerning women: the Tunisian government has changed the law to permit Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men.
Oct. 25, 2018 update: Two major Indonesian Islamic organizations have passed the 40-page Nusantara Manifesto that promotes a promote Humanitarian Islam (al-islām lil-insānīyah). It notes the absence of ijtihad for the past five centuries, the resulting gap between Shari'a and Muslim practice, specifically about three issues: Muslim relations with non-Muslims, the modern state, and man-made laws.
Mar. 18, 2019 update: The imam of Al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed al-Tayeb, has condemned most polygamous marriages: "In 90% of cases — and I am not exaggerating — polygamy involves injustice toward the wife, her family and her children. ... Polygamy is an example of a distorted understanding of the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet."
July 1, 2019 update: Al-Monitor reports that, according to Al-Azhar, "conditions should be set for polygamy so that a married man is only allowed to take another wife when there are compelling reasons, such as infertility, and the husband can provide equally for his wives, and has the consent of the first wife."
Nov. 29, 2020 update: Again, new thinking from Al-Azhar, this time from Amna Nosier, a professor of Islamic philosophy and a member of Egypt's parliament. Al-Monitor paraphrases her stating that "there is no text in the Quran that bans the marriage of Muslim women and non-Muslim men. Islam permits Muslim men to marry non-Muslim women, provided that they do not prevent them from observing their faith." She finds this "especially clear if the men are Christians or Jews," the peoples of the book.
Jan. 14, 2022 update: Imam Imaad Sayeed, founder of The London Nikah, a marriage agency now based in New Jersey, has officiated at some 250 weddings in the past five years, primarily a Muslim woman and non-Muslim man, quite contrary to Shari'a.
