Femin Ijtihad - A Project for Afghanistan [Gender in Afghanistan]
Introduction to FI
Femin Ijtihad is an academic initiative which intends to promote women's rights and solidarity between genders in Afghanistan through the creation of:
1. A manual on gender-neutral interpretations in Islamic law
2. A story-book that inspires readers to embrace the practice of a gender-neutral Islam.
FI is doing what it is doing because we recognise the inaccessibility of gender-neutral interpretations of Islamic law in Afghanistan. Unlike the UK or many other industrialised countries, Afghanistan does not have the luxury of libraries, bookstores and easy access to Internet. This heavily impedes their ability to access materials that Islamic scholars have written about gender-neutral interpretations of Islamic law. What FI intends to do is to research, read and compile these interpretations as well as inspiring stories about how the Prophet treated his wives and women companions. If we could compile this into these two books, the manual and the story book, these books can then be used by human and women's rights organisations in Afghanistan in their training, campaigning and education programmes.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR?
Legal Team
We aim to produce a Manual. The scope of our work includes researching and/or compiling the following:
- Gender-issues and calls for reform in the Afghan Civil and Criminal Code
- Gender-neutral interpretations in Islamic law and legal traditions
- Traditions of the Prophet: the honourable manner in which he treated his wives and addressed his female companions
- Stories/folktales of key female figures in Islamic history
Literary team
We aim to produce a series of story-books (fiction). The scope of this team includes researching the following:
- How literature can be used to impact social reform
- The use of literary devices
- The use of plots and characters that are inspirational and non-confrontational.
- Afghan stories, folktales, poetry
RECOGNITION OF FI's WORK
FI is doing was acknowledged by the Clinton Global Foundation as one of the most dynamic student commitments they've seen in 2008. We were also featured in a magazine and a newspaper in Singapore just recently and have been invited to participate in the Global Equality Movement called Musawah in Malaysia next February.
FI , A GLOBAL PROJECT
FI has 4 branches. We operate in New York, home to many Afghan Americans. We also have a branch at Warwick as a Society and a Pro Bono Project. Just recently we set up a branch at the National University of Singapore Law School with contacts in the Muslim Religious Council of Singapore and the Reading Group comprising of well-read Muslims in Islamic Intellectual thought. Also this summer, The Afghan Women's Network in Kabul assimilated FI into their programmes and is working closely with us.
Please visit www.feminijtihad.webs.com for more information
Email: feminijtihad@gmail.com to join
PRESS RELEASES
