30 Rights of Muslim Women: A Trusted Guide

by Daisy Khan, Afra Jalabi (Preface by)

Overview

This authoritative “go-to” publication aims to educate women on how to express their rights within Islam. Perfect for enabling activists to integrate an egalitarian Islamic belief system into their movements.  

The most effective means of improving Muslim women's lives is connecting them to their deeply held beliefs that affirm human dignity and gender equality at the core of the Islamic faith. But Muslim women lack this information that enlightens and vouches for their sacred rights, and they have no accessible tools that encourage faith-based activism consistent with the Islamic faith. To protect them from being misrepresented by or outside their communities, there is a need to provide pre-packaged, easy-to-understand literacy tools to women so they can lead lives of choice, dignity, and opportunity. 30 Rights of Muslim Women aims to fill this gap.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781958972335
Publisher:	Monkfish Book Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/21/2024
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Daisy Khan is an award-winning speaker, author, activist, commentator, and the founder of Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE), the largest global network of Muslim women committed to peacebuilding, gender equality, and human dignity. She has been involved in grassroots efforts combating anti-Muslim bias for twenty-plus years and is renowned as a thought leader on Muslim women’s rights and Islam in America. Her memoir, Born with Wings: The Spiritual Journey of a Muslim Woman, published in 2018 by Random House, depicts her spiritual journey as a modern Muslim woman and her circuitous path to leadership. Khan has lectured at major institutions, like the Council on Foreign Relations, Aspen Institute, Chautauqua Institution, World Economic Forum, Islamic Society of North America, and many others. She is a media commentator and an Op-Ed writer who has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, PBS, and BBC and is featured in documentaries and publications like TIME, Guardian, Newsweek, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Elle, and many others. Khan was listed among TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential” People

Read an Excerpt

Despite the overwhelming evidence favoring women’s political and civic participation and leadership, certain cultural biases in some newly formed patriarchal empires persisted in women’s subordination to male authority and their exclusion from civic participation. The concern over women assuming public political and civic roles was mainly due to some Islamic scholars' interpretation of Quranic verse 4:34. It reads, “Men are the caretakers of women, as men have been provisioned by God over women and tasked with supporting them financially.” (CQ 4:34, An-Nisa/The Women) This verse is misapplied to mean that since men are qawwamun (caretakers) of women, they have authority over them. Conversely, if a woman cannot be above a man, she has no authority to rule over him. Yet this verse gives no indication of men’s superiority over women regarding intelligence, piety, or any other attribute; therefore, it makes little sense to interpret this verse to mean that men are superior to women.

Furthermore, the verse solely deals with family affairs and does not address public life. It refers to a married woman whose husband is commanded to be the wife's primary caretaker. According to Amina Wadud, various translations render this as “in charge of,” or “in charge of the affairs of,” or “managers of the affairs of.” It addresses the man’s responsibility to ensure that a woman is not burdened with other duties while she is fulfilling her child-bearing function, thereby equalizing their responsibility to the family.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents—these are the 30 Rights:

 

The Right to Protection and Promotion of Mind

#1. To civic/political leadership

#2. To education—secular

#3. To career pursuit

#4. To freedom of speech and expression

#5. To testimony and witness

    

The Right to Your Religion

#6. To fulfill being a trustee (Khalifa) of God on earth

#7. To religious and spiritual leadership

#8. To be jurists and interpreters of Islamic texts

#9. To gain spiritual knowledge

#10. To access religious spaces

 

The Right to Your Family

#11. To marriage

#12. To be free of forced marriage

#13. To maturely choose marriage

#14. To accept or refuse a polygamous marriage

#15. To divorce

#16. To family planning and reproductive justice

#17. To care for orphans through adoption

#18. To motherhood and womanhood

 

The Right to Wealth

#19. To inheritance

#20. To financial independence and equal pay

#21. To own property

#22. To freedom of movement

#23. To expression of modesty

#24. To freedom from domestic violence

#25. To safeguarding against female genital mutilation

#26. To protection from rape, sexual assault, and adultery

#27. To safeguarding against child and human trafficking

#28. To good health and hygiene

    

The Right to Your Dignity

#29. To freedom from gossip, slander, libel, defamation, and to privacy

#30. To be safeguarded against “honor” and targeted killings

Editorial Reviews

05/20/2024

Khan (The Spiritual Journey of a Muslim Woman), founder of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, an organization dedicated to empowering female Muslim leaders, establishes Muslim women’s religious and moral equality as the foundation for this comprehensive overview. Drawing on the Quran, textual commentaries, and historical examples of Muslim women ranging from the Queen of Sheba to lesser-known Chinese imams, Khan covers free expression (the Quran requires all Muslims to “speak openly about the truth and denounce injustice,” and the prophet Muhammad instructed women to debate with leaders to help build a strong society) and abortion (most Quranic interpretations agree that the practice is permitted to ensure the mother’s health), as well as property ownership, secular education, political leadership, and hygiene. While the personal anecdotes Khan weaves into the account sometimes feel out of place (illustrating how the Quran permits women to own and acquire property, she explains that her own portfolio of rental properties has allowed her to “generate consistent monthly cash flow”), Khan’s methodical textual analysis buttresses her case that Muslim women’s religious equality is enshrined in the Quran, which has been misinterpreted by leaders of oppressive societies to subjugate women. This solid theological guide is worth a look. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Dr. Daisy Khan meticulously illustrates that through the Qur’an, Hadith, and Islamic scholarship faith and gender equality can be achieved.” —Mehnaz M. Afridi, PhD, professor of religious studies, Manhattan College

“Daisy Khan’s insightful and inclusive 30 Rights of Muslim Women offers a bridge between faith communities, enriching our collective understanding of Muslim women’s rights and encouraging a harmonious coexistence rooted in shared humanity.” —Cristina Smith, interfaith minister, author of The December Dozen: A Celebration of Holidays 

“A comprehensive compendium on women in Islam, providing readers with an encyclopedic reference to the most pressing of topics. Easy to follow and accessible.” —His Eminence Imam Dr. Mohamad Jebara, former Chief Imam, and author of The Life of the Quran and Muhammad the World-Changer

“Daisy Khan’s 30 Rights of Muslim Women: A Trusted Guide uniquely questions, protests, and examines the various layers of meaning and practice of gender injustice. By linking historical legacies to contemporary Muslim women’s scholarship and activism, she empowers each woman to self-identify with Qur’anic justice and fairness. Khan affirms women’s spiritual leadership by providing new perspectives of the Qur’an, while debunking misinterpreted traditions attributed to Prophet Muhammad. She explores women’s realities, embarking with them upon a journey of restoring their own rights and transforming their own lives.” —Nimat Hafez Barazangi, author of Woman’s Identity and the Qur’an: A New Reading

“As a religious woman, I consider 30 Rights of Muslim Women, an  essential read for anyone who cares about religion today. It has opened my eyes and strengthened my heart. Khan writes as a Muslim woman to other Muslim women, teaching how localized patriarchies have denied Muslim women and young girls their fundamental rights guaranteed  to them by the sacred texts of Islam. Khan brings deep knowledge and an abundance of courage to this confrontation.” —Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah

“When Daisy Khan speaks, the world listens. She embodies a rare amalgam of brilliance and humility, reasoning and passion, patience and persistence, demand and empathy. This book should be front and center on the shelves of Muslim girls, Muslim women leaders, Muslim women who should be leaders, Muslim men who are leaders, and Muslim men who should learn from Muslim women how to follow.” —Swanee Hunt, former lecturer and founder of the Women and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School

“Khan’s methodical textual analysis buttresses her case that Muslim women’s religious equality is enshrined in the Quran, which has been misinterpreted by leaders of oppressive societies to subjugate women. This solid theological guide is worth a look.” —Publishers Weekly

“A compelling case for recognizing women’s freedom and fulfillment as centerpieces of Islamic values.” —Kirkus Reviews

 

Praise for Born with Wings

“A heartfelt, deeply personal, and touching account of a Muslim woman’s spiritual journey and her work to empower women and girls around the globe.”—Her Majesty Queen Noor

“Daisy Khan is one of the most prominent Muslim voices in America and an icon of female empowerment across the globe. This beautiful story of her spiritual journey is an inspiration to anyone who seeks to change the world.”—Reza Aslan, author of No god but God and Zealot

From the Publisher

2024-06-04
Traditional Islamic teachings support a surprisingly progressive stance on women’s rights, according to Khan’s searching brief for a Muslim feminism.

The author, founder of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, cites verses from the Quran and the Hadith, writings by religious scholars and jurists, and latter-day feminist intellectuals to argue that Islam reserves 30 crucial rights for women that have often been overlooked in Muslim society. These include the right to exercise political leadership (the Quran portrays the Queen of Sheba as the model of a wise ruler, Khan notes); the rights to freedom of speech, a secular education, and a career (the Prophet Muhammad’s first wife, Khadijah, was a merchant trader who used her wealth to support his religious mission); the rights to not be subjected to a forced marriage or child marriage, to divorce, and to have access to contraception and abortion (scriptures permit the termination of pregnancies up to the 17th week of gestation, the author contends); the rights to travel freely without a male escort and to wear—or not wear—a hijab; and the right to protection against sexual assault, domestic violence, genital mutilation, and honor killings. Challenging stereotypes of Islamic social repression and sex-based constraints, Khan depicts the early Muslim world as inquisitive, humane, attuned to female happiness in every respect (“The Prophet counseled men, ‘not to fall upon their wives like beasts, rather to start it with stimuli for both, such as caresses and gentle sayings,’” she observes), and full of strong women like the Prophet’s youngest wife, Aisha, the author of many hadiths and a formidable leader who commanded an army in battle. (The author argues that Aisha was an adult woman when she married the Prophet, not a 9-year-old child bride as tradition holds.) Khan’s prose is lucid, insightful, and viscerally evocative of women’s struggle for equality. (“He threatened to throw acid in my face before others did….It wasn’t just about my hair; it was a fight for my independence.”) The result is a stimulating exploration of Islamic doctrine that will encourage fresh thinking and debate.

A compelling case for recognizing women’s freedom and fulfillment as centerpieces of Islamic values.

Kirkus Reviews