Féministes et musulmanes : un oxymore dépassé ?

Feminists and Muslims: An Outdated Oxymoron? — The aim of this bibliographic note is to review the relationship between gender, Islam, and female or feminist subjectivations, based on three recently published or republished works: Z. Ali, Féminismes islamiques, 2020 [2012]; M. Hamidi, Un féminisme musulman, et pourquoi pas ?, 2020 [2017]; H. Karimi, Les femmes musulmanes ne sont-elles pas des femmes ?, 2023. These works highlight how Muslim women/feminists articulate faith and commitment to equality and social justice. While Z. Ali and M. Hamidi outline the trajectories and the forms of engagement of these women in several Arab and Muslim-majority countries (Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Malaysia) as well as in French-speaking Europe, H. Karimi focuses on the political construction of the radical otherness of Muslim women in France and on the processes of subjectivation that result from it. Their practices may converge, challenging the boundary often perceived as oxymoronic between Muslim faith and feminist activism. The article first looks at the origins of Islamic feminist movements, then discusses the ideas, tools and methods developed by the pioneers of these movements. It then focuses on the transnationalization of Islamic feminisms and their incarnations within different national movements, first in Arab and Muslim countries, then in the West—where, in France in particular, a radical otherness of Muslim women is being constructed. Finally, the article briefly addresses its spread in several sub-Saharan African countries.