Vol. 7, no. 2 (2017), 262-264 | DOI: 10.18352/rg.10224

Review of Azza Basarudin, Humanizing the Sacred: Sisters in and the Struggle for Gender Justice in , Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2016, 330 pp., ISBN 978-0-295- 99531-1

By Çag˘das¸ Dedeog˘lu, University of Florida, USA

Published under the series titled ‘Decolonizing ’, humanizing the sacred perfectly overcomes the difficulty of linking the movements with the ideas. As the book’s extended title shows, Basarudin invites the reader to think ‘Sisters in Islam and the Struggle for Gender Justice in Malaysia’ together. Each chapter indicates this with a diverse range of insightful analyses supported by feminist ideas, interviews, and histories. The book provides a solid critique of patriarchal discourses dominating Muslim identity politics in Malaysia. Basaru- din’s ethnographical effort mainly deals with two broad subjects: The general picture of Muslim politics in Malaysia and the activism of Sisters in Islam (SIS). However, these themes are not isolated from each other, instead the two are very well collated throughout the book. The author, following the feminist tradition of Lina Abu-Lughod, Lara Deeb, Sherine Hafez, Saba Mahmood, Chandra Mohanty, aims to combine two research paths: One scrutinizes the potential of bridging and activism seeking justice – which must be understood differently from legality – in the socio-political realm, the other probes the future of the ’s Muslim politics (p. 5–6). For these aims, in the introduction chapter, the author discusses the link between ‘faith, self and community’ through the concepts such as syariah (literally, the way), fiqh (Islamic ), ijtihad (indepen- dent judgment) and argues that feminist intervention to Islamic jurisprudence creates a potential both for the establishment of women’s rights in the society and for the revitalization of faith and piety by challenging the ‘institutionalized religious authority’ (p. 5). Such an intervention seems to be necessary to struggle against ethnicity and gender problems reinforced by the institutional Islamization acts, e.g. reinforc- ing Islamic bureaucracy and the role of ulama (Muslim theologians and schol- ars), generating Islamic banking, establishing the International Islamic University Malasia and the Institute of Islamic Understanding Islamic Family Law (IFL) (p. 9). Therefore, Basarudin explores women’s rights aspect of Malaysian Mus- lim politics through the example of SIS, a nonprofit organization ‘promoting an

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (3.0) Religion and Gender | ISSN: 1878-5417 | www.religionandgender.org | Uopen Journals understanding of Islam that recognizes the principles of justice, equality, free- dom, and dignity within a democratic nation state.’ The organization tries to do this both through education and awareness raising programs, and through legal advocacy (p. 13). In this context, Chapter 1 focuses on the transformation of politics in Malay- sia by the early 1980s, and on its ethnic, religious, gender-based outcomes. The chapter shows how different ideologies speak in chorus about women’s rights. It can be said that patriarchal domination is a definitive characteristic of poli- tics, independent of who is ruling. Furthermore, starting from the era of Maha- thir Mohamad (1981–2003) Islamist modernization has become the desired end result in Malaysian politics. Chapter 2 scrutinizes ‘the politics of the sacred’ in the country and links the issue to the emergence of SIS activism. The author discusses two groups of ulama both seeking socio-political domination through a specific interpretation of Islam: Those ones working as state officers and the ones seeking a syariah-based system – and in this milieu, the remaining few with alternative ideas and ideals are invisible. In others words, the struggle seems to be an exclusive interplay between these two groups both believing in male superiority. And since the majority of Malay Muslims learns ‘the by rote’ (p. 92) within such a judicial structure, SIS can be seen as an organization provid- ing a voice to the voiceless through its programs. Besides programs, SIS conducts advocacy campaigns. Therefore, Chapter 3 presents how ‘SIS’s strategy of interrogating androcentric [anthropocentric] interpretations of Islam and calling for a reexamination of the sources of Islam’ as an intellectual effort is strengthened by advocacy (p. 105). Reading between the lines, the reader also receives motivation messages indicating that some historical cases exist in which women were active in Islam. For example, the positions and roles of the Prophet’s wives, A’isha and Umm Salama, and the rev- elation of verse Al-Ahzab 33–35 are given as the proof of how men and women are equally treated in Qur’an. What a Muslim needs today is to develop a true understanding of this. Chapter 4 addresses the issue of patriarchal domination over legal-political structures. Therefore, the author uses the categories of ‘expert knowledge in Islam; and Western imperialism; and social class and elitism’ (p. 146). It is important to note that this chapter does not only explain the prominent aspects of feminist approaches but it also deciphers religious thoughts of ordi- nary people through the interviews. Additionally, the effects of the dominant – an ideology creeping more or less into all other political ideologies – are reflected by some of these interviewees criticizing SIS because of employ- ing reason, not Islam (p. 145). This reminds us the lasting debate within the dualistic understanding of faith and rationality. It is mostly believed that this is an either/or question. Furthermore, the answer of this question is believed to be given by the religious authorities. And such an answer is based on the notion that the gate of ijtihad has been closed (rather than ‘has closed’. This is not something automatically happened but an outcome of political power relations). Under these circumstances, SIS members argue for justice, and their program and advocacy aim to change individuals’ weltanschauung. In Chapter 5, the interviews come more into prominence. In this chapter, the author argues that observing feminism within Islamic discourse is not an easy task but still a necessity for gender justice in Malaysia. Within this scope, she

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