The Idea of Woman in Fundamentalist Islam By Lamia Rustum Shehadeh (Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 2004. 321 pages.)

Abstract

Lamia Rustum Shehadeh’s timely book, The Idea of Woman in
Fundamentalist Islam, begins with a brief biography of influential “fundamentalists.” She examines the context in which they formulated their theories
and the extent to which they influenced each other, a process that
allows us to see their ideas as a response to the historical, political, and
social environments in which they lived. For example, the Muslim
Brotherhood, founded by Hasan al-Banna in 1928, not only helped formulate
and consolidate Islamic revivalism in Egypt, but also helped provide a
blueprint for a sociopolitical organization that promoted the political Islam
or Islamism influencing chapters in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine.
The ideas promoted by the Brotherhood also spread to Sudan, where they
continue to guide the current regime’s policies. In some cases, as in Iran and
Sudan, pronouncements of these ideologues influence state law and public
policy. At other times they challenge the state, as in Tunisia.
Al-Banna promotes the view that Muslim countries became impoverished
and fell under European control because they have deviated from
Islam. He suggests that Muslims see Islam as the solution to their problems.
However, al-Banna and other Islamists believe that Islam’s historical
traditions are irrelevant for modern times. Instead, they propose a
return to what they believe to be the traditions of the Prophet’s time and
that of the first four caliphs. Moreover, they advocate the use of ijtihad
(independent judgment), a practice that allows them to interpret seventhcentury
traditions in light of modern needs. Islamist ideologues reserve
this practice for themselves, and thus largely marginalize its alternative
uses by feminists and other progressive groups to advance women’s rights
or minority rights ...