OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Shaikh, Sa'diyya"

Browsing by Author "Shaikh, Sa'diyya"

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Open Access
Battered women in Muslim communities in the Western Cape : religious constructions of gender, marriage, sexuality and violence
(1996) Shaikh, Sa'diyya; Moosa, Ebrahim
Historically Muslim women have been marginalised in the examination of Islamic texts and Muslim society. This has resulted in the non-recognition and silencing of women's perspectives as well as the concealment of some of the traumatic realities experienced by groups of Muslim women. Exacerbated by pervading social and religious notions of "private" families, the incidence of wife battery within Muslim societies have been largely hidden violence against wives is seen as the manifestation of a sexist and patriarchal ideology. This study examines the manner in which Islamic gender discourses inform and impact upon the phenomenon of violence against women. The related tensions between patriarchal and egalitarian Islamic perspectives are explored. This study involves a two-fold feminist analysis of gender ideology in religious texts and contemporary Muslim society. At the level of textual studies, I applied a feminist hermeneutic to medieval and contemporary Qur'anic exegetical literature. The examination of medieval period focused on the exegesis of Abu Jafar Muhumammad b. Jarir al-Tabari (839-922), Abu al-Qasim Mahmud b. Umar Zamakshari (1075-1144), Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149- 1210). The study of contemporary exegetical literature concentrated on the approaches and exegeses of Fazlur Rahman and Amina Wadud-Muhsin. Hermeneutical debates on violence against wives were focused on the interpretations of the Qur'anic notion of female nushuz (Q.4:34). In examining contemporary Muslim society, I employed feminist qualitative research methodology. I interviewed a number of women from a South African Muslim community in the Western Cape. Here, the sample consisted of eight women with whom open-ended in-depth interviews were conducted. The interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed. I found that interweaving levels of religious symbols and discourses shaped normative understandings of gender relations. This in turn had implications for both structural and practical discourses of violence against women in Muslim societies. Islamic gender ideology spanned the continuum from patriarchal to feminist approaches. Misogynist religious understandings reinforced the husband's right to control and coerce his wife, even if this implied the use of force. On the other hand, egalitarian Islamic perspectives prioritised the Qur'anic ethics of equality and social justice and rejected the violation of women. I argue that Islam provides numerous resources for the pro-active empowerment of women and the promotion of the full humanity of women.
Open Access
The ecofeminism of Ivone Gebara
(2014) Nogueira-Godsey, Elaine; Chidester, David; Shaikh, Sa'diyya
This thesis investigates the intellectual trajectory of the Brazilian feminist liberation theologian Ivone Gebara. Gebara's development and conceptualisation of the notion of 'immediacy' from a feminist perspective not only constitutes a central and critical feature of her theology, but also emerges as a key component in forging increased dialogue and cooperation between Southern and Northern ecofeminists. The immediate context of oppression experienced by poor Latin American women is the ground upon which Gebara has built her critique of patriarchal and apolitical Christian theological discourses, as well as capitalist ideologies. These multiple forms of oppression, Gebara argues, render women's experiences of marginalisation invisible or hidden within socio-cultural and economic-political immediate realities. This thesis proposes that the immediate reality of oppression lead Gebara to develop a specific methodological approach that is responsive to the experiences of women in particular. Gebara's praxis-orientated methodology also functions as a compass for the development of a political ecofeminist praxis. As Ivone Gebara's work demonstrates, the political aspect of theology can be injected into the core of emerging ecotheologies. In the process, ecofeminist theologians can work to bridge the gap between theory and praxis. This thesis argues that Gebara's ecofeminist theology represents the embodiment of a history of resistance underwritten by her own experiences and of those struggling to survive around her. Developed in recognition of the ever-changing nature of postcolonial contexts, Gebara's theology could be considered one that is constantly "on-the-move". In dialogue not only with Southern and Northern scholars who are concerned with ecological and social justice, this thesis is developed in dialogue with those working with postcolonial theory. Starting from the events that gave rise to ecofeminism in the Global North, this thesis analyses the under-researched development of ecofeminism in Latin America. Gebara's work highlights forms of emerging imperialist and colonialist behaviours as it is manifested in postcolonial contexts, such as her native country of Brazil. In highlighting this postcolonial factor, this thesis proposes a praxis-oriented methodology from a postcolonial perspective to restoring the political aspect of religion to the centre of emerging global ecofeminist theological discourse. Hence, this thesis draws attention to the under-researched work performed by Ivone Gebara and her role as an important mediator in global ecofeminism.
Open Access
Islamic feminist reflection of pedagogy and gender praxis in South African madaris.
(2013) Patel, Nafisa; Shaikh, Sa'diyya
This thesis explores gender discourses in elementary Islamic learning institutions in South Africa. Informed by a feminist imperative that recognizes education to be both a site for gender struggle and also a tool for change-making, this thesis adopts a feminist pedagogical approach to examine some of the ways that young Muslim girls in South Africa learn about being gendered. Drawing on theoretical insights from feminist poststructuralism, I analyze the contents of a popular learning text that has been developed for young Muslim girls in contemporary South African Deoband mad'ris (elementary religious schools).
Open Access
The language of gardens: Ibn al-‘Arabi’s barzakh, the courtyard gardens of the Alhambra, and the production of sacred space
(2014) Badenhorst, Ursula; Chidester, David; Shaikh, Sa'diyya
The aim of this thesis is to propose a multi-layered and interdisciplinary understanding of space by focussing on the courtyard gardens of the Alhambra. By presenting a theoretical conversation on the Sufi notion of the barzakh (an intermediary and relational space) between the premodern Muslim mystic Ibn al-Arabi and contemporary western theorists concerned with space, movement and aesthetics, such as Louis Marin, Henri Lefebvre, Tim Ingold and Martin Seel, this thesis offers an original contribution to the spatial analysis of religion as embodied in the architecture, gardens, and imagination of the Alhambra. Emphasising the barzakh’s role in the interplay between presence and meaning this thesis also draws attention to the dialogue between self as spectator and the garden as spectacle. Through this dialogue, Ibn al-Arabi‘s concept of the barzakh , which he developed in terms of ontology, epistemology and hermeneutics, is investigated and analysed in order to identify a theory of knowledge that relies on the synthesis between experience and imagination. The union of meaning and presence afforded by the intermediary quality of the barzakh is further demonstrated in the physical, imaginative and virtual worlds of the courtyard gardens of the Alhambra. Viewing the Alhambra palaces and gardens in terms of Ibn al-Arabi‘s barzakh, they produce their own language, a showing ‖ of their outer and inner movements, which prompts and provokes the spectator to participate in a poetical and creative encounter. Seen as a barzakh, these gardens put space into movement.
Open Access
Muslim childhoods in South Africa: gendering the madrasah space
(2021) Patel, Nafisa; Shaikh, Sa'diyya
My thesis explores the spatialities and gendered pedagogies of Muslim childhoods within the context of selected South African madrasahs (places for religious instruction). The main question that guides my research study is how is the madrasah space gendered? Beginning with the assumption that madrasah spaces are gendered, my research seeks to understand Muslim childhoods and gender as a relational and materially contingent social phenomenon. I engage my research question with theoretical lenses developed by critical posthumanist and feminist educational thinkers focusing on the concepts of diffraction, entanglement and intra-action. These theoretical and analytical tools provide a lens for thinking about childhoods, gender and childhood pedagogies as ontologically relational. Diffraction attends to the multiplicity of interdependencies and ecological networks that constitute and shape interactions between subjects and objects. In this ontological-epistemological framework, the material, discursive and affective factors of social phenomena are seen as entangled and co-emergent encounters. My diffractive analysis is a place-attuned, relational reading of childhood ontologies, it focuses on the intra-actions between humans and more-than humans, nature-culture, organic-inorganic, and maps patterns of material-discursive affective entanglements. Using data co-generated from fieldwork observational studies conducted at four madrasah sites in the Western Cape, I diffractively analyse the spatialities and gendered pedagogies of Muslim childhoods. I map how historical geographical-political-social-pedagogical factors intra-act and participate in the gendering of space. My diffractive reading on Muslim childhood spatialities, in the final analysis, offers a lens for thinking about gendered ontologies in ways that are nonlinear, co-emergent and relational. This place-based perspective on madrasah pedagogies contributes to a broader conversation on religious geographies within a post-anthropocene context of environmental precarity, socio-economic inequalities and spatial disparities in South Africa.
Open Access
Muslim women's experiences of motherhood: a South African perspective
(2021) Moos, Shafieka; Shaikh, Sa'diyya
This study explores South African Muslim women's experiences of motherhood; particularly the ways in which Muslim women themselves construct and enact their maternal roles in relation to their social realities and faith tradition. Using an Islamic feminist analytical framework, I employed the concepts of experience as an epistemological site, the particularity of mothering experiences, and gender scripts within Islamic perspectives to render visible the layered and nuanced realities of Muslim mothers which reflect their lived experiences. The study found that the participants experienced tension between the discursive idealisation of motherhood in the Islamic tradition and the challenges of their lived experiences as mothers, in that the former creates unattainable and at times disempowering expectations on mothers based on dominant constructions of gender norms and femininity. This finding corroborates and is reflective of the main themes in feminist literature on Motherhood in Islam. However, the study also found that participants actively engaged in mothering/parenting around themes less widely reflected in the above literature. These included the intricacies and complexities of mothering Muslim children within a context of contemporary social norms, such as digital technology consumption and sexual diversity. This finding highlights a chasm which exists between Islamic traditional constructions of motherhood and contemporary challenges to Muslim family life. The study shows that in response to these challenges, these South African Muslim mothers are generating innovative, creative responses to fulfilling their mothering roles and determining their maternal subjective values whilst doing so. The study concludes that there is a dire need for the inclusion of Muslim women's participation in developing knowledge that will support Muslim mothers in navigating the highly challenging terrain of raising Muslim children.
Open Access
Negotiating marriage and divorce in Accra : Muslim women's experiences.
(2012) Issaka, Fulera; Tayob, Abdulkader; Shaikh, Sa'diyya
This thesis sets out to investigate Muslim women’s marital experiences in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. In particular, these experiences had to do with negotiating marriage and divorce. It included the broad marital relations like decision-making, roles and responsibilities, and the management and responses of marital disputes and abuse. I used a qualitative method in this research. I interviewed twelve Muslim women in Accra who provided me with their perspectives, experiences and responses of socio-religious norms concerning gender roles. In addition, they shared their experiences and perspectives on wife abuse and their consequent reactions and management of wife abuse.
Open Access
Religion and politics: the legal regulation of religious organisations in Uganda — 2016 - present
(2024) Kaggwa, Catherine Bulya; Shaikh, Sa'diyya; Ukah, Asonzeh
With increased visibility and social activism of religious actors and organisations in many post colonial African states, the legal governance of religious organisations has come into tension with citizenship rights and freedoms. This is the case in Uganda in recent years, where the state government at the federal level has proposed the National Religion and Faith Organizations (RFO) Policy. This policy was first proposed in 2016 and the policy document was revised in 2019. It purports to maintain the authority of the State over religious organisations while ensuring to observe the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms pertaining to religious beliefs, associations, practices, and belongings. This research aimed to understand the literature around the relationship between religion and politics in Uganda, between 1986 and present as well as the reactions for and against the RFO policy. Using data generated through telephone interviews, government documents, public forums, social media posts and comments, newspaper articles, periodicals, and news network interviews, from 2016 till the present, this study argued for a more nuanced and in-depth understanding of the complex and complicated process of the public governance of religious organisations in post-colonial African states such as Uganda. The reactions and arguments for and against the RFO policy indicate the need for the regulation of religious organisations in Uganda is based on socio-political dynamics and pressures which shape the way religious and political leaders and organizations interact in the society, how policies are implemented and the overall direction of the society concerning national development.
Open Access
South African Muslim women's experiences : sexuality and religious discourses
(2010) Hoel, Nina; Shaikh, Sa'diyya
This dissertation seeks to investigate the experiences of South African Muslim women in relation to sexual dynamics and marital relationships. By using in-depth interviews as the main empirical research method, this feminist study foregrounds women's voices in the production of religious meaning. I explore dominant religious discourses that influence women's conceptualisations of sexuality and the related implications for sexual praxis in contemporary Muslim communities that are also characterised by living conditions of poverty and violence. Focusing on women's engagements with religious meaning as it relates to their intimate relationships, the dissertation engages these findings with relevant literature and theory proposed by Islamic feminists on issues of morality, ethics and agency. This study finds that while patriarchal religious norms powerfully influence and give meaning to the lives of many Muslim women, these same women also contest, subvert and reconstitute these norms in varying ways. The diversity and richness of women's narratives illustrate the multifaceted, paradoxical and ambivalent nature of religious discourses as it is embodied in everyday life. I conclude that religious systems of meaning as they are lived in this local context are marked by tensions between patriarchal and egalitarian perspectives that are imbricated and interwoven in a variety of ways. The dissertation contends that the inclusion of women's narratives is imperative in order to highlight the dynamic nature of religion as well as to challenge patriarchal legacies that still impact many local contexts.
Open Access
The barzakh and the bardo: challenges to religious violence in Sufism and Vajrayana Buddhism
(2019) Woodhull, Jennifer Green; Shaikh, Sa'diyya
In the twenty-first century, religious violence has become endemic in our world. Scholars are divided on the true motivations for such violence, however. While some perceive inherent incitements to violence embedded in religion itself, others blame other factors—primarily, competition for resources, which then co-opts religious feeling in order to justify and escalate conflict. This dissertation proposes that more fruitful answers to the riddle of religious violence may lie in the relationship between collective identity and religious allegiance. Identity construction is liminal and, as such, experiential. Hence, this study applies the analytical lens of liminality to explore possible understandings of religious violence. Taking the position that liminal passages are natural and unavoidable aspects of lived experience, it argues that the fixation on doctrinal certainties and religious ideals common among perpetrators of religious violence functions largely to oppose the ambivalence and uncertainty characteristic of liminality. It further posits the hypothetical phenomena of reactive projection and autonomic liminality as reactions to liminal experience, leading to eruptions of violence. The Tibetan Buddhist bardo and Sufi barzakh constitute religiously sanctioned instances of liminality. Although these passages are conventionally perceived as postmortem locales, both systems include broader metaphysical understandings, making their transformative potential profoundly relevant to spiritual practice during this lifetime. I argue that a close reading of the bardo and the barzakh demonstrates the capacity of religious tradition to offer compelling alternatives to the fixation on the extreme views typically implicated in religious violence. I further propose that the nondualistic, inclusive worldview implicit in understandings of the bardo and barzakh may prove useful in promoting a practice of “reflective interiority”—not only in disrupting the rigid mindset of those moved to perpetrate religious violence, but also in shifting the moral fixity sometimes associated with the scholarship on religious violence.

Browsing by Author "Shaikh, Sa'diyya"

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