Azizah Y. al-Hibri

Muslim Women's Rights in the Global Village: Challenges and Opportunities

In this age of information technology that shrank our world into a global village, it is fair to ask how this recent development has impacted Muslim womens rights across the world. Having just traveled through nine Muslim countries, ranging from Pakistan and Bangladesh to the Gulf States, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, I would answer that it is leading, slowly but surely, to reassessment and change. Attempts to accelerate the pace of this change, however, without full understanding of its complex topology, and the deep-rooted commitment by most Muslim women to spiritual and cultural authenticity, could halt or even reverse this process at great cost to women particularly and Muslim societies as a whole. Hence the challenges and opportunities.

ISLAM AND “WESTERN VALUES”: TOWARD A NEW CONVERSATION

Abstract Americans too often assume that Muslims do not believe in the separation of church in state. However, America is a profoundly religious country and many faith-based principles and actors are an important part of our political landscape. The Muslim world is generally disgusted by Hollywood immorality and is ignorant of the religiosity that pervades American culture and political life. Many Americans demand the Muslim world embrace a belief in a completely secular state—a view thats unacceptable in our own democracy. In order to combat ignorance in both the Islamic and Western world we must facilitate international exchanges.