http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7535 Fri, 31 May 2013 17:10:32 GMT 2013-05-31T17:10:32Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/23554 Title: American Muslim Women Challenging Conventional Understanding of Islam Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: Muslim women all over the world have been mostly viewed as secondary and/or complementary in the structure of all Muslim societies. In order to challenge and transform these un-Islamic views, women needed to retake their principal role and reinterpret the primary source of Islam, the Qur’an. In doing so during the past two decades, some American Muslim women, including myself, are challenging the conventional understanding of Islam in the hope to implement a fundamental aspect of the social justice contract between Muslims and Islam. Indeed, this was the first essential step toward accomplishing the comprehensive human rights for ourselves, as well as challenging the unwarranted authority, the hijacked Islamic authority, by Muslim men for about 14 centuries. Although the conditions during the last decade of the 20th century were right for Muslim women peaceful revolution that is firmly grounded in the Qur’an, the drastic change in the global political landscape since 2001 reversed these conditions for the majority of Muslim women. There is no simple solution, and there is no hope for any meaningful reform in the near future. Both Muslims and Westerners are to blame. Description: This lecture was presented at Kendal of Ithaca on September 28, 2009. The Streaming Video is provided by Cornell University. Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/23554 2009-09-28T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/17484 Title: Why Muslim Women Are Re-Interpreting the Qur'an: A Transformative Scholarship-Activism Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: Muslim women all over the world have been mostly viewed as secondary and/or complementary in the structure of Muslim societies. In order to challenge and transform these un-Islamic views, women needed to retake their principal role and reinterpret the primary source of Islam, the Qur'an. In doing so during the past two decades, some American Muslim women, including myself, are transforming the conventional understanding of Islam in the hope to implement a fundamental aspect of the social justice contract between Muslims and Islam. Indeed, Muslim women are challenging the unwarranted authority, the hijacked Islamic authority by Muslim men, and moving toward accomplishing the comprehensive human rights for themselves. This event was part of the CAPE Lecture Series. Description: Also vaialble at the CornellCast Website: http://www.cornell.edu/video/?videoID=865&startSecs=0&endSecs=3974 Thu, 16 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/17484 2010-09-16T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/17403 Title: Why Muslim Women Must Reinterpret the Qur'an Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: Nimat Hafez Barazangi, Ph.D. '88, a research fellow in the Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies program at Cornell, suggests it's time for Muslim women to have a peaceful, silent revolution firmly grounded in the Qur'an. Barazangi works to improve attitudes and conditions for women in Islam. She is the author of "Woman's Identity and the Qur'an." The lecture, moderated by National Public Radio correspondent Laura Sydell, was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on July 19, 2010. Description: This lecture is also available at the "CornellCast" website at http://www.cornell.edu/video/?videoID=813 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/17403 2010-07-19T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/8326 Title: Action Research Pedagogy in a New Cultural Setting: The Syrian Experience. Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: I discuss a unique action research (AR) pedagogical experience of professors at four public universities (Damascus, Aleppo, Al-Ba'ath, and Tishreen) in the Syrian Arab Republic. The approach in this experience began by contextualizing some lessons and experiences of AR pedagogy at Cornell University and issues about university reform in a very different cultural and academic setting, under the program "Higher Education and Training Program in Contemporary Social Sciences (HETPCSS)." This collaborative program in Syria was a unique opportunity to address new dimensions of action research in a developing country, where a real gap exists in paying attention to many aspects of conducting any serious research in the social sciences and the humanities. The program was intended to partially remedy this gap through introducing AR in Syria. Few are those universities in the US or Europe that have contextualized AR and the relation between university and society in an effective pro-social way. The experience of the Syrian universities is unique in that some of their professors are being educated in AR despite the adverse national political and economic conditions. One may even suggest that we are able to educate these professors in action research because of the contemporary adverse conditions. Description: Copyright 2007, SAGE Publications. This is a pre-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in the edited journal Action Research following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available through SAGE Publications: http://ARJ.sagepub.com/content/vol5/issue3. See also: http://www.eself-learning-arabic.cornell.edu/publications.htm#6 Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/8326 2007-09-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7802 Title: The Equilibrium: Issues of Islamic Education in the United States Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: The theme of this special edition of Religion and Education (R&E) on "Issues of Islamic Education" is taqwa. Taqwa is an Arabic word often translated oversimply as "piety," but which bears the meaning of "a conscious balance between the individual, the society, and the limits set by Allah or God as the source of value and knowledge". Since I was asked to be guest editor of this edition, three overarching issues have been formulating my thinking about it, from selecting the theme to the significance that this edition of R&E may have for the debate over education in the country as a whole. The first issue is how to achieve a balance between the belief systems of individuals (often referred to as religion or philosophy) and this country's universal schooling system which has traditionally intended, to a large degree, to meld diverse individual views into the "common-ground" of a "pluralistic" social framework. The second issue is questioning the efficacy of "teaching about religion" and "teaching a religion." This issue comes out in particularly sharp relief in teaching about Islam as a belief system, and about Muslims, in a "neutral" manner when many teachers have little or no knowledge of Islam, and what they have too often represents an inaccurate picture. The third issue, which is the core of this edition, is how to introduce a discourse on "Islamic education" when females have traditionally been perceived as lacking the full privilege to interpret Islam. The centrality of Muslim women's and girls' education and acculturation (Barazangi and Kahf articles) to Islamic education may seem contradictory, and perhaps difficult to understand by those whose knowledge of Islam is limited to the perception that males are the only "legitimate interpreters" of Islamic texts or the perception that females are "oppressed by their patriarchal religion." Description: Copyright 1998, Religion and Education, Nimat Hafez Barazangi. This is a pre-copyedited version of an editorial accepted for publication in the edited journal Religion and Education following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available through Religion and Education: http://fp.uni.edu/jrae/islamicissuetoc.htm. See also: http://www.eself-learning-arabic.cornell.edu/publications.htm#1 Thu, 01 Jan 1998 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7802 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7801 Title: Between the Post-ethnic and the Unique: Exclusion of American Muslim Women and Policy- Making Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: Muslim women are treated in a similar manner by the media and the globalization political process. Because of this fusion between sensational media reporting and policy-making, combined with compartmentalized scholarship (area studies, Islamic studies, women's studies) and activism (Muslim vs. Western), a Muslim woman is often not viewed as an autonomous entity that could and should be involved in policy-making. This pattern of ignoring Muslim women's political participation is repeated even in the United States. With the exception of a few, the majority of American Muslim women of varying backgrounds and educational levels are neither involved in the domestic nor in the international affairs of the US. Hence, the issue is: how is it possible for the estimated three million American Muslim women to become a political reality to further the US democratic policy, the US Muslim political and legal rights, or Muslim women's human rights all over the world. Description: Copyright 2007, Nimat Hafez Barazangi. See also: http://www.eself-learning-arabic.cornell.edu/publications.htm#9 Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7801 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7800 Title: Book Review of: The Rights of Women in Islam by Asghar Ali Engineer Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: Engineer's book though not unique in its purpose, the defense of women's rights in Islam, is different from other books that deal with the same subject in its approach to the "question of women." By attempting , in this book, "to separate what is contextual from what is normative" and to "recapture the original spirit of Qur'anic laws with regard to male-female relationship," the author hoped to equip Muslim feminists with a powerful weapon in their fight for equal status with men (p. vi). The author is to be commended for this unprecedented courage to contradict what has been the customary views on women's rights in Islam, whether by Muslims or non-Muslims. His documentation from the Qur'an, Hadith and early Islamic history of issues like sexual equality, marriage, divorce, and others that have been only presented from the Muqallidun's (those who follow the foot-steps of ancestors) points of view is a major step by a Muslim male scholar. Description: Copyright 1994, Journal of Islamic Studies, Oxford University Press. This is a pre-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in the edited publication Journal of Islamic Studies following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available through Oxford University Press: http://jis.oxfordjournals.org. See also: http://www.eself-learning-arabic.cornell.edu/publications.htm#6 Sat, 01 Jan 1994 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7800 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7799 Title: Book Review of: Qur'an and Woman by Amina Wadud-Muhsin Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: Wadud-Muhsin's book is a welcomed addition to Islamic studies scholarly work as well as to the list of readings in Women's Studies and Islamic Studies courses. The media and the popular culture literature in America and Europe are not the only biased group in portraying women in Islam as "oppressed" and that their liberation can take place only outside Islam. Contrary to my trust in the impartiality of educational institutions, I am finding that such institutions are more inequitable when it comes to scholars who address the "Muslim woman question" from within the framework of Islam. I was surprised, for instance to find that only one theological seminary library in the entire United States has obtained this book, even though many universities, including my institution, have a long list of recent publications on Muslim women. Description: Copyright 1994, Journal of Islamic Studies, Oxford University Press. This is a pre-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in the edited publication Journal of Islamic Studies following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available through Oxford University Press: http://jis.oxfordjournals.org. See also: http://www.eself-learning-arabic.cornell.edu/publications.htm#6 Sat, 01 Jan 1994 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7799 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7798 Title: Book Review of: Claiming Our Rights: A Manual for Women's Human Rights Education in Muslim Societies by Mahnaz Afkhami and Haleh Vaziri Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: The purpose of Claiming Our Rights: A Manual for Women's Human Rights Education in Muslim Societies by Mahnaz Afkhami and Haleh Vaziri (Bethesda, MD: Sisterhood Is Global Institute, 154 pp., 1996) is "to facilitate transmission of the universal human rights concepts inscribed in the major international human rights documents to grassroots populations in Muslim societies." It is an invaluable contribution of the Sisterhood Is Global Institute (SIGI) and a much needed beginning to educate Muslim women's of their rights in Islam. Its themes, derived from the mission statement of Platform for Action of the Beijing Conference (iv), are necessary for individuals who are already aware and started to question the discrepancy in the practice concerning their human rights. What is needed in the methodology, therefore, is a section that will facilitate awareness-raising as the initial step that will instigate women to start questioning and dialoguing about the different themes. This methodological adjustment would have been addressed intuitively had the authors, as well as the scholars and practitioners who were consulted, considered an important element in their explanation of the meaning of "Shari`ah" under the section "Major Premise." The authors, despite their utmost care not to "impart the truth" but to "facilitate dialogue" (Mahnaz Afkhami's letter of introduction) have over-looked the fact that human knowledge and action are affected by the human belief system. Whether we call it "religion," "faith," or "worldview", such a belief system composes an important component of one's prior knowledge. This prior knowledge either makes an individual aware or dormant concerning abuses of her human rights. It also makes an individual either accept or reject the "central premise of this human rights educational model that there is no contradictions between human rights and Islam." (v) Description: Copyright 1997, Association for Middle East Womens Studies. This is a pre-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in the edited AMEWS Newsletter following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available through The Association for Middle East Womens Studies: http://www.amews.org/index.html. See also: http://www.eself-learning-arabic.cornell.edu/publications.htm#6 Wed, 01 Jan 1997 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7798 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7797 Title: Book Review of: Gender and Human Rights in Islam and International Law: Equal Before Allah, Unequal Before Man? by Shaheen Sardar Ali Authors: Barazangi, Nimat Hafez Abstract: The objective of this book is "to engage in a conceptual analysis of human rights in Islam and international law, and application of this analytical discourse to explore women's human rights in the Islamic tradition" (p.3). Sardar Ali is responding to the question "of whether Islam is opposed to women's human rights and equality" that has assumed a special significance in the post United Nations era. Description: Copyright 2003, Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy. All rights reserved. Click here to visit the Muslim Democrat website: http://www.islam-democracy.org/md.asp. See also: http://www.eself-learning-arabic.cornell.edu/publications.htm#6 Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1813/7797 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z