Muslim women, on the strength of their unshakable personal faith, used to work for the propagation of Islam. Many of them helped to promote the cause of Islam within their respective family circles, through discussion and debate. Among Muslim ladies were some that in

When you divorce women, and they reach their prescribed term, then retain them in kindness and retain them not for injury so that you transgress (the limits). (Qur'an 2:231).

If this indicates anything, it would be the divine origin of the Qur'an and the truthfulness of the message of Islam. Unlike human philosophies and ideologies, the teachings of the Qur’an are far from proceeding from its human environment. After all, this is believed to be the message of the all-knowing God of Islam whose wisdom and knowledge are far beyond the ultimate in human thought and progress.

Islamic teachings have a clearly tender touch in that they are considerate of the fact that a woman may be nursing her baby or caring for him, and thus may be unable to go out to the mosque at the time of the prayers. They also take into account the physiological and psychological changes associated with her natural female functions.

Muslims, like people of other beliefs have done a tremendous job of twisting their religion to suit the needs of the more powerful in their society by generalizing specific rules on the one hand and limiting general rules on the other as they find convenient. Add this to innovations added onto the religion to suit the local cultures and you get something that may or may not represent the original. If on top of that you have a media that is either too ignorant or too hostile, then the end product that reaches the average unbiased non-Muslim definitely has nothing to do with the real teachings of Islam. The only hope lies in people realizing that before one judges anything, one has to separate fact from fiction and opinions from actual happenings. The image of a Muslim woman in a true Muslim society may not be as fascinating as what we see in the movies. However, if given a choice between this image and any other alternative available to date, I doubt it will be a hard choice.

Although research and general observation indicate that the term "Islamic feminism" is coming into increasing use, its circulation is still limited and both the term and the idea remain controversial. It is important to make a distinction therefore between Islamic feminism as a discourse, a mode of gender analysis, or an ideology, and Islamic feminist as an identity. Most of those who participate in the shaping of what can be viewed as "Islamic feminism" do not claim an Islamic feminist identity. There are indications, however, that there is some movement towards explicit acknowledgement of Islamic feminism.

Many people are eluded by the word "feminism." They have this notion that it only pertains to women because of the prefix "fem." This is absolutely not true. Many men engage in feminist activities and join feminist rights groups. Feminism can be considered an approach for examining how different factors shape the oppression of women in the name of religion. This provides a link between feminism and oppression. The definition of oppression denotes structural and material constraints that significantly shape a person's life chances and sense of possibility.

Even when the system of the seclusion of women was in full force, Egyptian women exercised very much more influence than is commonly assumed. First, the early education of their children was entirely in their hands. At the time, no primary or elementary schools were in existence. In the realm of higher education Egyptian women receive the same training, and under the same conditions, as Egyptian men. The Egyptian University has its women undergraduates, as well as Egyptian women who qualify as doctors, lawyers and professors. Government service, in certain Ministries, is open to women and trained Egyptian girls are claiming and obtaining an ever-greater share of positions in industry, commerce and applied arts. Egyptian woman writers are also making their mark. Curiously enough the "best selling" works of Egyptian authors have been published not only in Arabic but also in many f

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