Towards a Feminist Debate of Religion-Related Violence in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

Authors

  • Mohammad Salem AlMostafa Al al-Bayt University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v8i4.1613

Keywords:

Arab (American) Feminism, Masculine Islam, Fundementalism, Structural Violence, segregation, Muslim Women

Abstract

This article aims at exploring Kahf’s feminist and intellectual critical position of masculine Islam, fundamentalist Islam, and their agencies that operate within Arab and Arab American societies to engender physical and structural violence against women, and hinder a harmonious relationship between Muslim and non-Muslim people, as reflected in The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. My arguments regarding Kahf’s communication of these forms of Islam will be developed in light of Arab (Muslim) feminists such as Leila Ahmad, Fatima Mernessi, Mai Ghoussoub, among others. Said’s views, in Covering Islam, about Islam in Western consciousness, together with liberal Muslim scholars, such as John Eposito and Amber Hague, will be also consulted in my analysis.

Author Biography

  • Mohammad Salem AlMostafa, Al al-Bayt University
    Assistant Professor of English Literature at Al al-Bayt University, Jordan. Doctorate in English Literature & Criticism (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA) in 2012. Six published articles on Shakespeare’s King Henry V, John Keats & Malik Ibn Ar.Rayb, Arundhati, Ishiguro, Renaissance Arab and British poets, & Feminist Politics of Location, El Guindi, and Shamieh. Research interests: Postcolonial/Feminist theory, Renaissance drama, English/Arabic poetry & Arab American literature.

References

Works Cited

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Hague, Amber, (2004). “Islamophobia in North America: Confronting the Menace.” In Barry Van Driel. Stoke (Ed.) ConfrontingIslamophobia in Educational Practice (pp. 1-18) Trent: Trentham Books.

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Kahf, Mohja, (2011). “The Pity Committee and the careful Reader: How not to buy stereotypes about Muslim Women.” In Rabab Abdulhadi et al (Eds.) Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence, and Belonging( pp.111-123). New York: Syracuse University Press.

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Mernissi, Fatima (1987). Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

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Mernissi, Fatima, (1991). The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam.Trans. Mary Jo Lakeland. NewYork: Addison-Welsey Publishing Company Inc.,.

Moghissi, Haideh, (1999). Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism: The Limits of Postmodern Analysis. London; New York: Zed Books.

Said, Edward (1997). Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. New York: Vintage Books..

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Published

2019-04-15

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