Asma Lamrabet (
Rabat
Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...
,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, 1961) is a Moroccan doctor,
Islamic feminist
Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and soci ...
, scholar and author.
Personal life
Asma Lamrabet was born in Rabat. She currently resides in
Rabat
Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...
,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
. She considers her education to be occidental. She is married with one child.
Career
Trained in medicine, she worked as a volunteer doctor in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
. She mainly worked in Chile and Mexico for eight years starting in (1995). She came into contact there with
Liberation Theology
Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". In ...
, which caused her to examine her own religion.
From 2004 until 2007, she returned to Morocco, where she gathered a group of Muslim women interested in researching and reflecting upon
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
and intercultural dialog.
In 2008, she became president and a board member of International Group of Studies and Reflection on Women and Islam (GIERFI), based in Barcelona. GIERFI has members and experts from at least eight countries including the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
. Their mission is to help create a new female Muslim consciousness.
Throughout this period, she continued to work as a physician, specializing in
blood disorders
Hematologic diseases are disorders which primarily affect the blood & blood-forming organs. Hematologic diseases include rare genetic disorders, anemia, HIV, sickle cell disease & complications from chemotherapy or transfusions.
Myeloid
* Hemog ...
at the Rabat Children's Hospital.
In (2011) she became Director of Studies and Research Center on Women's Issues in Islam of (Rabita Mohammadia des Ulemas) under the patronage of
King Mohammad VI. As director, she organized an international seminar for women across the three large
Abrahamic religions
The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran.
Jewish tradition ...
.
She is the author of five books (in French). She is best known for
Musulmane tout simplement. She published English and French articles that explore contentious issues, such as interfaith marriage and religious reform, in a Muslim context.
She is a third-way feminist who revises sacred Islamic texts. She has been compared to
Amina Wadud
Amina Wadud (born September 25, 1952) is an American Muslim theologian. Wadud serves as Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and is also a visiting scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry. Wadud has writt ...
and
Margot Badran Margot (; ) is a feminine French given name, a variant of Marguerite. It is also occasionally a surname. Persons named Margot include the following:
People with the given name Margot
* Margot Asquith, countess of Oxford and Asquith
* Marguerite ...
due to their shared belief that the interpretations that underlie
Islamic Law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
from the 9th century were excessively
patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...
and must be reinterpreted. Lamrabet has also cited
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Lite ...
as intellectual inspiration to resist the hegemony of Western feminism.
Third way feminist
"Third-way" is a term coined by
Doris H. Gray and is a humanistic approach to
Islamic feminism
Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and soci ...
. It attempts to reunite the two Islamic sects that “presuppose the existence of a basic set of human values that reaches across borders and cultures”. Currently, it is used mainly by Moroccan feminists. Lamrabet and her peers re-interpret the sacred texts in order to show women as independent beings rather than relational to men. Lamrabet's works are an example of how to apply third way feminism, because she examines the sacred texts in a scholarly manner, while remembering the cultural context in which they were written. Lamrabet also believes in a particular type of
secularism
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...
that is based in Islam, rather than Western conceptions of it. She believes that religion should not be used for personal or political gain.
Criticism
Her work provoked critics who argued that this approach does not tackle the important issues, such as violence towards women and
polygamy
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...
sufficiently. Another critique held that third-way feminists lack sufficient theological knowledge and background to correctly interpret the texts. Her work has been described as conceptually and methodically weak. Her work was said to “border on the kind of Islamic fundamentalist propaganda familiar from the Moroccan Islamic political activist,
Nadia Yassine
Nadia Yassine ( ar, نادية ياسين) (born December 1958) is the head of the women's branch of the Moroccan Islamist movement Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane (Justice and Spirituality). Born in Casablanca, Morocco, she is the daughter of the founder ...
” and her work in identity is “antiquated in the relevant sociological debates”.
[Sabra]
Awards
In 2013, she was awarded the Social Sciences Award by the Arab Woman Organization for her book, ''Femmes et hommes dans le Coran: quelle égalité?''.
Books
Lamrabet wrote five books:
* ''Musulmane tout simplement'' published in 2002 by Edition Tawhid, ''Aïcha''
* ''Epouse du Prophète ou l’Islam au feminine'', published in 2004 by Editions Tawhid
* ''Le Coran et les femmes : une lecture de libération'' published in 2007 by Editions Tawhid
* ''Femmes . Islam. Occident: chemins vers l'universel''published in 2011 by Séguier
* ''Femmes et hommes dans le Coran: quelle égalité?'' Published in 2012 by Editions al-Bouraq
* Women in the Qur'an: An Emancipatory Reading Published in 2016 by Square view
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamrabet, Asma
1961 births
Living people
People from Rabat
Moroccan feminists
Proponents of Islamic feminism
Moroccan women physicians
Women scholars of Islam