Revised Version (October, 1996) MUSLIM WOMEN'S ISLAMIC HIGHER LEARNING AS A HUMAN RIGHT: THE ACTION PLAN

How do we expect the Muslim woman, collectively and individually, to identify with Islam as revered teachings and to act within its parameters, and to accommodate new human knowledge, be it that of a local Mufti's (clergy) injunction or a human rights advocate's recommendation, while neither Muslim societies nor human rights advocates recognize her self-identity as an autonomous spiritual and intellectual being? Accessing Islamic higher learning (deeper knowledge of the Islamic primary sources, the Quran and the authentic Hadith [prophetic tradition]), is argued to be the means by which the Muslim woman self-identity is recognized as a trustee. Relying solely on others' interpretations to guide her spiritual and intellectual needs is by itself an evidence that the Muslim woman's right to understand, to consciously choose, and to actively act on her choice of Islam is being compromised. Muslim Woman's deeper knowledge of the Islamic primary sources is significant to defining her relationship to God and to others. Muslim woman's understanding of "human rights" within the Islamic worldview, based on pedagogical reading (the art of learning and teaching) of the Quran is