Week 3 Reading

Amina Wadud's "What's In A Name?" put a lot into perspective. She starts by discussing the complexities of classifications within individuals and groups of people i.e. Muslim. She states valid points of how the definitions of Islam are all different and vary between individuals based on how they came to know of Islam. For example, the definition of Islam to a person who grew up in the religion and culture, will be significantly different to another individual that only learned about it by being a bystander/student. Wadud also includes the fact that relating Muslim people under the same generalizations is inaccurate because Muslims do practice in different ways, which makes room for many variations and therefore, many different experiences within the culture that ultimately gives it various meanings.  Even the male and female experience in Muslim culture is so contrastive that it couldn't fit within the same umbrella of classification for all Islamic people.

She also adds that "over time [her] concept of Islam had gone through several transformations" which was interesting because while she is giving this lecture about what it is to be Muslim and explaining that while there are different interpretations of the word, it is important understand that there isn't a set definition. It's fluid and constantly changing for individuals because of different experiences that influence that way that they view Islam.

Wadud also intercepts the experience of finding identity within the Muslim community from a woman's standpoint because of how the interpretations are mainly derived from a man's idea of how a woman should be defined without knowledge or an understanding of what a woman truly experiences. She also integrates the fact that in Muslim culture, the traits like compassion and nurture are the ones that are the determining characteristics of "true Islam" and women tend to naturally inherit these attributes but are still held beneath men. Wadud mentions that a prime minister of Pakistan explained how men and women are equal in Islam and anyone could become a leader despite physical capacities or incapabilities but then contradicts that statement by confirming that women just simply can't lead.  She draws to the conclusion that there is a battle between power and freedom. While the men are trying to grant reassurance of freedoms to women, they're are also containing it and creating guidelines to how it could actually be expressed and women are taught to settle for it.

This whole piece was empowering because Wadud is speaking in a way that reclaims the definitions of what it is to be not only Muslim but a woman in Muslim society. She's giving the authority to not only proclaim a title within the culture but to also feel liberated in it by removing the negative vocabulary that is, often times, associated with what it truly means to be Muslim.