The Sisters in Islam SIS – groupes en action

Linked with Zainah Anwar – Malaysia, with TAM – The American Muslim, with Women’s learning partnership WLP, and with Sisters in Islam’s battle.

Sisters in Islam SIS is a group of Muslim professional women committed to promoting the rights of women within the framework of Islam. Our efforts to promote the rights of Muslim women are based on the principles of equality, justice and freedom enjoined by the Qur’an as made evident during our study of the holy text.

We uphold the revolutionary spirit of Islam, a religion which uplifted the status of women when it was revealed 1400 years ago. We believe that Islam does not endorse the oppression of women and denial of their basic rights of equality and human dignity.

We are deeply saddened that religion has been used to justify cultural practices and values that regard women as inferior and subordinate to men and we believe that this has been made possible because men have had exclusive control over the interpretation of the text of the Qur’an.

We believe that for the ummah to grow and flourish, everyone must have the opportunity to fully participate in all spheres of life. The participation of Muslim women as full and equal partners in the ummah’s socio-economic development and progress is the need of the day. We conclude that it is imperative that the female experience, thought and voice are included in the interpretation of the Qur’an and in the administration of religion in the Muslim world.

We are inspired by the active participation of women in public life during the time of Prophet Muhammad saw. Biographical collections devoted to the Companions (Sahabat) of the Prophet included the biographies of over 1,200 female Companions. Among them were transmitters of hadith, saints and sufis, matyrs, liberators of slaves, and heroic combatants.

SIS was formed in 1988 and registered as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in 1993 under the name SIS Forum (Malaysia) Berhad. The name Sisters in Islam is retained as an authorship name.

Our mission is to promote an awreness of the true principles of Islam, principles that enshrine the concept of equality between women and men, and to strive towards creating a society that upholds the Islamic principles of equality, justice, freedom and dignity within a democratic state.

Our key objectives are:

• To promote and develop a framework of women’s rights in Islam, which takes into consideration women’s experiences and realities;
• To eliminate injustice and discrimination against women by changing practices and values that regard women as inferior to men;
• To create public awareness, and reform laws and policies, on issues of equality, justice, freedom, dignity and democracy in Islam.

Publications;