As a Muslim who has lived most of her life in the west, I have learnt that faith speaks to faith in a process of learning and accepting, of questioning and appreciating, of self-doubt and humility.
- Mona Siddiqui
Public debate about women and their rights in Islam is often clouded by controversy and over-simplified. From 10 to 13 March, leading academic and media commentator Mona Siddiqui will be at Cambridge University to give a series of public lectures on Islamic thought, and its reflections on women in law, and wider religious questions.
As the Humanitas Visiting Professor of Women’s Rights 2014, Siddiqui will be joined in a final symposium by a distinguished panel of novelists, journalists and academics.
Siddiqui’s lecture on 10 March will address the question, ‘Can You Text A Divorce?’ as a starting point for an exploration of women’s rights in Islamic law and society. On 11 March, she will examine the significance of the fact that Mary is mentioned with greater frequency in the Qu’ran than in the New Testament, and ask whether, in light of this inter-faith commonality, Mary has a role to play in Muslim-Christian relations.
On 12 March, Siddiqui will address the diverse ways that women are represented in Islamic thought and literature, and ask whether the reality of women’s lives lies somewhere between the feminine and the feminist. All three lectures start at 5pm in the Mill Lane Lecture theatre. They are free and open to all, with no booking required.
In a concluding symposium on 13 March, Siddiqui will be joined by: Haifa Zangana, Kurdish-Iraqi novelist and former prisoner of Saddam Hussein’s regime; Elif Shafak, best-selling Turkish author, columnist, speaker and academic; Razia Iqbal, BBC arts correspondent; and Cambridge academic Professor Ash Amin.
This event too is open to the public and free of charge although, unlike the lectures, it requires advance registration at www.crassh.cam.ac.uk.
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Image: Mona Siddiqui
Credit: Mona Siddiqui
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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