Muslim Women Railing Against Radicalism

What’s the Latest Development?

The Guardian talks to some of the small but growing number of British Muslim women challenging and combating Islamic extremism and Islamophobia. They hold seminars combating al-Qaida propaganda and face personal danger promoting moderate Islam. One group, Inspire, runs workshops teaching mothers how to counter al-Qaida propaganda, for instance using religious texts to rebut extremists’ arguments that their children may hear.

What’s the Big Idea?

“Muslim women are so frustrated with the leadership. We need the discourse of women–they will bring a whole new dimension to it,” one woman says. But it is not just the conservative male Muslim leadership these women want to change their ways. They want society at large to see what Muslim women could do if people set aside their stereotypes. The issues go much wider than the media preoccupation with the hijab…