Fatima Seedat
Fatima Seedat is a South African feminist, Islamic scholar and women's rights activist. [1] She is known for her scholarly work on gender and Islamic law,[2] and Islam and feminism.[3][4]
Fatima Seedat | |
---|---|
Nationality | South African |
Education | McGill University (Ph.D) |
Occupation(s) | Islamic scholar, Senior lecturer, women's rights activist |
Career
Seedat researches gender and Islamic law, Islam and feminism, and Muslim masculinity.[5] She completed her PhD at McGill University,[1] and her dissertation focused on gender and legal theory.[2]: 94–95
She is Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Cape Town.[5] Seedat is also Programme Convenor of the University of Cape Town's Mphil in Islam, Gender, and Sexuality with Sa'diyya Shaikh.[6]
Seedat is one of the few Muslim women to act as an imam and deliver khutbahs.[7] She is co-editor of The Women's Khutbah Book: Contemporary Sermons on Spirituality and Justice from around the World with Sa'diyya Shaikh. Two of Seedat's khutbahs are featured, "Knowing in and through Difference" and "Not a Nikah Khutbah."[8]
Seedat is one of three female Muslim Marriage Officers in South Africa.[9]
Activism
Seedat was the parliamentary liaison for the South African Commission on Gender Equality. Seedat is the founder of Shura Yabafazi, a South African NGO that focuses on women in Muslim family law. Seedat has also worked with Equitas Human Rights Foundation, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, and UN Women Afghanistan.[1][9]
She has worked with the South African Muslim Personal Law Network, which works in conjunction with Musawah.[9] She has worked for more than 25 years with a variety of organisations to advocate for legal protections for women in Muslim marriages.[10]
Works
Books
- The Women's Khutbah Book: Contemporary Sermons on Spirituality and Justice from around the World (co-editor, Yale University Press, 2022)[11]
Book chapters
- "South African Feminists in Search of the Sacred" in Surfacing: On Being Black and Feminist in South Africa (2021, Wits University Press)[12]
- “Gender and the Study of Islamic Law: From Polemic to Ethics” in The Routledge Handbook on Gender and Islam (2020, Routledge)[13]
- "Intersections and Assemblages: South Africans Negotiating Privilege and Marginality through Freedom of Religion and Sexual Difference" in Freedom of Religion at Stake: Competing Claims Among Faith Traditions, States, and Persons (2019, Pickwick Publications)[14]
Academic papers
- "Between Boundaries, towards Decolonial Possibilities in a Feminist Classroom Holding a Space between the Qur'an and the Bible" in Religion and Theology (2020)
- "Gender Asymmetry and Mutual Sexual Relations in Online Legal Interpretation— Beyond the Dissonance through the Fatwas of askimam.org" in Journal for Gender and Religion in Africa (2020)
- "Secure Between God and Man: Peace, Tranquility and Sexuality through the Pietistic Aspirations of Believing Women" with Mariam Khan in Journal for the Study of Religion
- "Queering the Study of Islam" in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
- A women’s march without God (the Father) in The Immanent Frame (2018)
- Sexual economies of war and sexual technologies of the body: Militarised Muslim masculinity and the Islamist production of concubines for the caliphate in Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity (2017)
- "On Spiritual Subjects: Negotiations in Muslim Female Spirituality" in Journal of Gender and Religion in Africa (2016)
- Seedat (2013). "Islam, Feminism, and Islamic Feminism: Between Inadequacy and Inevitability". Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. 29 (2): 25–45. doi:10.2979/jfemistudreli.29.2.25. S2CID 144930307.
References
- "Fatima Seedat | WISE Muslim Women Fatima Seedat". WISE Muslim Women. 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
- Emon, Anver M.; Ahmed, Rumee (November 2018). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-967901-0.
- Lamptey, Jerusha Tanner (2018). Divine Words, Female Voices: Muslima Explorations in Comparative Feminist Theology. Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 9780190653385.
- Mansour, Asmaa (Spring 2022). "Decolonizing Islamic Feminism". Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. Indiana University Press. 38 (1). doi:10.2979/jfemistudreli.38.1.25.
- "Dr Fatima Seedat | African Gender Institute". www.agi.ac.za. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
- "MPhil_in_Islam_Gender_and_Sexuality | African Gender Institute". www.agi.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
- Grung, Anne Hege (2022-11-21). Complexities of Spiritual Care in Plural Societies: Education, Praxis and Concepts. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-071738-9.
- Shaikh, Sa’diyya; Seedat, Fatima (2022-10-13). The Women's Khutbah Book: Contemporary Sermons on Spirituality and Justice from around the World. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-26903-1.
- "People : Legal Experience | African Gender Institute". www.agi.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
- Rafudeen, Auwais (June 2021). "From the Editor". Journal for Islamic Studies. 39 (1). Retrieved 9 October 2022 – via Gale.
- Shaikh, Sa'diyya (June 2021). "Embracing the Barzakh: Knowledge, Being and Ethics". Journal of Islamic Studies. 39 (1). Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- Reviews:
- Haarhoff, Mandisa; Hicks, Lakhiyia (October 2021). "Surfacing: On Being Black and Feminist in South Africa". New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy (81): 60–63. Retrieved 9 October 2022 – via Gale.
- Mazibuko, Mbali (Spring 2022). "Surfacing: On Being Black and Feminist in South Africa". Tydskrif vir Letterkunde. 59 (1). doi:10.17159/tl.v59i1.12920. S2CID 248931508. Retrieved 9 October 2022 – via Gale.
- Mcbride, Sindi-Leigh (September 22, 2021). "Book Review: Black and Feminist in SA". AllAfrica. Retrieved 9 October 2022 – via Gale.
- Lewis, Desiree; Baderoon, Gabeba (7 June 2021). "Bringing to the surface a dazzling range of powerful voices". Daily Dispatch. p. 6. ProQuest 2537610826.
- Reviews:
- Hentschel, Yunus Valerian (2022). "The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender". Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations. 33 (3): 307–309. doi:10.1080/09596410.2022.2066301. S2CID 252467528. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- Forster, Dion A.; Gerle, Elisabeth; Gunner, Goran (2019-11-01). Freedom of Religion at Stake: Competing Claims among Faith Traditions, States, and Persons. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-5326-6056-6.