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Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / South Africa has the largest percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world. However, the response against the further spread of HIV/AIDS in the country is being hindered by stigma and discrimination. In order to develop effective intervention programmes to control and reduce the further spread of the disease, it is first important to understand the nature of HIV/AIDS-related stigma and especially how people construct it. In the present study, the social construction of HIV/AIDS-related stigma among Muslims was investigated because high levels of stigma were found in this group. This was fuelled partly by the belief that HIV/AIDS was not a serious problem amongst Muslims. Two focus groups were conducted, one among Muslim women only and the second among Muslim men only. The main aim of the study was to examine the perceptions of HIV/AIDS-related stigma among Muslims. The transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis to determine the themes that emerged from the research material. The main findings of the study included that Muslims’ religious identity/positioning was the most salient discourse that informed how they understood, made meaning of, and responded to HIV/AIDS. They engaged in various forms of stigma such as ‘othering’, and mediating factors of stigma included religious positioning. Stigma also served as a social barrier to VCT and disclosure of HIV status. However, supportive attitudes and behaviours were also evident. The findings yielded useful insights into possible elements of intervention programmes, both to reduce HIV/AIDS-related stigma, and also to encourage behavioural change in order to control and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in this community. / South Africa

In the western world, Islam has been interpreted based on stereotypes of muslims. The stereotype image leads to the fact that many Muslims in Sweden today are forced to face Islamophobia and preconceptions about Islam's meaning. To enhance the image of Islam, lived religion as field of research is useful as it opens the opportunity to study people's lived experiences of religious traditions beyond religious institutions and doctrines. The field can show how religious traditions are expressed in people's everyday lives by lifting the voices of individuals which are not otherwise noted. Lived Islam is thus an area that highlights Muslims' living experiences of Islam in their daily lives. In this essay, lived Islam is studied as it may occur among individuals who define themselves as women and Muslims in Karlstad, Sweden. The aim is to enhance the image of Islam and raise female experiences of Islam. This will broaden the already existing research spectra that usually takes an androcentric perspective. The women's experiences are investigated through life stories interviews. Based on a material perspective on religion, the paper examines how Islam is manifested and expressed through material practices, objects, and different phenomena in the women’s everyday life. The result shows that Islam is described as a framework of how life is interpreted and expected to be lived. Islam is expressed in form of material practices like for example regular prayers, but also as an approach to the outside world. Lived Islam in Karlstad, as it can be expressed among individuals who define themselves as women and Muslims can be said to mean a perspective that encompasses all content in life. The Muslim women in the paper are positive about their life’s in Karlstad, but some elements can also complicate everyday life, such as meetings with preconceptions about Islam and the Muslim woman.

Magister Artium - MA (Anthropology/Sociology) / This research critically analysed Muslim approaches to five women with HIV/AIDS in Cape Town focussing particularly on the approach of 'Positive Muslims' - an awareness-raising and support group for Muslims living with HIV/AIDS. The central question of this thesis dealt with the impact of the norms, values and practices of Cape Muslims on the approach of Positive Muslims to women living with HIV/AIDS. It is suggested that while norms and values articulated in religious texts inform the ideological approach of the organisation's AIDS prevention model. This is due to the pragmatic approach adopted by Postive Muslims which recognises that the articulated norms and values do not always conform to the practices of Cape Muslims. / South Africa

Doctor Legum - LLD / The objective of this doctoral thesis is essentially two-fold: first, it seeks to ascertain whether the rights and freedoms of Muslim women in the contexts of marriage and divorce are adequately protected in terms of Islamic jurisprudence, and secondly, whether any valuable lessons could be learnt in this regard by South Africa based on the specific legal experiences of two (other) African jurisdictions, notably Morocco and Tunisia.

Using selected stories by two North African women writers, Alifa Rifaat of Egypt and Assia Djebar of Algeria, this study, entitled ‘Islamic culture and the question of women’s human rights in North Africa: a study of short stories by Assia Djebar and Alifa Rifaat’, analyzes the creative representation of contemporary Muslim society and its treatment of women. The continued marginalization of women in Muslim societies has led to the rise of feminist movements in North Africa and the Middle East. Muslim women, like their Christian counterparts, have made a most remarkable appearance on the African literary scene by producing literature that interrogates a system in which women are denied the rights to life, equality and freedom, which are the inalienable rights of all Islamic adherents. Thus, North African women’s writing reveals a disparity between Islamic culture, which is based on the Qur’an and upholds equal rights for all believers, and Muslim culture, which denies women access to full rights. The writings of Alifa Rifaat and Assia Djebar espouse the need for a transformation of Muslim culture such that the practices of Muslims effectively harmonize with the teachings of the Qur’an. The stories selected for analysis illustrate that while Rifaat uses the conservatist approach or womanist thrust in her criticism of Muslim culture, Djebar adopts a more radical approach that is ultimately feminist. Nevertheless, both writers address similar issues affecting women in Muslim societies, such as forced or arranged marriages and the suppression of female sexuality. The first chapter situates the argument within gender discourse and the human rights framework, providing a critical appraisal of women in Islam from pre-Islamic times to modern days. To contextualize the literary scene, the second chapter positions Muslim women’s writing within the broad corpus of African feminisms, using the works of Nawal el-Saadawi, Mariama Bâ and Zaynab Alkali to chart the many challenges facing Muslim women today. Chapters Three and Four focus on the selected literature of the chosen writers, Alifa Rifaat and Assia Djebar, respectively, showing how each writer uses her art as an instrument to combat social injustices against women. The concluding chapter establishes the points of convergence and divergence between Rifaat and Djebar and, ultimately, draws attention to the dire need for all Muslims to respect the human rights of women. This study, therefore, blends literary interpretation with sociological findings to assess the extent of the failure of Muslims to endorse the principle of equality for all humans irrespective of race, class, or gender. Essentially, it seeks to raise consciousness on women’s rights in Islam. / Dissertation (MA (Pan African Literatures))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / English / MA / unrestricted

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Bibliography: pages 204-228. / Historically Muslim women have been marginalised in the examination of Islamic texts and Muslim society. This has resulted in the non-recognition and silencing of women's perspectives as well as the concealment of some of the traumatic realities experienced by groups of Muslim women. Exacerbated by pervading social and religious notions of "private" families, the incidence of wife battery within Muslim societies have been largely hidden violence against wives is seen as the manifestation of a sexist and patriarchal ideology. This study examines the manner in which Islamic gender discourses inform and impact upon the phenomenon of violence against women. The related tensions between patriarchal and egalitarian Islamic perspectives are explored. This study involves a two-fold feminist analysis of gender ideology in religious texts and contemporary Muslim society. At the level of textual studies, I applied a feminist hermeneutic to medieval and contemporary Qur'anic exegetical literature. The examination of medieval period focused on the exegesis of Abu Jafar Muhumammad b. Jarir al-Tabari (839-922), Abu al-Qasim Mahmud b. Umar Zamakshari (1075-1144), Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149- 1210). The study of contemporary exegetical literature concentrated on the approaches and exegeses of Fazlur Rahman and Amina Wadud-Muhsin. Hermeneutical debates on violence against wives were focused on the interpretations of the Qur'anic notion of female nushuz (Q.4:34). In examining contemporary Muslim society, I employed feminist qualitative research methodology. I interviewed a number of women from a South African Muslim community in the Western Cape. Here, the sample consisted of eight women with whom open-ended in-depth interviews were conducted. The interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed. I found that interweaving levels of religious symbols and discourses shaped normative understandings of gender relations. This in turn had implications for both structural and practical discourses of violence against women in Muslim societies. Islamic gender ideology spanned the continuum from patriarchal to feminist approaches. Misogynist religious understandings reinforced the husband's right to control and coerce his wife, even if this implied the use of force. On the other hand, egalitarian Islamic perspectives prioritised the Qur'anic ethics of equality and social justice and rejected the violation of women. I argue that Islam provides numerous resources for the pro-active empowerment of women and the promotion of the full humanity of women.

This empirical research focuses on the subject of Hijab in Sweden. It demonstrates that Afghan (Muslim) women residing in Sweden do not consider the Hijab as an element of their culture/identity. Additionally, the empirical data gathered through interviews with twenty Afghans residing in Sweden reveals that Hijab is socially imposed on women, particularly by male relatives. Afghan women reveal verbal and physical violations exercised against women by male relatives in order to force them to veil. Therefore, if multiculturalism favors the Hijab as a human right and/or an identity/cultural element of these women, it neglects the violations implied by Hijab on women. By adopting a Marxist feminist lens, the research explains that although veiling and controlling women’s body existed for centuries before the birth of capitalism, controlling women’s body by forcing them to veil serves the capitalist project as well. The veil is one of the diverse ways of controlling women (‘s body) and is one of the ways to help the interests of capitalism since women are the source of reproduction of labor. Rejecting the position of both left-wing and right-wing parties (and specifically racists) in the political sphere in Sweden, it is suggested that the former (no matter intentionally or unintentionally) justifies and serves the preservation of the repressive Hijab and does not protect Muslim women and their human rights. And (far) right-wing actors, by pointing to the repressive Hijab, merely aim to cut the budget that is essential for protecting the fundamental human rights of immigrants and target the existence of immigrants per se to enable (further) development of capitalist (economic) policies. This research argues that discourse cannot make a substantial change in behaviors, and not only men should be considered as the responsible actor to diminish the violations. A third alternative/approach is instead suggested for the change in the material condition of such communities so as to diminish the violations. By reminding the responsibility of the Swedish government, it is suggested that the government should take responsibility for material provision regarding awareness, education, employment, and development of oppressed veiled women. This is how the government can protect human rights and actualize women’s capacity in order to combat the violations.

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