بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Gender and Feminism Are Projects to Change Identity
By: Ustadh Ahmad Al-Shamali
(Translated)
Al-Rayah Newspaper - Issue 570 - 22/10/2025 CE
Feminist movements have emerged in Western societies, embracing deviant ideas that call for the complete liberation of women. This is due to the injustice and deprivation of women’s most basic rights they have been subjected to, under a secular system that has plunged them into misery and wretchedness.
The West, through its international organizations, has worked diligently to export this corruption to Muslim countries, using dubious associations linked to its embassies for funding, support, and promotion, with the goal of destroying the Muslim family and altering Islamic concepts regarding women. To achieve this, it established international agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 2011. It also held numerous international conferences, most notably the Women’s Conference in Mexico City in 1975, the Copenhagen Conference in 1980, the Population and Development Conference in Cairo in 1994, and the Beijing Conference in 1995.
Anyone who follows the activities of these organizations will clearly notice their close ties to the West, led by the United States. They receive generous funding from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other international organizations, all in service of the interests of major powers and their policies, aimed at secularizing and Westernizing Muslim peoples, diverting them from their Deen and its teachings.
These organizations raise glamorous slogans such as “women and education,” “women and the media,” and “women's economic empowerment.” In reality, they instill dangerous ideas in society, especially among women, including: absolute equality between the sexes, liberating women from the constraints of Deen and family, physical and personal independence, and gender reassignment. The goal of these misleading slogans is to deceive women, to breach the Muslim family and undermine it from within, so that generations are lost, and the Islamic Shariah rulings related to women and the family are erased.
However, Muslim women do not need these associations or anyone who allegedly seeks to do them justice. Islam has guaranteed their full rights and viewed them as mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters. It has made them an honor that must be preserved. It has tasked men with protecting them, providing for them, and treating them kindly. It has established the husband’s guardianship over his wife on the basis of care, not tyranny. It has also given women the right to education, inheritance, choosing a spouse, engaging in trade, agriculture, and industry, handling contracts and transactions, owning all types of property, developing their wealth, and managing their affairs. It has permitted them to be appointed to government administrative posts and to participate in political life by electing members of the National Assembly and even pledging Bayah of allegiance to the Khlaeefah (Caliph).
For us, women are mothers whom we treat with kindness so that she will be our path to Paradise. The Prophet (saw) said about them, «فالزَمها فإنَّ الجنَّةَ تحتَ رِجلَيها»“Commit to her, for Paradise is beneath her feet.” They are also the wife whom we treat well in obedience to Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw). The Prophet (saw) said, «خيرُكُم خيرُكم لِأهْلِهِ، وَأَنَا خيرُكم لِأَهْلِي» “The best of you is the best to his family, and I am the best of you to my family.” They are also the daughters to whom we treat kindly so that they will be a shield for us from the Fire on the Day of Resurrection. The Prophet (saw) said, «مَنِ ابْتُلِيَ مِنَ البَنَاتِ بشيءٍ، فأحْسَنَ إلَيْهِنَّ كُنَّ له سِتْراً مِنَ النَّارِ»“Whoever is blessed with daughters and treats them kindly, they will be a shield for him from the Fire.” They are the women whom Islam has honored in general. The Prophet (saw) said, «نعم إنما النِّساءُ شقائقُ الرِّجالِ»“Yes, women are the twin halves of men.”
Feminism, in essence, is a Western philosophy born out of historical conflicts. It views the relationship between men and women from the perspective of equality and conflict, not complementarity. It therefore calls for the abolition of natural differences between them, and considers the so-called “traditional family” a restriction on women’s freedom. It promotes the slogan of absolute equality in the sense of conforming similitude, calls for sexual freedom, and the reduction, or sometimes even abolition, of the role of motherhood. It seeks to marginalize and exclude men. The result Western societies have reaped from this discourse is the collapse of the family, with women bearing the double burden of work and childrearing alone, as well as being exposed to exploitation in the labor market and casual intimate relationships, and losing the natural support of husbands and family.
When feminist discourse calls for the normalization of gender, it aims to undermine common sense and perpetuate sexual perversion, by promoting same-sex marriage and gender transformation. This has actually contributed to the spread of moral and social chaos, the proliferation of unstable relationships, and the collapse of the concept of chastity and commitment, leading to identity crises and disruption of societal structures.
Feminist and gender projects undermine the innate identity of humans. They claim that natural gender is a social construct that can be changed, while Islam affirms that Allah (swt) created human beings male and female,
[وَأَنَّهُ خَلَقَ الزَّوْجَيْنِ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنثَىٰ]
“And that He created the two mates, the male and the female.” [TMQ Surah An-Najm 45], which is an innate, fixed principle. These propositions also clash with Islamic rulings based on the natural distinction between men and women, such as those pertaining to inheritance, divorce, and alimony.
These projects do not stop at advocating formal equality. Instead, they aim to dismantle the Muslim family and dissolve Islamic identity, leading to a generation that views Deen as merely a marginal cultural option. Therefore, we must be wary of them, fortify society with Islamic intellectual awareness, and strengthen the status of women as Islam intended them, dignified and protected, partners in building the family and society, and a foundation for the revival of the Ummah.