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| 1 1 Introducing Desiring Subjects Climbing up the stairs to the main hall of the building of alHilal , an Islamic private voluntary organization (PVO) nestled in the suburbs of Cairo,1 I was met by the reading class’s familiar rhythmic recital of the Qur’an.2 Filtering through the animated hum of conversation and the chimes of cell phones ringing from the far corners of the hall, voices rose and fell in perfect unison. The smell of baking wafted through the kitchen door, calling attention to the culinary skills of the cooking team who were preparing their baked goods for sale. Wrapped in cellophane, freshly baked konafa and baqlawa were carried out by a number of unresisting visitors who walked past me as I stepped inside. Dalia, an activist at the gam’iyah,3 was waiting for me in her workshop where she trained women to produce and market crafts as part of the center’s vocational program. After offering me a cool Pepsi on that hot summer day, Dalia leaned against one of the long tables in the room as she casually chatted about her children. Her oldest son, now seventeen, was graduating from high school that year. “I worry about young people today,” she said. “The school system is in shambles. Parents who have schoolchildren don’t have a clue to what to expect next from the ministry (of education). Throwing her arms into the air, Dalia exclaimed exasperatedly, “The system of education needs to change.” I agreed, and our conversation veered to my own research. Dalia and I had briefly discussed my work before, but she asked again why I was focusing on al-Hilal’s activism. I explained that I had become interested in women and Islamic activism when I read about Heba Raouf, who is a leading scholar on Islam in the Middle East and a professor of political science at Cairo University.4 Dalia seemed interested , though perplexed. Perhaps she needed reassurance that I would find al-Hilal’s activism interesting for the right reasons,5 —and perhaps 2 | Introducing Desiring Subjects this is what prompted her to jump up suddenly and beckon me to follow , suggesting, “Why don’t you talk to Doctora Zeinab about all this? Come, come, she will be very interested.” I hesitated, wondering whether Doctora Zeinab (doctora means doctor; Doctora Zeinab was a physician) would really be interested in my work. After all, I was there to learn about them, not the other way around, or so I thought, not realizing that only a few minutes later, these roles of researcher and researched would be completely reversed. In any case, I had no choice but to follow Dalia out the door and into the small crowded office of Doctora Zeinab, the director of the PVO. The researcher was becoming the researched, I thought to myself.6 Doctora Zeinab sat behind her desk facing the doorway, surrounded by a group of women activists. My mind raced back to my first meeting with the doctora. At the time, I was working on a book on the notion of empowerment in feminist literature dealing with “Islamic women activists” (Hafez 2003). Laila, a friend of mine, had introduced me to gam’iyat al-Hilal and, after some initial reluctance, took me to meet Doctora Zeinab. Laila’s hesitation was due to the fact that the media had been leading a bitter campaign against the emergence of da’iyat, or “women preachers,”7 ridiculing women’s turn to Islam. Newspaper and magazine articles painted a portrait of da’iyat as naïve and misled, accusing them of being mouthpieces for conservative Islamist groups. Doctora Zeinab looked up at me as Dalia recounted our earlier conversation to her. I was once again struck by the strength of her presence and her reflective gaze that seemed to miss nothing. When Doctora Zeinab spoke, she had a deep resonating voice that in its clearly enunciated Arabic claimed attention. Articulate with her words, strong in asserting her thoughts, she exuded an air of confidence and self-assurance that was as unassuming as it was impressive. These recollections sped through my mind as I, once again, received her steady gaze. The group of women in the room shifted their attention to our presence. Like Doctora Zeinab, some were dressed in long-sleeved blouses and a long skirt that reached below the ankles, whereas others wore long dresses. Most of the activists at the gam’iyah wore a hijab...

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