Islamic Feminist Ijtihad among Palestinians in Israel

This article explores the practice of Islamic feminist ijtihad (IFI), which is a critical feminist stance toward religious texts and is the leading approach of Palestinian Islamic feminist women in Israel. Ijtihad means to expand one's capacities and use them to the utmost. In particular, it embodies the effort to learn and undertake religious interpretation. This article analyzes the dual challenges of Israeli hegemony and the patriarchal interpretation of Islam in the complex political reality of Israel/Palestine today. It is based on semistructured interviews with activists from the Women and Horizons Association (WHA), an Islamic feminist organization that emerged under Israeli settler colonialism. The findings show that a critical view of religious texts contributes to constructing a feminist Islamic interpretation dedicated to improving women's status and furthering their struggle against the intersecting power structures of patriarchal Islam and Israeli policies designed to dismantle Islamic religious power and prevent its resurgence.