Review of 'Secular Muslim Feminism: An Alternative Voice in the War of Ideas' by Hind Elhinnawy (Bloomsbury, 2024)

I cannot express how excited I was when a friend sent me a link to this new publication. At last, a book about Muslim women ‘that challenges the oversimplified and monolithic portrayals of Muslim women’ as passive, subjugated victims of Islam that has dominated for far too long. Instead Elhinnawy presents us with the rich and long history of feminist activism in non-western and Muslim majority countries, of diverse struggles, contexts and ideologies as well as a glimpse of the immense potential for change that secular Muslim feminists can and are creating for themselves, their communities and the wider world. This book is a must read for anyone interested in gaining wider insight and knowledge of the struggles that face Muslim feminists in the West and in Muslim majority countries from religious fundamentalists and the Right.