control and sexuality

Control and Sexuality: The Revival of Zina Laws in Muslim Contextswithin, and opened a space where a critique of patriarchal interpretations of the shari’acould be sustained in ways that were previously impossible. With the emergence of thereformist movement in the aftermath of 1997 presidential election, the struggle for reformof discriminatory laws became part of a larger struggle between two notions of ‘Islam’:a pluralistic and tolerant Islam premised on the notion of ‘rights’ and an absolutist andlegalistic Islam premised on the notion of ‘duties’. Despite the failure of the reformistmovement to bring the promised shift from theocracy towards democracy, the idea andthe demand for reform have now gone deep into society and become part of a popularmovement for democratic change. The Green Movement that emerged in the aftermathof the disputed 2009 presidential election, with women as its most vociferous and activesupporters, holds the promise of an egalitarian shift in the politics of gender and sexuality.Its impact in Muslim contexts may prove to be as important as that of the 1979 Revolution.There are three lessons to be drawn from the Iranian case that may help in devisingstrategies for action to reform zina laws. First, the revival of zina laws is part of the largerstory of changing relations between religion, state and law in the course of the 20 thcentury; and strategies for reform need to be pursued as part of a larger struggle for genderequality, democracy and rule of law in Muslim contexts. This means that activists mustunderstand and expose the real cleavages in their own society, must be well versed in itspower politics, and must develop working relations and alliances with other stakeholders.Secondly, given the primacy of law in Islamic discourses, and the intimate links betweenreligion, law and culture, it is important to be able to engage with religious and internaldiscourses within communities. This requires activists to go beyond the ideologicaldichotomies such as ‘secular’ versus ‘religious’ feminism, or Islamic law versus humanrights, and develop a multi-pronged approach to bring about sustainable legal reform inMuslim contexts. Strategies for reform may involve negotiating within available spaces –no matter how narrow these spaces are – with that complex unified system of religion,legal jurisprudence and governance established by the modern but undemocratic Muslimstates.Finally, the real cleavage, the fundamental power struggle in Iran as in other Muslimcontexts is between democracy and despotism, which is often obscured by religiouspolitics and the instrumentalisation of religion. Thus, it is essential to demystify religiouspolitics, to challenge those who attempt to invoke religious authority to justify autocraticrule, and to win power games by using religious language. It is only then that the intimateand intricate links between patriarchy and despotism can be revealed and challenged insustainable ways.112