Our Inspiration

Starting in 1982, CCMW helped start many different conversations about being Muslim and female in Canada.

These Muslim conversations about who we were, what our faith says about our place in society, what our God-given rights are and the rights under the Canadian Charter all turned to a social justice narrative for us members. CCMW’s untiring work on equality for women has had a deep impact on us and informed many of our own ideas about the Muslim identity in Canada.

CCMW was founded by women with a vision for women’s voices to be heard in the corridors of the male dominated boards of mosques and congregations in Canada. These women were ready to face the disagreements in their conversations within their own Muslim community organizers.

They had done their invaluable research and pointed out to us that the translations or tafsir texts were patriarchal interpretations of the holy Qur’an. Of course, CCMW started to be considered too radical for some and not radical enough for others.

Muslim women of all ages were now able to get access to the idea, often for the very first time in their lives, that feminist principles could be rooted within their Muslim faith and practice, rather than, as some male religious leaders judged it as being, “a foreign and Western concept.” Thus, Muslim feminism opened up for all women of all ages, who came from across Canada to attend the annual CCMW gatherings.

Under the leadership of its founding president and subsequent leaders, CCMW brought Muslim women and men together to connect and engage deeply with scholars across barriers of gender, sect, place of origin or school of thought to find common cause with women’s struggles for justice and equity.

Above all, CCMW led the way to defend unequivocally the right of choice of Muslim women in Canada.

With acknowledgement to original text by Rahat Kurd. https://twitter.com/RahatKurd https://www.facebook.com/rahat.kurd