ABSTRACT
The establishment of CERFI is the result of a partnership between the International Group of Study and Reflection on Women in Islam (GIERFI, Groupe international d’étude et de réflexion sur les femmes en Islam ), a group that was located in Barcelona but is now defunct, and the Mohammadian League of Scholars in Morocco ( Rabita Mohammadia des Oulémas ). 4 It is one of thirteen specialized centers that are affiliated with the Rabita and in charge of producing academic research in the religious field, including Sufism, Qur’anic studies, doctrinal studies, and women’s studies. Moreover, CERFI is the first official religious institution specializing in academic research in the Arab world to adopt Islamic feminism-a movement that calls for revising the patriarchal interpretation of religious texts from a feminist perspective and claims that women’s rights are deeply rooted in Islam. It differs from the other two feminist movements that exist in Morocco: traditional feminism that refuses to question Islamic heritage and secular feminism that rejects Islam as a frame of reference.
