ABSTRACT
It describes the Muslim women’s groups’ objectives, strategies, and agendas in Mumbai and elaborates on the five groups—the Bazm-e-Niswan, the Awaaz-e-Niswaan (AeN), the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), the India International Women’s Alliance (IIWA), and Sahiyo—and explains the distinctiveness of the Muslim women question that shapes the need of their movement. The argument of the chapter is neither Muslim women nor their activism can be homogenised. The following sections explain the reasons behind the emergence of these organisations, their objectives, strategies, and views on talaq, polygamy, Muslim personal law reform, and socio-economic empowerment. It incorporates Muslim women’s innovative ways of delivering justice to their fellow members through Mahila Adalat, Sharia Adalat, and residential programmes. Moreover, the issues raised by these organisations have national importance. These groups also display a wide range of the ideological and religious contradictions within Islam; it also highlights their strategic differences too. Therefore, it has created a new discourse on Muslim women’s identity in India, and this chapter also tries to locate these new trends in Muslim women’s activism.
