58

This article examines the specificity of feminist engagement within the Indian Muslim Women’s Movement (BMMA), whose goal is to reclaim religious knowledge and reinterpret Islamic texts for the purpose of emancipation. Through the establishment of women’s Sharia courts, this work of subversion of norms within the community not only makes it possible to challenge the community on the discriminations that Muslim women experience on a daily basis, but also to deconstruct the hegemonic discourses that reify the stereotype of the specific oppression of Muslim women. This article proposes to reflect on the strategies of and challenges posed by the mobilization of Muslim Indians, in a context of strong communal tensions. It argues that the combined use of religious and secular repertoires allows for significant reconfigurations of the relationship between gender, Islam and emancipation.