Fatima Seedat

Fatima Seedat
Nationality	South African
Education	McGill University (Ph.D)
Occupation(s)	Islamic scholar, Senior lecturer, women's rights activist

Fatima Seedat is a South African feminist, Islamic scholar and women's rights activist. ^[1] She is known for her scholarly work on gender and Islamic law, ^[2] and Islam and feminism. ^{[3] [4]}

Career

Seedat researches gender and Islamic law, Islam and feminism, and Muslim masculinity. ^[5] She completed her PhD at McGill University, ^[1] and her dissertation focused on gender and legal theory. ^{[2] : 94–95}

She is Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Cape Town. ^[5] Seedat is also Programme Convenor of the University of Cape Town's Mphil in Islam, Gender, and Sexuality with Sa'diyya Shaikh. ^[6]

Seedat is one of the few Muslim women to act as an imam and deliver khutbahs. ^[7] She is co-editor of The Women's Khutbah Book: Contemporary Sermons on Spirituality and Justice from around the World with Sa'diyya Shaikh. Two of Seedat's khutbahs are featured, "Knowing in and through Difference" and "Not a Nikah Khutbah." ^[8]

Seedat is one of three female Muslim Marriage Officers in South Africa. ^[9]

Activism

Seedat was the parliamentary liaison for the South African Commission on Gender Equality. Seedat is the founder of Shura Yabafazi, a South African NGO that focuses on women in Muslim family law. Seedat has also worked with Equitas Human Rights Foundation, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, and UN Women Afghanistan. ^{[1] [9]}

She has worked with the South African Muslim Personal Law Network, which works in conjunction with Musawah. ^[9] She has worked for more than 25 years with a variety of organisations to advocate for legal protections for women in Muslim marriages. ^[10]

Works

Books

• The Women's Khutbah Book: Contemporary Sermons on Spirituality and Justice from around the World (co-editor, Yale University Press, 2022) ^[11]

Book chapters

• "South African Feminists in Search of the Sacred" in Surfacing: On Being Black and Feminist in South Africa (2021, Wits University Press) ^[12]
• “Gender and the Study of Islamic Law: From Polemic to Ethics” in The Routledge Handbook on Gender and Islam (2020, Routledge) ^[13]
• "Intersections and Assemblages: South Africans Negotiating Privilege and Marginality through Freedom of Religion and Sexual Difference" in Freedom of Religion at Stake: Competing Claims Among Faith Traditions, States, and Persons (2019, Pickwick Publications) ^[14]

Academic papers

• "Between Boundaries, towards Decolonial Possibilities in a Feminist Classroom Holding a Space between the Qur'an and the Bible" in Religion and Theology (2020)
• "Gender Asymmetry and Mutual Sexual Relations in Online Legal Interpretation— Beyond the Dissonance through the Fatwas of askimam.org" in Journal for Gender and Religion in Africa (2020)
• "Secure Between God and Man: Peace, Tranquility and Sexuality through the Pietistic Aspirations of Believing Women" with Mariam Khan in Journal for the Study of Religion
• "Queering the Study of Islam" in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
• A women’s march without God (the Father) in The Immanent Frame (2018)
• Sexual economies of war and sexual technologies of the body: Militarised Muslim masculinity and the Islamist production of concubines for the caliphate in Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity (2017)
• "On Spiritual Subjects: Negotiations in Muslim Female Spirituality" in Journal of Gender and Religion in Africa (2016)
• Seedat (2013). "Islam, Feminism, and Islamic Feminism: Between Inadequacy and Inevitability" . Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. 29 (2): 25–45. doi:10.2979/jfemistudreli.29.2.25. S2CID   144930307.

References

1. "Fatima Seedat | WISE Muslim Women Fatima Seedat". WISE Muslim Women. 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
2. Emon, Anver M.; Ahmed, Rumee (November 2018). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-967901-0.
3. Lamptey, Jerusha Tanner (2018). Divine Words, Female Voices: Muslima Explorations in Comparative Feminist Theology. Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN   9780190653385.
4. Mansour, Asmaa (Spring 2022). "Decolonizing Islamic Feminism". Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. 38 (1). Indiana University Press. doi:10.2979/jfemistudreli.38.1.25.
5. "Dr Fatima Seedat | African Gender Institute". www.agi.ac.za. Archived from the original on 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
6. "MPhil_in_Islam_Gender_and_Sexuality | African Gender Institute". www.agi.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
7. Grung, Anne Hege (2022-11-21). Complexities of Spiritual Care in Plural Societies: Education, Praxis and Concepts. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN   978-3-11-071738-9.
8. Shaikh, Sa’diyya; Seedat, Fatima (2022-10-13). The Women's Khutbah Book: Contemporary Sermons on Spirituality and Justice from around the World. Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0-300-26903-1.
9. "People : Legal Experience | African Gender Institute". www.agi.uct.ac.za. Archived from the original on 2022-10-13. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
10. Rafudeen, Auwais (June 2021). "From the Editor". Journal for Islamic Studies. 39 (1). Retrieved 9 October 2022– via Gale.
11. Shaikh, Sa'diyya (June 2021). "Embracing the Barzakh: Knowledge, Being and Ethics". Journal of Islamic Studies. 39 (1). Retrieved 9 October 2022.
12. Reviews:
    • Haarhoff, Mandisa; Hicks, Lakhiyia (October 2021). "Surfacing: On Being Black and Feminist in South Africa". New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy (81): 60–63. Retrieved 9 October 2022– via Gale.
    • Mazibuko, Mbali (Spring 2022). "Surfacing: On Being Black and Feminist in South Africa". Tydskrif vir Letterkunde. 59 (1). doi: 10.17159/tl.v59i1.12920 . S2CID   248931508 . Retrieved 9 October 2022– via Gale.
    • Mcbride, Sindi-Leigh (September 22, 2021). "Book Review: Black and Feminist in SA". AllAfrica . Retrieved 9 October 2022– via Gale.
    • Lewis, Desiree; Baderoon, Gabeba (7 June 2021). "Bringing to the surface a dazzling range of powerful voices". Daily Dispatch . p. 6. ProQuest   2537610826.
13. Reviews:
    • Hentschel, Yunus Valerian (2022). "The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender" . Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations. 33 (3): 307–309. doi:10.1080/09596410.2022.2066301. S2CID   252467528 . Retrieved 9 October 2022.
14. Forster, Dion A.; Gerle, Elisabeth; Gunner, Goran (2019-11-01). Freedom of Religion at Stake: Competing Claims among Faith Traditions, States, and Persons. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN   978-1-5326-6056-6.