Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Bedroom

The Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Bedroom is a list written by Muslim author and feminist Asra Nomani. The bill of Rights were vanguarded in the United States in 2004 by the [http://www.asranomani.com/freedom/archives/2005/02/about_the_daugh.php Daughters of Hajar] , a group of seven prominent progressive Muslim feminists.

History

"The Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Bedroom", the "Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Mosque", and the "99 Precepts for Opening Hearts, Minds and Doors in the Muslim World" were written with the goal of making Islam more progressive.

Nomani wrote it in honor of the ancestral matriarch of the Northern Arabs, Hajar, who stood alone with her son Ismael in the Arabian desert and whose courage permitted the lineage which became the Northern Arabs to survive. [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0503/03/lol.01.html]

The Bill of Rights for women in the bedroom was written upon her return from Mecca where Asra noted the egalitarian treatment of all individuals which she found to be lacking upon her return to her local mosque in Morgantown, in the United States.

The Bill of Rights

# "Women have an Islamic right to respectful and pleasurable sexual experience."
# "Women have an Islamic right to make independent decisions about their bodies, including the right to say no to sex."
# "Women have an Islamic right to make independent decisions about their partner, including the right to say no to a husband marrying a second wife."
# "Women have an Islamic right to make independent decisions about their choice of a partner."
# "Women have an Islamic right to make independent decisions about contraception and reproduction."
# "Women have an Islamic right to protection from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse."
# "Women have an Islamic right to sexual privacy."
# "Women have an Islamic right to exemption from criminalization or punishment for consensual adult sex."
# "Women have an Islamic right to exemption from gossip and slander."
# "Women have an Islamic right to sexual health care and sex education."

ee also

* 'Azl
* Rights and obligations of spouses in Islam
* Liberal movements within Islam

References

* [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0503/03/lol.01.html CNN interview discussing the Asra Nomani's 3 Islamic Bill of Rights]
* [http://www.asranomani.com/freedom/archives/bill_of_rights/in_the_bedroom/index.php Asra Nomani rights page]
* [http://www.asranomani.com/freedom/archives/2005/02/an_islamic_bill_1.php Freedom tour page]