Refashioning Islam: elite women and piety in Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the development of Islamic identity of a group of elite women in Dhaka, Bangladesh. These women constitute a significant group in the country where 10% of the rich control 40% of the national wealth, and the 10% of the poorest control 1.84% of the national wealth.* Socially, politically and economically, elite women and their families are powerful and have access to resources and political influence. Many of these women who did not grow up with a very strict religious orientation came to Islam and consolidated religious thoughts and practices through a weekly Quran reading class. This particular Quran class began in 2002. The classes were initiated by a foreign diplomat's wife who was Muslim, and have continued even after her departure from the country in 2004. While Dhaka houses many meetings of Muslim men and women to discuss Islamic ideas and practices, this particular class was quite unique in its ability to attract and convert elite women whose lives were seemingly perfect. This urban elite phenomenon of Islamic revivalism has not been the subject of any in-depth research in Bangladesh, and this work therefore, is the first of its kind and largely introductory.

Myths of nationhood: Cultural nationalism, political Islam, and the movement against sculptures in Bangladesh

“…There is in Bangladesh a growing trend of shunning old native cultural Islam and adhering more and more closely to cultural practices more recently imported from the Middle East, and, as Riaz (2017) has shown, there is simultaneously a growing consensus among the polity for a more public role of religion in Bangladesh. Huq has also shown the spread of Islamic literature and private and public sermons among urban and suburban women (Huq, 2014;Huq and Rashid, 2008).…”

The making of an Islamist public sphere in Bangladesh

“…On the other hand, Huq’s (2008) ethnographic study on Bangladesh Islamic Chatri Sangstha (BICSa) reveals that this da’wa movement actively harnesses Qur’anic verses to re-cultivate young, educated Bangladeshi Muslim women. Their mission is to Islamize self, community, and state.…”

“…He elsewhere reveals the Islamization of the public sphere in the country with the emergence of Islamist fiction and the activism of women's discussion groups (Riaz, 2013). Similarly, Huq (2003) demonstrates how Islamic literature shapes a new public imagination in Bangladesh, and Huq and Rashid show how women da'wa (preaching) movements have become an Islamist tool for entering into public space in Bangladesh (Huq, 2014;Huq and Rashid, 2008).…”

Growing Popularity of Muslim Attire: Faith or Fashion?

“…Many Muslim women perceive that Islamic attire may create positive effect on others' mind to perceive them by inner excellence and modesty (Huq and Rashid, 2008). Again many think that wearing Muslim cloths with modern fashionable clothes signify their individuality with sense of freedom, self-pride, self-confidence (Genel and Karaosmanolu, 2006).…”