Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini is a central voice in discussions around gender relations in Islam today and a valued Maslaha advisor. She is an Iranian anthropologist and one of the founding members of the global network Musawah, which strives for equality and justice in the Muslim family.

“One of the main contributions of feminist voices and scholarship in Islam is to unmask the power politics that are defended in the guise of religious values and Shari‘a; in doing so they are creating a public voice that can break down ideological polarisations such as those between ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ feminism, and between ‘Islam’ and ‘human rights’, and point us to the main battleground, which is that between patriarchy and despotism on the one hand, and gender equality and democracy on the other.” [1]

Importantly Mir-Hosseini has argued that ‘Islam’ and ‘feminism’ should be seen as contested concepts and that to essentialise otherwise effectively operates to deny the reality of women’s lives. This increasingly accepted realisation has opened the door for new conversations, which for the first time make the lived realities of women their focus.

Currently based in London, Mir-Hosseini has written extensively on the subject of women’s rights in Islam. Her first book ‘Marriage on Trial’ was published in 1992 and she is the lead-editor of the recently published volume ‘Gender and Equality in Muslim Family Law: Justice and Ethics in the Islamic Legal Tradition.’

Most recently, she is the editor of the much coveted book 'Men in Charge: Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition' which was released in January 2015, and hailed by Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl as "the best treatment of women and Islamic law that I have read in the past twenty years... profound, eye-opening and even exhilarating."

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[1] Ziba Mir Hosseini, 'How to challenge the patriarchal ethics of Muslim legal tradition' (2013) Open Democracy website