Welcome to week one of my multi-week series, Intersections: Exploring Gender and Spirituality.

First of all, I’d like to acknowledge my contributors who made this series possible by sharing their thoughts on the deeply personal topics of gender and spirituality. In this day and age, knowing one’s neighbor is an important practice. Thank you for making yourselves vulnerable and exploring your experiences of gender identity and religion.

In the interest of transparency, I (the interviewer) am a cisgender Protestant woman which may have influenced the questions I asked.

In light of recent current events, I’ve reordered the order of the interviews in order to highlight the perspectives of two Sunni Muslim women: Amanda and Aicha.

Q:“Do you believe Sunni Islam is inherently patriarchal, matriarchal, or neutral?”

“Neutral. A core tenant of Islam is gender equality.”

Amanda spoke with full conviction and without pausing. Many folks would disagree with her, but as she later eloquently noted generalizations about a religion from an outsider’s perspective are often grossly inaccurate. Both of my Muslim interviewees took great pains to debunk the myth that “covering” (Muslim women wearing any type of modest clothing, including headscarves, expressing piety) is a symbol of oppression. It’s simply an personal expression of modesty that xenophobic non-Muslims around the world have turned into a controversial issue.

Interestingly, both of my interviewees felt compelled to place their own personal faith in the greater historical context of Islam. So here's what you may have missed in World History Class.

During the Prophet Muhammed’s time in the 7th century on the Arabian peninsula, women had a low place in society, having no legal rights or the ability to own property. Infant femicide and domestic abuse were commonplace. So the proclamation of “women being equal in all ways”, as Amanda put it, was revolutionary. (Especially considering the Western feminist movement was nowhere in sight for a few hundred more years!)

In fact there were many strong women in the early days of Islam whom most non-Muslims have never heard of. At the start of the interview, Amanda told the story of Khadijah. She was a merchant woman who proposed to the Prophet Muhammed because he was “fair, calm and level-headed.” Since "the life of the Prophet (PBUH) is "the walking and breathing Quran," his marriage to a independent-thinking businesswoman serves as a shining example to modern Muslims of what a good equal marriage could look like. Aicha also mentioned the Prophet’s (PBUH) second wife Aisha who was historian political and military strategist of the early Muslims. (What a cool lady to be named after, Aicha!)

Amanda did note a tenet of Islam is that someone in the married partnership needs to serve as the head of the household but it’s presented in a way that doesn’t dictate gender. This is also applied to life outside the home. Amanda said that her Islamic center makes an effort to have gender-balanced leadership boards because each gender is seen as bringing different strengths to the table.

Unfortunately, as Aicha noted, “religion itself is neutral” but people have construed religions, especially Islam, to fit patriarchal cultural norms. Additionally, the patriarchy of the local cultures was also compounded by the patriarchal norms of European colonizers (especially in the Middle East).

This conflict between the Quran espousing gender equality and the patriarchy of most cultures is still being played out today. Aicha recalled her experiences in a small conservative Islamic elementary school and how she had to fight for the privilege to speak in class and her female teachers were in very unequal oppressive marriages. Additionally "Converse-wearing" Aicha expressed her frustration at the “hyper-feminine” expectations that many Muslim women hold each other to when worshipping; "makeup […] perfect dress, perfect hijab. I felt ugly being myself [...] I tried to be feminine even though it wasn't me."

After interning at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (the largest in the Northeast), Aicha feels things are “a bit more open” there. She worked under the Director of Development and it was considered notable that a woman held the Director’s position. Aicha also listens to the sermons of the New Women’s Mosque of America, an all-female mosque, and appreciates that they “see Islam through the same feminist lens” that she does. “I do feel that there is progress […] I’m really hopeful” that the media is portraying Muslim women in a more positive way. Aicha listed numerous examples of awesome Muslim women creating change across the world, including Ibtihaj Muhammed, the American fencer.

For Amanda and Aicha, the intersection of being female and being Muslim has major significance in their lives, (probably more than the other folks I interviewed for the rest of this series). Amanda noted that many details of daily life down to the equal work schedule with her husband is influenced by the tenants of her faith. Aicha felt that her conscious decision, “I read the Quran, it made sense. I chose [Islam] because it made sense”, to recommit herself to the faith she was raised in plays a major role in her life. Her everyday thoughts include considering “Is this what God would want? Is this the right thing?”

Many folks consider Muslim women to be universally oppressed by their identity; I can attest that Amanda and Aicha finds their faith to be a source of empowerment. In fact, the gender equality was the main reason why Amanda converted to Islam because it reflected her feminist beliefs. Aicha feels similarly that her feminism complements her faith because "acceptance for all" is a major tenet of Muslim belief.

Let's be honest; accepting differences and gender equality is about essentially feminist as you can get. The radical intolerances of a small minority should not mar the beautiful faith of the majority of the Muslim community.