Women in sacred spaces : an analysis of traditional Islam and Judaism in the communities of Cape Town

• Main Author: Mataar, Yusuf
• Other Authors: Chidester, David
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2014
• Subjects: Religious Studies
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7944

Bibliography: leaves 139-155. === The New Constitution protects Muslims and Jews as part of the minority religions in a pluralistic South Africa just like the rights of women are procured in the public and private arenas. Multiplicity usually exacerbates a more interactive relationship between divergent faiths thereby bringing into sharp focus the strained association of local Muslims and Jews considering the escalating violence in Palestine/Israel. This study firstly attempts to examine the status of traditional Muslim and Jewish women autonomously in the sacred spaces of the mosque, synagogue and home to highlight the customary gendered issues in the related spaces. These gendered sacred spaces are managed via ritual activity detennined in traditional law, which is rooted in genderized cosmogonies and myths founded in theology consequently exhibiting the interplay between theology and law. The study also endeavors to analyze the position of traditional Muslim and Jewish women reciprocally in the public and private sacred terrains of Cape Town to underline gendered similarities. These commonalities akin to genderized sacred spaces could serve as a forum for bridging the local Muslim-Jewish divide by stimulating discourse among intellectuals; community organizations negotiating public and private matters; and individual members of the respective religious traditions. Gendered resemblances could additionally amplifY the debate of women's rights in the public and private sacred domains to evoke an equitable understanding of each other (in the binaries of Muslims and Jews as well as men and women).