From Tehran to Taksim: Constraint, strategy, and hybrid repertoires of Islamic feminism

This article examines how state–religion configurations shape Islamic feminist praxis in Iran and Turkey. Drawing on postcolonial, intersectional, and Islamic feminist frameworks, the article traces how women mobilise for gender justice through legal advocacy, textual reinterpretation, grassroots organising, digital activism, and coalition-building. Based on a comparative analysis of textual sources, activist writings, and digital campaigns, and informed by ethical engagement with feminist movements, the study argues that Islamic feminists transform constraint into strategy by crafting hybrid repertoires — adaptive, multifaceted practices that navigate patriarchal authority and religious discourse. In theocratic Iran, activists advance cautious legal and textual interventions within Shari’a frameworks, while in Turkey, oscillation between secularist exclusion and Islamist co-optation fosters hybrid strategies including cross-ideological alliances and online feminist publics. These repertoires are locally grounded yet transnationally connected, revealing Islamic feminism as a dynamic field of praxis that reimagines gender justice beyond secular frameworks. By demonstrating how constraint becomes a generative condition for feminist action, this study reframes Islamic feminisms in Iran and Turkey as central to global feminist theory rather than peripheral variations.