The Musawah Framework for Action is a working document that provides a conceptual framework to guide the work of Musawah. The Framework can be downloaded in English, Arabic, French, Malay, and Persian.

Musawah declares that equality in the family is necessary because many aspects of our current Muslim family laws and practices are unjust and do not respond to the lives and experiences of Muslim families and individuals. Musawah declares that equality in the family is possible through a holistic approach that brings together Islamic teachings, universal human rights principles, fundamental rights and constitutional guarantees, and the lived realities of women and men today. Musawah builds on decades of tireless effort by women’s groups and activists in Muslim countries and communities to campaign for reform of Muslim family laws that discriminate against women and to resist regressive amendments demanded by conservative groups within society.

The Framework has been developed by a group of Muslim activists and scholars who have come together to initiate Musawah. The core group, coordinated by Sisters in Islam (Malaysia), comprises a twelve-member planning committee of Muslim activists and academics from eleven countries. The Framework was conceptualised and written through a series of meetings and discussions with Islamic scholars, academics, activists and legal practitioners from approximately thirty countries.

Musawah declares that equality and justice in the family are both necessary and possible. The time for realising these values in our laws and practices is now.

Read the Framework in English.