“The course was more than a breath of fresh air to the mind and the heart, it felt more like a journey bringing you finally back home.”

“The course was empowering in its deepest sense. It did not just provide participants with new knowledge but empowering them how to find this new knowledge and how to analyze it. In that sense it was not a new version of what Islam says about women’s rights, but a rich humbling experience of being exposed to so many sincere efforts by so many scholars in trying to understand and work with the dynamism in Islamic legal tradition. I left the course with a strong feeling of gratitude that studying Islamic legal tradition can be so empowering and liberating.”

“I began this course timid, but got more empowered as time went by. I was fortunate to have background knowledge in Islam but felt very refreshed for all the new things, especially the gender lens in Qur’an, Hadith and fiqh. Plus the advocacy.”

“Educative, built on my confidence to dialogue with Islamic scholars in my context. It has dropped some water in my throat to quench my thirst for understanding that the Qur’an is just and the injustices are committed by humans.”

“Excellent for many reasons: the content, the diversity of the activities: lectures, group discussions, case studies, brainstorming, burning questions, films etc… This short course changes all my vision about the Qur’an and Hadith and aroused my interest for Islamic studies. In addition I feel now comfortable to engage in debate with conservative groups.”

“An eye-opener for me, because I had less knowledge about religious discourse. Never had an opportunity like this course. I truly appreciate SIS for selecting me and granting this wonderful chance to help me understand my religion better and share it with others.”

“Just to express GAMCOTRAP’s appreciation to the Sisters in Islam for creating the opportunity to participate. I have learnt a lot from this training, which I hope to take home and share with other groups. I hope that this will be the beginning of collaboration between feminist activists in Asia and Africa in promoting Muslim women’s rights from a rights perspective. This is a great job, keep it up.”

“I managed to challenge 25 conservative mullahs who were saying that women are created inferior to men and there is no way out …. And you know what, I managed to shut them up. At the end, people who were opposing them but were not courageous enough to say anything “against Islam” (because the Ulama themselves are walking talking Islam) were all very pleased. And I want to share this with you also because I learnt the way of arguing about these issues from SIS. Thank you.”

“Very educational, interesting and informative. I really gained a lot. I have learnt strategies at all levels and have equally learned many skills. This course has literally changed me forever.”