FEISTY ON:

Turkey's 'vaizes' expedite reform (Nicholas Birch, May 2, 2006, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

Dressed in the head scarf and ankle-length coat that mark her as a devout Muslim woman, Sule Yuksel Uysal brushes off any suggestion that she is a revolutionary. But her job places her and her country on the front lines of Islamic reform.

Appointed 18 months ago by Turkey's directorate of religious affairs, or Diyanet, Mrs. Uysal is one of 200 state-paid "vaizes," or female preachers, whose very existence breaks with centuries of Muslim tradition.

Women acted informally as preachers in the early days of Islam, but they never before have been recognized officially as such.

"Turkey is a country that has accepted the idea of sexual equality, and that must be reflected in religious practice," said Diyanet head Ali Bardakoglu, who implemented the changes. "Anyway, the Koran has taught the equality of men and women for 1,400 years." [...]

Despite the problems, Turkish women in the past few years have benefited from a raft of changes aimed at legitimizing their place in the religious order.

As well as being preachers, women now have the right to lead groups on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, and 15 Turkish provinces have women serving as deputy muftis -- specialists on religious law who monitor the work of imams in mosques.

Significantly, given that 70 percent of requests for advice come from women, the assistant muftis have the right to issue fatwas, or religious opinions.

Theologian Hidayet Tuksal thinks these are crucial changes.

"Religion is the best way to reach religious women, much better than dictates handed down by secularist feminists in Istanbul," she said.

Perhaps the best-known of a growing band of what the Turkish press calls Islamic feminists, Mrs. Tuksal attributes the changes to the rise of a new sort of Turkish woman who is feisty and not afraid to question tradition.