Centering Rahma in Contemporary Islam— The “Divine Feminine” between Decoloniality and Tradition.

What is the relationship between religious authority and power? In contemporary Muslim theology, women’s growing prominence as religious leaders appears to be related to an increased conceptual awareness around rahma, Divine Mercy, rahim, the womb, and al-Rahman, the God of Mercy. I trace this connection in the writings of prominent Muslim theologians and scholars and ask how and when it is leveraged to support new modes of Muslim religious authority and praxis. I argue that the feminist move towards the tradition represents a Muslim engagement with the global feminism debate and allows for gender-fluid and non-hierarchical readings of the Qur’an.