There is no need to wrest control over Islamic discourse on the grounds that it is allegedly being monopolised by male chauvinist religious scholars, said Federation of Islamic Medical Associations president Dr Musa Mohd Nordin.

As with any field of specialisation, the attempt to reform the corpus and practices of Islamic jurisprudence hinges on the training and qualifications of those reformists, he added.

"It's got nothing to do with chauvinism here, it has to do with scholarships," he said when contacted.

Musa was expressing his support for a US-based Muslim scholar who had challenged Muslim women's groups to master the numerous learning disciplines which he said they had abandoned to the conservative Islamic scholarship.

UCLA law professor Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl had said this during a closed-door discussion organised by Sisters in Islam (SIS) on Wednesday entitled Playing God: Who speaks for Islam Today?

Women scholars

Musa also lauded Khaled's suggestion that SIS and other women's group sponsor women to undertake comprehensive and systematic study of the Islamic disciplines at reputable institutions.

Citing the orientalist Ignaz Goldhizer, Musa said100 years ago a considerable percentage of medieval hadith scholars were women who were teaching in the mosques and admired for their intellectual integrity.

"Colleges such as Saqlatuniya Madrasa in Cairo were funded and staffed entirely by women," he said, adding that there are biographies of thousands of Muslim women scholars.

"It may come as a surprise but the proportion of female lecturers in many classical Islamic colleges is higher than in modern Western universities. Let's junk all this non-evidence based stereotyping."

Musa said attempts by non-experts in advocacy groups to reform such a field of specialisation as Islamic jurisprudence can be compared to the intervention of a layperson in the work of medical specialists.

"A mother who's had five previous miscarriages and carrying her sixth goes into premature contraction - 12 weeks early - whom would she trust to resuscitate her only surviving babe?

"The lay person? Definitely not; a general physician? No, no; a pediatrician? Maybe; a neonatologist? Most definitely," he said.

"Unfortunately with Islam, this respect and admiration for specialisation is sidelined and adulterated. Everyone wants to dabble on the sacred turf," he added.

Not prevalent

Meanwhile, head of the women's wing of Islamic group JIM Dr Harlina Halizah Siraj voiced similar concerns over attempts by lay groups to reform Islamic teachings and practices.

Furthermore, although there may be apparent instances of male chauvinism, Harlina denied its prevalence and insisted that further and deeper study of Islam would lead one to see the egalitarian principle espoused by the religion.

"Sad to say, there are some areas where we can claim such chauvinism exists," she said when contacted.

"Among the common examples is the teaching that a Muslim woman who refuses her husband in bed would be cursed by the angels until morning.

"Many take this as an example of chauvinism. But I found out it's not just the wife, but the husband is also obligated in Islamic law to fulfill the needs of his wife.

"I've come to the stage where whenever I come to hear or read a statement that (initially) smells chauvinistic, I would find out more about it and could very nicely correct that statement," she added.