Professor Sa'diyya Shaikh

Professor and Postgraduate Convener

Sa’diyya Shaikh (PhD Temple University, 2004) is Professor in the Study of Religions at the University of Cape Town. She specialises in the study of Islam, gender ethics, and feminist theory. She has published on gender-sensitive readings of Muslim textual traditions, including Qur’an, hadith and Sufi texts; theoretical and political debates on Islam and feminism, religion and gender-based violence; Sufism and Islamic Law; contemporary Muslim women’s embodied, experiential and everyday modes of understanding Islam and negotiating religious teachings; and marriage, sexuality and reproductive choices amongst South African Muslim women. Her current work is focussed on developing constructive research and artistic projects around egalitarian ethics, spirituality and imagining inclusive, justice-based Muslim futures. 

Sa’diyya is active on a number of community fora for the empowerment of Muslim women, and contributes to feminist knowledge building projects of Musawah, a global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family, and has presented talks at the Claremont Main Road mosque regularly.

Her awards include: 

  • Research fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin: Centre for Advanced Study (2016-2017)  
  • Research fellow at Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS August – Nov 2020)
  • Fulbright Scholarship for PhD (Temple University) 1996-1998

Selected Publications
Books 

  • Shaikh. S and Seedat. F. 2022. “The Women’s Khutbah Book: Contemporary Sermons on Spirituality and Justice from around the World.” Yale University Press (co-published by Wits University Press in 2023)                                      
  • Shaikh, Sa’diyya. 2012. Sufi Narratives of Intimacy: Ibn ʿArabi, Gender and Sexuality. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 

         * Winner of UCT Book Award, 2015.

         *Shortlisted for American Academy of Religion Excellence Award, in the category                Constructive-Reflective Study of Religion, 2013.

          *Long-listed for the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF) Humanities Book             Award, 2016 

  • Daniel C. Maguire and Sa’diyya Shaikh (eds). 2007. Violence Against Women in Contemporary World Religions: Roots and Cures. Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press ISBN 978- 0-8298-1767-6.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters 

  • Shaikh, Sa’diyya. 2023. "Friendships, Fidelities and Sufi Imaginaries: Theorizing Islamic Feminism" Religions 14, no. 9: 1082. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091082
  • Shaikh, Sa’diyya. 2022. “Ibn ʿArabī and Mystical Disruptions of Gender: Theoretical Explorations in Islamic Feminism” Signs: Journal of Women and Culture in Society 47, 2, (Winter): 475-497
  • Shaikh, S. 2022  “Justice, Refinement and Beauty: Reflections on Marriage and Spirituality.” In Justice and Beauty in Muslim Marriage: Towards Egalitarian Ethics and Laws, edited by Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani, Jana Rumminger and Sarah Marsso. London: Oneworld Press, 379-392.
  • Shaikh, S. 2021 “Islamic Feminist Imaginaries: Love, Beauty and Justice.”  The African Journal of Gender and Religion Vol. 27 (Dec) 2-16.
  • Shaikh S. 2021. “Embracing the Barzakh: Knowledge, Being and Ethics” Journal for Islamic Studies, Vol. 39: 28 – 48
  • Mahomed, Nadeem and Shaikh, Sa’diyya. 2018. “Islam between Margins: Reassessing Gender and Sexuality in Islam.” The African Journal of Gender and Religion 24, no 2 (Dec): 120-138
  • Shaikh, Sa’diyya. 2021. “Refining Islamic Feminisms: Gender, Subjectivity and the Divine Feminine” In Surfacing: On Being Black and Feminist in Southern Africa ed by Desiree Lewis and Gabeba Baderoon, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. 119-129.
  • Shaikh, Sa’diyya. 2019. Allah, Hidden Treasures and the Divine Feminine. Article at The Immanent Frame: Secularism, Religion and the Public Sphere, hosted by Social Science Research Council (USA), http://tif.ssrc.org/2019/05/27/allah-hidden-treasures-and-the-divine-feminine/
  • Shaikh, Sa’diyya. 2015. “Islamic Law, Sufism and Gender: Rethinking the Terms of the Debate.” In Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in the Muslim Legal Tradition, edited by Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rumminger. Oxford: Oneworld, 106-131.
  • Shaikh, Sa’diyya. 2013. “Feminism, Epistemology and Experience: Critically (En)gendering the Study of Islam.” Journal for Islamic Studies 33: 14-47.
  • Claassens, L.J., Shaikh, S and Swartz, L. 2019. “Engaging Disability and Religion in an African Context.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Disability and Citizenship in the Global South, ed by Brian Watermeyer et al. Cham Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan” 147-164
  • Hoel, Nina and Shaikh, Sadiyya, 2013. “Sex as Ibadah: Religion, Gender and Subjectivity among South African Muslim Women.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 29 (1): 69-91.
  • Publications in Newspapers and Community Fora:
  • Shaikh, S. (Review of Thania Petersen’s Jieker at the Zietz Museum), “Polished Jieker Production Weaves Together Realms Of Spiritual Expression”, Muslim Views April 2022:13 
  • https://muslimviews.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/MV-04-Apr-2022.pdf
  • Shaikh. S. “Spiritual Abuse- the violation of an amanah: rethinking Muslim Gender Ethics”, Muslim Views, June 2019:6 https://muslimviews.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/MV-05-June-2019.pdf 
  • Shaikh, S. The Spirituality of the Ordinary, Al-Mizan (18) June 2016:3 
  • Shaikh, Sa’diyya and Manjra, Shuaib. Op-ed, Cape Times, Oct 2, 2014 “Hargey patriarchal, patronizing: The Open Mosque Debate” http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/hargey-patriarchal-patronising-1759332
  • Shaikh, S. Gender Justice and Spiritual Flourishing, Al-Mizan (2) August 2012:1 
  • Shaikh, S. “Islam and the Path of the Heart” Mail and Guardian, April 2006 (Easter issue)  https://mg.co.za/article/2006-04-18-islam-and-the-path-of-heart/