In 1917, a year of revolutionary change in the Russian Empire, Muslim
women organized a congress in order to propose and debate resolutions
that they hoped would be refl ected in Russia’s new constitution.
Transcripts from the April Congress in Kazan provide evidence that
participants sharply disagreed over whether polygyny should be permitted,
limited, or abrogated, and they used these debates to articulate their
own understandings of rights. The core question, which remained
unresolved, was one that present-day Muslim theologian Amina Wadud
addresses. In 1917, delegates asked whether rights precede Sharia, so
that Sharia-approved practices might be rejected if they contradict a
woman’s god-given rights.

Sponsored by the Center for Middle East Studies, Lecture Series on Gender
and Sexuality and the Department of History

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Adrienne Edgar
Associate Professor
Department of History
U.C. Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106