KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — Malaysia's Sisters in Islam's (SIS) Zainah Anwar and human rights lawyer Zarizana Aziz have been listed among the world's top 10 Muslim women by an online museum.

The International Museum of Women (IMOW), an online museum that showcases art, stories and ideas on the lives of women around the globe, noted that Zainah, for over two decades, has led a women's movement pushing for an end to the use of Islam to justify gender discrimination.

“The pioneering work of SIS aims to understand Islam from a women's rights perspective and create an alternative public voice for Muslim women demanding equality and justice,” Samina Ali, curator of IMOW's Muslima: Muslim Women's Art & Voices virtual exhibition, wrote on US newspaper The Huffington Post yesterday.

She quoted Zainah as saying: “First of all, there is nothing in the Quran that denies a woman's right to drive, to be educated, or to be treated as equal to men ... If we had been true to the message of the Quran, we really should be at the forefront of the feminist movement today!”

In an interview with IMOW published on its website, the SIS founding member also pointed out that the Quran exhorts monogamy, and not polygamy.

“It was a revelation for us that while Surah An-Nisa 4:3 says a man may marry up to four women, it goes on to say that if you fear you cannot do justice, marry only one and that will be best for you!!” said Zainah.

“And yet while the whole world knows that Islam allows a man to have four wives, very few know that the Quran says monogamy is better for you,” added the leader of the Muslim women's rights group.

SIS has criticised the practice of polygamy and child marriage among Muslim girls in Malaysia.

Zainah also told IMOW she found it amazing that Muslims commonly believe that a man has the “divine” right to marry four women, that he has the right to discipline his wife or to demand obedience, and that a man's witness is worth twice of a woman's.

“I believe the Quran is open to multiple interpretations,” she said.

“It makes no sense to the realities of women’s lives today and the devastation women feel when their husbands take second wives, when they are beaten, when they must obey against their own sense of well-being and self-worth,” added Zainah.

She also stressed that gender equality is Islamic.

“We find this in verses such as Surah 33:35 (on common and identical spiritual and moral obligations placed on all individuals regardless of sex); Surah 3:195 which declares that men and woman are members, one of another; 2:187 which describes Muslim men and women as each other’s garments; 9:71, the final verse on the relationship between men and women which talks about them being each other’s ‘awliyya' -protecting friends and guardians - and the obligations for both men and women, to enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil, to observe regular prayers, zakat (tithe) and obedience to Allah and his Messenger and they will be equally rewarded,” said Zainah.

In IMOW's list of the top 10 Muslim women in the world, Zarizana - the other Malaysian named on the list - was said to be shortlisted for the United Nations' Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice.

“Human rights lawyer Zarizana Aziz is the board chair of Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), an international solidarity network that provides information, support and collective space for women whose lives are shaped, conditioned or governed by laws and customs said to derive from Islam,” said Ali.

She quoted Zarizana as saying: “Do not accept that women are born to suffer discrimination, inequality and violence. The more you learn, the better you will understand how culture and religion have been politicised to justify discrimination and silence women's voices.”

In an interview with IMOW published on its website, Zarizana said that a research project undertaken by WLUML showed that different Muslim countries have different Muslim laws.

“The research indicates that these laws are diverse, therefore challenging the myth that Muslim laws (commonly mistakenly referred to as 'syariah laws') are not divine and immutable, but rather are the result of human interpretation and understanding,” she said.

The other eight women on IMOW's list are Iranian lawyer Dr Shirin Ebadi, Afghanistan's first female Prosecutor General Maria Bashir, Sudanese women's activist Fahima Hashim, Gazan artist Laila Shawa, Afghan women's education activist Dr Sakena Yacoobi, UK Muslim lesbian, bisexual and transgender activist Tamsila Tauqir, Afghan Human Rights Commission chair Dr Sima Samar, and Yemeni photographer Boushra Almutawakel.