May Allah swt bless the great women who came centuries before us and from whom we may be guided by their example – like Hajra – the Mother of the Believers, who frantically searched for water between the hills of Safaa and Marwa, while her hungry baby, Ishmail cried, whose footsteps have now been followed by billions of pilgrims; like Khadijah, the first convert to Islam, whose wealth supported the early Muslims and allowed her husband to preach the message of God and change the world; like Aishah, from whom the early Muslims were told we can learn half of our religion, and of whom the Prophet said that everywhere he looked there was a sword coming towards him and everywhere he looked there was one sword that intercepted all the others and that sword was the sword of Aishah; and like the mother of Moses, who heard the message of God who told her to nurse Moses before sending him away, promising her that he would come back to her one day and she did that, sending him down the river, showing her great faith to God by sacrificing her child to become a great Prophet (did any man have to make this same kind of sacrifice?) and the mother of Isa, Maryam, who gave birth all alone – except God was there – and then on His command, returned to her village with her baby, to courageously – allow the baby to explain – what had happened; and Rabiyah – who said, “O God! If I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship You for Your Own sake, grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty.” Are these the Matriarchs of our faith? Where would we be without their courage, love and faith? Are there more? Please add. Please share.

Contributed by Shala Khan Salter, Chair of MPV Canada and board member of Muslims for Progressive Values.

Contributed by Jack Fertig.  Jack created an album full of images of himself in hijab in support of an Egyptian protest against forced veiling.  The original Facebook event where images were being posted by men all over the world has been removed, but you can read about the protest here.

Contributed by Shahla Kahn Salter, Chair of MPV Canada and board member of Muslims for Progressive Values.

Contributed by Katrina, founder of Occupy the Patriarchy.  My son and I in front of a friend’s house, which the kids decorated for Eid-ul-Adha.  We celebrated Eid with a group of progressive Muslims, complete with a woman-led prayer and a teenage girl giving the azan.  (And no sheep were harmed.)

This is a screen shot of a Google image search for Amina Wadud, Muslim and feminist Islamic scholar, overlaid with a quotation from one of her lectures. Contributed by Katrina, founder of Occupy the Patriarchy.

Inspired by Susanne’s comment in response to the Three is a Crowd post.  Original photo by C. G. P. Grey, posted on Flickr with a Creative Commons Attribution License. Edited by Katrina, founder of Occupy the Patriarchy.

Contributed by Latiffa (Lat) Kotheri, who occupies the patriarchy over at True Rivers, where she blogs on spirituality touching on all religions.

Contributed by South African blogger Khadeeja Bassier, who occupies the patriarchy over at antidogmaspray.com.  Imraan Allie came up with the concept, Khadeeja and her brother Ihsaan Bassier (pictured) worded the poster.  They are all passionate about Muslim feminism.

For our non-Muslim allies, “ulama” is an Arabic word that refers to “the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies” (Wikipedia).  Here, it’s used to mean, “formal leadership, i.e for prayer and issuing of fatwas and leading rituals” (updated after reading Khadeeja’s comment below).

This week, if you read a quote that inspires you as a Muslim, a woman, a feminist, an activist, or however you identify: write it down (with attribution), take a picture of the quote, and send it to Occupy the Patriarchy.

This week, write or draw about something that happened to you, take a picture of your creation, and send it to Occupy the Patriarchy.

This week, share some of our posts on your own blog, Facebook, page, or wherever.

We are half of our religion. Let’s make our presence and our concerns known.

Contributed by Jonathan Markowitz Bijur and daughter Miriam, non-Muslim feminists supporting our work. Stay tuned for a forthcoming blog from Jonathan aimed at male feminists. (Updated! Jonathan’s blog is now live: http://genderist.blogspot.com/)