a friend of mine attended this conference. very cool stuff, she reported.
afdhere
****
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4384512.stm
Islam feminists urge gender jihad
By Danny Wood
BBC News, Madrid
Organisers of the first international congress on Islamic feminism are calling for a "gender jihad".
Organiser Abdennur Prado Pavon says the struggle for gender equality in Islamic countries involves refuting chauvinist interpretations of Muslim teachings.
The congress is being held in Spain, organisers say, because they want their message to reach the growing number of Muslim women in Europe.
Around 300 delegates are looking at women's rights in the Islamic world.
Mr Prado, of the Catalan Islamic board, believes a common misconception in the West is that women's liberation is not possible in Muslim societies.
Activists representing the Islamic feminist movement are in Barcelona to counter that view and discuss ways of achieving female equality in an Islamic context.
Collaboration
Among the delegates is the Pakistani feminist Riffat Hassan, regarded as one of the pioneers of Islamic feminist theology.
Also here are representatives from the international association, Islamic Feminism.
Islamic Feminism argues that the inferior legal and social status of women in Muslim countries is a result of misogynistic distortions of the teachings in the Koran.
Organisers say they want more collaboration with western feminists but say non-Muslim feminists need to challenge their anti-Islamic stereotypes.
Women cannot deny their need for a man internally, nor can men deny their need for a woman. However in our modern day western wealth, that need is hidden in the form of pride, bitterness, selfishness, and greed to name just a few reasons.
Fe Aman Allah
how can you say i left the fold of islam? 
be'oullak ya shafout, ana... muslim, alhamdulillah. alf marrah wa wahed. 
i want sister amat to figure out
--which is a lil to senstive for me to talk about 