Al-Mujadilah: Center & Mosque for Women

Annual Strategic Theme

Our strategic theme for 2025 is“Muslim Women Navigating Theology, Ethics, and Society.”

This theme centers the role of Muslims in shaping theology, ethics, and society from the inception of Islam to the present day. We will explore the way theology and ethics have historically shaped Muslim communities and how they continue to evolve in response to contemporary challenges.

We seek to examine how Islamic texts and traditions engage with theology , ethics ,and community-building, and how historical shifts—including the expansion of the Muslim ummah, political dynasties, and financial patronage—as well as recent shifts—including colonization , modernization, and secularization—have affected these domains. All in aim to support Muslim women today navigate and contribute to their living traditions in a transformative manner across various social, political, and religious contexts.

Annual Theme Key Areas

We also encourage papers that grapple with larger philosophical questions, such as the meaning of the ummah, the role of Muslim societies in shaping ethical norms, and how historical insights can illuminate contemporary legal and social challenge

Contemporary Challenges & Solutions

This category invites papers that address pressing theological, ethical, and social challenges facing Muslim communities today, while also exploring solutions and ways forward.

Historical Perspectives

This category focuses on how historical transformations—whether through political shifts, economic changes, or external influences—have shaped theology, ethics, and community structures, particularly in relation to Muslim women.

Normative Foundations

This category invites papers that examine Islamic texts, classical legal and theological debates to provide insights into how we can think about theology, ethics, and society in today’s time.

Research Questions

There are a range of topics and questions that can be explored in the context of our 2025 strategic theme “Women at the Intersection of Theology, Ethics, and Society”, organized under the rubric of our three research areas, each of which comprises both historical and contemporary inquiries and applications. Studies from any disciplinary lens and methodologies are welcome, whether textual, qualitative, or quantitative. Multidisciplinary approaches and collaborations are of particular interest.

We encourage paper proposals from practitioners, scholars and thought-leaders, in addition to academics. Below is a list of guiding questions that put our annual research theme in conversation with our research areas. The list is not exhaustive and as such applicants are welcome to propose other research questions.

This category invites papers that address pressing theological, ethical, and social challenges facing Muslim communities today, while also exploring solutions and ways forward.

Possible Questions & Themes:

  • What are the theological challenges that young people/women face in our time and what can be offered from within our traditional theology?
  • How can theological, epistemological and ethical questions guide our educational models and school-communities?
  • What challenges do Muslim communities face in maintaining ethical and theological traditions in secular contexts?
  • How can we bring back theological thought and reflection into our every day work and life?
  • How do contemporary Muslim movements and intellectual perspectives engage with classical Islamic thought in the areas of theology, ethics and community?
  • What are the implications of Islamic ethics on contemporary debates on human rights, migration, climate change and leadership?
  • How do contexts of war and conflict impact Muslim women’s participation in law, theology, ethics, and community-building?
  • What are new and emerging models for Muslim communities to structure legal, ethical, and social frameworks?
  • How can we understand and implement classical concepts such as hisba, nasiha, and ta’awun in contemporary context?
  • What are the new theological approaches that can serve continuing the type of traditional theological thinking that helped our umma flourish?

This category focuses on how historical transformations—whether through political shifts, economic changes, or external influences—have shaped theology, ethics, and community structures, particularly in relation to Muslim women.

Possible Questions & Themes:

  • What are the major shifts that occurred in classical theological schools? And what were the philosophical and societal contexts behind them?
  • How have pre-modern Muslim societies structured legal and ethical norms around women, family, and public life?
  • What impact did colonization, modernization, and secularization have on Islamic legal, epistemological and ethical frameworks?
  • How did pre-modern Muslim societies conceptualize family, community, and belonging, and how did these ideas evolve over time?
  • How have Muslim minority communities historically navigated legal and ethical challenges in non-Muslim societies?
  • How can we understand the impact of the diverse ethnicities of the major contributors to the Islamic intellectual traditions? And what can we learn from this history to fulfill the needs of our global umma.
  • How did theologians navigate the political and financial challenges of their time? And what impact did they have on the faith and practice of their communities?

This category invites papers that examine Islamic texts, classical legal and theological debates to provide insights into how we can think about theology, ethics, and society in today’s time.

Possible Questions & Themes:

  • How have Islamic texts and traditions conceptualized women’s roles in theology, ethics, and society?
  • What are the main theological debates that shaped our concepts of knowledge, society, and tradition?
  • What ethical obligations does the Qur’an and hadith place on community building and what are the qualities of these communities?
  • How did the Islamic intellectual tradition conceptualize the ummah? How does this concept inform understandings of community, responsibility, and justice in today’s world
  • How do concepts like ʿurf (customary practice), maṣlaḥa (public good), and maqāṣid al-sharīʿa (objectives of Islamic law) shape legal and ethical thinking in different contexts?
  • How can Islamic ethical frameworks address contemporary questions on family law, governance, and communal responsibility?
  • What role does theology play in shaping legal and ethical discussions relevant to Muslim women today?

Awards and Eligibility

Each year, Al-Mujadilah Research awards research grants totaling up to $100,000 USD to researchers working in Research Clusters.

An al-Mujadilah Research Cluster is a one or two-year research project convened by a group of researchers that explores a topic related to Muslim women’s lives and contemporary challenges that is beyond the preliminary stage of exploration and would benefit from sustained support or would be enhanced by collaborative exchange.

Al-Mujadilah Research Clusters are intended to support scholars and practitioners with shared interests to explore complex subjects and develop insights together. We also see Research Clusters as opportunities for intellectual cross-pollination across fields, for collaboration between researchers and practitioners, and for mentorship by inclusion of junior researchers to facilitate capacity building across career stages. While projects convened by a single individual researcher will also be considered, we especially encourage the formation of transnational and multidisciplinary clusters.

Research awards are open to all applicants regardless of gender, religion, and country of residency.

Contact Us

For any inquiries about this call-for-papers, please contact amresearch@qf.org.qa