Muslim feminists

i saw yvette novenario interiewing 2 muslim feminists over at ANC. i couldn't help but chuckle when i once again witnessed unedited ignorance by the media. at first i thought novenario had a minor problem with pronouncing the "mic" syllable in the phrase "islamic religion." but then she used the term "islam religion" in front of the malaysian and indonesian ladies over and over again. no she didn't have a speech impediment. she must've been allergic to the "ic" suffix or something. somebody should tell her that suffixes are her friends, they help and do not bite...

anyway, back to the real point of my post. one of the interviewees, a project director of a women's movement in malaysia, talked about a method of interpreting the qur'an through "contextualization" as opposed to the "literal" reading of the qur'an. one of the benefits of the former is the establishment of a qur'anic basis for the practice of monogamy. muslim men practice polygamy since it is provided for in the words of the qur'an. however, if one studies the socio-historical context of the passage, one would see clearly that the revelation was given to address certain problems that the muslim community had to face in war, dwindling numbers and the care of widows. in this light, the basis for polygamy will not stand if one considers the wider modern sociological state.

this is good news, especially if it can be used to reverse the tide of islamic extremism. but then again, i don't know how the view that everythinng about the qur'an has been explained a thousand years ago would give room for such a novel school of thought to spread. would a custodian of orthodox islam tolerate such things? anyway, is this actually new?