96 Research Report South African Muslim Women: Sexuality, Marriage and Reproductive Choices Sa’diyya Shaikh (UCT), Nina Hoel (UCT) Ashraf Kagee (Stellenbosch University) Introduction While there has been considerable debate about Muslim women in various countries, including their rights, and place in society, few empirical studies have been conducted on the lived experiences of South African Muslim women. The purpose of this study was to understand Muslim women’s opinions, perspectives, and experiences of marriage, spousal relationships, and sexual and reproductive decision-making. It was envisaged that the data obtained in the study would contribute to a knowledge base about the lived realities of Muslim women. It is possible that this knowledge base may inform an alternative to the ways in which Muslim women are spoken and written about: by activists, politicians, scholars and religious leaders. To date there have been a few empirical studies of the lives of Muslim women in South Africa. Bangstad (2007) examined Muslim polygynous marriages on the Cape Flats and reported on the secrecy, stigma and social criticism surrounding such unions as well as the ways in which women involved in such marriages were adversely affected. 1 Toefy’s (2001) investigation of divorce in the Muslim communities of the Western Cape pointed out that spousal infidelity, drug abuse and marital violence were major causes of women’s seeking divorce at the Muslim Judicial Council in Cape Town. 2 Ahmed’s (1999 and 2003) inquiry into the challenge of HIV/AIDS in Muslim communities highlighted the risk 1 Sindre Bangstad, Global Flows, Local Appropriations: Facets of Secularisation and Re-Islamization Among Contemporary Cape Muslims (ISIM/Leiden: Amsterdam University Press, 2007). 2 Mogamat Yoesrie Toefy, ‘Divorce in the Muslim Community of the Western Cape: a Demographic Study of 600 Divorce Records at the Muslim Judicial Council and National Ulama Council between 1994 and 1999’ (MA Dissertation, University of Cape Town, 2001). Journal for Islamic Studies, Vol. 31, 2011, pp. 96-121