"I have repeatedly called for the relevance of contemporary ijtihad, which is the effort a Muslim jurist or scholar makes in order to deduce a law or opinion, not self-evident from the sources of the Shariah. The notion that Islamic concept of law is absolute and hence immutable, has resulted in intellectual inertia among some scholars - noticeably on the subject of women, and sadly, in a continued injustice towards them."

(Inaugural Lecture by YAB Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia, at the Annual Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Women’s Institute of Management (W.I.M) Annual Lecture Series 15 Jan 2005, KL)

"The problems that contemporary Muslim societies are confronted with today are not the problems of the 6th century, and the solutions we need today do not lie with the notion of a Shariah purportedly final and complete fourteen hundred years ago – particularly in the case of women."

(Malaysian Prime Minister's speech in January 2005)

For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise, for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward.  (Al Qur'an , Ahzab 33:35)