Aminah Beverley McCloud figures out the problem of Muslim women in United States accordance with Islamic law application and its obstacle for Muslim to find better people who know Islamic knowledge very well. In addition, young Muslim generation has an obstacle in understanding Islamic law because of unusual of Islamic implementation in public matters.
The very basic teaching of Islamic law derived from the God revelation in the Qur’an, the holy book. The second resource of Islamic law was hadits of prophet, both actions and speeches. If there is no laws clearly directed in the Qur’an, Muslim can determine the law by ijtihad. The ijtihad basically is to respond the contemporary issues that not discussed before. Ijtihad presupposes such knowledge of Islamic law and method, like qiyas, istihsab, etc. Usually one who responsible in ijtihad is Mufti, Qodi, or ulema, and the result of the ijthad called as fatwa.
In US, Muslims are still minority and faced such precious situation, like employee discrimination, civil service etc. The most prolific discrimination was media stereotyping which sees Islam as violent religion that initiated bombing suicide. Perhaps it is because of Muslim acts and worships were different to common American. That sometimes arise a question, what is Islam? That was fundamental question, because not only questioning about Islamic identity, but also the role and law that represent Islam. Islam in US was varying that comes from various backgrounds, so the question of Islam sometimes refers to such group or ethnicity in Islam.
Furthermore, the life of Muslim both in US and Muslim countries are same. They tied to an obligation to follow Islamic laws as religion obligated. They should follow syariah to be being good Muslim. For instance, Muslim marriage just valid if follow such Islamic roles. It means using secular American laws is not enough for Muslim life without following Islamic law.
In various Muslim countries --like Indonesia,-- when Muslim marriage was registered according to particular custom and are very public. Aminah states that Islamic marriages in US are considered common law marriage in those states that have common statues; US family law generally recognizes “common law” marriage. Common law statues are used by the US courts in establishing paternity, inheritance, alimony, child custody, and property right in disputes and litigations.
Implementation of Islamic law (syariah) in United States faced many obstacles. Dominant law used by states was secular laws; Muslim sometimes should choose whether one follows secular law or Islamic laws. Family laws, civil rights, and criminal law were debated by Muslim scholar in US. Because Muslim life in America they should be Americans by follow the ways of American people in general. However, when Muslim enters to political and law should able to balance understanding of Islamic law with US law.
Women Muslim American also has no good access to that law because of commonly law’s matter determined by men. Men in traditional methods produce fatwa not only for men, but also for women. Many Muslim women find themselves in situation of legal both within the Islamic and US legal system. Since feminism elevates as dominant discourse to the domination of men to women both in religious and private matter was questioned. Women struggle to the right of equality of women in the ways of laws and religious matter. Amina Wadud is one example of Muslim activist who dares to break the traditional boundaries even become imam (leader) of Jum’ah praying congregation to show that women was capable to do and to be leader.
Islamic tradition in supporting Islamic development in academic level was just beginning in several years ago and tied to such department, for instant Arabic literature, Middle East studies etc. Aminah acknowledge that American Muslim who learn Islam in university have no complete understanding in Islam, even rigid and just one perspective. Thus, it was not qualified for Muslim women to build qualified new ijtihad for Muslim women in US. []

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Number of feminist philosophy of religions attempt to radicalize religious thought and push up it forward. They challenge the bias and conservative claims about religious truth and move by liberated and proposed an alternative epistemology to understand women in religious term.
Traditional religious epistemology recognize four sources of epistemology; revelation, tradition, experience and reason. Jantzen argues that all rooted by masculine thinking, and because it traditional religious knowledge depict God in overwhelmingly masculine views. The religious literature of Judaism, Christianity and Islam has been written by men. Religion was dominated by men, all prophets are men. In Christianity inferred to ubiquitous teaching on subordination of women, and enactment of this teaching in celestial structures. Aftermath of that epistemology in religious knowledge is bias gender, men placed in superior possession and women vice versa. Therefore, feminist philosophies require replacing that traditional epistemology with new one.
Feminist theology and feminist philosophy of religion see that the root of unequal gender is because women have no authorities to interpret themselves. Women see themselves under oppressed of men strength. Women are object, and men are subject. Whereas, women have different experiences that it unique, and it not equal even superb than men. Experience is very important in religion, because it to involve spiritual meaning of scriptures. Wiliam James concedes that a religious experience is genuine source of religious knowledge. Thus, acknowledgement to women religious experience means confess women knowledge. Feminist philosophies see that one way to liberate women from the epistemological oppression.
Victoria S. Harrison, one of the Feminist philosophies, proposes three kind theories to understand and to liberate women from gender biases of interpretation; that is empiric epistemology, stand point theory, and feminist postmodernism. Empiric epistemology try to discover stable ground for feminist epistemology that at last will be better than traditional epistemology. Lukacs states that all knowledge is product of interaction between a knowing subject and the world. Knowledge is inevitably shaped by social context of the knowing subject. Thus, truth is product from the interaction from subject and social and cultural context. The truth is not justified by it correspondent to the reality, rather because by it coherence with another warranted statement. However, religious concept is primarily symbol and metaphor that have projected by self consciousness. If empirically women experience is privilege, it mean superior for male self-consciousness. Second, stand point theory related women concrete experience of discrimination and repression in the genuine female point view or authentic experience of women. It also justify that all women religious experience and give advantage to judge all knowledge claims. The next feminist postmodernism, it has similar spirit with feminist philosophy to deconstruct the traditional epistemology. Postmodernism is skeptical toward the idea of universal basis of reason, science, progress, or even subject. Gender are seen as social and linguistic construction, limited in time and space, that is, determined by existing ideas and conception about what ‘man’ and ‘woman’ mean, and by the social and discursive practices which create gender. Thus the different combination and or syntheses of the three approaches do occur, not least contemporary practical, qualitative empirical research.
Women are inherently equal with men. The emergence of gender movement in philosophy deployed to an awareness that our realities today, women not acknowledge all their existences. I think, their epistemology is still debatable, but however, women are part of men life, nobody could life without another.[]

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