Preparation of ethical subjects through the technologies of the self: A case study of Al-Huda International acting as women’s moral agency

Abstract

Al-Huda is a school-turned social movement with focus on upper and middle-class women of Pakistani society. The movement, headed by a female, has established a new trend in the South Asian Islamic tradition as it has encroached upon a sphere, the religious authority, which has been an exclusive domain of the male. Al-Huda's discourse, once internalized, is manifest in the changes that these Al-Huda affiliates experience in their ideology, behavior and lifestyle, thus turning them into a moral agencyi. However, its narrow approach with no space for values other than those that are part of the Holy Quran and Sunnah is a matter of concern for many. Its reaction to the process of globalization plays an important role in its popularity. Al-Huda's discourse, through 'technologies of the self,' provides its graduates with self-examining tools to become and remain what Paul-Michel Foucault calls 'ethical subjects.' Al-Huda's rapid popularity and prominence has also invited severe criticism from both conservative and liberal segments of the society.