This distinction also has implications for the idea of freedom, which in the Islamic tradition Mahmood is invoking is realized by submission to forms of religious authority rather than by struggle against restraining traditions that must be overcome, as in the more familiar Enlightenment idea. Autonomy, figured as individual choice and free will, is seen as part of the liberal tradition particularly dear to Western feminists, who frequently fail to see the choice of Islamic piety among women as genuine or legitimate. Mahmood points out that "illiberal" choices can be autonomous, too—not simply imposed by oppressive patriarchy.

XREF: Challenges the Western Enlightenment framing of autonomy as individual choice; connects to critiques of liberal feminism discussed elsewhere in the reading. QUESTION: What would genuinely autonomous deference to religious authority look like in practice versus mere compliance under coercion?

Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, loc. 488