Sisters in Islam was co-founded by seven women: Zainah Anwar, Amina Wadud, Askiah Adam, Norani Othman, Rashidah Abdullah, Rose Ismail and Sharifah Zuriah Aljeffri.

Musawah works in the areas of knowledge-building, capacity-building and international advocacy to build knowledge and campaign for the possibility and necessity of equality and justice in Islam and to challenge the ways governments and non-state actors use the religion to justify discrimination against women and resist demand for law reform.

And in 2019, Zainah received the United Nations Malaysia Award 2019 for contributions to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Human Rights Fundamental Freedoms category.

This exposed her to the challenges Muslim women face to have their rights recognised and exercised in the context of Islamisation within a democratic nation with parallel legal systems.

She observes that while gender, ethnic, and religious diversities are acknowledged and sometimes celebrated in society, their rights as Malaysian citizens or as human beings generally are still strongly negated at different levels of policies, laws and practices.

[citation needed] "Telenisa" is a free legal advice service by phone and WhatsApp to help women (and men) with Shariah Islamic Family Law.

[9][10] Underlying these activities was the firm belief that, as a concerned group working towards a better society, SIS could not isolate itself from the larger human rights and democratic movements in the country.

This combined methodology allowed an exciting interface to emerge between theology and interpretation on one hand, and daily realities of Muslim women within the contemporary socio-legal context on the other.

[13] Their mission is to promote the principles of gender equality, justice, freedom, and dignity of Islam and empower women to be advocates for change.

[21] Other right wing groups have alleged that Sisters in Islam misinterprets religious principles in response to SIS' efforts to stop authorities from caning a woman who was sentenced by the Syariah Court for drinking beer in public.