Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – In Muslim boarding schools across Indonesia, many young Muslims can be found poring over a book called the Couple's Contract or Uqud Al-Lujjayn.

Written by famous Indonesian Muslim scholar Syaikh Nawawi, the book is one of the most common texts used in the thousands of Muslim boarding schools and teaches the students what few preachers would argue with: Women must be subservient to men, they have no right to file for divorce, and they cannot refuse a husband's request for sex.

But a group of Muslim scholars led by former first lady Sinta Nuriyah are seeking to overturn these long-held beliefs about women's inferior status in Islam with a new book.

They hope that their book, The New Face of Husband Wife Relations, which criticises the extremely popular Couple's Contract, will change the way Muslim preachers talk about the role of women in Islam.

Ms Sinta's husband, former president Abdurrahman Wahid, used to head the 40-million-strong Nadlatul Ulema (NU), the country's largest Muslim group. The new book has been distributed to 300 ulemas and 200 pesantren, or Islamic boarding schools.

In Cirebon, central Java, Muslim preacher Kiyai Husein Muhammad, who is also one of the new book's author, has refused to teach the Couple's Contract to the hundreds of students who live or study daily at his pesantren.

Inside his Darul Tahiq pesantren, he tries to interpret Hadith, teachings attributed to the Prophet, free of gender bias. "The culture of patriarchy is found even in religion. But in a religion you can't discriminate and subordinate one group of people," said Mr Kiyai Husein.

The reaction of his students has been mixed. "The female students accept these ideas very positively but the boys are very critical. They all say that Hadith approving polygamy and advising that women can't say no to their husbands are valid," he said.

Ms Badriyah Fayyumi, 30, a lecturer at State Islamic University in Jakarta, said the teachings of the Couple's Contract had adversely affected generations of young women. She added: "We grow up thinking it is very difficult to become a wife because there are many sins we can commit. So we regret that we are born women."

Ms Atashendartini Habsjah, another of the new book's authors, said she wanted to bring Islamic teachings in Indonesia up to date with the 21st century and counter what she sees as a growing dogmatism and the abandonment of a form of Islam adjusted to Indonesian culture for a more Arab-influenced version.

However, she said that many moderate Muslim scholars are too afraid to counter such dogmatic interpretations of Islam and the teachings of the Prophet for fear of coming under attack from hardline groups.