When is revolution? Triggered by the reception of the French Revolution, the many smaller revolutions in southern European Mediterranean countries and later political events of the anti-imperialist ‘Ur?b? revolution (thawrat ‘Ur?b? in 1879-1882) in Egypt and finally the Young Turk Revolution (1905-1908) in Turkey, the very concept of thawra and inqil?b was under scrutiny. Applied as analytical concept or described as political instrument for modern Arab, or late Ottoman-Arab, thought the demarcation line of revolution was deeply embedded in related questions of development (tatawwur) and progress (taraqq?), reform (isl?h) and renaissance (tajd?d, nahda), as well as of decline and fitna. In this paper I seek to bring to the forefront to what extent political, cultural and religious discourses on revolution were inscribed as well in questions of gender and women. These questions were not reduced to the ‘women question’ alone but define the very vocabulary and structure of arguments.