1 Introduction
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: “It’s a girl.”
-SHIRLEY CHISHOLM,
Uncrowned Queens1
I was a child, I did not know anything about the village or the city, I did not know that despite the difference in everything, they agree on one thing, one thing I see from the eye, something I do not know exactly, I feel it on my body with chills, a female was born in A world that only wants males.
-NAWAL EL SAADAWI, My Life2
It might seem strange to open a book about women’s rights with words that passionately describe the suffering that women experience beginning at birth. Yet the bitterness between the words of the two quotations, which were written by two different authors from different countries, paints a vivid picture of the agony experienced by women all over the world. Chisholm’s and El Saadawi’s alert to the “challenge” posed by the society is also an indication of how unpleasant the conditions are in numerous communities around the world for women who have frequently been marginalized, oppressed, and denied equal chances in a variety of aspects of life, including the economy, society, and politics.3 The battle over women has recurringly treated as like second-class citizens4 with fewer possibilities than males.5 In recent times, for example, every woman is claimed6 to be either a target of or a victim of numerous forms of violence committed by men, including physical assault, verbal and sexual harassment, stalking, and emotional abuse.7 The gender
1 Peggy Brooks-Bertram, et al., “Uncrowned Queens, Volume 3: African American Women Community Builders of Western” 146.
2 Nawal El Saadawi, “My life, part I, autobiography” 36.
3 See Kathy Davis, “Feminist politics of location.”
4 Nancy Mandel (1998) claims that men often overlook the ideas, preferences, and critical insights of women in favor of their own unconstrained privileges and freedoms. This problem carries implications not only for women themselves but also for their children and society at large.
5 Margaret L. Anderson, “Thinking about women: Sociological perspectives on sex and gender.”
6 See Jacquelyn Campbell & David Boyd, “Violence against women: Synthesis of research for health care professionals.”
7 A tragic example of this occurred in the 1989 Montreal Massacre at the University of Montreal, where a young man killed 14 female engineering students and injured 10 others. According to police sources, the Montreal massacre shooter was upset that women were filling positions that were usually filled by men. He thus divided the class into gender-specific groups and told the male students to leave the room. The shooter then specifically spoke out at female students, saying “You are all a bunch of feminists, and I hate feminists.” See Julie Bindle, “The Montreal massacre: Canada’s feminists remember” for details.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111105314-001
gap is also plain in divorce legislation. For instance, in some regions of the Middle East and South Asia, women are not allowed to receive a divorce unless there are eyewitnesses to the adultery, while in other regions, women must pay back their dowries in order to get a divorce and regain their freedom.8
This is exacerbated dreadful for women of color since they make less money than their white counterparts and experience racism and other forms of harassment at work because they are disproportionately underrepresented in positions of leadership.9 In the confines of this oppressive restrictions, the situation for Muslim women is significantly worse; for example, Afghan women are not allowed to attend school and must cover their entire bodies when outside in burkas. Muslim men, however, are not subject to the same limitations.10 Along the same lines, Iranian women should obtain their husbands’, fathers’, or male siblings’ formal consent before leaving the country.11 Other Islamic countries, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have male guardianship systems that control every aspect of a woman’s life from birth to death, such as her education, marriage, divorce, and job.12 Muslim women in non-Muslim countries nevertheless experience bias of a different kind, especially in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, despite the fact that freedom of religion is recognized by national and international law.13
To meet the current situation, numerous governmental and non-governmental groups have established violence prevention measures. These programs are mostly geared toward teaching young boys and girls about gender equality and promoting healthy relationships. Many nations have also passed legislation that forbids gender inequality and the mistreatment of women. The 1977 Canadian Human Rights Act, for instance, forbids all discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. Nevertheless, despite the progress made by
8 A thorough discussion is provided by Leila Ahmed “Women and gender in Islam: Historical roots of a modern debate” & Haideh Moghissi, “Feminism and Islamic fundamentalism: The limits of postmodern analysis.”
9 Sanchez-Hucles & Davis, “Women and women of color in leadership: Complexity, identity, and intersectionality.”
10 Rostami-Povey, “Afghan women: Identity and invasion.”
11 Perhaps the clearest example is the Iranian women’s soccer captain, Niloufar Ardalan, whose husband forbade her from traveling to a competition in Malaysia. See Marissa Payne 2015 for details.
12 For more details, see Bandar Al-Shahrani, “A critical legal analysis of the impact of male guardianship system on women’s rights in Saudi Arabia.”
13 For instance, 69% of American women who wear veils report experiencing prejudice at least once, compared to 29% of their counterparts who do not. See Rana El Mir, “Muslim women experience thinly veiled discrimination” for more details.
2 1 Introduction
women, gender inequality still exists in many international nations,14 with women still having to deal with the negative effects of patriarchal institutions, such as the pay gap between genders.15
Islam and Women’s Rights
Islam’s view of women’s roles is nuanced, diverse, and has generated a lot of debate and differing interpretations. It varies among Muslims and academics as well as across numerous cultural, socioeconomic, and geographic contexts. Some scholars argue that Islam’s marginalization of women’s responsibilities and granting of benefits to men resulted in Muslim women’s current lower social standing.16 Moreover, Islam is referred to as “anti-women” since it is said to encourage “a segregated social system” that eventually pushes women out of the workforce and into political marginalization.17 In a similar vein, Alya Baffoun notes that Islamic shariah is the main factor behind women’s current inferior status in the world because it “introduced Muslim Law and its double moral standard, found upon the repression and sexual control of women as well as the practice of polygamy by men.”18 That is, Shariah is biased against women who are granted fewer rights than their male counterparts. Haideh Moghissi expresses a similar point of view when she notes that Islamic Shariah law is unfair to women, disregards gender equality, violates fundamental human rights, and is not referenced in the Qur’an.19 Moreover, according to Barbara Stowasser, the Qur’anic verse 4:34, which describes the domestic relationship between husbands and wives and allows husbands to beat their wives in the event of disobedience, is just one of many commentaries on the Qur’an that demonstrate the numerous restrictions on women in Islam.20
On the other hand, other scholars confirm Islam’s massive support of equal women’s rights and women’s advancement. For example, Huda Shaarawi refers
14 This is especially noticeable in the field of engineering, for instance, female engineers still face greater challenges and lower levels of acceptance than their male counterparts. Moreover, according to Fouad et al., (2017), female engineers’ salaries are lower as well.
15 In Iceland, for example, there is a 14% gender salary disparity, some women have taken matters into their own hands. Icelandic women therefore opted to leave their workplaces 14% earlier, which is equal to two hours and 22 minutes. See Witw 2016.
16 See Haideh Moghissi, “Feminism and Islamic fundamentalism: The limits of postmodern analysis” & Barbara Stowasser, “Gender issues and contemporary Qur’an interpretation.”
17 Iman Hashim, “Reconciling Islam and feminism” 7.
18 Alya Baffoun, “Women and social change in the Muslim Arab world” 230.
19 See Haideh Moghissi, “Islamic feminism revisited.”
20 Barbara Stowasser, “Gender issues and contemporary Qur’an interpretation.”
Islam and Women’s Rights 3
to Khadija, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad, as an illustration of how Islam upholds female equality rather than undermining it.21 In addition, Mohammed Arkoun points out that the patriarchal interpretation of the Qur’an is to be expected because the holy book “has been ripped from its historical, linguistic, literary, and psychological contexts and then continuously re-contextualized in various cultures and according to the ideological needs of various actors.”22 According to Iman Hashim, as a result, the Qur’anic passages that advocate for gender equality have been misconstrued. That is, Islam does not oppress women; rather, misinterpretations of the Qur’an by uninformed scholars are to fault, not the Qur’an itself. In this sense, it is underlined that the Qur’an bestows important rights on women who seem to be unaware of them and that understanding the equality of rights granted to Muslim women in Islam is necessary to improve women’s current inferior status. Additionally, Islamic teachings, in the opinion of Miriam Cooke, set the groundwork for an “ideal just society” in which Muslim women are free to exercise their faith and fulfill their equal roles in a number of ways. More specifically, it is asserted that Islam, like feminism, emphasizes “the role of gender in understanding the organization of society.”23 Likewise, Victoria Brittain notes that despite the high position women have in Islam, “over the years, the patriarchal system and political power have marginalized and made them invisible.”24 Conversely, according to Nimat Barazangi, “Islam regards men and women as equal for different but complementary biological functions.” Islam’s teachings therefore do not discriminate against either gender; rather, they uphold justice and gender equality by honoring each person’s unique abilities and giving them the positions that best suit them.25
However, a third group of scholars’ work offers a different perspective on the subject of Muslim women’s rights and does not fit into any of these two categories. An example of this group is Saba Mahmood who investigates the practices of devout Muslim women with the aim of extracting an epistemology of the body, politics, ethics, and religion and questioning key assumptions of Western feminist thought. Her fieldwork in Egypt, for example, sheds light on the social, religious, economic, and educational problems that Muslim women’s groups face not just in Egypt or the Middle East, but also globally.26 Similarly, Aysha Hidayatullah explores how Muslim scholars like Asma Barlas and Riffat Hassan have absorbed a liberal-secular
21 Huda Shaarawi, “Mudhakkirati.”
22 Mohammed Arkoun, “Rethinking Islam: Common questions, uncommon answers” 5.
23 Miriam Cooke, “Women claim Islam” 149, ix.
24 Victoria Brittain, “Islamic feminists on the move” 29.
25 Nimat Barazangi, “The Absence of Muslim women in shaping Islamic thought: foundations of Muslims’ peaceful and just co-existence” 417.
26 Saba Mahmood, “Politics of piety: The Islamic revival and the feminist subject.”
4 1 Introduction
understanding of gender equality and have attempted to map it out onto Islam, which is in and of itself quite problematic.27 Tabassum Fahim Ruby reexamines the theoretical and methodological framework that has traditionally framed the debate over Muslim women’s rights from a liberal–secular standpoint using the debates over the proposed tribunal in Canada (2003–2006) as a case study.28
The fact that there is disagreement over the status of women in Islam highlights the need for further research to examine these claims and provide new insights that will help us better understand the Qur’anic perspective on women’s rights. This leads to this book that analyzes the writings of renowned Egyptian author, Nawal El Saadawi, whose books are widely read throughout the Middle East and many Western countries, and which focus on the struggle of Muslim women. Because of her outspoken feminism about politics, religion, and gender, she is referred to as the “Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab world.”29 The purpose of this book is twofold: 1) to investigate El Saadawi’s viewpoints on five particular themes—marriage, polygamy, divorce, inheritance rights and veiling—that appear in her creative works, such as novels, plays, articles, press interviews, and TV shows; and 2) to analyze her viewpoints on these target issues in light of two interpretive lenses: the pre-modern Qur’anic exegesis provided by Abu Ja’far Muhammad Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 923 CE) and Abu l-Fida Ismail Ibn Umar Ibn Kathir (d.1373 CE) and the modern Muslim feminism put forth by two Muslim feminists: Amina Wadud and Azizah al-Hibri. This monograph critically examines her views in order to assess how they align with or diverge from those of contemporary Muslim feminists and traditional Qur’anic exegeses. The significance of this project lies in its contribution to the body of knowledge on the subject of Muslim women’s rights, while simultaneously delving into the perspective of contemporary secular scholars, such as Nawal El Saadawi, whose contentious feminist ideas provide a unique lens on this subject. We can have a better understanding of the range of viewpoints on gender-related issues within the Islamic faith by contrasting her opinion with those of traditional and modern scholars. By doing so, readers can gain a deeper knowledge of the relevant Qur’anic verses as well as how Islamic textual sources and traditions address the targeted contentious themes, which helps us better grasp the diversity of perspectives on gender issues within the Islamic tradition. The findings can also aid readers in understanding the ongoing conflicts between feminism and Islam. More importantly, they help to comprehend the conflicts that currently exist between Muslim communities and Western governments, such as
27 Aysha Hidayatullah, “Feminist edges of the Qur’an.”
28 Tabassum Fahim Ruby, “Muslim women’s rights: Contesting liberal-secular sensibilities in Canada.”
29 Emma Batha, “I don’t fear death: pioneering Egyptian feminist defies threats.”
Islam and Women’s Rights 5
the challenging situation in Québec following the passage of the controversial Bill 62, which would require Muslim women who wear the niqab30 or burqa to uncover their faces while using public services in the province, such as hospitals, libraries, and public transportation.
Theoretical Frameworks
The classical interpretation of the Qur’an and Islamic feminism serve as the foundation for the current study. While Abu Ja’far Muhammad Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (839–923 CE) and Abu l-Fida Ismail Ibn Umar Ibn Kathir (1301–1373 CE) represent the first, Amina Wadud and Azizah al-Hibri, two contemporary Muslim feminists, represent the latter. Before exploring the presuppositions of each of them, a brief historical background is introduced.
Qur’anic Exegesis in Early Islam
As one of the primary sources of Islam, the Qur’an has been interpreted by various scholars in an exertion to assist Muslims to comprehend its commandments and rules. One of the foremost solid Qur’anic commentaries is the classical exegesis that first appeared within the early ages of Islam, between the ninth and the fourteenth century, as Islamic civilization flourished. During this period, Islamic theology and jurisprudence evolved as scholars worked to comprehend the divine revelation presented in the Qur’an and classical commentary scholars employed language analysis, historical context, and the Hadith (sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad) to comprehend the Qur’anic verses.31 Classical exegetes assert that the Arabic language in which the Qur’an was revealed is precise, nuanced, and that each word and sentence has a different meaning since the Qur’an has a major linguistic legacy. In order to decipher the text’s intended meanings, therefore, they studied Arabic syntax, grammar, and vocabulary. This method attempted to reveal the more nuanced linguistic distinctions used by the Qur’an to convey its ideas. Understanding the historical context in which the Qur’an was revealed, including the circumstances surrounding each revelation, the social dynamics of the time, and the challenges the early Muslim community faced, has been an essential part of
30 Niqab is an Arabic word that refers to a garment of clothing that covers the face which is worn by a small minority of Muslim women as a part of a particular interpretation of hijab.
31 See Andrew Rippin, “Approaches to the history of the interpretation of the Qur’an.”
6 1 Introduction
early Qur’anic exegesis and has been extensively studied by scholars. This contextual analysis helps understand the Qur’anic teachings within the specific historical setting of seventh-century Arabia and sheds light on the holy scripture’s intended messages.32 Traditional exegetes also regarded the Qur’an as a single, cohesive text whose words are interconnected and that each verse should be understood in light of the wider themes and teachings of the book. Through comparison and legal reasoning “Qiyas,” additionally, the Qur’anic commentators derived legal conclusions from the Qur’an and Hadith. They ensured that their interpretations supported justice, equity, and the benefit of society by adhering to the fundamentals of Islamic law, which helped to form Islamic jurisprudence “fiqh”. By doing so, the early Islamic interpretation of the Qur’an was crucial in laying the groundwork for Islamic scholarship.
Al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir’s commentaries are chosen because they reflect pre-modern Qur’anic exegesis, which is widely appreciated and utilized in the field.33 Their interpretations of the Qur’an take into consideration the circumstances in which each verse was revealed and tend to clarify grammatical structures that illustrate special features such as the repetition of words. The two scholars’ Qur’anic commentaries are “comprehensive, hadith-based commentaries” that are often seen as the highest reliable point in the traditional interpretation of the Qur’an.34 They are also said to typically “follow the text of the Qur’an from the beginning to the end” and “provide an interpretation of segments of the text (wordby-word, phrase-by-phrase, or verse-by-verse) as a running commentary.”35
Islamic Feminism and Qur’anic Interpretation
The modern Islamic feminist interpretation of the Qur’an is the second theoretical framework. The term Islamic feminism is first used to describe an inter-Islamic phenomenon that is broadly accepted in various contexts throughout Muslim societies in the Middle East in the 1990s. But today, “the geographical area of Islamic Feminism has expanded to include North America, and a number of Asian, African, Arab, and European countries.”36 It is defined as “a progressive reading of the
32 Andrew Rippin, “Approaches to the history of the interpretation of the Qur’an.”
33 Herbert Berg, “The development of exegesis in early Islam: The authenticity of Muslim literature from the formative period.”
34 Jane Dammen McAuliffle, “The tasks and traditions of interpretation” 196.
35 Andrew Rippin & Jan Knappert, “Textual sources for the study of Islam” 1.
36 Amal Grami, “Islamic feminism: A new feminist movement or a strategy by women for acquiring rights?” 102.
Theoretical Frameworks 7
Qur’an, the Hadith and of early Islamic history.”37 That is, it is “a double commitment: to a faith position on the one hand, and to women’s rights both inside and outside the home on the other hand”38 with the intention of promoting equality between men and women in Muslim communities in both the public and private spheres through a gender-neutral interpretation of sacred texts.39 Islamic feminism, according to Ziba Mir-Hosseini, aims to eliminate patriarchy from Islamic principles and holy texts, enhance traditional norms and laws, bring about societal and legal changes that allow Muslim women more power, and “give voice to an ethical and egalitarian vision of Islam.”40 Islamic feminists achieve this by utilizing the two traditional Islamic methods of ijtihad and tafsir,41 which aid in elucidating Muslim women’s roles in modern societies.42 In doing so, Islamic feminists highlight the notion that “women are as human as men, and their rights and duties are complementary”;43 as a result, it is thought that Islamic feminism is a branch of Western feminism that is based on Qur’anic concepts.44
Nevertheless, Islamic feminism is opposed and criticized by many secular scholars who perceive it as a type of patriarchy that seeks to uphold the status quo, which is predominantly characterized by female subordination and uneven power relations.45 They also emphatically reject the theological basis of the Islamic feminism movement.46 They believe that a feminist movement cannot be founded on the principles and teachings of religion. According to Valentine Moghadam, for instance, Islamic feminism is a modest movement because its values are incompatible with the social and cultural contexts in Muslim societies. Nonetheless, “women’s rights and human rights are best promoted and protected in an environment of secular thought and secular institutions.”47
In my analysis of El Saadawi’s texts, I theoretically draw on Azizah al-Hibri and Amina Wadud’s scholarship on Muslim feminism. The two scholars are chosen for
37 Deniz Kandiyoti, “Women, Islam and the state” 1.
38 Miriam Cooke, “Women claim Islam” 114.
39 Isobel Coleman, “Women, Islam, and the new Iraq.”
40 Ziba Mir-Hosseini, “Muslim women’s quest for equality: Between Islamic law and feminism” 645.
41 Tafsir is an Arabic word that means an interpretation of the Qur’anic verses.
42 Margot Badran, “Islamic feminism: What’s in a name?”
43 Louise Halper, “Law and women’s agency in post-revolutionary Iran” 131.
44 Leila Ahmed, “A border passage: From Cairo to America–a women’s journey.”
45 See further discussion against Islamic feminism in Haideh Moghissi “Islamic feminism revisited” & Shahrzad Mojab, “Islamic feminism: Alternative or contradiction?”
46 Haideh Moghissi, “Feminism and Islamic fundamentalism: The limits of postmodern analysis”; Nayereh Tohidi, “Women’s rights in the Muslim world: The universal-particular interplay.”
47 Valentine Moghadam, “Islamic feminisms and its discontents: Toward a resolution of the debate” 1162.
8 1 Introduction
a variety of reasons. First, they interpret the divine text through a feminist lens that offers a non-sectarian, non-sexist interpretation of the Qur’an. They also address a wide range of issues related to the status of women in Islam from a theoretical Islamic feminist perspective. Unlike other Muslim feminist scholars, additionally, each of them reads the sacred book using a unique methodology. That is, whereas al-Hibri uses a womanist method that makes use of the rules of Islamic law to interpret Qur’anic verses, Wadud employs a hermeneutical approach that looks at the context, grammar and linguistic structure, as well as the unity of the Qur’an as a complete text. The two scholars have been acknowledged for their contributions to the field, which, according to Debra Mubashshir Majeed, “promote a Qur’anic hermeneutics that is inclusive of female experiences and of the female voice and can yield greater gender justice to Islamic thought and contribute toward the achievement of that justice in Islamic praxis.”48 In this regard, Wadud, for instance, is seen as having “explored new frontiers of Qur’anic exegesis, advanced and nuanced gender conscious approaches to the Text, and provided a model for women scholar activists.” Her hermeneutic approach, moreover, is considered as encouraging “critical engagement rather than passive acceptance of traditional authorities,” which can help to transform society in the Arab East, and this distinguishes her contribution from others in the subject.49 Al-Hibri, on the other hand, believes that “the Qur’an is an integral whole and thus the full and proper meaning of any verse cannot be understood in isolation from other verses in the rest of the Qur’an.”50
In the following lines, I include a brief biographical summary of each of the four figures to introduce readers to other essential aspects of their unique professions.
Muhammad Ibn Jarr al-Tabari
Abu Jaʿfar Muḥammad Ibn Jarir Ibn Yazid al-Tabari (839–923 CE) was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. He began memorizing the Qur’an at age seven, was an adept leader of prayer at age eight, and began studying the prophetic traditions at age nine. In 850 CE, when he was twelve years old, he left home to pursue his education.51 His travels throughout his life took him to numerous locations in the Middle East. He first went to Ray (Rhages), where he was exposed to pre-Islamic and early Islamic history while studying Hanafi school law.52 After
48 Debra Mubashshir Majeed, “Womanism encounters Islam” 47.
49 Ali et al., “A jihad for justice: Honoring the work and life of Amina Wadud” 9.
50 Azizah al-Hibri, “Muslim women’s rights in the global village: Challenges and opportunities” 60.
51 Franz Rosenthal, “The history of al-Tabari, Volume I: General introduction and from the creation to the flood” 15–16.
52 Barbara Stewart, “Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari’s al-Bayan ‘an Usul al-Ahkam and the Genre of Usul al-Fiqh in Ninth Century Baghdad” 325.
Theoretical Frameworks 9
that, al-Tabari went to Baghdad to study under Ahmad Ibn Hanbal before continuing on to Basra, Kufah, and Wasit in the south, where he met a number of eminent scholars and studied the Maliki, Zahiri, and Shafi’i rites.53 When he was in his late 20s, he also visited Syria, Palestine, India, and Egypt.54
Al-Tabari is one of the most well-known figures from the Islamic Golden Age, who is praised for his historical writings and his mastery of Qur’anic exegesis “tafsir,” yet he has also been dubbed “an impressively prolific polymath.”55 He also wrote essays on a variety of topics, including poetry, lexicography, linguistics, ethics, mathematics, and medicine.56 His most famous and well-known works are his commentary on the Qur’an, Jamiʿ al-bayan ʿan taʾwil ay al-Qur’an, and his historical encyclopedia history of the prophets and kings (Tarkh al-rusul wa-l-mulk).
Al-Tabari’s Qur’anic exegesis is described as the “summative repository of the first two- and one-half centuries of Muslim exegetical endeavor” that expresses the consensus of Muslim scholars on the targeted issues, especially the most controversial ones.57 Due to its significance, his Qur’anic commentary has been translated into several languages, including Persian and English.
ʿImad ad-din Ismaʿil Ibn ʿUmar Ibn Kathir
‘Imad ad-din Isma’il Ibn ‘Umar Ibn Kathir known as Ibn Kathir (1301–1373 CE) was a notable Muslim historian who was born in Mijdal in Syria. After completing his studies, he was given his first official position in 1341 and joined an inquisitorial court established to make decisions about various heresy-related issues.58 Ibn Kathir was recognized for his contributions to Islamic law, Qur’anic interpretation, historical study, and other subjects. One of his most renowned books is his masterpiece, “al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah” (The Beginning and the End), which includes numerous volumes and provides a thorough historical description of the entire globe from its origin through the author’s time such as the lives of prophets, prehistoric civilizations, and Islamic history. The book is well known for its meticulous investigation, reliance on trustworthy sources, and methodical portrayal of historical events.
His second noteworthy book is his interpretation of the Qur’an, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, which is an extensive commentary on the Qur’an that offers in-depth analyses of
53 Ibn al-Nadim, “al-Fihrist” 291.
54 Franz Rosenthal, “The history of al-Tabari, Volume I: General introduction and from the creation to the flood” 23.
55 Lindsay Jones, “Encyclopedia of religion” 8943.
56 Fisher, Frye, & Frye, “The Cambridge history of Iran” 599.
57 Jane Dammen McAuliffe, “The tasks and traditions of interpretation” 192.
58 Ian Netton, “Encyclopedia of Islamic civilization and religion.”
10 1 Introduction
the Qur’anic verses and uses linguistic studies, jurisprudential principles, historical narratives, and prior scholars’ interpretations. It is lauded that Ibn Kathir’s commentary “extrudes the exegetical accomplishments and accretions of the intervening centuries” and ignores any “forms of interpretation which have been “infected” by biblical narratives or other non-Muslim literary sources.” 59 Hence, it is a useful tool for academics, students, and casual readers who want to properly understand the Qur’anic text. The fact that his informative publications are still cited as trustworthy resources for research on Islam and its history both within and outside of the Islamic world attests to his writings’ enduring importance.
Azizah al-Hibri
Azizah al-Hibri was born in 1943 and raised in Lebanon, where she was also taught classical Arabic and the Qur’an at home. She graduated from the American University of Beirut with a B.A. in philosophy. She then moved to the US in 1966 to pursue her graduate education, where she graduated with a law degree in 1985 and a doctorate in philosophy in 1975 at Pennsylvania University.60 She was a philosophy professor at Texas A&M University and Washington University from 1975 to 1983. She was also a professor at the Virginian University of Richmond School of Law from 1992 until 2012, where she is currently a professor emerita. Her interest in feminism and women’s issues led her to become the first editor of the journal Hypatia in 1986. Al-Hibri, however, began to strongly critique American feminism in the 1980s, asserting that it had lost its “anti-establishment” stance, participated in cultural imperialism in American foreign policy, and gave rise to a “new breed of American feminists” with whom she no longer associated.61 Al-Hibri is also the founder and president of Karamah, which means dignity in Arabic, a non-profit group of Muslim women lawyers for human rights. Through its publications and programs, which represent a non-patriarchal viewpoint and primarily emphasize fundamental Islamic values of civil and human rights, the group seeks to advance gender equality on a global scale. She believes that societal norms, not Islamic teachings, are to blame for the current patriarchal oppression that Muslim women endure.
She also calls for the reintroduction of ijtihad to Islamic law in her writings, which are mostly influenced by American feminism and Marxism, especially when it comes to resolving issues impacting Muslim women. She urges reform arguing that the Qur’anic verses should be understood in light of both their revelation
59 Jane Dammen McAuliffe, “The tasks and traditions of interpretation” 198.
60 Azizah al-Hibri, “Hagar on my mind” 203.
61 Al-Hibri, “Hagar on my mind” 203.
Theoretical Frameworks 11
and the Prophet’s Sunnah. Al-Hibri’s argument depends on reinterpreting gender-specific Qur’anic verses in the context of their historical background. She further contends that failing to consider the historical setting results in a misinterpretation of the sacred text’s true meaning.62 She used the term “womanizer” to describe her method to reinterpreting the Qur’an.63 In her interpretation of the language of the Qur’an, she employs the intra-textual approach and highlights “the danger of separating an ayah, or part of an ayah, from its context to reach an isolated interpretation of its meaning.”64
Amina Wadud
Amina Wadud, a professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University who was born in Maryland in 1952 and had previously taught from 1989 to 1992 at the International Islamic University Malaysia, retired in 2008. She has attended the Stan King School for the Ministry as a visiting scholar. Before earning her B.S. in education from the University of Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic studies from the University of Michigan in 1988, she studied classical Arabic and the Qur’an at several universities in Egypt. As an African American Muslim woman, Wadud has written extensively about how racism toward African Americans has significantly influenced her identity, experience, and scholarship.65 In 1992, she published in Malaysia the seminal book Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective, which is today regarded as a classic of feminist Qur’anic interpretation. It was eventually released in the US in 199966 and started doing research for it in 1986 which she mentions in her book Qur’an and Woman saying, “I approached this research as if my life depended on the understandings I gained from studying the Qur’an.”67 Wadud, on the other hand, claims that the book is a tafsir that makes use of gender as a category of thinking and illustrates how the Qur’an can be used to address the problems that modern women are facing.68 For her, “The Qur’an adapts to the context of the modern woman as smoothly as it adapted to the original Muslim community fourteen centuries ago.”69
62 Al-Hibri, “An introduction to Muslim women’s rights.”
63 Al-Hibri employs the term “womanist” in her 1998 contribution on Islamic law to an edited volume on feminist philosophy: Al-Hibri, “Islamic Law” 542.
64 Al-Hibri, “An Islamic perspective on domestic violence” 206.
65 Wadud, “On belonging as a Muslim woman.”
66 Wadud, “Qur’an and woman.”
67 Wadud, “Qur’an and woman” ix, xv.
68 Wadud, “Qur’an and woman” 102.
69 Wadud, “Inside the gender Jihad: Women’s reform in Islam” 96.
12 1 Introduction
Wadud believes that gender is a social construct in which femininity, and masculinity are “defined characteristics applied to female and male persons respectively on the basis of culturally determined factors of how each gender should function.”70 She is concerned with the methodology of interpreting the Qur’an and asserts that “any interpretations which narrowly apply the Qur’anic guidelines only to literal mimics of the original community do an injustice to the text.”71 She further criticizes the process of interpreting the Qur’an, saying “no method of Qur’anic exegesis is fully objective” rather “each exegete makes some subjective choices” making no distinction between the original “text and interpretation.”72 Hence, Wadud contends that the tafsir tradition is flawed because it primarily focuses on men who “have proposed what it means to be Muslim on the presumption that the male experience is normative, essential, and universal to all humankind”73 and does not “sufficiently explain or exemplify the extent and impact of total Qur’anic coherence and perhaps never tried to nor made claim to such.”74 Instead, she advocates a reinterpretation of the Qur’an that takes into account both the experiences of women and the experiences of males, which now dominate interpretations of Islamic primary sources including the Qur’an and hadith. In her opinion, moreover, women’s empowerment depends on incorporating their experiences into how the holy scripture is interpreted.75 Wadud identifies herself as “pro-faith, pro-feminist,76 elaborates on her exegetical work from Qur’an and Woman and shares her experiences and larger perspectives as a Muslim woman scholar, including the debated Friday congregational prayer she led for both men and women in New York City in March 2005.
Source and Method
I employ a qualitative methodology to analyze EL Saadawi’s viewpoints, relying on words and sentences to provide specifics about the important issues. For instance, some of the several designs utilized in qualitative research include ethnography, case studies, and phenomenology studies.77 I use discourse analysis, one of social
70 Wadud, “Qur’an and women: Rereading the sacred text from a women’s perspective” 22.
71 Wadud, “Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam” 96.
72 Wadud, “Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam” 1.
73 Wadud, “Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam” 96.
74 Wadud, “Qur’an, gender and interpretive possibilities” 331.
75 Wadud, “Inside the gender jihad: Women’s reform in Islam” 7.
76 Wadud, “Inside the gender jihad: Women’s reform in Islam” 79–80.
77 Paul Leedy & Jeanne Ormrod, “Practical research: Planning and design.”
Source and Method 13
constructivism’s most popular approaches, in my work because it is described as an integrated methodology.78 More specifically, I use the content analysis method to investigate El Saadawi’s perspectives on women’s rights and contrast them with traditional and modern readings of the pertinent Qur’anic passages on gender. There are numerous ways to define content analysis. It is described, for example, as a “research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts to the contexts of their uses”79 that generally aims to comprehend a variety of texts, such as “written transcripts of speeches or conversations, written documents (letters, personnel records, newspapers, magazines, textbooks), and electronic documents (audiotapes, films, videotapes, computer files).” 80
Content analysis has a number of benefits that help make it a feasible strategy. First, rather of creating new texts, it analyses those already in existence. Second, it enables researchers to “move beyond manifest content found in texts to latent content or interpretations,”81 which is more essential than simply summarizing a lot of data. In this way, content analysis makes clear how each text relates to other texts. As a result, it is a useful tool that aids in outlining concise interpretations of the Qur’anic verses and prophetic sayings that are the focus of this study and reveals their underlying premises. Third, content analysis helps scholars understand religious ideas and theoretical concepts, examine religion in the media, and evaluate religion in culture and various institutions. Fourth, it enables academics to clarify the hidden signals in the target texts by placing them in their historical and social settings. To undertake content analysis, some steps must be taken. The appropriate analytical units are then determined after selecting the pertinent texts. Examples include the five analytical categories provided by Krippendorff: word count, phrases, published papers, arguments, and themes. Messages are then coded in the analysis units by being assigned a content category that discriminated between form and content. The researchers’ data analysis is presented after that.82 These steps are used in this study, which focuses on supporting data from the target texts and uses deductive reasoning. I began by selecting all the publications that are relevant to my study from three main primary sources. I first compiled the key arguments El Saadawi advanced in favor of women’s rights in Islam from a range of books, articles, and press interviews that were released. The associated verses from the holy Qur’an were then compiled. Then, I used the interpretations of pertinent Qur’anic verses made by two eminent classical scholars, al-Tabari and Ibn
78 Marianne Jorgensen & Louise Phillips, “Discourse analysis as theory and method.”
79 Klaus Krippendorff, “Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology” 18.
80 Chad Nelson & Robert Woods, “Content analysis” 109.
81 Chad Nelson & Robert Woods, “Content analysis” 116.
82 Bernard Berelson, “Content analysis in communications research.”
14 1 Introduction
