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Equality and gender justice issues are often debated by liberal feminist groups in either the West or East. Muslim feminist groups in particular often use certain hadiths to show the injustice of Islam against women. Therefore, this article will analyze some of the hadiths that are used by this group as anti-women. This article will focus on sanad and matan and also the right meaning of the hadith. The methodology used in this study is literature and content analysis. This article is intended to correct the allegation or wrong assumption and put the hadith on the right position, therefore it will be respected and being noble.
Abstract
It is undeniable that Religion and tradition have been a highly discussed discourse from the past up to the present day. Interpretation of the Qurʾan is one essential aspect of religion that serves not only as a way of understanding its doctrines, but also as a media controlling local beliefs and practices. This article is aimed at analyzing Šeḫ Muḥammad Aršad’s interpretation of theology-verses quoted to support his theological ideas in his Tuḥfat al-Rāġibīn. Employing trans-disciplinary approaches consisting of Quran interpretation as distinction between interpretation (tafsīr) and application (taṭbīq), and post-colonial criticism of the high-low tradition category, it concludes that first, Šeḫ Aršad’s treatment of the Qurʾanic verses does not prove that he freely interpreted the Qurʾan the way he wanted, but he applied the given verse-interpretation, and this method constitutes a partial interpretation of theology-verses; second, that such use interpretation method, in his perceived innovations, coupled by his position in the Sultanate of Banjar, was projected to purify, the perspective of Ahl al-Sunna wa-l-Jamāʾa, from some local traditions, such as manyanggar banua and mambuang pasilih.
The Muslim community in the West has been actively discussing the status of homosexuality in Islam by employing a more intellectual approach for quite some time. For example, Muslim supporters of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities (LGBT) have referred to various Quranic verses to justify their status within the conservative Muslim society at large. In light of this situation, this study intends to seek the views of the Muslim LGBT community in Malaysia on the concept of domestic partnership and marriage as stipulated in the Qur’an. Twelve respondents from Klang Valley were interviewed during the course of this study, comprising six gay men and six lesbian women, based on the snowball sampling method. The interview is based on the data saturation approach, where the respondents are interviewed to the point that there is no more room for new ideas to emerge. Each respondent was required to complete a semi-structured interview once within an hour, due to the difficulty in getting them to agree to be interviewed more than once. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and reviewed for further investigation based on thematic analysis. Among the main findings are that all respondents agree that love can be obtained from same-sex partners, which is very much similar to the concept of love between heterosexual partners as advocated by the Qur’an. Apart from that, the majority of respondents refute the concept of same-sex marriage as it is Quranically impermissible even though they themselves have same-sex partners. In short, the Muslim LGBT community in Malaysia seems reluctant and uncomfortable to justify homosexuality using Quranic verses. In contrast, they affirm the need for conservative Muslims to accept them instead of disparaging and punishing them.