Abstract
Islamic feminism is characterised by a debate, a practice enunciated within the Islamic values and frame. Muslim women brought their experiences to the forefront and challenged the traditional and post-classical interpretation of the Qurʾan and Sunna. They claimed interpretations of the religious text as totally biased and based on men’s experience, questions that are male-centric, and the overall influence of the patriarchal society and culture. According to Islamic feminists, Islam has guaranteed women’s rights since its inception, confirming the notion of egalitarian ethics within Islam. However, the original message of Islam has been hindered by the hegemonic interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence; a product of existing patriarchy in the long passage of Islamic history for over several centuries. The rights of women as prescribed in Islam are not in practice anymore, even the demand for women’s rights is seen by many as going against the basic principle of Islam. Islamic feminists give their justifications from the Qurʾan and Hadith, and they called for re-opening the door of ijtihād (reasoning). This paper captures the significant works of feminist discourses and analyses different perspectives by the Islamic feminists who challenged the dominant discourses in Islam. It deals with the dominant discourse of Islamic feminists such as feminist hermeneutics of the Qurʾan, and includes a discussion on how feminist hermeneutics or new gender-sensitive interpretation of the Qurʾan tries to assert gender equality in the Qurʾan. There are two ways in which Muslims read patriarchy in the Qurʾan: first from the verses and the other from the different treatment of the Qurʾan on issues including marriages, divorce, inheritances, and witness. Islamic feminists reject anti-women elements, present in the Muslim umma and consider them as unethical and against Islam.
1 Islamic Feminism: A Brief Historical Survey
Feminism is a phenomenon that engages with the issues of women’s liberation and gender equality. It includes a set of intellectual commitment in ideas and belief bringing social justice for women through political movements. Feminist history can be divided into three waves of feminism. The first wave, which occurred in the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, was mainly concerned about the women’s rights to vote. The second wave refers to the women’s equal legal and social rights from the 1960s until the end of 1980s. The third wave of feminism began in the 1990s, which was in response to the failure of the second wave. The third wave considers race, ethnicity, religion, class, and gender as significant factors discussing feminism. It also examines the issue regarding women’s lives on an international basis.
A wave of feminism began in West Asia in the nineteenth century and ran concurrent with the Western waves of feminism. In West Asia feminism was mostly instigated by Egyptian reformist movements. The religious leader Muhammad ʿAbduh, the prominent writer Qasim Amin, and others called for the practice of ijtihād (independent critical examination of religious texts) and raised their voices for the liberation of women and their legitimate rights. In the early twentieth century, women demanded their political rights vis-à-vis national movements. Since the 1940s, feminism in West Asia has been a vital component in development, modernisation, and political progress. The biggest and the most controversial challenge in the historic struggle of feminists for equality in West Asia is its common incompatibilities with Islamic ideology. This ideology has a dominant influence on culture and government policies. Later, during the 1960s and 1970s, the feminist organisations suffered political repression and authoritarianism. These organisations did not have much freedom and liberty to initiate women’s demands. Therefore, women’s organisations were only limited to political parties and state-sponsored official entities. Over the period, both feminists and traditionalists have conceptualised their ideas on the issue of gender equality. The differences in their approach to equality created quite a bit of apprehension and disagreement among Muslim women who desired parity, while still wanting to preserve their cultural and religious views.
In the time of such philosophical discussion, and partly as a result of this chaos, the new feminism emerged in the West Asian and North African (WANA) region, widely known as ‘Islamic feminism’. Islamic feminism surfaced earliest in that part of the region where Islamism or political Islam was deeply entrenched with political and philosophical discussions. It surfaced first in Egypt and then in Iran. Later, it spread to other parts of West Asia and North Africa. In Egypt, the Islamist movement first emerged in the 1970s while in Iran, the Islamic movement became apparent with the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 after the downfall of the shah.
Another significance of West Asian feminism has been its different trajectory, as compared to Western feminism, and its unique compelling arguments. Western feminists rediscovered their womanhood and operate socially and intellectually against male dominance. In contrast, West Asian feminists proposed a series of more or less courageous reforms that have raised disputes between the traditionalist and neo-traditionalist Islamic world. However, feminists who were constructed within the general Islamic paradigm, are continuously developing new methods and interpretations. Their diversity allows them to be classified into the various forms of feminism. Scholars like Margot Badran and Miriam Cooke identify three critical periods of feminism in the Arab world. First, the period of invisible feminism that emerged in Egypt from the beginning of the 1860s until the 1920s. Feminism at that time was based on a critique of social gender roles and, through literary works, highlighted societal prejudice against women. Second, the period of social activism from the 1920s to 1960s, showed the development of the organised, public feminist movements focused on recovering the rights of Muslim women. The third and the last category is the period of resurgent feminism, starting in the 1970s and continuing until the present day. This period also witnessed the rise of Islamic feminism. Most of the Muslim feminists started referring to the rights mentioned in the Qurʾan and Hadith in favour of women. They later started to identify themselves as Islamic feminists, cite the example of the Prophet and his companions and criticising patriarchy in Islam. They reprehend the misuse of the Islamic religion by the dominating male society against women. The term ‘Islamic feminist’ became visible and was used often in the Iranian Zanan magazine in the 1990s.
Islamic feminism is characterised by a debate and a practice articulated with Islamic values and point of reference. Muslim women brought their experiences to the forefront and challenged the traditional and post-classical interpretation of the Qurʾan and Sunna. They claimed interpretations of religious texts as totally biased and based on male experiences, questions which are male-centric, and the overall influence of patriarchal society and culture. Margot Badran and Omaima Abu Bakr introduced Islamic feminism in Egypt (Ahmed and Jahan 2014). They produced substantial research on contemporary Islamic feminism. Badran, in her writings and interviews, has differentiated between secular and Islamic feminism in Egypt. She pointed out that both secular and Islamic feminism are branches of radical feminism that uses a different paradigm. Secular feminism deals with humanitarian and national discourse, while the latter takes Qurʾanic teachings as its reference (Badran 2011). In order to grasp the meaning of Islamic feminism Margot Badran says:
… a concise definition of Islamic feminism can be gleaned from the writings and work of Muslim protagonists as a feminist discourse and practice that derives its understanding and mandate from the Qurʾan, seeking rights and justice within the framework of gender equality for women and men in the totality of their existence. Islamic feminism explicates the idea of gender equality as part and parcel of the Qurʾanic notion of equality of all insan (human beings) and calls for the implementation of gender equality in the state, civil institutions, and everyday life. It rejects the notion of a public/private dichotomy (by the way, absent in early Islamic jurisprudence, or fiqh) conceptualising a holistic ummah in which Qurʾanic ideals are operative in all space.
Badran 2006, 1
Islamic feminism has also been important for the activities and participation of those Muslim women who not only study but also live and practice an Islamic way of life, based on their belief and faith (Uthman 2010). The other prominent feminist, Omaima Abu Bakr, has a different opinion about feminism. She stressed that Islamic feminism is a social discourse rather than a religious one. Islamic feminism is not merely feminism that emerged because of religious practice and Islamic culture; it is beyond the cultural practice. It engages Islamic theory and the Islamic scriptures and tries to give the message of equality in the light of faith. Bakr also stated that the ‘Islamic feminist project is a continuous attempt to misinterpret past gender-biased readings done by male jurists and to offer an alternative new prospective toward justice within Islam itself’ (Bakr 2011 in Tønnessen 2014, 11).
The biggest and most controversial threat to feminist struggles for equality in West Asia are common incompatibilities with Islamic ideology. Both feminists and traditionalists presented their ideas of what gender equality entails. The differences in their approach to equality between the sexes created tension and disagreement among Muslim women who desire parity while still wanting to maintain their cultural and religious views. The new feminism emerged in this region which is widely known as ‘Islamic feminism’.
Such an idea became evident and very insistently appeared in Zanan magazine in Iran in the 1990s. Islamic feminists justify their demands regarding women’s rights and criticise patriarchy with reference to the Qurʾan and the example of Prophet Muhammad and his companions. They criticised the misuse of selective interpretation of the religious texts, mainly the Qurʾan and hadiths against women. Islamic feminists do not renounce their religion as many feminists do, for example, Taslima Nasreen (Bangladesh), Nyamko Sabuni (Burundi/Sweden), Maryam Namazie (Iran), Wafa Sultan (Syria/US), and many more.
Moreover, Islamic feminists reject male-oriented interpretation and the practices of religion. Islamic feminism promotes faith, for the benefit of the women not merely regarding ideas and ideology, but also in the everyday matter of behaviour and dress. Islamists were opposed to the idea that women are marginalised in Islam. However, they urged women to stay at home and abide by their traditional roles. A wave of religiously committed women arose, who challenged the very notion of the Islamists that women should stay at home and do their traditional roles.
In contrast, Islamic feminists argued that along with other assigned traditional roles, women could excel in all other fields. They have given the example of Muslim women political rulers against the claim of traditionalists that women cannot be leaders, for instance, Radiya Sultana (r. 1236–1240, Delhi), Shajarat al-Darr (r. 1250–1257, Egypt), ʿAʾisha al-Hurayra (who ruled through her son, r. 1483–1492, Spain), Sitt al-Mulk (r. 1021–1023). They also talked about the Queen of Shiba, who was praised for her intelligence and leadership in the Qurʾan and they also leave no stone unturned while praising ʿAʾisha, who Muslims revere (among other wives of the Prophet) as a ‘mother of the believers’ (umm al-muʾminīn).
Islamic feminists such as Zainab al-Ghazali, Aisha Abd al-Rahman, Fatima Mernissi, Asma Barlas, Amina Wadud, and others tried to value the traditional roles played by women as wives and mothers, and their work within the family. They also urged women to pursue professional careers. They justify their injunctions by offering a holistic interpretation of the texts and other religious literature. Their key ideas reflect gender equality and social justice and are rooted in Qurʾanic teachings. Islamic feminists claim that Islam introduced a message of equality between male and female. However, this equality and rights of women given in the Qurʾan have been denied by the patriarchal society that influenced Muslim jurisprudence and everyday practices. Islamic feminists claim that the Muslim umma (community)ought to be a space shared by both male and female, not an arena where one group is excluded. The fundamental tool of Islamic feminism is based on tafsīr (exegesis) of the Qurʾan and Hadith. Along with this methodology, they also use linguistics, history, literary criticism, sociology, and anthropology for advancing arguments in favour of women.
The main task of Islamic feminists is to go straight to Islam’s original text. Several women centred their attention on the interpretation of the Qurʾan (like Amina Wadud, Rifat Hasan, and Fatima Naseef). Others scrutinise the formation of shariʿa-backed laws (like Aziza Al-Hibri and Shaheen Sardar Ali) and yet others re-examine the Hadith (like Fatima Mernissi, Asma Barlas, and Hidayat).
2 The Debate on Islam and Feminism
The term ‘Islamic feminism’ is subject to controversy and disagreement. There are several questions regarding Islam’s compatibility with feminism. Those are vexed questions that emerged in the writings of scholars and also met with different responses. Some of the questions asked are related to whether Islam can allow feminism within its framework or not, or whether Islam is consonant with feminism or not. Moreover, the feminists who positively look at Islamic feminism justified their action through several means to promote Islamic feminism at the ideological and practical levels (Moghadam 2002).
Margot Badran argues that because of the ignorance about Islam and feminism both seem against each other. However, this ignorance has discredited the Muslim women’s struggles and their efforts of gender reforms. She considered that there is nothing contradictory in the notion of Islamic-inspired feminism (Badran 2011). Other scholars also dispute the claim about the incompatibility of Islam and feminism. Sadiyya Shaikh, a renowned feminist scholar, advocated that the ‘Islamic feminist must navigate the terrain between being critical of sexist interpretations of Islam and patriarchy in their communities while simultaneously criticising neo-colonial feminist discourses on Islam’ (Shaikh 2003, 155).
Since the 1990s, the number of Muslim women, who are refusing to accept the neo-colonial definition of feminism is growing. They have also begun to affirm simultaneously their Muslim as well as their feminist identities. The activists in Egypt, Iran, Turkey, South Africa, Malaysia, and the United States in the 1990s adopted the term ‘Islamic feminism’. The Internet also contributed to the rapid circulation of this terminology worldwide (Badran 2011).
Debate on Islamic feminism has formed two opposing camps of scholars. Those feminists who positively support the compatibility of feminism within the religion and explore the possibilities and women’s rights in Islam, known as Islamic feminists are on one side. This group included some prominent feminists such as Fatima Mernissi, Amina Wadud, Afsaneh Najmabadi, Nayereh Tohidi, and Ziba Mir-Hosseini (Moghadam 2002). While on the other side of the camp, one witnesses the scholars who oppose the idea of feminists operating within an Islamic framework. They argue that the status of women cannot be changed until and unless orthodox regimes rule Islamic countries. They also claim that religious authorities and governments are controlling the goals and activities of Islamic feminists. The latter group includes mainly Western-educated scholars and feminists, both male and female. They have deep-rooted connections with Western women’s movements. This group includes feminists like Haideh Moghissi, Shahrzad Mojab, and Hammed Shahidian (Moghadam 2002). As Shahla Sherkat wrote in the inaugural issue of the establishment of women’s magazine Zanan, in her capacity as editor:
We believe that the key to the solution of women’s problems lies in four realms: religion, culture, law, and education. If the way is paved in these four important domains, then we can be hopeful of women’s development and society’s advancement.
Sherkat 1992, 2 in Moghadam 2002, 1144
Writers in Zanan, both male and female, were well-versed in the Qurʾan. These scholars have raised the question of women’s rights to perform ijtihād and re interpret the shariʿa. Afsaneh Najmabadi, a founding editor of the expatriate-led feminist journal Nimih-yi Digar (The Other Half), has been quoted by Moghadam as saying:
At the centre of Zanan’s revisionist approach is a radical decentring of the clergy from the domain of interpretation, and the placing of woman as an interpreter and her needs as grounds for interpretation.
Najmabadi 1998, 71 in Moghadam 2002, 1144
Islamic feminists have focused on new discourses on the status of genders in Islamic society, and over time, they are challenging the patriarchal interpretation of the Qurʾan. There is a direct attack on Islamic family laws by average women and the emergence of reform-minded Islamic feminists. Nayereh Tohidi argues that women can assess the role of gender and family codes, which help them to find a path of compromise and creative synthesis (Tohidi 1997, 106 in Moghadam 2002, 1146). She pointed out that traditional Islamic ideology is not only challenged by secularists, liberals, and democrats but many who advocate that Islamic plays a significant role in the emancipation of women (Tohidi 1998, 285 in Moghadam 2002, 1147). Tohidi pointed out that Muslim women in the Arab world are facing and struggling with two types of problem. Firstly, they are being pressurised by the internal patriarchal system and on the other hand, the problem raised by the external forces, which threaten people’s national and cultural boundaries (Moghadam 2002). Tohidi described Islamic feminism as a movement of women in which they have maintained their religious beliefs while trying to promote the egalitarian teachings of Islam by using pro-women verses of the Qurʾan for women’s rights, in particular for women’s access to education. Tohidi also supported Ziba Mir-Hosseini and noted that Islamic feminists sabotage the clerical agenda both within and outside the Islamic feminist framework. They can do it in some ways: by undermining the dictated patriarchal rules (e.g., re-appropriating the veil as a means to encourage social presence rather than seclusion). By engaging themselves in feminist ijtihād, reinterpreting the religious texts, and deconstructing shariʿa related rules in a women-friendly law (e.g., regarding birth control, personal status law, and family code). Tohidi also stressed that feminist interpretation of religion should not be considered as a substitute for the secular and democratic demands but as a component of social change (Tohidi 1998, 283–5 in Moghadam 2002, 1147).
Islamic feminism has also faced much criticism, as the scholar Haideh Moghissi stated:
It has become fashionable to speak sympathetically and enthusiastically about the reformist activities of Muslim women and to insist on their independence of thought. The message is that a new road has been opened up for women – Muslim and non-Muslim alike – to gain equal rights to men: a path based on feminist interpretations of Islamic sharia laws.
Ahmed and Jahan 2014, 6
Haideh Moghissi also claims that there have been no achievements by Islamic feminists in the West Asian and North African region, especially in Iran. She also contends that the term ‘Islamic feminism’ is inappropriate, and it is being used in unpredictable ways. She claimed that all Muslim women started designating themselves as Islamic feminists, even though their works are not appropriate to, and do not fit in, the definition of feminism. Moghissi suggested that there is a fault in such feminist analyses, she branded them as neoconservatives, postmodernists, and cultural relativists (Moghissi 1999, 121). Hammed Shahidian, another critic of Islamic feminism, argues that Islamic feminism’s use of politics regarding Muslim women is problematic, whether in West Asia or elsewhere (Moghadam 2002). Shahidian is also critical of such scholars such as Fatima Mernissi, Aziza Al-Hibri, and Riffat Hassan and claimed that Islamic feminism is futile given the strength of conservative, traditionalist and fundamentalist interpretations, laws, and institutions (Shahidian 1997 in Moghadam 2002, 1150).
3 Major Islamic Feminist Paradigms
There are many debates concerning Islamic feminist discourse. However, from the nature of such debates and discussions, one observes three feminist paradigms which are generated by Muslim women in the Arab world: ‘secular feminism’, ‘Islamist feminism’, and ‘Muslim feminism’ (Ahmed and Jahan 2014).
Feminism in West Asia and North Africa is not new. As noted previously, it can be traced back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, when some Islamic modernists such as Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad ʿAbduh, Rashid Rida, and Qasim Amin advocated the liberation and emancipation of women. They have given a feminist, liberal, modern, and reformist interpretation of Islam (Svensson 2000). Qasim Amin blamed Muslim men for women’s oppression and tried to give a religious explanation for the elevation of women. He argued that the Qurʾan does not subjugate women; instead, it supports women’s rights. Amin openly criticised the way men treated women. He stated that it is contempt of women that men eat alone at the dining table and women of the family eat after that.
He further said that men took pride in imprisoning women at home and considered them as not worthy of any confidence. Amin (2011) stated that the ignorant women are also responsible for their poor condition. Amin stated that women are so ignorant of their rights that they consider the commands of a men as binding and that they obey men blindly. According to Amin, the miserable condition of women is evident from the fact that they did not receive an education during childhood; nor were they aware of their rights, as wives and mothers, to love and honour. Women were abandoned in their old age, and no one mourned their death (Amin 2011). Amin’s most substantial contribution was emphasising on the low financial condition of women.
Most of his work represented the status of elite-class as well as upper-middle-class women. Amin claimed that these women were bound within their domestic buildings and social structures. He further stated that they were so constrained that they became like prisoners in their homes or similar to slaves. He added that they were kept in seclusion from public life by their close male relatives (such as husbands and fathers) or society, which causes their intellect to be held captive because of lack of education. Qasim Amin’s notions and ideas of other similar activists regarding women’s emancipation never found full acceptance in any Arab country.
In the early twentieth century, some women demanded their political rights and played a very active role in the emancipation of women, and they included Huda Sha’arawi, Doria Shafik, Malak Hifni Nasif, and others. They are known as secular feminists. Secular feminism includes multiple discourses like secular nationalism, human rights, Islamic modernism, and democracy, while Islamic feminism explored religious discourses taking the Qurʾan and Hadith as its central text and framework for practice. It is articulated mainly within the Islamic paradigm. Secular feminists in the Muslim lands are not indifferent to the religion. They do not justify their claims and activities by appealing to the Qurʾan and Hadith. Instead, they frequently seek to reason their demands for women’s rights through history, science, and human discourses. They have championed the need to encourage women to take their professional careers. Secular feminists do not merely engage themselves in opposing the traditional beliefs and practices against women. They also challenged modernist discourses that they saw as excluding women or being indifferent to their needs and concerns. Religious and secular feminists are divided on some issues; however, these dividing lines are not very sharp in many cases. Muslim feminists use Islam as the predominant but not the only discourse. Secular feminists are very careful to make explicit claims, although not supported by religious argument, and they do not oppose religion as a whole.
Moreover, it is prevalent in the West Asian and North African region that the feminists in both camps honour and are inspired by the same figures, such as Nabawiyya Musa. There are several secular feminist scholars, who having earlier criticised Islam, have changed their position. Moreover, they also tried to show the positive aspects of Islam regarding women. They have been interpreting Islamic teachings with a feminist approach. Scholars who are renowned in this category include Fatima Mernissi and Aziza al-Hibri. However, because of this changing position, it is somehow complicated to put Muslim feminists into a ‘neat’ category (Mernissi 1991; Afshari 1994).
Swedish scholar John Härpe separates Muslim feminism from Islamic feminism. He divides feminism in the Arab world into four categories. There is atheist feminism, Islamic feminism, Muslim feminism, and secular feminism. Härpe points out that atheist feminism blames religion for the oppression of women; they approach religion as anti-women. They believe that religious influence should be challenged to develop women’s movements in society. Secular feminists argue that the relationship between Islam and feminism depends on whether the liberal or patriarchal view of Islam is dominant in society (Härpe 1995 in Ahmed and Jahan 2014, 7).
Secular feminists also hold the idea that an authoritarian government or a religious movement is a threat to women’s emancipation and under their regime, it is impossible to achieve the goal of liberation of women. However, secular feminists do not think that feminist movements should have attacked religious beliefs (Cooke 2001). Muslim feminism has a liberal approach towards Islam. They tried to harmonise their religious view according to modern times. They argue that the essence of authentic Islam has been lost because of patriarchal vision, which has dominated Islamic history for a very long period. The idea of patriarchy dominated the view of Islam. However, it does not mean that it is necessarily an authentic Islam. Their primary focus is on the basic principle of Islam because they considered shariʿa as the patriarchal reading of Islam (Ahmed and Jahan 2014). They say that the Qurʾan has too many verses which legitimised gender inequality. However, Muslim feminists suggest that there are two types of verses in the Qurʾan. The first type of verses addresses the practical aspects of the everyday life of Muslims in the initial stage of Islam and the primitive Arabian society while other verses concern morality and are normative (Ahmed and Jahan 2014). Muslim feminists claim that the first kind of verses of the Qurʾan must be reinterpreted to reflect the present situation of the society. Although the other type of verses do not depend on time. Muslim feminists emphasise that a feminist and a liberal interpretation of the Qurʾan could help in the improvement in the condition of women, it could also contribute to establishing gender equality in Islamic countries (Hassan 1999). Islamic feminism is viewed as part of a religious and fundamentalist movement, but many believe that women’s identification with this trend helps in the emancipation of Muslim women. As Iranian scholar Nesta Ramazani (1993) points out, the gathering of women in Friday prayer and other religious activities and their participation in the Iranian revolution ultimately led them towards emancipation.
The atheist group of feminists like Shahrzad Mojab and Haiddeh Moghissi argue that Islam is the primary opponent to the women’s movement and always a challenge for feminists. Mojab argues that the women’s movement, which initially started with the total rejection of Islam, moved toward a compromising stand. Mojab has identified five factors which played a significant role in the development of feminism. First, a substantial number of working and middle-class women moved to cities. They were engineers, teachers, doctors, and even politicians. Second, women participated actively in politics and were even elected to parliament in a few countries in the Arab world, though the number remained low. Third, the number of women in commerce increased rapidly and they consequently raised awareness of gender inequalities. Fourth, the struggle for gender justice was transmitted widely in other countries. The fifth and the last point made by Mojab is that many women’s organisations in the Islamic countries were active and independent of government (Mojab 2001 in Ahmed and Jahan 2014, 8).
4 Islamic Feminist Discourses
Most of the women, as well as individuals who do not have sufficient knowledge of the Qurʾan, always try to defend the males who consider themselves superior and women as inferior. Social conditions and cultural oppression make the condition worse. Women are exposed to ill-treatment, violence, and unemployment. Riffat Hassan noted that there are three fundamental theological assumptions on which the superstructure of a man has been created over a woman. The first assumption is that God has created man as a superior to women. The second assumption is that women are created for serving the needs of men. The third is that a woman was the only reason for the falling of man from heaven, and God had banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Therefore, all the daughters of Eve were given the punishment of menstruation and the burden of pregnancy (Hassan 2001).
Nevertheless, in contrast to the fundamental belief that men are superior to women, many verses in the Qurʾan established the equality of sexes and preferred one person over another only by faith and belief. As the Qurʾan says ‘We have made everything on Earth adornment for it so that We may test them to see whose deeds are the best’ (18:7). However, in the patriarchal interpretation of the Qurʾan, these types of verses are always neglected. Male supporters of patriarchy have also explained some verses according to their own convenience in order to establish their rule and show hierarchy over women. Therefore, some women have taken the challenge to re-read the Qurʾan from a feminist perspective. As Badran says, feminists have taken three approaches for their hermeneutics:
1) revisiting ayaat of the Qurʾan to correct false stories in common circulation, such as the accounts of creation and of events in the Garden of Eden that have shored up claims of male superiority; 2) citing ayaat that unequivocally enunciate the equality of women and men; 3) deconstructing ayaat attentive to male and female difference that have been commonly interpreted in ways that justify male domination.
Badran 2002, 7
4.1 Feminist Hermeneutics of the Qurʾan
Feminist hermeneutics, or a gender-sensitive interpretation of the Qurʾan, attempts to confirm gender equality in the Qurʾan. It opposes the traditional exegesis of the Qurʾan which established patriarchy and gives privileges to men over women. The politics of gender prioritises the male while making the female lesser or unequal. In the feminist movement, feminist interpretation of the sacred scriptures of Islam has emerged. They claim that throughout Islamic history, there is no doubt that men have always interpreted the Qurʾan. It is considered a traditional responsibility and duty of men instead. The problem of this construction is that women never had a chance to interpret the text, and obviously, their perspectives have been silenced and neglected over some time. Most of the people, therefore, undermine the importance of women and their place in Islam.
There are two ways in which Muslims read patriarchy in the Qurʾan. First from the verses which will be discussed later in this paper and by the treatment of the Qurʾan concerning issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and witness (Barlas 2001). This patriarchal reading of the Qurʾan concluded that men are superior to women (even only to a degree) and crowned them as guardians, maintainers, and charged them with the responsibility to beat their disobedient wives. These are some conservative interpretations. The perception of male superiority is accepted and considered accurate by most of the people as well as Muslim feminists who use these exegeses to attack Islam as a misogynistic religion (Barlas 2001). Patriarchal readings of the Qurʾan can be distorted; such readings de-contextualised the Qurʾanic teachings by rendering phrases, words, and verses and isolating them from one another without giving attention to grammar and syntax or by generalising the specific Qurʾanic injunctions. Some egregious examples involve words such as daraja, qawwāmūna, and faḍḍala.
The word daraja is mainly misinterpreted as the role of men being logically superior to women. However, when the context is reviewed it is found that men are not given superiority. Nevertheless, it is reiterated more clearly, the right of the husband to divorce.
Divorced women shall wait concerning themselves for three monthly periods. Nor is it lawful for them to hide what God has created in their wombs if they have faith in God and the Last Day. Moreover, their husbands have the better right to take them back in that period if they wish for reconciliation. Moreover, women shall have rights similar to the rights against them according to what is equitable, but men have a degree [daraja] (of advantage) over them.
Qurʾan 2:228
Many scholars, most of them are feminists, read this particular verse differently as they read it as the right of a husband to nullify a divorce (Wadud 1999). Amina Wadud gave a detailed account of the use of the word daraja in the Qurʾan. She said that the Qurʾan never used this word in an absolute term rather, as the Qurʾan says elsewhere, ‘Allah will exalt those who believe among you, and those who know, to high ranks [daraja]’ (58:11) and ‘We raised by grades [darajāt] (of mercy) whom We will, and over all endued with knowledge, there is one more knowing’ (12:76). As in the case of verses related to divorce, Amina Wadud considered that daraja provided the husband with the right to pronounce the divorce without any outside arbitration while wives need a judge to dissolve the marriage.
Another scholar, Rifat Hasan (1999), considered it as the right of the husband to remarry after the divorce while the wife has to observe the waiting period of three months (Barlas 2001). Taking into an account the above context, it is clear that these interpretations are contextually appropriate and daraja pertains to be a specific right of a husband regarding the issue of divorce. In patriarchal readings, daraja is the condition which exists between all women and all men in every context. However, it seems like it is very unlike the teaching of the Qurʾan. Methodologically, the Qurʾan should be read or interpreted according to the context. This specific right regarding divorce is not like the immutable difference between the genders as a patriarchal reading of the Qurʾan suggests.
Men are the protectors or maintainers (qawwāmūnaʿalā) of women, because God has given the one more than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient (qānitāt) and guard in (the husband’s) absence what God would have them guard. As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct (nushūz), admonish them, refuse to share their beds, beat them (ḍaraba). However, if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance).
Qurʾan 4:34
Many scholars have pointed out that the qawwāmūna also means the financial assistance that a man owes to a woman rather than patriarchal claim of men playing the role of a manager, guardian, or ruler. Scholars also suggest that men considered qawwāmūna in the Qurʾan is not an absolute, that is to say, all men do not have responsibility over all women. As Azizah Al-Hibri says, qawwāmūna does not mean men are superior to women as a class. She argues that no one has the right to dictate to self-supporting women (Hibri 1982, 218 in Barlas 2001a, 18). Feminist scholars also pointed out that some interpretations of the Qurʾanhave considered the meaning of qawwāmūna as ‘strength’ and ignored their financial obligations and encouraged sexual inequality. Patriarchal interpretation of the verse mentioned above always emphasises that men are managers of women, and both are different, and women always need protection. Which is contrary to Qurʾanic teachings; the Qurʾan repeatedly stresses that women and men are two categories of human species and endowed with same and equal potential.
Moreover, financial status does not mean that a man is necessarily the head of a household. However, the Qurʾan always points out the principle of shūra, which means mutual consultation. The notion of men incharge of women undercuts not only the importance of shūra but also ignores the fact that the Qurʾan regards men and women like each other’s awliyāʾ (guardians, friends). Amina Wadud suggests that men hold responsibility towards women in a particular time and that being the time of childbearing. The responsibility of childbearing is of enormous importance because the existence of the human race depends upon it. This responsibility not only needs physical strength and stamina it also requires a deep personal commitment. This responsibility is essential and can be carried out only by women; then the question will arise what is the primary liability of the male towards his family and society as a whole? What does his role in balancing and in providing justice to human creation entail? Therefore, to avoid oppression, man is bestowed upon with significant responsibilities for the human race.
The Quran establishes his responsibility as qiwamah so that the woman is not burdened with additional responsibilities which jeopardise that primary demanding responsibility that only she can fulfil. She needs to fulfil her primary responsibility, and it should be supplied in society, by the other section of the society, this means physical protection and material sustenance; otherwise, it could be severe oppression against the woman.
Wadud 1999, 100
The word faḍḍala (preference), which is read in connection with the word qawwāmūna is mostly interpreted as Allah preferring men over women.
Patriarchy failed to understand that faḍḍala cannot be unconditional because the above verse does not mention they (masculine plural) are preferred over them (feminine plural). It mentioned ba’d (some) of them over ba’d (others). The use of ba’d be related to what has been observed in the human context. All men do not excel overall women in all manners. Some men excel over some women in some manners. Likewise, it can be vice versa that some women excel over some men in some manners, therefore, whatever Allah has faddala (preferred) in this verse is not in absolute term.
Wadud 1999, 104
The words in the above verse like qānitāt, nushūz, and ḍaraba are often read without paying attention to the context. According to Amina Wadud (1999), qānitāt is used in this particular verse to refer to both male and female behaviour toward God. She mentions that the word nushūz refers to the state of disharmony in a marriage which is equal for both the spouse’s conduct towards each other. It is just not the wife’s conduct, as patriarchy suggests.
Moreover, Rifat Hassan (1999), on the other hand, argues that the word ṣāliḥāt, which is translated as ‘righteously obedient,’ has been taken from the word ṣalāḥiyya, that means ‘capability’ or ‘potentiality,’ it is not related to obedience. She argues that this word refers to the potential of women’s childbearing capacity and that qānitāt means a water-container. It is a metaphor used for the womb. She suggested that Qurʾan 4:34 refers to the sole responsibility of women in bearing children which has nothing to do with the preference of men. The Qurʾan permits the community to ‘ḍaraba’ women only if they all rebel against or reject this role. In a legal context, she further says, it means ‘holding in confinement’, not beating (Barlas 2001a).
From the preceding discussion it is clear that one can read the verse and interpret its words in many different ways. Therefore, one always needs to explain the hegemony of the particular reading rather than taking it as absolutely true. It also highlights the problematic way to read the Qurʾan (Barlas 2001b).
Mustansir Mir talks about theme thodology of reading the Qurʾan. He says that most of the Muslim exegetic readings take a verse by verse approach. However, certain words are taken in isolation from its preceding and succeeding verses. According to him, it is because of this methodology that exegetes have failed to recognise the thematic coherence of the Qurʾan (Barlas 2001a). Moreover, Amina Wadud argues that when the verses are read with the relationship of another verse, it is done without applying the ‘hermeneutical principle’, the method of linking syntax, context, ideas, and themes together (Wadud 1999).
Traditional readings of the Qurʾan or, in other words, patriarchal readings have failed to read its historically situated context. The traditional method of reading cannot recover the Qurʾan’s anti-patriarchal episteme and it fails to recognise the connection with disparate themes “such as between the nature of God’s self disclosure (how God describes God) and theories of father right/rule” (Barlas 2001b, 19).
Even though they acknowledge the historical background of the Qurʾanic teachings through asbāb al-nuzūl (the occasion of revelation); however, most of them do not examine its context and content together. They do not do so because they think it will undermine the universality of the Qurʾan. As a result, they universalise many injunctions that were directed to the seventh-century Arabs, who were patriarchal. This practice not only leads to misreading the Qurʾan but also is very harmful towards women because some of the restrictions against women arise from generalising the specific teaching of the Qurʾan (Barlas 2001b).
4.2 Hadith
Islamic feminist scholars approach the Hadith literature with uncertainty. Islamic feminists reject anti-women elements that are considered as Islamic. The sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad guided, translating the message of Islam. When people use hadiths so as to degrade women and claim that they are applying the authentic words of the Prophet this is tantamount to the Prophet being projected as a misogynist. Misogynistic hadiths which contradict the Qurʾanic principle could not possibly be associated with the Prophet within the Islamic realm of logic. Islamic feminists have three approaches regarding hadiths when they use them for the interpretation of the Qurʾan.
In some cases, they approach hadith positively when the just treatment of women is supported. They use them in emphasising their Qurʾanic interpretation. In other cases, they dispute the authenticity of hadith reports. Furthermore, they do not consult any hadiths in the interpretation of Qurʾanic verses. Hence they selectively scrutinise the Hadith corpus as a source of historical information (Badran 2001).
Hadiths are oral traditions, which did not come into writing until more than a century after the Prophet’s lifetime. Muslim scholars developed the methodology to distinguish between the authentic and the fabricated reports of hadiths. The method involved scrutiny of the chain of narrators (isnād) and the number of concurrent transmitters for each link in the chain. The chain ends with the person whom himself heard the statement from the Prophet or witnessed his action. There are the six canonical collections produced through this process of scrutiny which excluded hundreds of reports, and one of them is the collection of hadith by Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al-Bukhari, a ninth-century scholar from Bukhara.
The history of the development of hadith created a severe dilemma for modernist scholars; on the one hand, they suspected the validity of some hadiths, and on the contrary, they cannot reject the Hadithcorpus as a whole because it also questions the basis of Qurʾanic historicity. Thus, the scholars of feminist hermeneutics only confront the historical authenticity of some misogynist hadiths (Hidayatullah 2014). Barlas discusses the historical relevance in detail, which reflects historical contexts of the emergence of hadith and its canonisation, especially its political manipulations. She argues that the number of discourses, ideas, and practices, including those that are in contradiction with the Qurʾanic teaching has been incorporated into Islamic principles in the name of Hadith (Barlas 2002). She also points out that most of the Sunna is not the reflection of the Prophet’s praxis but reflects the early Muslim community’s understanding and approach towards the particular sunna (Barlas 2002). The early Muslim community of Arabs was patriarchal; that is why it is evident that one can find the misogynist reflections in some of the Hadith. The Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi and the Turkish religious scholar Hidayet Tuksal both used the classical Islamic method of investigating the hadith and exposed some hadith as misogynist in interpretation.
4.3 Jurisprudence
Islamic feminism also investigates Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), which is the basis of the shariʿa or Islamic law. They found jurisprudence to be patriarchal and said that its foundation was consolidated by the end of the ninth century. They also claimed that the patriarchal society had tried to stop the ijtihād after the foundation of four primary schools of jurisprudence in the Sunni tradition. There are two primary sources of jurisprudence, namely, the Qurʾan and Sunna. Islamic feminists claim that the new gender-sensitive exegesis has exposed the traditions of misogynist hadiths, and, therefore, it is vital to rethink Islamic jurisprudence in general. They also pointed out the founders of jurisprudence were very careful to include the patriarchal notion of societies in their works, but their followers have translated their works without such caution into a doctrine (Badran 2011).
Hasan al-Turabi from Sudan advocated a reinterpretation of women’s right in Islamic jurisprudence. In his published pamphlet titled Women between the Teaching of Religion and the Custom of Society, he argued that several aspects of Islamic law were adopted in order to adapt the local and traditional custom of that time. He also added that male jurists had interpreted the rules of Islamic laws which thereby granted authority to men and imposing limitations on women. Turabi further argued that their biases towards women affected Muslim society in which the fundamental rights of women provided by Islam have been abandoned in jurisprudence (Turabi 1973 in Tønnessen 2014, 4).
Jurisprudence has been more pervasively used to disrupt the concept of gender equality in Qurʾanic teaching than the shariʿa-backed Muslim personal status laws. The dual weight of the state formation along with religious establishment created a patriarchal society in many Muslim countries in Africa and Asia. However, the struggle of Muslim women cannot be denied. Activists and scholars throughout the centuries have been demanding their right to equal citizenship, right of education, and equal status in family and society. Moreover, Muslim women demanded a change in Muslim personal laws. They support their argument from Qurʾanic teachings. Iranian scholar Ziba Mir-Hosseini emphasised the distinction between jurisprudence, which is the human interpretation, and shariʿa which is the path as revealed in the Qurʾan (Badran 2011).
Feminist activists in Muslim countries have comparatively succeeded in pressurising their political systems for legal changes; hence, some of the laws which were based on shariʿa have been changed and modified. Islamic feminism has managed to produce the new interpretation of jurisprudence that amended the Moroccan family laws. Mudawwana, which was considered as the egalitarian model of family law, has been revised and has made husband and wife equal head of the household. It also eliminated polygamy and gave the right to wife to initiate divorce proceedings (Badran 2011). It also changed the law in which women were forcefully married to their rapists (BBC 2014). In Yemen, the feminist activists were also relatively successful because of the cooperation of the broad spectrum of women to prevent a regressive personal law from being enacted in 1997. Activists also succeeded in changing the ḥudūd law in Nigeria. Ḥudūd law is a regressive practice in which the woman is given capital punishment or death by stoning for committing adultery while a man walks free. In one of the cases, there were two women in Nigeria, who were convicted of adultery and given the punishment of death by stoning. Meanwhile, their partners were freed by a lower shariʿa court. The above-mentioned case has been successfully challenged within the framework of Islamic jurisprudence (HRW 2004).
5 Conclusion
Islamic feminism is remarkably diverse in its approach. Islamic feminists have introduced different paradigms and debates in opposition to traditional patriarchal notions, and they have been continuously growing in number. Islamic feminists tried to approach religion rationally. They gave new interpretations for the sacred texts. Islamic feminism used the fundamental texts as to justify equality among the genders. It has been observed that Islamic feminists generally carried out their task through revisiting the traditional male construction of religious interpretation, stressing the verses which are more gender sensitive. They also interpreted ambiguous verses from a more women-friendly perspective. Such feminists challenged the shariʿa-backed laws in many Muslim countries and succeeded in accomplishing some of their goals.
Nevertheless, Islamic feminists brought the issues of gender equality and cultural identity against the patriarchal social establishment which justifies denial of women’s rights on the basis that there is a natural difference between the sexes. It has been observed that Islamic feminists generally carried out their task through revisiting the traditional male construction of religious interpretation, stressing the verses which are more gender sensitive. They also interpreted ambiguous verses in a more women-friendly perspective. Scholars like Fatima Mernissi, Riffat Hassan, Amina Wadud, Asma Barlas, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, and others tried to give the feminist interpretation of religious texts. They challenged the patriarchal interpretation of the Qurʾan. Patriarchy gave the meaning of certain words or verses of the Qurʾan according to self-interest. Men had interpreted words like qawwāmūna, faḍḍala, and daraja according to their interest in dominating women. They have used these words to argue that there is divine sanction for male superiority. Feminist scholars challenged their authority to interpret scriptures and offered more women-centric or egalitarian interpretations of words and verses. This research was an intellectual inquiry about Islamic feminism and how Muslim women who desire gender parity while preserving their cultural and religious views have challenged the existing norms regarding women. They were able to represent the core principle of Islam, ‘equality’ in practice. They also challenged and succeeded in modifying some misogynist laws against women in the Arab world. Islamic feminist’s works represent a new dimension of feminism, which could enrich the contemporary Islamic debate regarding women’s status within Islam. Its significance lies in the fact that it challenges misogyny from within the Islamic tradition bestowing upon it the distinction of acting as a pioneering study for future research along the same lines.
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