The construction of gender in islamic legal thought and strategies for reform
TL;DR: This paper explored ways in which women can pursue and achieve equality and justice in Islamic law, with a view to identifying both the legal theories and assumptions that inform them, and concluded by exploring the kinds of strategies for reform that are needed to re-ect the spirit of the age.
Abstract: This paper explores ways in which women can pursue and achieve equality and justice in Islamic law. It begins by examining constructions of gender rights in Islamic legal thought, with a view to identifying both the legal theories and assumptions that inform them, and concludes by exploring the kinds of strategies for reform that are needed to re Xect the spirit of the age. I argue that, broadly speaking, Islamic legal thought contains three distinct discourses on gender rights. While the Wrst two are premised on various forms of inequality between the sexes, the third argues for equality. The Wrst, which is the discourse of the classical shar“’a texts, I call Traditionalist. The second, which developed in the early part of the twentieth century and is re Xected in the modern legal codes in Muslim countries, I call Neo-Traditionalist— though it is commonly referred to as Modernist. The third, which I call Reformist, emerged in the last two decades and is still in the process of formation. It is within this discourse that gender equality in law can be achieved.
Citations
More filters
•
249 citations
••
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a version of a presentation given at the Dienstagskolloquium in April 2005 at the Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin.
Abstract: 629 This essay is a version of a presentation given at the Dienstagskolloquium in April 2005 at the Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin. I am grateful to the participants for their constructive criticism, in particular Nancy Fraser, Galit Hasan Rokem, Tom Mitchell, and Shmuel Eisenstadt, whose comments and suggestions helped me clarify my argument. Special thanks go to Richard Tapper, who patiently read various drafts and helped me to improve it in many ways. The argument I develop here is part of a book project; an earlier version appears in Islamic Feminism and the Law, ed. Qudsia Mirza (London, 2006). Muslim Women’s Quest for Equality: Between Islamic Law and Feminism
227 citations
•
16 Apr 2009TL;DR: Hallaq's Magisterial overview of Shari'a sets the record straight by examining the doctrines and practices of Islamic law within the context of its history, and by showing how it functioned within pre-modern Islamic societies as a moral imperative as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In recent years, Islamic law, or Shari'a, has been appropriated as a tool of modernity in the Muslim world and in the West and has become highly politicised in consequence. Wael Hallaq's magisterial overview of Shari'a sets the record straight by examining the doctrines and practices of Islamic law within the context of its history, and by showing how it functioned within pre-modern Islamic societies as a moral imperative. In so doing, Hallaq takes the reader on an epic journey tracing the history of Islamic law from its beginnings in seventh-century Arabia, through its development and transformation under the Ottomans, and across lands as diverse as India, Africa and South-East Asia, to the present. In a remarkably fluent narrative, the author unravels the complexities of his subject to reveal a love and deep knowledge of the law which will inform, engage and challenge the reader.
137 citations
••
TL;DR: Seedat as mentioned in this paper argues that Islamic feminism may appear to be the inevitable result of the convergence of Islam and feminism yet it is also inadequate to concerns for sex equality in Islam.
Abstract: This essay argues for maintaining a critical space between two intellectual paradigms that inform Muslim women’s anticolonial equality struggles in the neocolonial present, Islam and feminism. Seedat distinguishes between scholarly trends that preclude the convergence of Islam and feminism, that argue for a necessary convergence, and finally, those that make no argument for or against the convergence but “take Islam for granted” using feminist methods suited to various reform aspirations. The last group may consider their work the natural continuation of historical Muslim consciousness of the treatment of women or as redress for the historical absence of sex equality in Islam. This article argues that Islamic feminism may appear to be the inevitable result of the convergence of Islam and feminism yet it is also inadequate to concerns for sex equality in Islam. Not only do some scholars resist the naming but, as an analytic construct, Islamic feminism also precludes new understandings of sex difference originating in non-Western and anticolonial cultural paradigms.
52 citations
References
More filters
•
16 Mar 2021
TL;DR: This book discusses the pre-Islamic Middle East, women and the Rise of Islam, and the struggle for the future in a post-Islamic world.
Abstract: PART I: The Pre-Islamic Middle East Chapter 1 Mesopotamia Chapter 2 The Mediterranean Middle East PART II: Founding Discourses Chapter 3 Women and the Rise of Islam Chapter 4 The Transitional Age Chapter 5 Elaboration of the Founding Discourses Chapter 6 Medieval Islam PART III: New Discourses Chapter 7 Social and Intellectual Change Chapter 8 The Discourse of the Veil Chapter 9 The First Feminists Chapter 10 Divergent Voices Chapter 11 The Struggle for the Future Conclusion Notes Index.
1,085 citations
••
1,009 citations
•
01 Mar 1976
TL;DR: In this paper, Lakeland et al. discuss the role of women in the modern situation of Moroccan women and women's fundamentalism, and the economic basis of sexual anomie in Moroco.
Abstract: Muslim Women and Fundamentalism: Introduction to the Revised Edition Preface: A Note to the Western Reader Introduction: Roots of the Modern Situation Part One: The Traditional Muslim View of Women and Their Place in the Social Order 1. The Muslim Concept of Active Female Sexuality 2. Regulation of Female Sexuality in the Muslim Social Order 3. Sex and Marriage Before Islam Part Two: Anomic Effects of Modernization on Male-Female Dynamics 4. The Modern Situation: Moroccan Data 5. Sexual Anomie As Revealed by the Data 6. Husband and Wife 7. The Mother-in-Law 8. The Meaning of Spatial Boundaries 9. The Economic Basis of Sexual Annomie in Moroco Conclusion: Women's Liberation in Muslim Countries Notes Suggested Supplementary Reading Compiled by Mary Jo Lakeland Index
792 citations
••
378 citations
•
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: The Qur~an and Muslim women: Reading Patriarchy, Reading Liberation Part I 2. Texts and Textualities: The Qur ~an, Tafsir, and Ahadith 3. Intertextualities, Extratextual Contexts: The Sunnah, Shari'ah, and the State Part II 4. The Patriarchal Imaginary of Father/s: Divine Ontology and the Prophets 5. The Qur`an, Sex/Gender, and Sexuality: Sameness, Difference, Equality 6. The Family and Marriage: Ret
Abstract: Preface Acknowledgments 1. The Qur~an and Muslim Women: Reading Patriarchy, Reading Liberation Part I 2. Texts and Textualities: The Qur~an, Tafsir, and Ahadith 3. Intertextualities, Extratextual Contexts: The Sunnah, Shari'ah, and the State Part II 4. The Patriarchal Imaginary of Father/s: Divine Ontology and the Prophets 5. The Qur~an, Sex/Gender, and Sexuality: Sameness, Difference, Equality 6. The Family and Marriage: Retrieving the Qur~an's Egalitarianism 7. Postscript Notes Glossary Select Bibliography Index
331 citations