Qur'an and Woman

Qur'an and Woman PDF Author: Amina Wadud
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198029438
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
Fourteen centuries of Islamic thought have produced a legacy of interpretive readings of the Qu'ran written almost entirely by men. Now, with Qu'ran and Woman, Amina Wadud provides a first interpretive reading by a woman, a reading which validates the female voice in the Qu'ran and brings it out of the shadows. Muslim progressives have long argued that it is not the religion but patriarchal interpretation and implementation of the Qu'ran that have kept women oppressed. For many, the way to reform is the reexamination and reinterpretation of religious texts. Qu'ran and Woman contributes a gender inclusive reading to one of the most fundamental disciplines in Islamic thought, Qu'ranic exegesis. Wadud breaks down specific texts and key words which have been used to limit women's public and private role, even to justify violence toward Muslim women, revealing that their original meaning and context defy such interpretations. What her analysis clarifies is the lack of gender bias, precedence, or prejudice in the essential language of the Qur'an. Despite much Qu'ranic evidence about the significance of women, gender reform in Muslim society has been stubbornly resisted. Wadud's reading of the Qu'ran confirms women's equality and constitutes legitimate grounds for contesting the unequal treatment that women have experienced historically and continue to experience legally in Muslim communities. The Qu'ran does not prescribe one timeless and unchanging social structure for men and women, Wadud argues lucidly, affirming that the Qu'ran holds greater possibilities for guiding human society to a more fulfilling and productive mutual collaboration between men and women than as yet attained by Muslims or non-Muslims.

Qur'an and Woman

Qur'an and Woman PDF Author: Amina Wadud
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198029438
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Get Book

Book Description
Fourteen centuries of Islamic thought have produced a legacy of interpretive readings of the Qu'ran written almost entirely by men. Now, with Qu'ran and Woman, Amina Wadud provides a first interpretive reading by a woman, a reading which validates the female voice in the Qu'ran and brings it out of the shadows. Muslim progressives have long argued that it is not the religion but patriarchal interpretation and implementation of the Qu'ran that have kept women oppressed. For many, the way to reform is the reexamination and reinterpretation of religious texts. Qu'ran and Woman contributes a gender inclusive reading to one of the most fundamental disciplines in Islamic thought, Qu'ranic exegesis. Wadud breaks down specific texts and key words which have been used to limit women's public and private role, even to justify violence toward Muslim women, revealing that their original meaning and context defy such interpretations. What her analysis clarifies is the lack of gender bias, precedence, or prejudice in the essential language of the Qur'an. Despite much Qu'ranic evidence about the significance of women, gender reform in Muslim society has been stubbornly resisted. Wadud's reading of the Qu'ran confirms women's equality and constitutes legitimate grounds for contesting the unequal treatment that women have experienced historically and continue to experience legally in Muslim communities. The Qu'ran does not prescribe one timeless and unchanging social structure for men and women, Wadud argues lucidly, affirming that the Qu'ran holds greater possibilities for guiding human society to a more fulfilling and productive mutual collaboration between men and women than as yet attained by Muslims or non-Muslims.

Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretation

Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretation PDF Author: Barbara Freyer Stowasser
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199761833
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Islamic ideas about women and their role in society spark considerable debate both in the Western world and in the Islamic world itself. Despite the popular attention surrounding Middle Eastern attitudes toward women, there has been little systematic study of the statements regarding women in the Qur'an. Stowasser fills the void with this study on the women of Islamic sacred history. By telling their stories in Qur'an and interpretation, she introduces Islamic doctrine and its past and present socio-economic and political applications. Stowasser establishes the link between the female figure as cultural symbol, and Islamic self-perceptions from the beginning to the present time.

Women and Gender in Islam

Women and Gender in Islam PDF Author: Leila Ahmed
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300258178
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
A classic, pioneering account of the lives of women in Islamic history, republished for a new generation This pioneering study of the social and political lives of Muslim women has shaped a whole generation of scholarship. In it, Leila Ahmed explores the historical roots of contemporary debates, ambitiously surveying Islamic discourse on women from Arabia during the period in which Islam was founded to Iraq during the classical age to Egypt during the modern era. The book is now reissued as a Veritas paperback, with a new foreword by Kecia Ali situating the text in its scholarly context and explaining its enduring influence. “Ahmed’s book is a serious and independent-minded analysis of its subject, the best-informed, most sympathetic and reliable one that exists today.”—Edward W. Said “Destined to become a classic. . . . It gives [Muslim women] back our rightful place, at the center of our histories.”—Rana Kabbani, The Guardian

Believing Women in Islam

Believing Women in Islam PDF Author: Asma Barlas
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 1477315926
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Does Islam call for the oppression of women? Non-Muslims point to the subjugation of women that occurs in many Muslim countries, especially those that claim to be "Islamic," while many Muslims read the Qur’an in ways that seem to justify sexual oppression, inequality, and patriarchy. Taking a wholly different view, Asma Barlas develops a believer’s reading of the Qur’an that demonstrates the radically egalitarian and antipatriarchal nature of its teachings. Beginning with a historical analysis of religious authority and knowledge, Barlas shows how Muslims came to read inequality and patriarchy into the Qur’an to justify existing religious and social structures and demonstrates that the patriarchal meanings ascribed to the Qur’an are a function of who has read it, how, and in what contexts. She goes on to reread the Qur’an’s position on a variety of issues in order to argue that its teachings do not support patriarchy. To the contrary, Barlas convincingly asserts that the Qur’an affirms the complete equality of the sexes, thereby offering an opportunity to theorize radical sexual equality from within the framework of its teachings. This new view takes readers into the heart of Islamic teachings on women, gender, and patriarchy, allowing them to understand Islam through its most sacred scripture, rather than through Muslim cultural practices or Western media stereotypes. For this revised edition of Believing Women in Islam, Asma Barlas has written two new chapters—“Abraham’s Sacrifice in the Qur’an” and “Secular/Feminism and the Qur’an”—as well as a new preface, an extended discussion of the Qur’an’s “wife-beating” verse and of men’s presumed role as women’s guardians, and other updates throughout the book.

Inside the Gender Jihad

Inside the Gender Jihad PDF Author: Amina Wadud
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 178074451X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
A world-renowned professor of Islamic studies, Amina Wadud has long been at the forefront of what she calls the 'gender jihad,' the struggle for justice for women within the global Islamic community. In 2005, she made international headlines when she helped to promote new traditions by leading the Muslim Friday prayer in New York City, provoking a firestorm of media controversy and kindling charges of blasphemy among conservative Muslims worldwide. In this provocative book, "Inside the Gender Jihad", Wadud brings a wealth of experience from the trenches of the jihad to make a passionate argument for gender inclusiveness in the Muslim world. Knitting together scrupulous scholarship with lessons drawn from her own experiences as a woman, she explores the array of issues facing Muslim women today, including social status, education, sexuality, and leadership. A major contribution to the debate on women and Islam, Amina Wadud's vision for changing the status of women within Islam is both revolutionary and urgent.

Women and Men in the Qur’ān

Women and Men in the Qur’ān PDF Author: Asma Lamrabet
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319787411
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
This book distinguishes Islam as a spiritual message from the sociopolitical context of its revelation. While the sacred text of the Quran reveals a clear empowerment of women and equality of believers, such spirit is barely reflected in the interpretations. Trapped between Western rhetoric that portrays them as submissive figures in desperate need of liberation, and centuries-old, parochial interpretations that have almost become part of the “sacred,” Muslim women are pressured and profoundly misunderstood. Asma Lamrabet laments this state of affairs and the inclination of both Muslims and non-Muslims to readily embrace flawed human interpretations that devalue women rather than remaining faithful to the meaning of the Sacred Text. Full of insight, this study carefully reads the Qur’an to arrive at its deeper spiritual teachings.

The Rights and Duties of Women in Islam

The Rights and Duties of Women in Islam PDF Author: Abdul Ghaffar Hasan
Publisher: Darussalam
ISBN: 9789960897516
Category : Muslim women
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description


Qur'an and Woman

Qur'an and Woman PDF Author: Amina Wadud
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
This is an analysis of the concept of woman drawn directly from the Qur'an. An explicit attempt to return to the original source--the Qur'an--when the tendency has been to confuse the works of Islamic scholars with the Qur'an, it demonstrates that in order to maintain its relevance, the Qur'an must be continually reinterpreted; that the importance of the Qur'anic text is its transcendence of time and its expression of eternal values. It is not the text which restricts women, but the interpretations of the text which have come to be held in greater importance than the text. The significance of this analysis of the Qur'anic concept of woman is measured within the perspective of the text using it both as a force in history, politics, language, culture, intellect, and spirit, and as a divine text that presents guidance to humankind. This book sheds new light on the role of woman through reviewing the Qur'an itself with its principles of social justice and human equality and its objective of justice.

What the Koran Really Says

What the Koran Really Says PDF Author: Ibn Warraq
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1615920668
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 791

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Book Description
This excellent collection of critical commentaries on the Koran brings together outstanding articles by noted scholars from the beginning of the 20th century to recent times. These important studies, as well as the editor's own lengthy introduction, show that little about the text of the Koran can be taken at face value. Among the fascinating topics discussed is evidence that early Muslims did not understand Muhammad's original revelation, that the ninth-century explosion of literary activity was designed to organize and make sense of an often incoherent text, and that much of the traditions surrounding Muhammad's life were fabricated long after his death in an attempt to give meaning to the Koran. Also of interest are suggestions that Coptic and other Christian sources heavily influenced much of the text and that some passages reflect an essential background reaching back to the community of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This valuable compilation will be a welcome resource to interested lay readers and scholars alike.

Voices Behind the Veil

Voices Behind the Veil PDF Author: Ergun Mehmet Caner
Publisher: Kregel Publications
ISBN: 9780825499043
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
An unprecedented, sympathetic, and wide-ranging exploration of the mysterious world of Islamic women--the people behind the veils--is presented by female writers and Christian workers.