Adis Duderija

Islam and Gender in the Thought of a Critical-Progressive Muslim Scholar Activist Ziba Mir Hosseini

This article highlights the scholarly contribution of the Iranian-born Muslim scholar-activist Ziba Mir-Hosseini to the academic field of gender and Islam. In the first part, Mir-Hosseinis thought is positioned within the larger processes of the shifting loci of authority and normativity in contemporary Islamic discourses, particularly with reference to the emergence of what will here be termed critical-progressive Muslim scholar-activists. There follows a brief justification as to why a study of Mir-Hosseinis thought in relation to gender and Islam warrants examination. Mir-Hosseinis personal journey in the field of gender and Islam is then outlined and her major contributions to the field are noted. This is followed by a discussion of the support Mir-Hosseini finds for her ideas in the hermeneutical theories employed by reformist male Muslim scholars, and then an examination of her views on the relationship between Islamic feminism discourses and (neo-)traditional expressions of Islam. Mir-Hosseinis deconstruction of the assumptions governing classical Muslim family law and ethics that have been re-appropriated and legally enforced by some contemporary Muslim majority nation states is presented next, followed by a discussion of her proposals for the reform of Muslim family law and ethics. The final section discusses Mir Hosseinis activism with special reference to her involvement with Musawah, the global movement for equality in Muslim family law based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

CRITICAL-PROGRESSIVE MUSLIM THOUGHT: REFLECTIONS ON ITS POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS

Many of the contemporary political conflicts in Muslim-majority countries are said to pit modern secularists against the “backward” Islamists. However an important stream of contemporary Muslim thought—critical-progressive Muslim thought—refuses to accept either a hegemony of Western secularism or a hegemony of Islamist fundamentalism. Critical-progressive Muslim scholar-activists are reinterpreting the normative teachings of the Muslim worldview and developing a distinctive third-way approach. There are several key political and policy ramifications of this stream of thought, including a robust commitment to religious freedom, but within Islamic terms, not terms dictated by non-Muslim Westerners preoccupied with their own security interests.

The “Islamic State” ( IS ) as Proponent of Neo- ahl ḥadīth Manhaj on Gender Related Issues

It is the aim of this article to examine several gender related practices considered religiously normative by the IS and deconstruct the religious justifications behind them. In the analysis I include the practices pertaining to the all-pervasive nature of gender segregation, obligatory nature of the face-veil ( niqāb ) and the institution of concubinage through means of enslavement of ‘pagan’ female war captives. In this context I will argue that from interpretational methodology point of view, the IS ’ stance on gender under discussion are identical with the neo-ahl ḥadīth approach to interpretation (manhāj) of the Qurʾān and Sunna as advocated by major contemporary Saudi Arabian scholars such as Al-Albānī (d. 1999), A. Bin Bāz (d. 1999), M. Al-ʿUthaymīn (d. 2001), Ṣ. al-Fawzān (b. 1933), M. Ṣ. Al-Munajjid (b. 1960), Ibn Jibrīn (d. 2014) and H.R. Al-Madhkhalī (b. 1931). I also briefly note that in many ways the broader Sunnī traditionalist approach as exemplified in “Open-letter to Baghdādī Document” which aims to refute IS interpretation of the normative texts, shares many hermeneutically critical presuppositions, and therefor legal determinations, with that of the neo-ahl ḥadīth in relation to the gender issues under discussion.

Islam and Muslims in the West: Major Issues and Debates

This book analyzes the development of Islam and Muslim communities in the West, including influences from abroad, relations with the state and society, and internal community dynamics. The project examines the emergence of Islam in the West in relation to the place of Muslim communities as part of the social fabric of Western societies. It provides an overview of the major issues and debates that have arisen over the last three to four decades surrounding the presence of new Muslim communities residing in Western liberal democracies. As such, the volume is an ideal text for courses focusing on Islam and Muslim communities in the West.

Tensions between the Study of Gender and Religion: The Case of Patriarchal and Non-Patriarchal Interpretations of the Islamic Tradition

In this article, I discuss the tensions between patriarchal and non-patriarchal interpretations of the Islamic tradition and some of the factors which contribute to the engendering of both. In order to contextualize the main discussion in the first part of the article, I outline the historical tensions between the study of religion and gender in general. The question of whether the culturally organizing function of gender is to be inevitably linked to the formation and perpetuation of patriarchal religion in general, and Islam in particular, is explored, or whether religion, including the case of Islam, can be a source of non-patriarchal values and ethics. In the second part, I discuss some of the most prominent factors which contribute to patriarchal interpretations of the Islamic tradition by grouping them, from the perspective of the individual interpreter, into those which pertain to personal opinion regarding the nature of two genders, Sitz im Leben , and interpretational methodology ( manhaj ). In the context of non-patriarchal interpretations of the Islamic tradition, I discuss its main delineating features and show, by using the work of a contemporary reformist Iranian scholar, H. Y. Eshkevari (b. 1949/1950), how the contemporary non-patriarchal interpretations of the Islamic tradition are sensitive to how both patriarchy and gender influence the process of interpretation.

A Case Study of Patriarchy and Slavery: The Hermeneutical Importance of QurʾĀnic Assumptions in the Development of a Values-Based and Purposive Oriented QurʾĀn-Sunna Hermeneutic

When engaging in the process of developing a Qurʾānic hermeneutic1 and Islamic legal theory (usūl ul-fiqh), generations upon generations of Islamic legal theorists (usuliyyūn), jurists (fuqahāʾ), and exegetes (mufassirūn) have primarily concerned themselves with questions of what the Qurʾān has to say on a particular issue or theme but not what the Qurʾān tacitly assumes to be normative as understood by its direct audience and as evident in the Qurʾān’s content. They did not fully recognize the interpretational implications of the Qurʾānic presuppositions present in its discourse, especially in relation to developing a Qurʾānic hermeneutic and Islamic legal theory whose most powerful hermeneutical tool would entail an ethico-religious values- and purposive (maqāṣid)2-based approach to interpretation of the Qurʾān and the Sunna and the purposive nature of Islamic law and its philosophy.3 By an ethico-religious values-based approach, I mean a broader hermeneutical method that stipulates that the actual nature and character of the Qurʾān-Sunna discourse is hermeneutically best served and privileges its own interpretation on the basis of certain principles such as justice, righteousness, and equality, as based on the ethically objective nature of these values.4