Islam, Women, and Gender Justice

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Islam, Women, and Gender Justice
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Argument

• The Quran and basic principles of Islam support
  gender justice
• But the patriarchal societies have diminished
  gender justice
• So, have to look carefully at teachings of Islam
  and authorities to discern authentic vs.
  inauthentic teachings

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Justice

• Justice is a central concept in Islam
• includes retaliation
• But higher ideal is benevolence and forgiveness
• includes concern for weaker members of society
• Yet the idea of justice can change with new
  social situations
• How? What does this say about religious truth?

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Authority

• Quran
• divine and immutable
• Normative teachings more important than
  contextual teachings
• Doesnt anticipate all circumstances as social
  setting changes, people confront new dilemmas
• NOTE fundamentalists do not agree with the author

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Authority, cont.

• Ahadith
• Some spurious
• Divine or human?
• Analogy (qiyas)
• Human reasoning process
• Scholarly consensus (ijma)
• Whose consensus counts?
• Ijtihad solving problems without guidance of
  Quran and ahadith

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Shariah

• Based on
• Quran (divinely inspired)
• Ahadith or sunna (divine or human? Forgeries?)
• Analogy (qiyas)
• Consensus (ijma)
• 3 and 4 (and perhaps 2) are human therefore they
  can change
• However, the Ulama present it as divine and
  immutable (122)
• So, change is difficult

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Quranic teachings on women

• Full support for sexual equality (124) in several
  verses
• Distinguish between is (historical setting) and
  ought (ideal, eternal principle)
• orthodox dont accept this distinction, treat all
  the same (not historical)
• Rights of wife equal to her husbands
• can demand a divorce
• Women can inherit property (half of what the son
  inherits)
• Some Quranic teachings are concessions to context
• Example polygamy
• limitation on how performed (widows and orphans
  only, to protect them, only 4, must treat justly)
• tension Quran suggests it is difficult to
  fulfill the command to treat them all justly

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Questions

• What rights should women have, in Engineers
  reading of Islam?
• Why does Islam suppress womens rights, according
  to his reading?
• How can one discern between the is and the
  ought in sacred teachings?
• What are the dangers in emphasizing the
  historical context of sacred teachings?

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Questions, cont.

• Why, as he claims, do those orthodox Muslims most
  resist change in teachings on women, when they
  accept change in other teachings (like money,
  property) (p. 123)?
• How significant is it that Islam improved womens
  situation in the 7th and 8th centuries? Is that
  still meaningful today?
• Is it proper to distinguish spirit and letter in
  Quranic interpretation?