Title: A Historical Reflection on Womanhood in Islam
Abstract: Women‟s status in Islam has gained currency in the academy, particularly, in gender studies and social criticism. Despite the availability of credible information about Islam throughout the world, some scholars still argue that Muslim women have no genuine rights in Islam and that Islam is head-to-toe patriarchal. Using Leila Ahmad‟s theory of Islamic gender egalitarianism, as framework, and Qur‟an and Sunnah as interpretative evidence, this paper critically examines women‟s rights and privileges provided by Islam from historical perspective. The major finding is that Islam places both men and women on an equal footing in every Islamic religious endeavour, although, their core differences have been acknowledged. Hence, Islam is egalitarian in terms of gender. The main argument is that Muslim men and women enjoy similar rights and that the discrimination against today‟s Muslim women resulted from an incorrect interpretation of Islamic injunctions. However, many scholars misread and substitute some of the cultural adaptations in today‟s Muslim societies for the Islamic principles or essence. Hence, the conclusion is that mere reflections on practice will always lead to misconstruction of women‟s image in Islam if Islamic norms are not critically examined to inform the understanding of the practices.
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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