Women in the Qur'an: An Emancipatory Reading PDF
Preview Women in the Qur'an: An Emancipatory Reading
fWsI NNER \\ | ENGLISH PEN MbA WARD / ASMA LAMRABET Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https ‘/larchive.org/details/womeninquraneman0OO0lamr Women in the Qur’an: An Emancipatory Reading Asma Lamrabet Translated by Myriam Francois-Cerrah Square View This book has been selected to receive financial assistance from English PEN’s “PEN Translates!” programme, supported by Arts Council England. English PEN exists to promote literature and our understanding of it, to uphold writers’ freedoms around the world, to campaign against the persecution and imprisonment of writers for stating their views, and to promote the friendly co-operation of writers and the free exchange of ideas. www.englishpen.org ENGISA 5% Supported using public funding by PEN 0 €= ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND Women in the Qur’an: An Emancipatory Reading First published in England by Square View Distributed by Kube Publishing Ltd Markfield Conference Centre Ratby Lane, Markfield, Leicestershire LE67 9SY United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1530 249230 Fax: +44 (0) 1530 249656 Website: www.kubepublishing.com Email: [email protected] © Asma Lambaret, 2016 All rights reserved The right of Asma Lambaret to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. CIP data for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-99351-660-3 casebound ISBN 978-0-99351-661-0 paperback ISBN 978-0-99351-662-7 ebook Cover design: Fatima Jamadar Book design/Typesetting: Nasir Cadir Printed by IMAK Offset, Istanbul, Turkey R0448053423 GONTEN ES Preface to the English Edition Introducing the author A meeting with very special Muslim women Thanks Introduction What kind ofl iberation are we speaking of? In the very beginning ... PART ONE When the Qur’an speaks of women 21 A story of all women 21 Balkis, Queen of Sheba: A democratic queen 25 Sarah and Hagar, emblems of monotheism 36 Zulaykha or forbidden love 44 Umm Musa and Asiah, the free women 57 The daughter of Shu‘ayb and the meeting with Musa 64 Maryam, the favourite 70 » WOMEN IN THE QUR’AN: AN EMANCIPATORY READING Maryam, a link between Christians and Muslims 70 The birth of Maryam 71 Maryam’s spiritual retreat 76 Revelation and annunciation ihe) The birth of ‘Isa and all the struggles 84 Maryam and her son, a ‘sign’ for the worlds 86 PART Two When the Qur’an speaks to women 91 The language of the Qur’an, a masculine language? Oil When the Qur’an responds to female demands 93 A mubahalah, or when the Qur’an encourages women to social participation 101 The Muhajirat or female political refugees 106 The mubayi‘at or the political participation of women 116 Al-Mujadilah, when God listens to the secrets of a woman 131 And the other verses? 159 Polygamy 142 Testimony 145 Inheritance 147 Hit them... ? ISS) Conclusion 160 Islam or the story of an aborted women’s revolution 160 Glossary of Terms 167 Publishers End Notes 169 Bibliography 173 Index 175 PRE EAGERVOSUL EIEN Girl Site PLEO Knowledge is power; and, like power, it can be used to serve diametrically opposed objectives: from serving humanity, to the destruction of what is good for mankind. Hence, the need for sound understanding and informed discussion. Islam today is perhaps the world’s most discussed religion; yet, arguably its most misunderstood one. Islamophobia and contrived efforts to impose reforms from outside or engineer them from within, have only aggravated the situation. Nevertheless, it may be worthwhile for both Islam’s advocates and adversaries to revisit their positions and explore avenues of real understanding through reflection and dialogue, as opposed to blind advocacy or outright demonization. Square View is not a commercial imprint in the traditional market. Its aim is to make available to the readers, Muslim and non-Muslim, male and female, young and old, literature that may enable them to appreciate Islam and Muslim life, history and culture, as Muslims understand them. This understanding is based on and rooted in the sources that Muslims hold to be authentic, enduring and inviolable. Yet it also reflects the genuine plurality that characterises the historical and contemporary intellectual landscape of the world of Islam. The Qur’an, as the Word of God is the primary and eternal source of the Islamic vision of life and human destiny. The Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad Vl =® WOMEN IN THE QUR’AN: AN EMANCIPATORY READING (peace be upon him) is the model for individual and collective behaviour for all times to come. Figh, developed in the light of these primary sources, provides a practical framework for individual and collective life and behaviour. This framework has a built-in mechanism to cater for the demands of permanence and change. It is not monolithic. Various schools of thought reflect the plurality of human endeavours to live in accordance with the values and principles of Islam in a variety of contexts. Islamic history showcases these endeavours of applying the guidance provided in the original sources of the Qur’an and Sunnah to problems and challenges as they have arisen in different times and climes. Tafsir literature reflects similar efforts to understand the Divine message and seek its application to changing and evolving situations. Loyalty to the sources, and a disciplined effort to apply the eternal guidance of scripture to temporal situations, is the hallmark of the Muslim intellectual enterprise, spread over almost a millennium and a half. Movements towards reform, revival and reconstruction, drawing upon the internal sources, constitute, despite their diversity and at times apparent conflict, a source of strength. They are an integral part of the historical process. The conscience of theM uslim ummah has welcomed and assimilated reforms and changes which it found to be in consonance with the letter and spirit of Divine guidance and rejected and spurned what it found to be incongruent and inconsistent with the same. External influences have also played their role. There have been trends that represented deviations and departures from the norm. Nonetheless, only that has been acceptable to the Ummah which it deemed authentic and which emerged as part of an internal process, resulting in continuity with change and variety. Respect for Islamic hermeneutic principles, as found in the fields of tafsir and usul-al-figh, has ensured the proper following of this process. The editorial policy pursued by Square View is consistent with this tradition of Islamic scholarship. The views expressed in the books and monographs published by Square View represent the views of their authors and not necessarily the views of the publishing house or the sponsoring research institutions. We believe that
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