Reading done on April 15 2019
"Towards a Feminist Interpretation of Islam: Faith and Gender in the Work of Fatima Mernissi. "
- by Dr. Shazia Malik (Ph.D in Women’s Studies, India) - March 2014
- The Soviet Poster Collection, Collection Catalogue
- IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 19, Issue 3, Ver. IV (Mar. 2014), PP 25-28 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org
- accessed on April 15 2019
"In her influential book, Women and Islam: An historical and theological enquiry [3], Mernissi highlights the role of women in the spread of Islam, and more importantly, the articulation of Islam. The book also discusses the „rights‟ of women in Islam, and makes an interesting, if controversial, argument that shari’a has been deliberately mutilated by men, and, if it appears as an instrument of patriarchy today, it is because women have never had the chance to interpret it in a gender sensitive context" (Malik 2014, 25).
"Islamic feminists argue that there can be a feminist reading of Islamic theology, and patriarchal interpretations of the Quran and the Hadith can be validly interrogated with a feminist counter-interpretation" (Malik 2014, 26).
"Islamic feminists have come to insist that the gender discrimination has a social rather than a natural or/and a religious basis and this could open the door to new possibilities for gender equality" (Malik 2014, 26).
"Like the other Islamic feminists, she offers a woman-oriented, gender-sensitive interpretation of Islam" (Malik 2014, 26).
"Mernissi begins by making a comparative assessment of women in the western and the Arab world, and comes to the conclusion that at both places, the position of women is clearly inferior and subordinate to men" (Malik 2014, 26).Mernissi argues that "gender inequality, which she terms, „sexual inequality‟, is based on the assumption of women‟s biological weakness. A woman, in the western world, is perceived to be inferior to men, both physically and mentally. In the Islamic world, gender inequalities do not emerge from a belief in their weakness, but, quite the contrary, in their power, and dangerous potential" (Malik 2014, 26).
"According to her, there are three sources that restrict the intimacy in a heterosexual unit: polygamy, men‟s unilateral right of divorce, and the authority of the mother-in-law in the family" (Malik 2014, 27).
"Mernissi considers polygamy as a great impediment in the development of conjugal intimacy. It keeps women‟s sexuality under control, while it gives men the authority to have multiple sexual relationships. This humiliates womanhood and render women inferior and subordinate to men. Similarly, men‟s unilateral rights in marriage impede conjugal intimacy, because it fosters a sense of insecurity among women, and obstructs the development of meaningful relationship between spouses. In traditional Islam there is a clear division between male and female spaces, and this too enables men to restrict and control women‟s sexual behavior" (Malik 2014, 27).
"According to Mernissi, Islam recognizes women as powerful, sexual beings. There is no notion of female inferiority in Islam. It, therefore, recognizes the potential equality between men and women, and if this is not the case today, it is, for feminist believers, simply because that potential has not been realized" (Malik 2014, 27).
"Citing the Quran, and re-interpreting its verses, Mernissi argues that sexuality is not an evil in Islam, and, therefore, even as women in the Islamic world is viewed as sexual, it is not with a view to degrade her, nor even to render her inferior to men. However, patriarchal interpretations have, from the representation of women as sexual, jumped to the conclusion that women in Islam are inferior and subordinate to men. Inverting the patriarchal ethos, Mernissi asserts that Islam recognizes women‟s irresistible power over men. The emphasis on gender segregation in Muslim societies, therefore, emerges not from the faith in women‟s subordinate position, but from the realization of their potential strength" (Malik 2014, 26-27).