Document Type : Research/Original/Regular

Authors

• Matineh sadat Moosavi ¹
• Mehrdad Abbasi ²
• Mahdi Mehrizi ³

¹ Ph.D student in Quran and Hadith studies, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch Branch, Tehran, Iran.

² Faculty member of Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch Branch, Tehran, Iran.

³ Associate Professor of the Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Theology and Political Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Iran

Abstract

Since much of the existing commentary has traditionally been written by Muslim men, how gender relations and women's rights are described plays significant role. But with the rise of Islamic feminism, some Muslim women in this movement are debating new evaluations of these traditional interpretations in order to conceive of equality between men and women from an Islamic perspective based on religious principles. They support the Quran. Meanwhile, some pioneers of this idea have focused their work on re-reading the text of the Qur'an as the most basic Islamic source, claiming that Muslim men have read the Qur'an from patriarchal perspective, thereby incorporating gender inequality and patriarchy into the interpretation of the Qur'an. the authors claim that such a rule doesn̓t have a patriarchal view among Shiite thinkers and commentators, and although gender can be effective in reading the text, adherence to the original Qur'anic principles and the centrality of the monotheistic paradigm will prevent biased interpretations. The study of the strength of men over women, which is one of the most challenging verses of the Qur'an on women's rights, from two perspectives of women (Wadud, Barlas and Hebri) and men (Tabatabai, Javadi Amoli, Motahhari) despite differences in intellectual, doctrinal and emergence, It gives similar results, indicating biased interpretations by Shiite commentators. That masculinity is a limited and conditional virtue for men is in order to fulfill family and social responsibilities in support of women's rights, and the meanings of superiority and domination over women are nothing more than misconception.

Highlights

Extended Abstract

Background & Purpose

The present paper looks at the first part of the interpretation of verse 34 in chapter An-Nisa, namely the men's guardianship over women, which is one of the most challenging verses of the Qur'an on women's rights from two gender perspectives: male (Allameh Tabatabai, Javadi Amoli, Motahhari) and female (Wadud, Barlas and Al-Habri).

Method

In this study, the library method has been used.

Results

One of the new arguments in the interpretation of religious texts is the effect of gender on understanding and interpretation. It is claimed that women analyze things based on their own specific knowledge and worldview and with regard to their unique needs that can never be adequately understood by men, which will lead to different results from the understanding of men. But, this study aims to pay attention to the of several men of the contemporary Shiite commentator to reflect what has happened during the "feminist interpretation" or, in other words, "feminist reading" refers to some Sunni interpretations and lacks the voices of Shiite commentators. This study comparatively investigates the opinions of two groups of commentators and the Qur'an researchers who can be claimed to be on either side of a spectrum. On one side of the spectrum are Allameh Tabatabai, Javadia Amoli, Motahari, one of the great male Shiite commentators in Asia. And at the other side of the spectrum are Amina Wadud, a new African-American Muslim; Asma Barlas, an American-Pakistani writer; Azizah Hibri, a Lebanese- American philosopher; All of them are Muslim women who have chosen different fields to offer critical and alternative approaches to Islamic gender geometry and the epistemological heritage of Islam. Despite the significant differences in the basic presuppositions and assumptions in religious thought and belief in a particular intellectual, cultural, social, and even political environment, the common ground of these two groups is the subject of women's rights in the Qur'an. Although men (the first group) are better known as commentators, philosophers, and religious scholars than advocates of women's rights, this article addresses this issue by basing their opinions on verses related to women in their commentary and other books; An issue that women (The second group) are seeking to prove it as women's rights advocators.

Obviously, what the second group interprets sees as gendered and feminine (and has made them prominent advocators of women's rights) is not new to the contemporary Iranian reader who has grown up in Shiite culture; But it can contradict the second group's claim that the interpretations made by men are entirely biased and consider women as inferior and second class. Among the many verses that have caused controversy over defending women's rights, the first paragraph of verse 34 of chapter An-Nisa, namely, "Men's guardianship over women," has been selected for consideration in this article. Despite claiming the influence of the commentator's gender in perceiving texts and despite considerable differences in ideological foundations, intellectual space, religious orientations, and commentators' gender, using the monotheistic paradigm, human identity, and attention to human virtues, both groups have reached similar results though with some bit of differences. From this exploration and comparison, it seems that the first group (men) of the famous contemporary Shiite commentators, with a serious dedication to interpreting the Qur'an based on the Qur'an itself, agrees with the women in the second group in explaining and interpreting the first part of verse 34 of chapter An-Nisa. The first group has chosen the Qur'an as the only necessary interpretive reference from the various interpretive sources, and even with their expertise in theological, philosophical, and hadith discussions, etc., they suffice with the Qur'an alone for interpretation. Despite strong Shiite religious affiliations, they do not equate the authority of hadith and tradition with the authority of revelation and the Qur'an, and prominently, they believe in the "self-sufficiency of the Qur'an" in interpretation and its precedence over the hadith in the interpretation of divine verses.

The second group is not among the commentators of the Qur'an in the conventional sense. Rather than being commentators of the Qur'an, they are defenders of women's rights based on the Qur'an. But shared components can be extracted from the perspective of the first and second groups in the interpretation and explanation of the verse. According to them, guardianship is the responsibility of women's affairs assigned to men in the family (Allameh Tabatabai extends guardianship to society).

This guardianship is only a responsibility for men and does imply any privilege so that they can rely on it to consider themselves superior to women and dominate them. Both groups reject such a reading of the verse that has led to men's Self-aggrandizement. They introduce Taqwa (piety) as the only criterion of virtue and superiority based on verses of the Holy Quran. They believe that men, consequently, are responsible for managing their wives' lives so that they can fulfill a responsibility that is unique to them and that no man can perform (childbearing) it well. Guardianship refers to the virtue that God has bestowed on some men, and the word ''some'' in that verse rejects the generality of the superiority of all men over women. The guardianship factor that God has given to some men is merely financial superiority and alimony payment (on which everyone agrees). Among both groups, some believe that if a man is not able to manage his wife because of eligibility or payment of alimony, the man's guardianship over his wife will be questioned.

Conclusion

Since much of the existing interpretations have traditionally been written by Muslim men, the way they describe gender relationships and women's rights play a significant role. But from nearly three decades till now, there have been challenging discussions on the concept of "Islamic feminism" in scientific and academic circles, both in the West and in the Islamic world, and some Muslim women belonging to this movement are arguing for new evaluations of these traditional interpretations to promote the idea of equality between men and women from an Islamic point of view based on religious principles and support their arguments with evidence from the Qur'an.

Meanwhile, some pioneers of this idea have focused their work on re-reading the Qur'an as the most fundamental Islamic source, claiming that Muslim men have read the Qur'an from a patriarchal perspective, thereby incorporating gender inequality and patriarchy into the interpretation of the Qur'an. However, the authors claim that such a patriarchal view is not common among Shiite thinkers and commentators, and although gender can have an impact on reading a text, commitment to the basic Qur'anic principles and the centrality of the monotheistic paradigm will prevent biased interpretations.

Examining the first part of the interpretation of verse 34 of chapter An-Nisa, namely the men' guardianship over women, which is one of the most challenging verses of the Qur'an on women's rights, from two gender perspectives, male (Allameh Tabatabai, Javadi Amoli, Motahhari) and female (Wadood, Barlas and Al-Habri), despite the differences in intellectual and doctrinal origins and emergence context, give similar results, indicating non-biased perceptions by Shiite commentators. That guardianship is a limited and conditional virtue for men to fulfill family and social responsibilities in support of women's rights, which have a better effect on human life, and the meanings of superiority and domination over women are nothing more than misunderstandings.

Ethical considerations

Compliance with research ethics: In conducting this comparison and comparison, fidelity, fairness and ethical considerations have been observed.

Funding: The present study was not sponsored by any institution.

Authors' contribution: The corresponding author is Matineh Sadat Mousavi, and the first author is Mehrdad Abbasi. The second author is Mahdi Mehrizi.

Conflict of interest: This research does not directly or indirectly conflict with any personal or organizational interests.

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank everyone who helped us with the research.

Keywords

• Quran
• Commentary
• Guardianship
• Female Reading
• Traditional Commentary

20.1001.1.23452692.1401.10.2.3.4

Main Subjects

• women law