The Qur’anic Exegesis in the Lense of Muslim Feminists: A Critical Analysis of Asma Barlas’ Hermeneutics
This paper offers a critical analysis of the hermeneutical framework of Asma Barlas, a controversial feminist scholar, in rereading gender-sensitive verses of the Qur’Én. Barlas (2002) argues that the message of the Qur’Én is essentially egalitarian; this egalitarian spirit of the Qur’Én, however, i...
| Published in: | The Journal of Rotterdam Islamic and Social Sciences |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
De Gruyter, Versita
2021
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| In: |
The Journal of Rotterdam Islamic and Social Sciences
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| Further subjects: | B
Gender sensitive verses
B Koran exegesis B Muslim feminists B Hermeneutics B Islamic Modernism B Quranic exegesis |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This paper offers a critical analysis of the hermeneutical framework of Asma Barlas, a controversial feminist scholar, in rereading gender-sensitive verses of the Qur’Én. Barlas (2002) argues that the message of the Qur’Én is essentially egalitarian; this egalitarian spirit of the Qur’Én, however, is distorted by manipulative/sexist patriarchal interpretation of Muslim clerics. This, according to her, led to fundamental flaw in the epistemology of Qur’Énic reading as well as position of women in Islam. However, in the process of developing her arguments in castigating patriarchal interpretation, Barlas has seriously manipulated a huge amount of Islamic literature to buttress her claims. I argue that Barlas’ hermeneutics is fundamentally flawed as it is based on a female-centric framework in rereading the Quran while disregarding well-established principles of tafsÊr. My argument is never meant to reject revitalization in tafsÊr per se, rather it calls for a critical engagement with the concepts of Qur’Énic text rereading and inspiring more qualified scholars to engage on the task of responding to misconceptions generated by Muslim feminists on the issue while carving a constructive path to progressive/meaningful thoughts in tafsÊr. The paper concludes that Barlas’s hermeneutical approach in rereading of text is erroneous as it represents an indirect way of claiming a "definitive reading" something that goes contrary with the Qur’Énic heritage of ikhtilÉf, the possibility of yielding a number of interpretations from a text. Thus, if Barlas condemns traditional exegetes for manipulating the real message of the Qur’Én, her hermeneutical approach is no less distorting. |
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| ISSN: | 2199-6172 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The Journal of Rotterdam Islamic and Social Sciences
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