Read Online Inside the Gender Jihad: Women's Reform in Islam by Amina Wadud - Free Book Online
Authors: Amina Wadud
Tags: Religión, General, Social Science, Islam, womens studies, Feminism & Feminist Theory, Sexuality & Gender Studies, Islamic Studies
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human action or interaction and renders to Islam a much more dynamic formula by recog- nizing what human surrender means vis-à-vis Allah’s will. This is confirmed by the Qur’anic identification of the human being as ‘abd , or servant. Surrender is mutually accepting human volition while recognizing Allah’s ultimate authority. As a servant one must act in accordance with how one understands Allah’s will. It is abundantly evident that most people on the planet do not surrender to Allah’s will; they surrender to greed, ego, desires, and whims.
The term “engaged” confirms human volition. A human can surrender but only through the autonomy of full consciousness. One can choose not to surrender. This makes it easier to understand Allah’s unique gift to humans as morally free beings. Engaged surrender binds human agency and divine will into the dynamic and enduring relationship that is always being exercised from one moment to the next whether in public or private human actions. Often tension arises between the divine will and human agency, so Islam is the voluntary choice of surrender. Emphasis is placed upon the agent for the choice he or she makes to surrender to Allah’s will. That should be taken for granted, not as blame for the chaos and destruction that human civilizations have chosen to create, be they Muslims
or not. 14 I will return to look at agency in more detaill after my discussion
of tawhid .
The Tawhidic Paradigm
Tawhid is the principle theoretical or foundational term underlying my use of the term Islam to claim that it does not oppress women. I have developed what I call the tawhidic paradigm . There were many experiences of being a woman engaged in the gender jihad that influences my thinking and drives my research . This book will include selective references to some of these experiences integral to my journey and theoretical conclusions. As the tawhidic paradigm is discussed here, it is unequivocal and fundamental to my work on gender. It began with experiences of Muslim gender “double- talk” that presumes that “woman is not to man as man is to woman.”
24 inside the gender jihad
For example, I once attended a halqah , a religious study circle, in a local mosque. The halqah is a confessional community function geared to the
level of general membership
and
hardly the place to offer or expect
challenging ideas about Islamic Studies or reform. This can sometimes be frustrating, but even after completing my Ph.D. in Islamic Studies, I would occasionally attend these as part of my need for community life. That day the topic was Muslim family life. Generally, this means telling women and men their rightful place in traditional patriarchal family. Although perhaps unintended by the (male) instructor, I learned something else. For while the speaker started by stating “men and women are equal in Islam,” he followed with a Qur’anic quote, “and the rights due to women are similar to the rights against them with regard to ma‘ruf [a well-known or established idea of justice] but men have a degree over them” (2:228). Normally, I am opposed to the use of this second half of the verse without the context of the whole verse, because it is not a universal discussion but rather a particular discussion related to the institution of divorce.
As confirmed in Islamic law, divorce is clearly unequal between women and men. Men have the unilateral right of repudiation while women can
only obtain divorce after the intervention of the courts. I have argued elsewhere 15 that this inequality reflects the circumstances of subjugation within marriage that existed at the time of the revelation. A woman would
never have any hope of divorce, besides the one initiated by the husband, unless she had the court guarantee the protection of her choice. 16 It remains, however, that men have a degree of advantage over women: they
need only say “I divorce you” to initiate the termination of the
The term “engaged” confirms human volition. A human can surrender but only through the autonomy of full consciousness. One can choose not to surrender. This makes it easier to understand Allah’s unique gift to humans as morally free beings. Engaged surrender binds human agency and divine will into the dynamic and enduring relationship that is always being exercised from one moment to the next whether in public or private human actions. Often tension arises between the divine will and human agency, so Islam is the voluntary choice of surrender. Emphasis is placed upon the agent for the choice he or she makes to surrender to Allah’s will. That should be taken for granted, not as blame for the chaos and destruction that human civilizations have chosen to create, be they Muslims
or not. 14 I will return to look at agency in more detaill after my discussion
of tawhid .
The Tawhidic Paradigm
Tawhid is the principle theoretical or foundational term underlying my use of the term Islam to claim that it does not oppress women. I have developed what I call the tawhidic paradigm . There were many experiences of being a woman engaged in the gender jihad that influences my thinking and drives my research . This book will include selective references to some of these experiences integral to my journey and theoretical conclusions. As the tawhidic paradigm is discussed here, it is unequivocal and fundamental to my work on gender. It began with experiences of Muslim gender “double- talk” that presumes that “woman is not to man as man is to woman.”
24 inside the gender jihad
For example, I once attended a halqah , a religious study circle, in a local mosque. The halqah is a confessional community function geared to the
level of general membership
and
hardly the place to offer or expect
challenging ideas about Islamic Studies or reform. This can sometimes be frustrating, but even after completing my Ph.D. in Islamic Studies, I would occasionally attend these as part of my need for community life. That day the topic was Muslim family life. Generally, this means telling women and men their rightful place in traditional patriarchal family. Although perhaps unintended by the (male) instructor, I learned something else. For while the speaker started by stating “men and women are equal in Islam,” he followed with a Qur’anic quote, “and the rights due to women are similar to the rights against them with regard to ma‘ruf [a well-known or established idea of justice] but men have a degree over them” (2:228). Normally, I am opposed to the use of this second half of the verse without the context of the whole verse, because it is not a universal discussion but rather a particular discussion related to the institution of divorce.
As confirmed in Islamic law, divorce is clearly unequal between women and men. Men have the unilateral right of repudiation while women can
only obtain divorce after the intervention of the courts. I have argued elsewhere 15 that this inequality reflects the circumstances of subjugation within marriage that existed at the time of the revelation. A woman would
never have any hope of divorce, besides the one initiated by the husband, unless she had the court guarantee the protection of her choice. 16 It remains, however, that men have a degree of advantage over women: they
need only say “I divorce you” to initiate the termination of the
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