Rifat Hassan's Feminist Method in Interpretation of Texts: An Analytical Study

تعبیرو تشریح نصوص میں رفعت حسن کا نسائی منھج:تجزیاتی مطالعہ

Abstract

The position and the role of women in Islam have long been a matter of scholarly controversy, as it is a diversity of the interpretations of the Muslim societies. Although Islam has a moral focus of human dignity, women have been traditionally viewed socially as inferior or second best, a view that has been strengthened by both the cultural tradition and the interpretation of juristic rules. To counter such disparities, feminist scholarship and women movements have attempted to redefine conventional interpretations of gender relations in the Islamic religion.

The article is a critical evaluation of the feminist hermeneutics of one of the most notable Pakistani-American Islamic theologians, Dr. Riffat Hassan. Her work is based on the Islamic tradition and is different to Western feminism since the author stresses the principles of equality and moral obligations presented in the Quran. The paper evaluates her four fundamental interpretive principles which are hermeneutical skepticism, equality which arises out of tawhid, centrality of maqasid al-shari'ah, and the significance of historical context and assesses how these principles apply to such issues as inheritance, legal testimony, qiwamah, and hijab. The paper also analyses the way in which her approach to the text is either complementary or contradictory to classical exegetical traditions, as well as how it contributes to the modern discourse on gender justice in Islamic philosophy.