Quranic hermeneutics: Difference between revisions

The growing influence of women in the Muslim world and their increasing access to higher levels of education, combined with the Western interest in the position of women in the Muslim world has a profound influence on Islamic hermeneutics, which must deal with transnationalism and its effect on gender roles. [[Zayn R. Kassam]] touches on this by mentioning that, "Muslim women's praxis, particularly the hopes, possibilities, and challenges that accompany this scholarly textual reinterpretation, remains under-researched".<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/698104082|title=Women and Islam|date=2010|publisher=Praeger|others=Kassam, Zayn.|isbn=9780313082740|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|oclc=698104082}}</ref>{{Rp|94}} Due to this type of interpretation being under-researched, many women in Islamic communities are still oppressed despite the changing of modern society. 'New' schools of Islamic thinking (emblematized by such philosophers as [[Mohammed Arkoun]]) have challenged "monodimensional hermeneutics." Modern Qur’anic hermeneutics has been influenced by the changing position and view of women in the Muslim world and increasing numbers of study and interpretations of the text itself. [[Mohammed Arkoun]] further expands on this thought explaining, "There are concrete examples how authority and power are conquered, monopolized and translated, not in the theoretical classical frameworks, but in a more simplified vocabulary, accessible to the illiterate peasants, mountain-dwellers and nomads."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62344365|title=Islam : to reform or to subvert?|last=Arkoun, Mohammed|date=2006|publisher=Saqi Essentials|others=Arkoun, Mohammed.|isbn=9780863567650|edition= Updated |location=London|oclc=62344365}}</ref>{{Rp|253}} The Qur’an is such an authoritative text in Islamic communities, and even though there are many different interpretations of the text, stereotypical societal structures still exist in the changing modern world, perhaps because they have not been challenged in prior interpretations. [[Zayn R. Kassam]] adds to this by stating that, “The discursive hermeneutics of Qur’anic tafsir is a strategy born of necessity and the unwavering belief in the unfulfilled promise of gender egalitarianism in Islam”.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|117}} These types of interpretation are in many ways still in their infancy, but growing concern around these topics calls for a new hermeneutical approach for interpreting the Qur’an. Interpretation of the Qur’an in terms of gender rights is becoming more prevalent, especially due to the many changes taking place in modern times concerning gender and other minority or oppressed groups. In terms of these approaches to interpretation, and the hermeneutical model being developed for it, Amina Wadud, is one who can be considered a significant developer. For example, in her analysis, in the context of the creation story in the Qur'an, states that, "The Qur'an encourages all believers, male and female, to follow their beliefs with actions, and for this it promises them a great reward. Thus, the Qur'an does not make a distinction between men and women in this creation, the purpose of the Book, or in the reward it promises".<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|15}} This is an example of modern hermeneutics and the way it can be applied to this issue. Wadud considers that Arabic, the language of the Qur’an, is a gendered language, so that the meaning of certain phrases can be altered just be this factor alone. While she does use traditional ''tafsir'' in her analysis, she changes and skips some of the traditional steps, like keeping words in context while also referring to the larger textual development of the term and focusing on what is left unsaid in the Qur’an in relation to what is said. Wadud challenges the traditional hermeneutical approach and ''tafsir'' by adding to and changing the usual model. Dr. Wadud has giving us an interpretation of the Quran through a female Muslim lens. She offers a female view of women in the Quran and their importance of their teaching. She suggests that the Quran does not supply gender specific roles for either male or female. Amina states that the patriarchal construct of women’s role in the community was a self-serving one., not ordained by Quranic text. She states that the greater Quranic message is on to establish harmony within the community.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|81}}