Essays on Islam and Gender Related Issues in the Islamic Tradition

In this collection of essays Adis Duderija (Ph.D) draws upon two decades of his extensive scholarship to present in accessible language many crucial issues relating to gender issues in Islam including issues relation to interpretational methodology of the Qur’an and Sunna , the concept of female religious agency, the concepts of masculinity and femininity , the role of custom (‘urf) in Islamic law ; women’s dress and gender interactions and Islamic feminist theology and many others.

Table of Contents:

• Unpacking Gender in Early Islamic Thought: Masculinity and Femininity in the Premodern Islamic Interpretative Tradition
• Untangling Honour: Exploration of Patriarchy and Modesty in Islamic Thought
• Unveiling the Qur’an: Understanding Hidden Assumptions in Islamic Texts-The case study of Slavery and Polygamy
• Islamic Feminist Scriptural Methodology
• Gender (Non)-Egalitarian Interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunna
• Reinterpreting Muslim Family Law: A Gender-Just Approach
• How to Engage with Hadith to Argue in Favour of Gender Justice in Islam
• Unveiling Gender Dynamics in Islamic Tradition: A Critical Exploration
• Gender Interactions and Women’s Clothing in the Islamic Traditon
• Imagining the Ideal Muslim Woman: Insights from Bosnian Muslim Treatises
• Empowering Muslim Women: Religious Agency and Gender Justice
• Contemporary Muslim Male Reformists: Developing Feminist Interpretations of Islam
• How Process relational Theology Aids Islamic Feminist Theology

Understanding Scriptural Hermeneutics

To understand Islamic feminism, it is crucial to first grasp the concept of scriptural hermeneutics. Hermeneutics, as defined by Gadamer, is the art of understanding texts. In the context of religion, it involves interpreting sacred texts, especially in theology and law. Scriptural hermeneutics deals with:

• The nature of a text.
• What it means to understand a text.
• How understanding and interpretation are determined by the presuppositions and beliefs of the audience.

A key element of scriptural hermeneutics is determinacy of meaning, which addresses where meaning comes from and how it is derived. Factors influencing this process include the eader’s knowledge, gender, experiences, the author’s intent, and the text’s nature.

The Role of Custom (Custom) in Islamic Law

Custom (‘urf) plays a significant role in Islamic legal thought and affects the interpretation of the Qur’an and Sunna. Custom offers an example of a crucial dynamic that connects legal theory and substantive law in the Islamic legal tradition. Custom permeates various stages of the legal process, influencing the interpretation of textual sources.

The Qur’an didn’t emerge in a vacuum. It engaged with pre-Islamic norms, practices, and culture through dialogue, debate, acceptance, and rejection. The Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad
employed existing Arab cultural concepts, imbuing them with a new spirit and reference to a new source of authority. Over time, the Qur’an and Sunna either rejected, modified, or accepted pre-Islamic sociocultural values.

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About
Adis Duderija is a first-generation Bosnian-Australian. He obtained his Ph.D in 2010 at the Centre for Muslim States and Societies at the University of western Australia on interpretational methodologies of Qur’an and Sunna in Neo-Traditional Salafism and Progressive Islam. He is currently an academic at Griffith University in Brisbane Australia where he teaches courses on Islam and Gender, Islamic intellectual tradition and Islam and Muslims in the West. He is the author of 9 books on various aspects of Islamic intellectual tradition (progressive Islam, Qur’anic hermeneutics, the concept of sunna, maqasid al shari’a, Salafism) and Islam and Muslims in the West and over 100 academic publications on these subjects.
For more details :
https://experts.griffith.edu.au/7439-adis-duderija
https://scholar.google.com.my/citations?user=RLEaZukAAAAJ&hl=en