Woman in the Qur'an: The absence of sex-role stereotyping in the text.

Abstract

The condition of women in many Muslim societies does not reflect the role of women intended by the Qur'an, the Islamic Holy book. An essential reason for this disparity between practice and ideology is the disconnection that has developed between the text itself and the proliferation of literature in the form of commentaries on and analysis of the text. Muslims have come to rely more heavily on the opinions of commentators than on an underst and ing the Qur'an itself. These commentaries are often irrelevant to many socio-moral issues, like the role of woman, which have been asked in the modern context. This dissertation examines the Qur'an directly in order to derive an underst and ing of the concept of woman projected by the text. It specifically analyzes the verses which mention women and the context of those verses. These verses are then examined in light of certain key terms and concepts used in the Qur'an to discuss humankind in general. A major premise behind this work was that the Qur'an explicates itself with regard to most socio-cultural issues through an elaborate interwoven system of ethico-moral principles. By focusing on the Qur'an's position on the role of woman this dissertation differs from many modern feminist researchers who explicitly try to distance themselves from all traditional sources. In addition, this dissertation draws a distinction between the function of Arabic as a religious language and the function of Arabic as the basis of thought for Arabic speakers. This dissertation analyzes the equality between women and men as encoded in the Qur'an. The system of Islamic social justice inherent in the Qur'an eliminates the stereotypic values attributed to the distinctions between men and women by demonstrating that they are mutually dependent in the maintenance and survival of society. The value of the functions performed by each woman and man is not based on gender but on the individual's capacity to function and belief in the ultimate power of God and the reality of the Hereafter.