Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective | 
 enlarge | Author: Amina Wadud
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
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Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 20534
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0195128362
Dewey Decimal Number: 297.12283054
EAN: 9780195128369
ASIN: 0195128362
Publication Date: June 10, 1999
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Product Description
Fourteen centuries of Islamic thought have produced a legacy of interpretive readings of the Qu'ran written almost entirely by men. Now, with Qu'ran and Woman, Amina Wadud provides a first interpretive reading by a woman, a reading which validates the female voice in the Qu'ran and brings it out of the shadows. Muslim progressives have long argued that it is not the religion but patriarchal interpretation and implementation of the Qu'ran that have kept women oppressed. For many, the way to reform is the reexamination and reinterpretation of religious texts. Qu'ran and Woman contributes a gender inclusive reading to one of the most fundamental disciplines in Islamic thought, Qu'ranic exegesis. Wadud breaks down specific texts and key words which have been used to limit women's public and private role, even to justify violence toward Muslim women, revealing that their original meaning and context defy such interpretations. What her analysis clarifies is the lack of gender bias, precedence, or prejudice in the essential language of the Qur'an. Despite much Qu'ranic evidence about the significance of women, gender reform in Muslim society has been stubbornly resisted. Wadud's reading of the Qu'ran confirms women's equality and constitutes legitimate grounds for contesting the unequal treatment that women have experienced historically and continue to experience legally in Muslim communities. The Qu'ran does not prescribe one timeless and unchanging social structure for men and women, Wadud argues lucidly, affirming that the Qu'ran holds greater possibilities for guiding human society to a more fulfilling and productive mutual collaboration between men and women than as yet attained by Muslims or non-Muslims.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 Dissenting view December 6, 2008
Sorry to burst the bubble here, but I read this book several years ago and have read it again since. It is superficially attractive at first reading. Oh, what a relief, we all think, God doesn't hate women after all! And that clever Amina proves it for us! But hold on a minute...
First of all, let me declare that I am a Muslim woman and so this is not going to be an attack on Islam.
What i think Wadud does in this book is to "set up a straw man (or woman?)" and then knock it down. She claims that all the "discrimination" against women that "exists" in "Islam" is because of all those naughty biased male scholars in past years and she now brings us the shining light of her (oh, might be ten) years of scholarship to relieve all of us who have been laboring for hundreds of years under these errors. Right, so when Americans "do Islam" they do it better than those of us who have been following it as a way of life for centuries. Or do they? Arrogance is a sin in Islam, especially when you are talking about the religion. Accusing your brothers (our saints and scholars) of lying and insincerity is also a major sin. How well exactly does this writer know our religion?
The author claims to be following the traditional rules for tafsir but contrary to the practice laid down by Islamic law, no less, rejects all the evidence of the hadith for her interpretation. So, she rejects all the evidence from the Prophet himself and his Companions. Including all the wives of the Prophet and other women companions. But the Qur'an itself advises us to learn from "those who know" and to respect the Prophet's Companions and the Prophet told us to learn from them.
Wadud selects significant women figures from the Qur'an to argue her case (that is, that men and women are equal in the eyes of God spiritually, and therefore should be equal in all social roles too). But the idea that men and women are equal in the eyes of God and will be due equal reward is stated repeatedly in the Qur'an and no scholar has ever disputed it - nothing new there.
After this, when she gets on to social roles, she goes sadly wrong. First of all, she ignores or stretches her interpretations beyond the bounds of credibility. Here, I am not going to go into her arguments in detail because thousands of scholars have already covered such things in detail.
She takes the women figures mentioned in the Qur'an (Mary, mother of Jesus, Pharoah's wife, Lot's wife, etc.) and uses them to show that women are independent moral agents (ie Pharoah's wife is saved, Lot's wife isn't, Mary is an example for men as well as women in virtue and piety, etc.) Well, so far so good. But none of those "naughty male scholars" of yesteryear have ever said otherwise - so nothing new there, either, chaps (and chapesses). By now she's really up to speed. The Qur'an, she says, allows, but does not prescribe a patriarchal culture so all those bits about men supporting women because they are the childbearers, and women being allowed to keep their money when they earn, and, ooh say, polygamy, they are kind of "optional add-ons" for Ms Wadud. Maybe a touch old-fashioned for modern Americans who can do Islam so much better these days.... Right?
Yes, but....
Apart from her ignoring the hadaith, there is another HUGE gaping hole in her methodology.
The one super-inspiring named female figure that she misses from her book (and seriously it cannot have been accidental) is HAJAR (Hagar in the bible). According to the Qur'an she was the wife of Abraham and mother of Ismail, whom Abraham at one point apparently abandoned with her child in a desert area. Imagine, how she ran backward and forward repeatedly searching for water among the dunes for her son and herself, praying and searching until she finally realized that water was coming from a spring at her son's feet (she is a shining example of work and faith combined in the face of apparently hopeless odds). And water (as in the spring) in the Qur'an represents God's Mercy (it gives Life) and Revelation. And her son Ismail became a prophet himself and was the ancestor of the Prophet Mohammed. So, no Hajar would have meant no Ismail, no Prophet Mohammed and no Islam. Every single Muslim who has ever been and will ever go on Hajj (and all of us are supposed to go on Hajj) commemmorates this heroic woman's actions and drinks from the Zamzam well which she found.
So why does Wadud miss out this essential and inspiring woman? Could it be because Hajar was Abraham's second wife? Could this be why Islamic scholars have always insisted that the existence and validity of polygamy is vital to Islam ? Perhaps, as Muslim women, we need to do what our scholars recommend. When we find something we don't like in our religion, we must ask ourselves, "What is the wisdom in this?" Perhaps Islam is patriarchal. Dare I say it? Perhaps patriarchy can be good? (And no, I don't mean male chauvinism.)
Wadud's book is foolish, tricksy, misguided and unhelpful and encourages us to follow our "evil-commanding self".
Don't buy it, don't read it - it damaged my thinking for quite a while. As a woman, you start out spiritually equal to men but you might not be by the time you finish it. Buy something improving by one of those scholars she so disapproves of - Imam Nawawi, Imam Ghazzali, Said Nursi, Habib Ali Jifri.... Honestly, absolutely scabrous book.
Oh and by the way, if you vote on reviews, I notice that on Amazon, if you say in your review, "I love this book", even if you clearly haven't read it, you always rise in the "helpful" stakes. And if you don't like it, you fall. But seriously, a helpful review should give you some idea of the quality and content of the book. We are not writing publisher's blurbs here. This is not a vote about your views on feminism.
 Good and short August 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book it good but short, and there are already many good reviews, so I will only add that, for a better understanding of Islam (neither flattering nor biased against it), it is worth reading also the following works:
A) ASSESSMENTS OF ISLAM: 1) The best, impartial, wise: "Islam. History, present, future" by Hans Kueng . 2) Moderate Islam at its best: "The Great Theft : Wrestling Islam from the Extremists" by Khaled M. Abou El Fadl; and 3) Harsh but well argued: "Muslims in the West: Redefining the Separation of Church & State" by Sami Awad Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh;
B) WOMEN AND ISLAM. 4) A good reference book: "Women In Islam: An Anthology From The Qu'ran And Hadiths" by Nicholas Awde; and 5) Autobiography of a courageous woman: "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She is a controversial thinker with a very interesting life.
C) HISTORY: 6) General: "The Venture of Islam", by Marshall G. S. Hodgson (nowadays a classic included in any bibliography on Islam); 7) Turks: "The Turks in World History" by Carter Vaughn Findley; 8) Political theory: "God's Rule : Government and Islam" by Patricia Crone; and 9) Jihad: Understanding Jihad" by David Cook.
 a few thoughts April 17, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The book I read was "Qur'an and Woman," by Amina Wadud. In it she explores the way women are presented in the Holy Qur'an, and also ways in which this has not been firmly understood through the years by a culturally-driven interpretation of the text. She breaks down the linguistic structures of the passages referring to women and determines the difference, if any, between how men are seen and how women are seen.
It is quite a formidable task, to approach this multi-leveled text- the Qur'an- and try to make a holistic sense of it, which she does quite well. Throughout she firmly and conclusively shows how Islam, the religion centered on the Qur'an and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad(SAWS), is gender inclusive, gender equal, and not male-dominated. It is simply another sad example of persistent cultural bias and perversion that has lead to the idea that women are no more than mere property or some other such nonsense in the religion of Islam.
The Qur'an, and Islam more generally, according to the author, fully honors the potential of women, and is designed to fill the role of guidebook for a peaceful loving (towards all) of humanity- regardless of caste, color, or creed- if understood according to its actual terms and the traditions of the Prophet(SAWS). "The Qur'an is quite selective about historical details which help to fulfill its purpose of universal guidance."(pg 31)
Wadud discusses in four chapters her four major themes for Qur'anic exegesis. They are women and their place in the creation of humanity, how women are viewed in this world, women in the hereafter, and the rights and roles of women in general.
Personally, this topic moves me as few others do. From the point of view of injustice, I absolutely cannot stand the way Muslims are presented in the media. I cannot stand the way so many Western women(and men) view the role of women in a Muslim society- completely ignoring the role of modesty as a timeless virtue. I also cannot stand the way so-called Muslim societies demean women out of sheer cultural ignorance, slandering Islam and the good name of Muhammad(SAWS) by abusing their words to oppress, really, anyone. Islam is expressly against the oppression of any sort of people.
In a separate book, "The Religion of Islam," a somewhat controversial writer, Maulana Muhammad Ali, speaks of woman's authentic role, "From a material as well as a spiritual point of view, Islam recognizes the position of woman to be the same as that of man." He then goes on to quote the Qur'an, "I will not suffer the work of a worker among you to be lost, whether male or female, the one of you being from the other."(3:194) He provides many more Qur'anic quotes citing the undying message of unity and equal worth of all peoples, male and female.
On a slightly adjacent point, what attempts to pass itself off as Christianity nowadays is a politician's ruse to cite people to ignorance and violence. As one who deeply loves and respects and attempts to follow the teachings of Jesus, this is particularly saddening. Islam itself believes in Christ, Moses, and all of God's messengers; and to do otherwise would be un-Islamic. Our own president has spoken of our current war as a Holy War. Everyone needs to know that authentic Islam poses no threat to anyone. It abhors anger, vengeance, violence (except in cases of defense), oppression, and all manner of bad manners and ways. Ignorance alone has proven itself to be the dangerous element in our lives. So, getting off of my soapbox I can only say that the world is in a dangerous place, and our enemy is far from being Islam, and Islam is far from being a tool for oppression of anyone, especially woman- really quite the opposite.
Everyone should read this August 21, 2005
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
Most Muslims are not Arabs, and consequently don't speak Arabic, the language of the Qur'an. So an awful lot of Muslims themselves have never actually read the Qur'anic verses about women and tried to make sense of them. On the other hand, most non-Muslims have never read the Qur'an, and tend to assume that the Muslim view of women is more or less that of the Taliban or the Saudis. This book, written by an progressive Muslim American academic with a Ph.D. in Arabic, should be essential reading for both the above groups.
AN IMPORTANT PERSPECTIVE July 19, 2005
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
This black American Muslim woman's profound study of the Qu'ran with respect to women in Islam is much needed because it questions the widely accepted attitude among Muslims that women are in certain respects inferior. This is not a superficial study and it bears re-reading and reflection. I read it once while reading the work by Irshad manji, "What is Wrong with Islam." The two books are quite different, but I found they complement each other.
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