Aysha Hidayatullah is an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. [1] She is most known for her work critiquing feminist interpretations of the Qur'an, Feminist Edges of the Qur'an.
Hidayatullah received her BA in Women Studies at Emory University, and both her Master's and PhD Degree in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. [2]
Hidayatullah began teaching undergraduate courses on Islam, race, gender and ethics at the University of San Francisco in 2008. [2] Her research focuses on feminist interpretations of Islamic text, representations of women and femininity in the Islamic tradition, the racialization of Islam in the United States, representations of Muslim women in the United States, and the pedagogy of Islamic studies. [2] She has published a number of works on these topics, most noteworthy being her book Feminist Edges of the Qur'an.
Hidayatullah is the co-founder and co-chair of the American Academy of Religion's Islam, Gender, Women unit, with the goal of developing the field of gender and women in Islam. [2] She has worked on numerous projects addressing religious diversity and Islamophobia in her field. One of which was being part of the leadership team for a pedagogical workshop on "Teaching Against Islamophobia" co-sponsored by the American Academy of Religion and the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. [2]
Hidayatullah's book is the first comprehensive examination of Islam and the Qur'an that follows the hermeneutics of feminism in its interpretation. [3] She gives an overview of the 20th century exegetical tradition of Islamic feminists, and subsequently responds to and critiques their conclusions. [4] Her feminist interpretation of the Qur'an asserts gender equality and justice as the foundation of Islamic morality. Hidayatullah challenges traditional interpretive traditions of the Qur'an by revealing the assumptions of the text to be in favour of feminist and LGBTQ+ movements. [5]
Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Jainism,Neopaganism, Baháʼí Faith, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those religions from a feminist perspective. Some of the goals of feminist theology include increasing the role of women among clergy and religious authorities, reinterpreting patriarchal (male-dominated) imagery and language about God, determining women's place in relation to career and motherhood, studying images of women in the religions' sacred texts, and matriarchal religion.
Liberalism and progressivism within Islam involve professed Muslims who have created a considerable body of progressive thought about Islamic understanding and practice. Their work is sometimes characterized as "progressive Islam". Some scholars, such as Omid Safi, differentiate between "progressive Muslims" versus "liberal advocates of Islam". Liberal Islam originally emerged out of the Islamic revivalist movement of the 18th–19th centuries. Liberal and progressive ideas within Islam are considered controversial by some traditional Muslims, who criticize liberal Muslims on the grounds of being too Western and/or rationalistic.
Fazlur Rahman Malik, commonly known as Fazlur Rahman, was a modernist scholar and Islamic philosopher from present-day Pakistan. Recognized as a leading liberal reformer within Islam, he focused on educational reform and promoting independent reasoning (ijtihad). His work has attracted both significant interest and criticism in Muslim-majority countries. His reformist ideas led to protests by over a thousand clerics, faqihs, muftis, and teachers in Pakistan, ultimately resulting in his exile.
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd was an Egyptian Quranic thinker, author, academic and one of the leading liberal theologians in Islam. He is famous for his project of a humanistic Quranic hermeneutics, which "challenged mainstream views" on the Quran, sparking "controversy and debate." While not denying that the Quran was of divine origin, Zayd argued that it was a "cultural product" that had to be read in the context of the language and culture of seventh century Arabs, and could be interpreted in more than one way. He also criticized the use of religion to exert political power. In 1995 an Egyptian Sharia court declared him an apostate, this led to threats of death and his fleeing Egypt several weeks later. He later quietly returned to Egypt where he died.
Amina Wadud is an American Philosopher. She is accused of unbalanced philosophical thought in interpreting the Holy Quran and was also a visiting scholar at Starr King School for the Ministry. Wadud has written extensively on the role of women in Islam.
Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate for women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded in an Islamic framework. Although rooted in Islam, the movement's pioneers have also utilized secular, Western, or otherwise non-Muslim feminist discourses, and have recognized the role of Islamic feminism as part of an integrated global feminist movement.
Asma Barlas is a Pakistani-American writer and academic. Her specialties include comparative and international politics, Islam and Qur'anic hermeneutics, and women's studies.
Qur'anic hermeneutics is the study of theories of the interpretation and understanding of the Qur'an, the central text of Islam. Since the early centuries of Islam, scholars have sought to mine the wealth of its meanings by developing a variety of different methods of hermeneutics. Many of the traditional methods of interpretation are currently being challenged with a more modern or contemporary approach. The three primarily established typologies of tafsir are tradition (Sunni), opinion (Shi'i), and allegory (Sufi). The two main types of verses to be interpreted are Muhkamat and Mutashabihat. The traditional approach to hermeneutics within the Qur'an embodies an awareness of isnad. There are many challenges of addressing modern day human rights, women and minority groups through the traditional hermeneutical model.
Jane Dammen McAuliffe is an American educator, scholar of Islam and the inaugural director of national and international outreach at the Library of Congress.
Riffat Hassan is a Pakistani-American theologian and a leading Islamic feminist scholar of the Qur'an.
In feminist theory, kyriarchy is a social system or set of connecting social systems built around domination, oppression, and submission. The word was coined by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in 1992 to describe her theory of interconnected, interacting, and self-extending systems of domination and submission, in which a single individual might be oppressed in some relationships and privileged in others. It is an intersectional extension of the idea of patriarchy beyond gender. Kyriarchy encompasses sexism, racism, ableism, ageism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, classism, xenophobia, economic injustice, the prison-industrial complex, colonialism, militarism, ethnocentrism, speciesism, linguicism and other forms of dominating hierarchies in which the subordination of one person or group to another is internalized and institutionalized. Whenever the term is taken to encompass topics that were not and could not be addressed by the original theory, the kyriarchic aspects in emerging fields of study such as mononormativity, allonormativity, and chrononormativity are likewise included.
"Believing Women" in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an is a 2002 book by Asma Barlas, published by the University of Texas Press. According to Barlas, the Qur'an does not support patriarchy and modern day Muslims were not properly interpreting the text. She argues that the Qur'an supports equal spousal and marital rights and does not differentiate among sex and gender. Barlas attributes incorrect interpretations of the Qur'an to the hadith, shariah, and sunnah. Barlas stated that men were mostly the ones who had developed shariah.
Musawah is a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family and family laws, led by 'Islamic feminists' "seeking to reclaim Islam and the Koran for themselves", applying progressive interpretations of sacred texts usually referred as feminist tafsir. The name "Musawah" comes from an Arabic word that translates as "equality". It was founded in 2009.
Hermeneutics of feminism in Islam is a system of interpreting the sacred texts of that religion, the Quran and Sunnah. Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially of sacred texts, and Islamic feminism has a long history upon which to draw. Muslim feminists reinterpret gendered Islamic texts and challenge interpretive traditions to promote the ideas of gender equality.
Bahar Davary is an Iranian-American religious studies scholar and Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego. She is known for her work on comparative study of religion and Islamic studies.
Sarojini Nadar is a South African theologian and biblical scholar who is the Desmond Tutu Research Chair in Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape.
Sa'diyya Shaikh is a South African scholar of Islam and feminist theory. She is a professor of religion at the University of Cape Town. Shaikh studies Sufism in relation to feminism and feminist theory. Shaikh is known for work on gender in Islam and 'Ibn Arabi.
Theresa A. Yugar is a Latina feminist liberation theologian, notable for her work on the 17th-century nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Fatima Seedat is a South African feminist, Islamic scholar and women's rights activist. She is known for her scholarly work on gender and Islamic law, and Islam and feminism.
Debra Mubashshir Majeed was an American religious historian, activist and womanist.