Free Abbasid Rule Had An Unequal Gender Hierarchy And Read It Into The Quran (256) Essay Example

Although the Quran makes ample room for the role and importance of women in early Islamic communities According to Barlas understandings of Quran became gradually more misogynistic. The traditional arguments and assumptions underpinning this are as follows:

The institutionalization of female servitude such as the harem, and reading the Quran accordingly.
The belief that women are morally and mentally defective (255).
Despite these traditional assumptions that have led to pejorative views of women and their place in Islam, feminist scholars have strongly countered these stereotypes. The ways they have done so include:
Challenging the idea of male superiority that has been read backward into the Quran and aiming to recapture its true gender equality (258).
Contesting ideas about male superiority in the Quran such as man being created first and the responsibility of women for the fall of humanity from the Garden of Eden (259).

Emphasizing God’s unity so as to demonstrate gender inequality does not make theological sense (260).

Arguing that because the Quran is the direct word of God, it cannot have a “dual-gender” quality (260).
Justifying their critiques is really quite easy. They argue that society has traditional been patriarchic based and women have been placed in a position where they are not able to voice in unison dissent. When women are illiterate, they cannot have a stake in weighing in on important traditions like Hadith. Men are the main actors in these important strands of Islamic theology and thus they read their own superiority back into the text. By voicing an educated woman’s opinion, these scholars argue that the Quran was never dual-gender text but one of unity.

There are many topics that Barlas specifically employs her feminist technique to.

Rather than obedience to one’s husband, as has been argued by Quran, they argue that it is obedience to God, which is expected by all Muslims.
Polygyny is not for a man to have multiple sexual partners or out superiority but to care for the community, such as orphans, rather than be bound by one marriage (265).
The idea of veiling is not even found in Quran, never about sexual modesty or to protect men and not even to cover the woman’s face.