Interpretation Of The Qur An In Conversation'

Textual Analysis of Leila Ahmed’s “Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate”

Aisha bint Abu Bakr was a leader, a woman, a wife, a theologian, a scholar and a political activist. She was precocious, loyal, brave and remarkably intelligent. These aspects of her humble life have allowed her to make a powerful impact on the development and expression of Islam that “no woman [has] reached”[1]. Not only did she influence the position of women in Islamic society, Islamic ethics, and the understanding and interpretation of the Qur’an, but she also modelled these qualities for the men, women and children of Islam.

The Koran is a book following the religion of the Muslim people. In it, many aspects of their ways of life and their attitudes towards different people are addressed. It mentions the strong feelings of the true believers towards Jews and Christians, however it gives a view of women that is taken two ways. A major part of their religion is the way women should be treated. This idea is a controversial topic as seen from a person that is not a true believer, or a Muslim. Conventional thinking brought out by the media have led non-Muslim people to perceive the treatment of women as suppressive. The Koran shows the reader both sides of the coin, and therefore, the reader must form an opinion of the

There are many political, religious, and cultural factors that shape the lives of Islamic women many of them are completely different than factors in the lives of American women. Islam is one of the world’s fastest growing religions; however, Brooks argues that “Islam’s holiest texts have been misused to justify the repression of women, and how male pride and power have warped the original message of this once liberating faith.” The book also shows these factors have slowly been taking away women’s rights, rather than furthering them.

Prior to reading an excerpt on Islamic theology and Islamic philosophy in the book Introduction to Islam by Carole Hillenbrand, I did not realized the tremendous effect and contributions Muslims had on the fields of theology and philosophy. According to Hillenbrand, “the term normally used for “theology” in Islam is kalam, which literally means “speech”” (Hillenbrand, 170). Similar to all religions, those following the Islamic faith would eventually be faced with opposition and questions about the teachings of Islam. Hillenbrand explained that Muhammad was not looked to as a theological figure because he merely gained his revelations from the all-knowing God, Allah; therefore, Islamic theologians would begin to emerge overtime. These Islamic theologians would engage in debates on core issues and topics that oppositioners had with the islamic faith, such as

In today’s society women are given ample opportunity just as much as men. In some countries, such as middle-eastern nations that is not the case. Muslim women are often perceived to be submissive to Muslim men and unequal. Mohammed never taught for women to be treated as lower class citizens. Nonetheless, the blame is pointed towards the religion of Islam. The Islamic religion began as all monotheist religions representing a belief in one God and moral standards. In the following essay I will discuss and elaborate what Mohammed taught, how women lived in early Islamic society, and what it has become.

“He positions women into generally minor roles, but has affixed a long-lasting significance to their continually despondent and hopeless circumstances. Thus, their entrapment is a product of the society, the culture and the Islamic religion -- all of which conflated to produce a patriarchal construct that has restricted the ideals of hope and has discouraged female quest for liberation.” (Allegretto-Diiulio 216)

According to the writings of Espisito (2005) there are four schools of thought in the Islamic faith or four attitudes that can be distinguished: (1) secularist; (2) conservative; (3) neotraditonalist; and (4) reformist. (p.228-32) An examination of the primary

The Qur’an is believe to the ultimate source of God by many Muslim believers. It contains 114 suras for the believers as the core practices of the Islamic religion and Muslims throughout the world recites its verses (Chang, Lecture. 1/21/14). They believed the prophet of Allah was Muhammad, who received the words of Allah through Angel Gabriel, and was passed on with the Qur’an during Ramadan. Angel Gabriel one night came to Muhammad “in clear human form” (“Scripture and Tradition in Islam- The Qur’an and Hadith” 104), and gave the messages from Allah to him. From the establishment of the Qur’an, Muslims have viewed the book as the last revelation of their god Allah, and thus are the true words from God for their ways of life and in

The holy Quran is a collection of the divinely inspired utterances and discourses (Ahmed, 16). It is composed of some 300 pages which are divided into 114 Surahs (chapters). The general tone of the holy Quran is sombre and meditative. It is a dialogue between God and humanity. At the core is a moral earnestness (Ahmed, 16). The Quran also teaches that humanity is created by God and therefore God understands its weaknesses and in Allah humans find the source of peace. Islam’s appeal lay – and – lies in the simplicity: one God, one Book, one Prophet (Ahmed, 17). Islam is a religion of balance, equilibrium, and compassion. The Islamic virtues are courage, generosity, cleanliness, and piety: and in his life the Prophet exemplifies them (Ahmed, 17).

In the first centuries following the death of Muhammad, to be Muslim was to be Arab. However, as Islam gained political and social influence around the world, Muslim identity became less intertwined with a certain ethnicity. Today, there are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, comprising nearly 25% of the world’s population. Yet, only 206 million of these 1.8 billion Muslims actually speak Arabic, the language of the Qur’an (Brown, 5). In fact, the country with the greatest population of Muslims is Indonesia, where Indonesian and Malay are predominately spoken. Thus, for the nearly 1.6 Muslims who do not speak Arabic, they must rely on translations of the Qur’an to guide their practice. These translations have extreme importance, as they influence how the majority of Muslims interpret and practice Islam. On Quranic translations, Michael Sells notes, “In any translation, there is a loss and an effort to compensate for that loss” (26). It is vital to endeavor to identify these losses in meaning and form, as they inform how the majority of the Muslim community practices Islam. An analysis of three different translations of Surah 92: The Night will identify the losses in Quranic translations and how various translators attempt to make up for this loss. Although translations of the Qur’an lead to certain losses in meaning and form, if the same message is maintained between Surah translations, then these losses are effectively inconsequential.

Although Islam is the second largest religion in the world with a following of 1.8 billion followers, no other religion has faced more scrutiny and hardship in the past decades. This has been caused by media and governments labeling Islam as a whole with their extremist groups like Al Queda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. I even thought that the principals held by these extremist group were more common in Islam than they are. After studying Islam and gaining more information I came to respect this religion more than any other we studied this semester because of its seriousness and unity. The Quran and Hadith provide concrete details and instructions to follow in the faith of Islam. No texts from any other religion are as upfront with their beliefs than these. Muhammad was and continues to be a powerful and understanding leader that has led it to becoming the world’s fastest growing religion. I enjoyed studying the powerfulness of Muhammad and the direct voice of God in the Quran that is sets Islam apart from Judaism and Christianity.

The Quran asserts to be highly inimitable and usually challenges its rivals to offer works that are similar to it. According to Sell (24), the individuality was later created in literary terms which made the theologians believe in the matchlessness of the book popularly used by the Muslim community. During its historical exhibition, the inimitability doctrine made the Koran literal study a handmaiden to the scriptural, theological aspect. Nonetheless, the set of guidelines neglects an essential fact because the Quranic challenge was primarily addressed to the unbelievers. It was not considered a denunciation of the infidels but entailed an invitation for them to scrutinize the book and ascertain if it was a publication of possessed human

“examining the dynamics of Islamic feminism and its potential in the Muslim world. It is difficult and perhaps futile to put the emerging feminist voices in Islam into neat categories and to try to generate a definition that reflects the diversity of

In discussing the role of women in contemporary society there are three main areas that can be addressed. The perceptions of woman within contemporary Muslim societies. The status, position and role of woman in the Qur'an and in early Islam