Precedent and Perception: Muslim Records That Contradict Narratives on Women
Muslims who insist on the seclusion of women or their exclusion from men’s gatherings are now routinely dismissed as extremists. That is inaccurate. Many such Muslims follow only key works of fiqh (Muslim scholarly legacy), which modern academics designate as pristine, classical Islam. But this fact...
| Published in: | Hawwa |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2014
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| In: |
Hawwa
Year: 2014, Volume: 11, Issue: 2/3, Pages: 108-132 |
| Further subjects: | B
Women
perceptions
Sunna
historical narratives
communal memories
latent-memory zone
classical Islam
Shariʿa
fiqh
Khadija
ʿAʾsha
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Muslims who insist on the seclusion of women or their exclusion from men’s gatherings are now routinely dismissed as extremists. That is inaccurate. Many such Muslims follow only key works of fiqh (Muslim scholarly legacy), which modern academics designate as pristine, classical Islam. But this fact leaves important questions unanswered: Why the early Muslim precedents do not always reflect this classical Islam? Why do Arabic-speakers enthusiastically embrace contradictory perceptions of the Sunna on women, that is, the excellent examples set in their communities in Islam’s early centuries? Cracked historical lenses have been the mainstay of such conflicting beliefs, not extremism or irrationality. This article focuses on the disparities between Muslim records and their dominant narratives in presentations of exemplary women. How a particular worldview carefully designed an outline of history that created two separate stores of Muslim memories—one operational and the other latent—reveals the power of such precedents. The article concludes that, despite strides in contemporary research, led by many women, their brilliant findings could remain irrelevant What matters is that the bolted door of the formal narrative opens to admit standards set by long dead and (in Muslim views) excellent women to its store of valid precedents with which the faithful deduce Shariʿa rules/laws. |
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| ISSN: | 1569-2086 |
| Contains: | In: Hawwa
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15692086-12341244 |