Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition

The polyvalent Qur’anic text lends itself to multiple interpretations, depending upon one’s presuppositions and premises. In fact, Q. 3:7 distinguishes between muḥkam (explicit, categorical) and mutashābih (metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic) verses. As such, this device provides a way for reinter...

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Autor principal: Hamid Mavani
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Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 2015
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:b2cfff809b3e4583827d9a78188f3cd52021-12-02T17:49:32ZDomestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition2690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/b2cfff809b3e4583827d9a78188f3cd52015-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/2982https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 The polyvalent Qur’anic text lends itself to multiple interpretations, depending upon one’s presuppositions and premises. In fact, Q. 3:7 distinguishes between muḥkam (explicit, categorical) and mutashābih (metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic) verses. As such, this device provides a way for reinterpreting verses that outwardly appear to be problematic – be it in the area of gender equality, minority rights, religious freedom, or war. However, many of the verses dealing with legal provisions in such areas as devotional matters, marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance and bequest, and specific punishments appear to be unequivocal, categorical, and explicit. As such, scholars have devised certain hermeneutical strategies to situate and contextualize these verses in a particular socio-historical context, as well as to emphasize that they were in conversation with the society to which the Qur’an was revealed and thereby underlining the “performative” (p.15) nature of the relationship between the Qur’an and the society. No verse is more problematic, in the sense that it offends contemporary sensibilities and is quite difficult to reconcile with an egalitarian worldview when dealing with gender issues, than Q. 4:34, which allows the husband to discipline his wife if he deems her guilty of nushūz (e.g., disobedience, intransigence, sexual lewdness, aloofness, dislike or hatred of himself). Ayesha Chaudhry undertakes a study of this challenging verse by engaging the corpus of literature in Arabic from the classical period to the seventeenth century; she also includes Urdu and English sources for the post-colonial period. She starts off by relating her personal journey from a state of discomfort and puzzlement when she first came across this verse in middle school to a defensive posture in trying to convince herself by invoking the Prophet’s compassion toward his wives and in cherishing the idea that the Qur’an gave more rights to women than either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. She began a more rigorous and nuanced study of this verse after equipping herself with the necessary academic tools and analytic skills during her university studies. Frustrated with the shallow responses and the scholars’ circumspection as regards any creative and novel reading of the verse for fear of losing their status in the community, she decided to do so herself with the hope of discovering views that would promote an egalitarian reading. But ... Hamid MavaniInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 32, Iss 2 (2015)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Hamid Mavani
Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition
description The polyvalent Qur’anic text lends itself to multiple interpretations, depending upon one’s presuppositions and premises. In fact, Q. 3:7 distinguishes between muḥkam (explicit, categorical) and mutashābih (metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic) verses. As such, this device provides a way for reinterpreting verses that outwardly appear to be problematic – be it in the area of gender equality, minority rights, religious freedom, or war. However, many of the verses dealing with legal provisions in such areas as devotional matters, marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance and bequest, and specific punishments appear to be unequivocal, categorical, and explicit. As such, scholars have devised certain hermeneutical strategies to situate and contextualize these verses in a particular socio-historical context, as well as to emphasize that they were in conversation with the society to which the Qur’an was revealed and thereby underlining the “performative” (p.15) nature of the relationship between the Qur’an and the society. No verse is more problematic, in the sense that it offends contemporary sensibilities and is quite difficult to reconcile with an egalitarian worldview when dealing with gender issues, than Q. 4:34, which allows the husband to discipline his wife if he deems her guilty of nushūz (e.g., disobedience, intransigence, sexual lewdness, aloofness, dislike or hatred of himself). Ayesha Chaudhry undertakes a study of this challenging verse by engaging the corpus of literature in Arabic from the classical period to the seventeenth century; she also includes Urdu and English sources for the post-colonial period. She starts off by relating her personal journey from a state of discomfort and puzzlement when she first came across this verse in middle school to a defensive posture in trying to convince herself by invoking the Prophet’s compassion toward his wives and in cherishing the idea that the Qur’an gave more rights to women than either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. She began a more rigorous and nuanced study of this verse after equipping herself with the necessary academic tools and analytic skills during her university studies. Frustrated with the shallow responses and the scholars’ circumspection as regards any creative and novel reading of the verse for fear of losing their status in the community, she decided to do so herself with the hope of discovering views that would promote an egalitarian reading. But ...
format article
author Hamid Mavani
author_facet Hamid Mavani
author_sort Hamid Mavani
title Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition
title_short Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition
title_full Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition
title_fullStr Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition
title_full_unstemmed Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition
title_sort domestic violence and the islamic tradition
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 2015
url https://doaj.org/article/b2cfff809b3e4583827d9a78188f3cd5
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