Today, the issue of Muslim women is held hostage between two perceptions: a conservative Islamic approach and a liberal Western approach. At the heart of this debate, Muslim women are seeking to reclaim their right to speak in order to re-appropriate their own destinies, calling for the equality and liberation that is at the heart of the Qur'an.
However, with few female commentators on the meaning of the Qur'an and an overreliance on the readings of the Qur'an compiled centuries ago this message is often lost. In this book, Asma Lamrabet demands a rereading of the Qur'an by women that focuses on its spiritual and humanistic messages in order to alter the lived reality on the ground.
By acknowledging the oppression of women, to different degrees, in social systems organized in the name of religion and also rejecting a perspective that seeks to promote Western values as the only means of liberating them, the author is able to define a new way. One in which their refusal to remain silent is an act of devotion and their demand for reform will lead to liberation.
Asma Lamarbet is a pathologist in Avicenna Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. She is also an award-winning author of many articles and books tackling Islam and women's issues.
Introduction
– What kind of liberation are we speaking off?
– In the very beginning…
First part – When the Qur’an speaks of women
– A story of all women
– Balkis, Queen of Sheba, a democratic queen
– Sarah and Hagar, emblems of monotheism
– Zulaykha or forbidden love
– Umm Musa and Asiah, free women
– The daughter of Shu’ayb and the meeting with Musa?
– Maryam, the favorite
– Maryam, a link between Christians and Muslims
– The birth of Maryam
– Maryam’s spiritual retreat
– Revelation and annunciation
– The birth of ‘Isa and all the struggles
– Maryam and her son, a ‘sign’ for the worlds
Second part – When the Quran speaks to women
– The language of the Quran, a masculine language?
– When the Quran responds to female demands
– The mubahalah or when the Quran encourages women to social participation
– The muhajirat or the female political refugees
– The mubayi’at or women’s political engagement
– Al-Mujadilah, when God listens to women’s concerns
– And the other verses?
– Polygamy
– Testimony
– Inheritance
– Hit them…?
Hardcover: 212 pages
Publisher: Kube Publishing
Language: English
Author: Asma Lamrabet
ISBN: 978-1847740823
Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.6 x 8.9 inches
