Hughes Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate

Hughes Women and sexual urge in Islam historical Roots of a Modern line In the Hughes text, Women in World History Volume 1, the chapter on center(a) Eastern women focuses on how Islam affected their lives. Almost immediately, the authors wisely observe that Moslem womens rights have varied significantly with time, by region, and by illuminate (152). They continue with the warning that there is far too much renewal to be adequately described in a few pages. However, I argue that there is essential information and insight on tell topic that the authors have failed to include, as well as areas of discussion with uncompleted analyses. I will use Leila Ahmeds book, Women and Gender in Islam Historical Roots of a Modern Debate, as well as her try on entitled Early Islam and the Position of Women The Problem of Interpretation, to cite the shortcomings of the text. After the number 1 part of the Hughes chapter on pith Eastern Muslim women, the emphasis shifts, from legeric philosophy regarding women to how Muslim law and scholarship have interpreted the Qurans direct admonitions to women. However, this shift is unfortunately subtle. The authors fail to make a do distinction between the Quran, a sacred text believed to be the unmediated word of God and Muslim law, which was formulated by (male) Muslim jurists who consulted the Quran and whose consensus was later declared infallible (Ahmed 58). Such a distinction is infallible because the Quran itself is vastly different from a legal document Ahmed observes in Early Islam and the Position of Women that Quranic precepts consist mainly of broad, general propositions chiefly of an ethical nature, rather than specific legalistic formulations (59). Indeed, the Qura... ...areas of emphasis. In contrast, Leila Ahmed analyzes representations and mores of Muslim women in different amicable and religious contexts in order to draw conclusions about their effect on womens--and mens in relation to wom ens--status, in earlier periods of Islam, as well as the further-reaching implications they have had for modern Muslim societies. Works Cited Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New harbour and London Yale University Press, 1992. Ahmed, Leila. Early Islam and the Position of Women The Problem of Interpretation. In Women in Middle Eastern History Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender, ed. Nikki R. Keddie and Beth Baron. New oasis and London Yale University Press, 1991. Hughes, Sarah Shaver, and Brady Hughes. Women in World History. Vol. 1. Armonk, N.Y., and London M.E. Sharpe, 1995.