Does the Qur'an support
gender-equality?
Asma Barlas
Does Islam call for the oppression of women? Non-Muslims point to the subjugation of women that occurs in many Muslim countries, especially those that claim to be ‘Islamic’, while many Muslims read the Qur'an in ways that seem to justify sexual oppression, inequality, and patriarchy. Taking a wholly different view, Asma Barlas develops a believer's reading of the Qur'an that demonstrates the radically egalitarian and antipatriarchal nature of its teachings.
Asma Barlas will show how reading inequality into the Qur’an serves a function for those who choose or were taught to read that way. Contrary to what both conservative and many non-Muslims believe, Muslim women do not have to abandon islam to liberate themselves, but can struggle for equality within the framework of Qur’an’s teachings.
Asma Barlas
is professor of Politics and Director of the Center for the Study of
Culture, Race, and Ethnicity at Ithaca College, New York. Her
research focuses on how Muslims interpret and live islam. In "Believing
Women" in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an
(University of Texas Press, 2002) she proposed a liberatory Qur’anic
hermeneutics that allows Muslims to argue on behalf of sexual
equality and against patriarchy from within an Islamic framework. In
her current and on-going research, she studies Christian-Muslim
encounters from both a theological and a historical perspective with
a view to analyzing their views on Otherness (i.e., the idea of
difference).
Other publications: Islam, Muslims, and the US: Essays on
Religion and Politics (India: Global Media, 2004) and
Democracy, Nationalism, and Communalism: The Colonial Legacy in
South Asia (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995).
DATE, TIME, LOCATION
Thursday 23 November 2006
8.00 - 9.30 p.m.
Academiegebouw
Broerstraat 5, Groningen
ADMISSION
€ 2,-
For students, SG-members
and -ambassadeurs admission is free, but a ticket is
required.
This lecture is
organised in cooperation with
the Faculty of
Theology and Religious Studies.