A New Glance at the Women's " Lack of Intellect"

Some Islamic traditions have described women as “lacking in intellect”. These traditions have been encountered with various implications and reactions and caused debates in scholarly arenas and many writings have been written concerning this topic. We see three reactions to these traditions: some denied their issuance; some maintained women‘s lack of intellect by accepting those traditions; and some accepted them and picked up the option of ta‘wīl (allegorical interpretation) It is to be reminded that these texts are reported in the most important Sunnī and Shī‘a collections of ḥadīth. For this reason, we deemed it as necessary to examine them from various perspectives and we concluded that the issuance of these traditions are undeniable and their texts are reliable; therefore we have no alternative than examining its connotation. After surveying the meanings of intellect (‘aql) in language and ḥadīth and with the help of the evidences acquired, we concluded that what is meant by ‘aql in these traditions is not the perceptive faculty; rather, it is to be rendered as blood money (dīya) and what is seriously meant by these traditions is reprimanding the predominance of women over men. Meanwhile, this research has been conducted with the library-analytical method.