Feminist Reading of the Quran

The movements aimed at defending Muslim women rights, which had been formed in the Islamic world under the influence of western feminist movement, led to emergence of feminist readings of the Quran by the end of the twentieth century. This approach proposes the ideology that, based on the verses of the holy Quran, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had set particular value and personality to women; however, after the Prophet, predisposed masculine exegeses of the Quran have dominated. The feminist reading of the Quran advocates the equality between men and women by considering the equality of their creation. As its methodology, this kind of reading draws upon hermeneutics and content-based approach in interpreting the Quranic verses. It necessitates focusing on gender-specific nature and syntax of Arabic language in interpreting the Quran. The proponents of this approach believe that a good number of women-related Quranic instructions and decrees like polygamy, Hijab, and other legal issues could be construed differently.