The Criticism of the Theory of "Feminist Theology in the Qur’ān" from the Viewpoint the Qur’ān and Hadiths

Riff’at Hassan is one of the most important Muslim thinkers in the US and is the leader of Muslim feminists. Influenced by Feminist theology in Christianity, she proposes “feminist theology in the Qur’ān”. From the viewpoint of Riff’at Hassan, three theological factors in the world of Islam and the Qur’ān have led to the appearance and expansion of the belief in the supremacy of the man over the woman: the subordination of the woman to man in creation, Eve’s deception of Adam which led to their fall from the Eden paradise, and the creation of the woman for the cause of man. Suchlike factors and attitudes are basically proposed in the Sunnī interpretations and traditions, and the themes of traditions she has used are rejected in Shī‘a narrations. Nonetheless, even if we accept the claims of Riff’at Hassan, her arguments lead to the proposition that the man and the woman are not different in creation, both have been deceived by Satan, and both have been expelled and fallen from Paradise, and there is no difference between them in these regards. However, the key point here is that this theory does not prove the legal-jurisprudential equality between men and women, and the Qur’ān gives in different orders in this regard, especially with regard to inheritance and retaliation.