Nasr Hamed Abu Zayd's sociological approach to the problem of women in the contemporary Arab world

Following the improvement of social status and human rights of women in the context of paradigm shift and discourse of European culture in recent centuries and the transfer of its intellectual achievements to the Islamic world, the problem of women became one of the important sociological problems in the Islamic world. In the Islamic world, due to the complexity of issues and the hegemony of religious discourse, an essential part of women’s issues belongs to the field of religion. Nevertheless, with women becoming a problem and other native challenges for Muslim thinkers; Scholars have shifted to interdisciplinary and specialized studies in women affairs. As one of the neo-Muchr('39')tazilite thinkers, Hamed Abu Zayd deals with the problem of women by using sciences like sociology, linguistics and, adoption approaches such as humanism and methods like hermeneutics and a new look at the interpretation of the Quran. This research is searching for the components of Abu Zayd interpretation and his solution to the womenchr('39')s problem. He believes the contemporary challenges of Muslim women are not rooted in the Quran but are rooted in masculine traditions, the dominance of the patriarchal atmosphere. By stating "the problem of women is essentially a social problem" he separates it from religious affairs and intends to follow the Quranic view of women, pay attention to the historicity of the scripture and ultimately resort to secularism in legislation to solve it. This research has used a descriptive-analytical method based on content analysis to receive the opinion of Abu Zayd.