Women and Gender in the Qur'a

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Since its revelation, the Qurʾan has provided spiritual insight, ethical and legal guidance, sacred narratives, and theological principles. In this course, students will be introduced to how women, sex, sexuality, and gender are depicted in the Qurʾan. We will also explore how classical Muslim scholars, contemporary Muslims, and Muslim feminists have approached and interpreted contested issues in the Qurʾan, including veiling, marriage, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Students will read a variety of primary and secondary sources, including the Qur’an and its commentaries, hadith reports, law, literature, and modern Muslim feminist critiques, to learn about some of the historical debates surrounding women and gender that persist today. Throughout this course, we will question how the Qurʾan has been interpreted and appropriated by various claimants to religious authority. We will also assess the subjective values and assumptions of interpreters, including our own, which shape interpretations of the Qurʾan and the formation of the Islamic tradition. This course is designed to offer students an understanding of how the social, political, economic, and intellectual milieu of the classical period contributed to Muslims’ conceptions of gender in the Islamic tradition. In addition, it promotes a more nuanced understanding of how Muslim feminists engage the Qurʾan as a form of resistance against misogynistic Muslim views, colonialism, orientalism, and Islamophobia, all of which marginalize Muslim women.