Gender in Islam
Affiliation
Description:
This course explores how scripture, theology and social realities reflect the complex and competing claims around issues of gender, sexuality, and ethics in Islamic thought and history. Students will engage with a number of human rights and feminist debates, and how they have been placed in a critical conversation with the Islamic intellectual tradition.
Content:
Islamic feminist theology is the most sophisticated genre within the broader field of Islamic liberation theology, that is, interpretive approaches to Islamic texts that are committed to social justice and inclusion. This course explores the complex relationship between Islam and gender, focusing on the creative ways in which Muslim feminist scholars ¿ women, men, and non-binary - have attempted to reread scripture and tradition with an eye to gender equality and social inclusion. The course will begin by focusing on the Qur'an, as the foundational text of the Muslim faith, and its tafsir (interpretation). It will then engage the wider Islamic tradition, including hadith (prophetic reports), sunnah (prophetic custom), shari¿a (Islamic law), and liturgy. In addition to addressing issues directly related to Muslim women, from ontological equality and patriarchal representations of the divine to religious authority, leadership, economic in/dependence, and bodily well-being and harm, we will explore queer readings of Islamic texts and the emergent field of Muslim masculinities. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to think critically and comparatively, connecting the various themes, thinkers, interpretive methods, and shared (?) contexts and lived experiences.
Student Learning Experience:
Engagement with primary source material in translation - in particular the Qur'an and early Islamic texts - is a central part of the learning journey, supplemented by secondary source readings. The weekly lecture will provide a broader framing and contextualisation of the weekly topic, and the tutorials will be devoted to discussing the themes, debates, and engrained assumptions within the assigned texts. Through a critical review assignment and research essay - discussed below - students will have the opportunity to engage with existing literature in the field, focusing on topics of particular interest to them.
SCQF Credits: 20
Credit Level: 10
Year Taken: UG3
Not running in 2025/26