1: Introduction
Part I: Historical Roots of a Contemporary Debate
2: The Multiple Contexts of Q. 4:34
3: The Ethics of Wife-beating
4: The Legal Boundaries of Marital Discipline
Part II: Restoring Authority in the Living Community
5: Asserting Authority, Enriching the Tradition
6: Submissive Texts and Idealized Cosmologies
7: Conclusion
Ayesha S. Chaudhry is Assistant Professor of Islamic and Gender
Studies in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious
Studies and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social
Justice at the University of British Columbia. Her teaching and
research interests include Islamic law, Qur'anic exegesis, and
feminist hermeneutics. She is currently working on a collaborative
project of inter-faith feminist hermeneutics, which explores and
challenges
the limits of feminist interpretations of patriarchal religious
texts in the three Abrahamic faiths. She is also developing methods
for bridging the academic and community divide by translating
her
research interests into theatre based performance art that might
appeal to a wider audience. This project is entitled "Cover Story"
and explores the meanings of multiple intersecting political
discourses surrounding Muslim women's sartorial choices.
[T]his work should be applauded as the first sustained analysis of
the phrase 'beat them' in the Sunni exegetical and legal sources
from the medieval and modern periods. Chaudhry has exposed the
variation in interpretations on this command admirably, and has
managed to write a book that is as enjoyable to read as it is
interesting. Though it engages with the tradition, this book also
represents a theological response to a difficult Qur'anic passage,
and is an important contribution to the growing movement of Muslim
feminist reinterpretations of the Qu'ran.
*Karen Bauer, Journal of Qur'anic Studies*
Chaudhrys book is a welcome and significant contribution to
contemporary Muslim debates on gender justice
*Farid Esack, Journal of the American Academy of Religion*
Her analysis of postcolonial and contemporary scholarship adds an
important dimension to the debate, showing that while religion and
religious commands continues to remain relevant to contemporary
believers, with a strong desire to remain rooted in the old
patriarchal tradition, there are also noteworthy attempts at
subverting and/or rejecting the tradition to articulate an Islamic
consciousness that is emphatically gender egalitarian. Chaudhry's
book is a welcome and significant contribution to contemporary
Muslim debates on gender justice, interpretation of religious
texts, and the status of the historical Islamic intellectual
tradition.
*Farid Esack, The Journal of the American Academy of Religion*
Until the twentieth century, Muslim scholars understood hitting as
necessary discipline for rebellious wives. Chaudhry's nuanced study
of how these scholars approached this question juridically and
exegetically leaves the reader with a deeper appreciation for the
ways they struggled with the verse, providing a variety of
interpretations, including those that sought to reconcile it with
the model of the Prophet himself... This work fits beautifully into
the ongoing literature of religious feminism, reinforcing some
ideas and bringing new conceptualizations that help us think in new
ways about the problems religious feminists face in every
tradition.
*Rebecca Alpert, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion*
This book is a valuable contribution on a controversial topic and
it deserves to be read widely.
*Muhammad Khan, The Muslim News*
very well researched and presented
*Ali Abd al-Malik, The Islamic Quarterly*
A model feminist volume that shows that all religious ideas are
subject to analysis, dynamic in their meanings, and are open to
change.
*Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual*
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