Friday, November 25, 2011

Is Islam a patriarchical tradition (I): Understanding the hermeneutical gap

Interesting post, here's a quote:

"In my view, the first step towards unreading these oppressively authoritarian and patriarchical interpretations of the scripture is to characterize the hermeneutical
tendencies of these predominantly sexist readings. There are various dimensions of this characterization and at least two different broad layers at which critique can be carried out to articulate some right questions: 1) a complete disregard of the so-called hermeneutical gap between various stages of development of Islamic tradition and 2) an almost ambiguous notion of authority, which presumes a monolithic and anachronistic view of interpretive tradition as well as Islamic societies in which that tradition was developed, thereby aiding authoritarian (mis)use of the scripture."

Is Islam a patriarchical tradition (I): Understanding the hermeneutical gap | Nonskeptical Essays