Male Ulama Reinterpretation of the Gender Hadith in Indonesian Socio Cultural Contexts

Abstract

It is very important to reread and reinterpret of the religious texts related to gender and women's issues by considering the socio-cultural context of Muslim communities. This article focuses on discussing Qira’ah Mubadalah or reciprocal interpretation initiated by Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir, a male feminist ulama who was influenced by the empirical reality of Indonesian Muslim society. With a qualitative approach, the data in this article were obtained from the Qira’ah Mubadalah book and the Mubadalahi.id website. This article finds that the idea of Mubadalah with the concepts and principles of mutuality and partnership between men and women is based on religious texts which place men and women as the subjects of the text. Narratives about women's involvement at the beginning of Islam in the 7th century and the role of Indonesian women in the educational, social and political fields since the 17th century have become the spirit and inspiration to fight for gender equality. In the hadith of the Prophet, the basic principles of mutuality are based on the values of brotherhood, commitment to doing well, compassion, mutual communication and helping each other. Furthermore, to find the principles and values of mutuality and partnership between men and women in Islamic teachings, a thematic study was carried out by referring to the Quran and other hadiths of the same theme, understanding the text contextually and inclusively, considering the validity of the hadith, and refers to authoritative hadith books. The involvement of men in rereading religious texts is more easily accepted by the Muslim community because it is not confrontational, does not criticize but rather provides alternative interpretation options that are accommodating to differences in interpretation among Muslims. Rereading of gender-just religious texts needs to be done as a prerequisite for realizing a just and equal society for men and women in the Muslim community.