Modern Statehood, Democracy, and Women’s Political Rights

Abstract

As the emancipation of women is now a principal theme in contemporary Islamic thought, numerous religious scholars and intellectuals aim to reinterpret the sacred texts and reexamine the religious and legal heritage of Islam. The present paper examines the evolution of the debate on the political rights of women, thus focusing on intellectual forces labeled "the moderate Islamic trend." Such scholars advocate a modification of Islamic ideas and examine issues of freedom and rights from the Islamic perspective and not secularist one. In particular, the paper focuses on the political theories of Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī, Salīm al-ʿAwwā, and Ṭāriq al-Bishrī. These scholars and intellectuals scrutinize the historical context of the narration of the Qurʾanic verse and the hadiths, which have traditionally been invoked to deny women political participation, without rejecting the divine orders. However, their contentions diverge on the issue of women becoming heads of state. Al-Qaraḍāwī received a traditional Islamic education and believes that the hadith demonstrates that the leadership of men has been effective from time immemorial. By contrast, al-ʿAwwā and al-Bishrī, recipients of a modern legal education, take the stance that the traditional Islamic statehood assumed by the hadith no longer exists. Thus, every public office is open to citizens regardless of religion or biological sex. This paper evinces how religious scholars and lay intellectuals take discrete approaches to the traditions of Islamic jurisprudence, even when they share a moderate understanding of Islam and are committed to the idea of democracy.