An Approach to Islamic Feminism: A Reading of Sa’diyeh Sheikh's Perspective and Her Feminist Processing of Ibn Arabi's Opinions

Subject Areas : -

Mohammad Sadegh HedayatZadsh ¹ (Graduated from the Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Theology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.)
Soheyla Piruzfar ² (Associate Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran)

Received: 2020-09-08 Accepted : 2020-12-27 Published : 2021-02-19

Keywords: Women, mysticism, Feminism, Ibn Arabi, Islamic feminism, Sa’diyeh Sheikh,

Abstract :

One of the most controversial issues in recent decades is the issue and position of women in Islam. Different currents of thought have discussed about this field from their own perspective. In the meantime, the so-called "Islamic feminism", which has been growing in recent decades, has addressed this issue with various Qur'anic, jurisprudential, historical and mystical approaches. In this descriptive‑analytical article, the historical course of Sa’diyeh Sheikh's views as one of the figures of the Islamic feminist movement is extracted and it is shown that she became acquainted with Islamic mysticism and Sufism, inspired by Faḍlu al‑Rahmān's attitude. Using the linguistic features of the language of revelation and paying attention to the historical contexts of the emergence of the text and methods such as feminist hermeneutic, she started writing about women, but after familiarity with Islamic mysticism and especially Ibn ‘Arabi, Sa’diyeh Sheikh's research changed with a feminist processing of Ibn ‘Arabi's views. In order to provide the anthropological issues necessary for a fundamental review of jurisprudence and to help the emergence of feminist jurisprudence, she has considered concepts such as "perfect man" and "Jalal and Jamal attributes " with a feminist reading that in some challenging issues such as "degree" (The superiority of man over woman), "the testimony of women" and "the creation of Eve from Adam's left rib" are manifested.