Oxford University Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
Building on the success of Anthology, Volume I: On the Nature of the Divine, this second volume in the series focuses on a critical and contentious theme: Women in the Qur鈥檃n and traditional Qur鈥檃nic commentaries. It comprises analysis of the female subject in the Qur鈥檃n, annotated translations of Qur鈥檃nic commentaries spanning twelve centuries, interviews of contemporary Muslim scholars and extensive introductory materials, which frame the work throughout and render these technically complex materials accessible to the reader. On Women begins with a critical introduction to the study of women and gender in the genre of Qur鈥檃nic commentaries. A unique prolegomenon then follows key Qur鈥檃nic terms in a chronological sequence, showing how the Qur鈥檃n鈥檚 world view on women developed from the earliest Meccan revelations, when women were addressed only implicitly as a part of households or in the course of anti-pagan polemic, to the period of the final revelations in Medina, when women were addressed directly as pious and social subjects. The remainder of the volume translates, critically annotates, and analyses interpretations of six select Qur鈥檃nic verses on women. These verses, chosen because of their relevance to women鈥檚 lived experience, speak of the creation of humankind beginning with a single soul (Q. 4:1); the exemplary figure of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Q. 3:35鈥6); women鈥檚 status in marriage (Q. 4:34); women鈥檚 legal testimony and hence legal capacity (Q. 2:282); and 鈥榲eiling鈥 as it relates to Qur鈥檃nic norms of modesty (Q. 24:31). While highlighting variation, continuity, and plurality in the genre of Qur鈥檃nic commentaries, Volume II goes beyond medieval interpretive paradigms to include perspectives marginalised by that tradition, such as the voices of women themselves.
Foreword by Dr Omar Al铆-de-Unzaga
Acknowledgements
Note on Translation and Conventions
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Prolegomenon: The Qur示膩nic lexicon on women
The Commentators and their Commentaries
Map of Centres of Learning in the Islamic World
1. Human creation (Q. 4:1)
Muq膩til; H奴d; Qumm墨; 峁琣bar墨; Q膩岣嵞 al-Nu士m膩n; Qushayr墨; Mu示ayyad f墨鈥檒-D墨n al-Sh墨r膩z墨; Zamakhshar墨; 峁琣bris墨; R膩z墨; Qur峁璾b墨; K膩sh膩n墨; Ibn Kath墨r; Mu岣in al-Fay岣 al-K膩sh膩n墨; Bur奴saw墨; 士Abduh and Ri岣嵞; Fa岣峫 All膩h; Fariba Alasvand; Mehdi Mehrizi; Nasser Ghorbannia; Sa'diyya Shaikh; amina wadud
2. Mary (Q. 3:35鈥6)
Muq膩til; H奴d; Qumm墨; 峁琣bar墨; Q膩岣嵞 al-Nu士m膩n; Qushayr墨; Zamakhshar墨; 峁琣bris墨; R膩z墨; Qur峁璾b墨; K膩sh膩n墨; Ibn Kath墨r; Mu岣in al-Fay岣 al-K膩sh膩n墨; Bur奴saw墨; 士Abduh and Ri岣嵞; Fa岣峫 All膩h
3. Marital Roles (Q. 4:34)
Muq膩til; H奴d; Qumm墨; 峁琣bar墨; Qushayr墨; Zamakhshar墨; 峁琣bris墨; R膩z墨; Qur峁璾b墨; Ibn Kath墨r; Mu岣in al-Fay岣 al-K膩sh膩n墨; Bur奴saw墨; 士Abduh and Ri岣嵞; Fa岣峫 All膩h; Grand Ayatollah Saanei; Fariba Alasvand; Mehdi Mehrizi; Sa'diyya Shaikh; amina wadud
4. The Veil (Q. 24:31)
Muq膩til; H奴d; Qumm墨; 峁琣bar墨; Q膩岣嵞 al-Nu士m膩n; Qushayr墨; Zamakhshar墨; 峁琣bris墨; R膩z墨; Qur峁璾b墨; Ibn Kath墨r; Mu岣in al-Fay岣 al-K膩sh膩n墨; Bur奴saw墨; Fa岣峫 All膩h; Sa'diyya Shaikh; amina wadud
5. Women鈥檚 Testimony (Q. 2:282)
Muq膩til; H奴d; Qumm墨; 峁琣bar墨; Q膩岣嵞 al-Nu士m膩n; Zamakhshar墨; 峁琣bris墨; R膩z墨; Qur峁璾b墨; Ibn Kath墨r; Mu岣in al-Fay岣 al-K膩sh膩n墨; Bur奴saw墨; 士Abduh and Ri岣嵞; Fa岣峫 All膩h; Fariba Alasvand; Y奴suf Saanei; Mehdi Mehrizi; Nasser Ghorbannia
Prosopographical appendix
Bibliography
Index of Qur示膩nic Citations
Index
鈥楾he impressive Anthology of Qur鈥檃nic Commentaries, Volume II stands out as a piece of solid scholarship, diligent editing and breadth of coverage ... [Anthology of Qur'anic Commentaries, Volume II] will be read with much profit by all those interested in the study of gender issues in Islam.鈥
鈥 Abdur Raheem Kidwai, The Muslim World Book Review
鈥楾his is a very valuable collection that should be widely adopted for undergraduate courses in Islamic studies (or graduate courses for students who aren鈥檛 specialists in Islamic studies). It will also be appealing to English-speaking Muslims and to educated laypeople of other faiths.鈥
鈥 Marion Holmes Katz, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University
鈥楾his is the most important reader in Islamic studies to appear in the last decade. The timing could not be more appropriate: gender studies has become central to Islamic studies, yet we still lack access to resources on the combined topic鈥his anthology allows direct access to the sources used in debates across the Islamic world. Its coverage is comprehensive, it is beautifully translated and it is a must for any course on gender in Islam.鈥
鈥 Walid Saleh, Professor, Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto
Karen Bauer is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. She is the author of Gender Hierarchy in the Qur示膩n: Medieval Interpretations, Modern Responses (Cambridge, 2015) and editor of Aims, Methods and Contexts of Qur鈥檃nic Exegesis (2nd/8th鈥9th/15th C.) (Oxford, 2013). She has also published on the history of Qur鈥檃nic interpretation, on women鈥檚 status as judges and witnesses in Islamic law, and on the history of emotions in Islam.
Feras Hamza is Head of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Wollongong in Dubai, UAE, and is also a Research Fellow in the Qur鈥檃nic Studies Unit at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. He co-edited (with Sajjad Rizvi and Farhana Mayer) An Anthology of Qur鈥檃nic Commentaries, Volume I: On the Nature of the Divine (Oxford, 2008) and is the general series editor for the multi-volume Anthology of Qur鈥檃nic Commentaries. He has authored several historical articles on the early Muslim community, as well as articles on the epistemological and methodological approaches in Qur鈥檃nic and 迟补蹿蝉墨谤 studies. He is currently working on a hermeneutics-based project entitled Time and Narrative in the Qur鈥檃n.