Beyond the Veil: Male-female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society

Beyond the Veil: Male-female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society
ISBN-10
0253311624
ISBN-13
9780253311627
Series
Beyond the Veil
Category
Social Science / Women's Studies
Pages
200
Language
English
Published
1987
Publisher
Indiana University Press
Author
Fatima Mernissi

Description

From the writing of her first book, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society in 1975, Mernissi has sought to reclaim the ideological discourse on women and sexuality from the stranglehold of patriarchy. She critically examines the classical corpus of religious-juristic texts, including the Hadith, and reinterprets them from a feminist perspective. In her view, the Muslim ideal of the silent, passive, obedient woman has nothing to do with the authentic message of Islam. Rather, it is a construction of the 'ulama', the male jurists-theologians who manipulated and distorted the religious texts in order to preserve the patriarchal system. Mernissi's work explores the relationship between sexual ideology, gender identity, sociopolitical organization, and the status of women in Islam; her special focus, however, is Moroccan society and culture. As a feminist, her work represents an attempt to undermine the ideological and political systems that silence and oppress Muslim women.

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