Understanding Women in Islam: A Review of Fatima Mernissi's Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Enquiry

Abstract

Fatima Mernissi’s Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Enquiry analyses the significant role of women in Islam and how the religious patriarchy has become successful in sabotaging such a significance. Mernissi conducts an authentic historical study by verifying and counter-verifying Prophet Mohammed’s hadiths and uncovering the dominant role played by the Muslim patriarchy which rules the Umma after the Prophet’s death. The article theoretically analyses Mernissi’s work which remains one of the foundational texts in Islamic feminism. Islamic feminism is a significant stream of feminism in Islam, another one being secular feminism. This paper evaluates feminism in Islam as a corollary of postmodern feminisms that originated in various parts of the world. The major focus of the article is Mernissi’s work which presents an explicit study of various hadiths from a feminist point of view.