Islamic Critique Of The Call To Empowering Women

Abstract

Women's empowerment has become one of the central themes in the ongoing debate between Islam and secularism regarding women's role and status in society. Women's empowerment has not received sufficient response from the Islamic scholarship. This work attempts to fill the current gap in that response. Secularists have been actively propagating the call to empowering women in Muslim societies. Some Muslims accept the call without considering its basis or assessing it from an Islamic perspective. This thesis analyzes women's empowerment to understand its meaning, foundational principles, objectives, and consequences. The thesis shows that women's empowerment is the culmination of feminism and gender equality. In particular, women's empowerment and gender equality are two faces of the same coin. To legitimize the call to empowering Muslim women, Muslims who promote the call adopt unorthodox understandings of the Qur'ān and the Sunnah. This thesis investigates and critiques the main approaches by which women's empowerment is promoted in Muslim societies. The thesis also assesses the call to empowering women and asserts that it conflicts with sound Islamic principles, norms, and values and has severe negative consequences on Muslim individuals, families, communities, and society. This work concludes that the secularist call to empowering women is not Islamically permissible. The thesis proposes a women's empowerment concept consistent with Islamic principles, norms, and values and makes recommendations for further work.