Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. “Stretching the Limit: A Feminist Reading of the Shari’a in Post Khomeini Iran,” in Feminism and Islam
: Legal and Literary Perspectives, ed. Mai Yamani. New York: New York UP, 1996.
: Legal and Literary Perspectives, ed. Mai Yamani. New York: New York UP, 1996.Ziba Mir-Hosseini is an Iranian anthropologist who works as a freelance researcher and is a consultant on gender and development issues. She has also conducted extensive fieldwork in Iran and Morocco. Her other works include Feminism and the Islamic Republic: Dialogues with the Ulema and Islam and Gender: the Religious Debate in Contemporary Islam. She has also produced two documentaries with Kim Longinotto on contemporary issues in Iran: Divorce Iranian Style and Runaway. Dr Mir-Hosseini is currently a professor in the Hauser Global School Law Program at New York University.
In “Stretching the Limits,” Mir-Hosseini poses the argument that a feminist re-reading of the Shari’a is possible and legitimate and not simply a reaction to western values. It may have been reactionary in the early 20th century when Muslims used Islam to resist the western values of their imperialists. Her essay is a discussion of contemporary feminist movements in Iran, shaped in one way by the revolutionary women’s magazine called Zanan. She examines feminist matters that include headship of the husband, wife’s obedience, and a husband’s alleged right to beat his wife. By providing the perspectives of the authors and publishers of Zanan and the sort of debates that the publication encourages and welcomes, Mir-Hosseini demonstrates that Muslim women in Iran indeed are challenging orthodox interpretations of the Quran and have succeeded in projecting change in social and religious laws, such as divorce.
In “Stretching the Limits,” Mir-Hosseini poses the argument that a feminist re-reading of the Shari’a is possible and legitimate and not simply a reaction to western values. It may have been reactionary in the early 20th century when Muslims used Islam to resist the western values of their imperialists. Her essay is a discussion of contemporary feminist movements in Iran, shaped in one way by the revolutionary women’s magazine called Zanan. She examines feminist matters that include headship of the husband, wife’s obedience, and a husband’s alleged right to beat his wife. By providing the perspectives of the authors and publishers of Zanan and the sort of debates that the publication encourages and welcomes, Mir-Hosseini demonstrates that Muslim women in Iran indeed are challenging orthodox interpretations of the Quran and have succeeded in projecting change in social and religious laws, such as divorce.
No comments:
Post a Comment