DISC Lecture. The Lost Gender Egalitarian Voice of the Qur’an

How can a book that--allegedly--openly advises husbands by saying, “Strike them” in cases of marital conflict have any possible gender-egalitarian interpretation? Does the Qur’an really reflect a misogynist ideology? What can the analytic, linguistic, and critical approach to the Qur’anic text reveal when it comes to women’s issues? Could the hermeneutical investigation of the Qur’an end by the reconquest of a lost humanitarian and gender egalitarian richness of a text that has gone poorly and loosely handled for centuries? What does the Qur’an relay say about gender equality, polygamy, minor marriage, women’s right to education and work, women’s right to public authority positions, and women’s right to Prophethood?

Abla Hasan is assistant professor of practice of Arabic language and culture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She earned her MA in philosophy as a Fulbright grantee and PhD in philosophy of language from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and holds a BA and Diploma of High Studies from Damascus University. At the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, she is Women’s & Gender Studies program faculty, Arabic Studies faculty and undergraduate adviser, and E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues program committee member. Hasan is a native speaker of Arabic. Her current teaching and research interests include Islamic feminism, Islamic studies, and Quranic studies.

This lecture will be live-streamed from Rutgers University.