Editorial

Abstract

With this issue of AJISS, we bring this volume to a close. This year has brought many changes to AJISS, not only in the scope of Islamic issues highlighted within the articles, but also in the range of opinions articulated by their authors. As a fourm for intellectual debates on issues relating to Islam, MISS strives to “push the intellectual envelope” of Islamic thought. No subject matter better reflects this attempt than the issue of women, which many articles in this issue analyze. In her article “Oikos/polis Conflict: Perspectives of Gender Feminists and Islamic Revivalists,” Zeenath Kausar examines the continuing debate on women’s political participation in order to demonstrate “how gender feminists prefer women’s political participation at the cost of deconstructing gender and family, whereas contemporary Islamic revivalists “support and encourage women’s political participation-but not at the expense of family and the distinct identity of women.” After a brief survey of feminist philosophy and Muslim revivalist discourse, Kausar concludes that gender feminists create an atmosphere of conflict between men and women, while Muslim revivalists look at men and women as copartners in constructing civilization. In questioning exactly this notion of copartnership between men and women, Hibba Abugideiri undertakes, in her “Allegorical Gender: The Figure of Eve Revisited,” a discourse analysis of classical Islamic texts in order to uncover how gender categories were constructed by classical exegetes. By focusing on the figure of Eve, which “has not only defined the identity of Muslim woman: it has also set the parameters for how that identity has been forged,” she questions the authoritative value and relevance of the classical view of Eve for contemporary social demands. Underlying her Qur’anic rereading of Eve’s role in the parable of creation lies the goal of forging a new methodological approach to Islamic issues that need to be redressed, particularly in light of the current wave of Islamic revivalism. Finally, in her review essay “Muslim Women’s Studies: Two Contributions,” Mohja Kahf engages in a critical analysis of two gender histories that interface nicely with Abugideiri’s study. Here, Kahf reviews two forays into the field of Muslim women’s studies that uncover the place of ...