A Qur’anic Review of the Muslim and Western Feminists’ Views about Reproduction

Abstract

Received: 2020/6/14 | Accepted: 2020/11/19Feminists who recognize themselves as the advocators for women’s rights have always held a negative view to the essential role of reproduction in women to which the continuation of human generation is dependent. Propagation of their ideas is one of the influential factors in the decline in population process threatening human society while Islam regards reproduction of generation as one of the most important functions for family and considers the role of women in this regard irreplaceable. Islamic feminism is a new trend in the feminism movement but since it holds a different stand from other tendencies in terms of reproduction, after explaining the western feminist approach, its views in this regard is surveyed independently (with an emphasis on the perceptions of Ms. Wadud). The results of the present study conducted through an analytical-comparative method show that the western feminists are basically against establishing family and discourage reproduction whereas Muslim feminists have a positive view about family formation and do not oppose reproduction, although their views about child rearing is different from genuine instructions of the Qur’an. The perceptions of Muslim feminists from the Noble Qur’an, compared to the exegetical views of commentators, is divided into two parts; if the Qur’anic verses fulfill their objectives they move along with the commentators, otherwise relying on their own feminist premises, they have non-methodical perceptions of the Qur’an.© Shams, Z; Hasani, T. (2021) A Qur’anic Review of the Muslim and Western Feminists’ Views about Reproduction. Biannual Journal of Comparative Exegetical Researches, 7 (13) 231-265. Doi: 10.22091/PTT.2021.6019.1841

Keywords

• feminism
• muslim feminists
• reproduction
• women’s pregnancy
• amina wadud