It seems evident that Muslim cultures tend to consider men and women different members in terms of equality, hierarchy, and interdependent mutuality; they favor men’s visibility and voice, yet disfavor women’s visibility and voice. They also negate the significance of this voice and violate the dignity of women as human beings. Such critics as Wadud challenges biased, patriarchal, and sexist interpretations of the Quran and patriarchal exclusivity to interpret it and explains the flawed interpretations.
This research focuses on a female inclusion of rereading/reinterpreting the Quran on gender equality; examines the notion of women in the Quran by excluding the established notion in Muslim cultures. It also focuses on digging out the intention or the truth of Islam for women in society. As the most authoritative reference point and the ultimate criteria, certain verses mentioning gender equality and roles in Quran will be reread and restudied to understand whether it includes inequality as a basis of faithfulness to Islam or whether ‘a female person was intended to be primordially, cosmologically, eschatologically, spiritually and morally a full human being, equal to all who accepted Allah as Lord, Muhammad as a prophet, and Islam as din’ (Wadud, 1999). Hence, in this research, the PURE researchers will reread and reinterpret these certain verses including tafsir from the women’s (feminist/Islamic feminist) perspective, without traditional stereotypical male interpretations, to understand whether women are the same as men, different, alike, un/equal, fully hu(wo)man, standard-bearers. It is anticipated that this piece will help the reader/s to legitimize the ground for challenging the unequal treatment that women have been experiencing until or even today.
The PURE researchers are expected to do extensive research, write a literature review, gather, classify, and analyze, write a paper, resolve conflict, publish the outcomes, and share with the audience.
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