Classical Islamic philosophy and the gendered perfection of bodies and minds

engaging a complex discourse

Authors

  • Raissa A von Doetinchem de Rande Divinity School, University of Chicago

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/bar.26687

Keywords:

Falāsifa, classical philosophy, women, gender, philosopher king, al-Fārābī, Ibn Ṭufayl, Ibn Rushd, Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān, political philosophy

Abstract

How does classical Islamic philosophy envisage political leadership? Many – scholars and popular commentators alike – assume that, in line with certain Qur’anic and social commitments regarding gender roles, the Islamic political tradition is, and always has been, unenthusiastic about female political leadership. Examining the works of three important political thinkers – al-Farabi (d. 950), Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185), and Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) – this article complicates a simplistic vision. I will show that both on the issue of whether only the most perfect are capable of leadership and the question of whether women, too, can be such leaders, classical thinkers diverge and thus elude a simplistic assessment of the premodern tradition. My foray into classical Islamic discourses on political leadership will thus end by emphasizing caution. We must be wary of any attempts to draw straightforward connections between contemporary grievances and the classical tradition of Islamic political thought, as well as be attentive to the breadth and contestation of basic commitments among different figures.

Author Biography

  • Raissa A von Doetinchem de Rande, Divinity School, University of Chicago

    Raissa A. von Doetinchem de Rande is Assistant Professor of Religious Ethics and Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School. She received her PhD from Princeton University (Department of Religion) in 2021. In addition, she holds a BA from the University of Oxford (2012) and an MAR from Yale Divinity School (2014). Dr de Rande’s research interests lie at the intersection of the study of islam and religious ethics. Her first monograph, The Politics of Islamic Ethics: Hierarchy and Human Nature in the Philosophical Tradition, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press as part of the New Cambridge Studies in Religion and Critical Thought series. The book focuses on the Qurʾanic concept of a divinely created human nature (fiṭra) and its reception in early Islamic philosophy.

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Published

2025-01-13

How to Cite

von Doetinchem de Rande, R. A. (2025). Classical Islamic philosophy and the gendered perfection of bodies and minds: engaging a complex discourse. Body and Religion, 7(1), 7–28. https://doi.org/10.1558/bar.26687