“Traditional” Exegeses of Q 4:34
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/cisv2i2.129Keywords:
women and Islam, Quran, exegesisAbstract
On the whole, pre-modern scholars understand Q 4:34, Men are qawwamun over women, with what God has given the one more than the other, and with what they spend of their wealth, to legislate men’s authority over women in marriage. But verse 4:34 has never had a uniform interpretation, even in the pre-modern period. This paper explores variations in the content and methods of pre-modern and modern interpretations of Q 4:34, and attempts to understand the sources for, and meaning of, certain interpretations, particularly focusing on the interpretation of women’s deficient rationality [naqis al-‘aql], taken from a hadith [saying] on the authority of the Prophet. Ultimately, I argue that neither the sources of exegesis, nor its meaning, can be attributed simply to early interpretations or the seemingly straightforward meanings of ahadith. Rather, exegetes in every age appropriate and reinterpret their heritage, giving these sources new meanings.
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