Asma Lamrabet

An Emancipatory Reading

Women in the Qur'an

A challenge to the liberal and traditional teachings about women in Islam.

A Narration of Liberation

Qur'an and Women

Women in the Qurʼan

Parler des questions qui fâchent en islam à propos des femmes n'est pas une provocation, mais une nécessité. Il s'agit de clarifier, de rectifier, mais aussi souvent de dénoncer. Clarifier la confusion entre le message spirituel du Coran et l'orthodoxie interprétative institutionnalisée. Rectifier le grand nombre de préjugés sexistes et parfois diffamatoires transcrits dans la tradition musulmane au nom des préceptes divins. Dénoncer ce qu'une culture patriarcale a forgé dans l'esprit des musulmans : la dévalorisation des femmes. Voile, polygamie, inégalité dans l'héritage... Asma Lamrabet inventorie les discriminations imposées aux femmes au nom de l'islam. Car la plupart des interprétations classiques, d'origine médiévale, produits de leur milieu social et culturel, se sont construites à la marge et parfois à l'encontre du Texte sacré, porteur, lui, d'une vision plus égalitaire et ouverte. Nul ne pourra dire désormais qu'il ignorait.

Les questions qui fâchent

Islam et femmes

This book distinguishes Islam as a spiritual message from the sociopolitical context of its revelation. While the sacred text of the Quran reveals a clear empowerment of women and equality of believers, such spirit is barely reflected in the interpretations. Trapped between Western rhetoric that portrays them as submissive figures in desperate need of liberation, and centuries-old, parochial interpretations that have almost become part of the “sacred,” Muslim women are pressured and profoundly misunderstood. Asma Lamrabet laments this state of affairs and the inclination of both Muslims and non-Muslims to readily embrace flawed human interpretations that devalue women rather than remaining faithful to the meaning of the Sacred Text. Full of insight, this study carefully reads the Qur’an to arrive at its deeper spiritual teachings.

Women and Men in the Qur’ān

Today, the issue of Muslim women is held hostage between two perceptions: a conservative Islamic approach and a liberal Western approach. At the heart of this debate Muslim women are seeking to reclaim their right to speak in order to re-appropriate their own destinies, calling for the equality and liberation that is at the heart of the Qur'an. However, with few female commentators on the meaning of the Qur'an and an overreliance on the readings of the Qur'an compiled centuries ago this message is often lost. In this book Asma Lamrabet demands a rereading of the Qur'an by women that focuses on its spiritual and humanistic messages in order to alter the lived reality on the ground. By acknowledging the oppression of women, to different degrees, in social systems organized in the name of religion and also rejecting a perspective that seeks to promote Western values as the only means of liberating them, the author is able to define a new way. One in which their refusal to remain silent is an act of devotion and their demand for reform will lead to liberation. Asma Lamarbet is a pathologist in Avicenna Hospital, Rabat, Morocco. She is also an award-winning author of many articles and books tackling Islam and women's issues. Myriam Francois-Cerrah is a writer and broadcaster whose articles have been published in the Guardian, Salon, and elsewhere.

Asma Lamrabet

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