Islam’s Foundational Equality

Abstract

In her Feminist Edges of the Qur’an, Aysha Hidayatullah argues
that certain Qur’anic verses are incorrigibly male-privileging
and are themselves privileged. Hence, egalitarian readings of
the Qur’an are unsupported and unsupportable. If, as egalitarians
propose, such verses are unjust, then either the Qur’an is
not God’s word or God is unjust. By contrast (1) I contend that
no evidence suggests any Qur’anic verses are incorrigibly maleprivileging,
(2) I provide or indicate egalitarian readings for relevant
contenders, (3) I note that no Qur’anic evidence supports
the primacy of any such verse. Finally, since controverting egalitarian
readings of such verses are available, the logical form
of Hidayatullah’s argument merely shows that if they are read
to exhibit injustice, those readings cannot be God’s word. Since
the Qur’an is God’s word, there is no option but to reread them.