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Contemporary Gender Thought in Islam and Judaism: the Position of Women According to Ayatollah Morteza Mutahhari and Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik

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Contemporary Gender Thought in Islam and Judaism: the Position of Women According to Ayatollah Morteza Mutahhari and Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik Contemporary Gender Thought in Islam and Judaism: The Position of Women According to Ayatollah Morteza Mutahhari and Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik Khadijeh Zolghadr A Thesis Presented to the Department of Religion Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Religion) June 2013 Zolghadr ii Zolghadr iii Abstract In a basic outlook shared by Islam and Judaism, addressed in this study, man is born as man and woman as woman, so that manhood and womanhood are natural states entailing different personalities, rights, and responsibilities. In other words, in both the Islamic and Jewish worldviews, man and woman are created differently in order to accomplish different tasks, which are finally aimed together at the single objective of obeying and encountering God. This basic conception is faithfully reflected in the numerous detailed regulations of these two law-centered traditions. A study of gender issues in Islam and Judaism is thus bound to take into account how the status of the genders is defined in the tradition; how the different positions prescribed for men and women are thought to serve humanity in its journey to God; and whether those positions entail superiority and inferiority. In light of this outlook the present study offers a critical appreciation of the views on gender of two prominent clerical authorities, one each from the Muslim and Jewish traditions: Ayatollah Morteza Mutahhari (1920-1979 CE) and Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik (1903-1993 CE). This thesis constitutes the first attempt to draw a comparison of gender thought at the heart of Judaism and Islam in modern times, through two influential scholars devoted and loyal to the original principles of their religions. A properly critical account of thought requires examination not only of context and structure, but also apparent limitations and inconsistencies. That has been the approach taken here, in contrast - in the case of Mutahhari at least - to existing literature, which tends to be admiring. The thesis has also, however, tried to discern the affective qualities of the gender thought of the two scholars; comparison has been especially useful Zolghadr iv in this regard. Thus I have suggested that Mutahhari’s ideas about women along with those of Soloveitchik are ultimately in harmony with their sense of the tradition and its fundamental spirit; this is the basic impulse for both, rather than systemization. I have also suggested that difficulty in appreciating the feelings of women sets limits on the understanding of both scholars; but they are far from being misogynistic, and feel very genuinely that women are valuable as human beings and have vital, respected roles in religion and society. This leads to the subject with which I close the thesis: the reception of Soloveitchik and Mutahhari’s gender thought by women. The thesis also draws attentions to two outstanding differences in the thought of Mutahhari and Soloveitchik: their mode of approaching gender and the ways they see their traditions responding to evolving times and circumstances. In brief, Mutahhari’s approach and tone is more defensive, polemical and political than that of Soloveitchik; and Soloveitchik seems less ready than Mutahhari to contemplate change in the tradition in response to changes in society or pressure from the broader Orthodox and non- Orthodox Jewish community. However, when we consider, as should be the rule in comparative studies, both figures together in their contexts, we see that Mutahhari’s openness to change was somewhat theoretical, since he lived at a time before the consolidation of the Islamic Republic of Iran when official religious ideology did not hold much formal power over women’s or people’s lives. By the same token, Soloveitchik’s discourse should be read against the background of his actions, which do show that he was willing to admit evolution in the Halakhah as long as what he considered basic principles were preserved, as well as in light of his attitude toward Zolghadr v women’s learning, which demonstrates his ability to contemplate change that would allow the community to effectively meet the modern world. Zolghadr vi Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Professor Lynda Clarke for her invaluable patience, encouragement, and support. This work could not have been accomplished without her continuous guidance and support. I am also thankful to Professor Norma Joseph for her insightful feedbacks and comments. My profound gratitude goes to my parents whose constant love has sustained me throughout my life. This dissertation is dedicated to my husband Seyed Reza Mousavi without whose sacrifice and loving support it would have been impossible for me to complete this work and to my two sons Seyed Mostafa and Seyed Mojtaba for their patience and their joyful company. Zolghadr vii Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…..……1 Chapter One: Woman in the Thought of Ayatollah Morteza Mutahhari…………………….33 1. Woman in the Quran, Towards an Altered Attitude.……………………...………….42 1.1 Creation of Woman………………………………………………………….43 1.2 Woman’s Historical Sin………………………………………….……….....50 1.3 Woman’s Spiritual Capacity………………………………………………..52 2. Gender Differences: The Origin and Applications…………………………………....54 2.1 Gender Differences in the Social Sphere…………………………..………..65 3. Women as Members of Society…………………………………………………….…70 4. Islamic Modest Dress: Beyond Personal Religious Obligation………………….…..74 4.1 Veiling Versus Covering……………………………………………………75 4.2 Islamic Modest Dress: Must and Must-nots………………………………...76 4.3 Uncovering the Face and Hands and Women’s Social Presence……………87 Chapter Two: Woman in the Thought of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik………………...…..91 1. Soloveitchik’s Foundational Thoughts on Gender: An Intellectual Perspective….…92 1.1 Creation of Woman According to the Torah………………………..………93 1.2 Gender Differences in the Thought of Soloveitchik……………………....102 1.3 Man and Woman: Aspects of Differences…………………………………105 1.4 Gender Differences and the First Sin…………………….………………...112 1.5 Woman in Relation to Divinity……………………………………………115 2. Marriage in the Thought of Soloveitchik……………………………………………122 2.1 Marriage and the Individuality of Woman…………………….………….123 2.2 Marriage and Sexual Pleasure: A Halakhic Perspective………………….130 2.3 Centrality of Halakhah in Marriage…………………………………...…..135 Zolghadr viii 2.4 Marriage as a Covenant…………………………………………………..138 2.5 Termination of Marriage in the View of Soloveitchik…………………..143 3. Soloveitchik as a Legal Decisor…………………………………………..……..….152 3.1 Women’s Jewish Education……………………………………………….152 3.2 Prayer Groups………………………………………………………...……159 Chapter Three: Comparative Analysis of Gender Thought of Ayatollah Mutahhari and Rabbi Soloveitchik…………………………………………………………………………….166 1. Points of Similarity………………………………………………..…...…………….168 1.1 Gender not a Primary Concern…………………………………………….168 1.2 Gender: A Humanity Issue ………………………………………………..184 1.3 Gender Difference: A Necessity and not Discrimination………………...193 2. Points of Difference……………………………………………………………….....197 2.1 Mode of Approaching Gender………………………………………….….197 2.2 Requirements of Time……………………………………………………..204 Zolghadr 1 Introduction Awareness of differences between men and women is as ancient as humanity; but gender studies and the interdisciplinary study of gender is a concern of modern times not more than several decades old. Gender studies may refer to the social and cultural construction of femininities and masculinities, rather than the entire state of being male or female1 - as Simone de Beauvoir said, "One is not born a woman, one becomes one"2 - or it may refer to examination of the role that biological states of maleness or femaleness play in social constructs of gender.3 A third view, historically many centuries removed from the social-scientific study of gender, considers gender differences in man and woman to be essential in nature, while also emphasizing that these differences are part of a divine plan. This is the view of traditional Judaism and Islam, each of which claims to possess a religiously authentic understanding of human beings. Both traditions view gender differences as divinely planned measures in the creation of humanity and the immutable basis of distinctively different social roles for men and women. In this basic outlook shared by the two traditions addressed in this study, man is born as man and woman as woman, so that manhood and womanhood are natural states entailing different personalities, rights, and responsibilities. In other words, in both the Islamic and Jewish worldviews, man and woman are created differently in order to accomplish different tasks, which are finally aimed together at the single objective of 1 Stephanie Garrett, Gender (London: Tavistock Publications,1992), vii. 2 Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans. Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier (New York: Vintage Books, 2011), Vintage eBooks, 899. 3 For the effect of biological differences on social constructs, see: David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton, Gender Gap: The Biology of Male and Female Difference (New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2002). Zolghadr 2 obeying and encountering God. This basic conception is faithfully reflected in the numerous detailed regulations of these two law-centered traditions. A study of gender issues in Islam and Judaism is thus bound to take into account how the status of the genders is defined in the tradition;
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