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The Creation of Women from the Perspective of Mufassirun and Muhaddithun Between Past and Present Scholars

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The Creation of Women from the Perspective of Mufassirun and Muhaddithun Between Past and Present Scholars MATEC Web of Conferences 150, 05064 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201815005064 MUCET 2017 The Creation of Women from the Perspective of Mufassirun and Muhaddithun Between Past and Present Scholars Roshimah Shamsudin1,*, Aiza Maslan Baharudin 1Universiti Sains Malaysia Abstract. The creation of women is under constant debate, not only among the Islamic scholars but outspreads to feminists both from the west as well muslims.This debate stems from the differing views of the preceding and contemporary scholars in interpreting the texts from the Quran and the Hadiths on the creation of human particularly Eve as the first woman created by Allah. The majority of the mufassirun and hadith scholars in the past pioneered the view that the origin of human; that Eve was created from the rib of Adam a.s. This view was regarded by the feminists as derogatory to women. The contemporary mufassirun and muhaddithun are however of the opposite opinion whereby Eve’s creation was equal to that of Adam’s a.s; thereby indicating that creation of Eve did not originate from Adam a.s. Hence this study was undertaken with the aim of reviewing the opinions of the tafsir and hadith figures by comparing the views between the past and present scholars in interpretation of Quranic texts as well as hadiths pertaining to the origin and creation of women. This study also extends to examining the arguments on which the opinions of each group were deduced.In order to achieve the above objectives, this qualitative form of study will employ data collection method, conducted through library research to obtain data relating to the origin of creation of women, in particular turath literatures in tafsir for example Tafsir Ibn Kathir and tafsir works by the leading tafsir scholars in the like of Syed Qutb; in addition to the past and present books on syarah hadith. The findings of this study show that the previous and present scholars of tafsir or hadith took different methodology in understanding both textual authorities.Unlike the previous scholars of tafsir and hadith, some of the contemporary scholars’ understanding is that the texts are not to be construed literally; instead the texts need to be understood as parables and allegories thereby indicating that the creation of women is not from the ribs of Adam a.s. 1 Introduction Halimah Basri is attributable to the concept that women are not created equal to men, and to top it off was The issue of creation of women is not spared from created out of men as opined by certain mufassirun. In intense discussion, particularly in the context of this context, she did not only associate this creation women’s position to that of men.The issue stems from issues with the texts from hadiths alone but also links to the view that women creation was derived from the rib the Quranic texts that were interpreted by past scholars of Adam. Wan Siti Nur Haini argues that the above view which had long been inherited and permeated into the psyche of most Muslims implicates the status of women 2 Materials and Methods which generally are regarded as second class citizens. This qualitative study relies solely on library research. The idea was reinforced by the existence of texts that This means data was collected from primary scriptures – show women were created from the ribs as evidenced by from the books of tafsir and hadith. From the works of an authentic hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim tafsir, data was taken from principal books of tafsir whose narrations form the two major hadith written by earlier scholars such as Tafsir Ibn Kathir, compilations that are consensually agreed upon by the Tafsir al-Tabari, Tafsir al-Maraghi, books written by hadith scholars as authentic, second only to the holy al- other contemporary tafsir scholars such as Muhammad Quran. Thus it is not unfathomable on why this women Abduh and Rashid Redha and reference books of creation idea has lasting influence in the Islamic Tafsir written by a number of scholars from the traditions. archipelago such as Hamka, M. Quraish Shihab and Unfortunately, the notion that women was created Ahjmad Sonhadji. Data are also taken from key books of from Adam’s rib compromised women of their rights hadith such as Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and from various aspects such as religion, politics and social Jami' al-Tirmidhi and commentaries of hadith such as [25]. The denial of the rights of women according to © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). MATEC Web of Conferences 150, 05064 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201815005064 MUCET 2017 Fath al-Bari, written by bn aar and Sharh Sahih Ibn athir aso concurs with a-Tabari and a-azi Muslim, authored by a-awawi. The data were then on the origin of Eve from Adam’s rib. As a eader anayed using the inductie deductie and comparatie eegesist who mastered the science of adiths, bn method. athir did not negect to produce arguments from the hadiths to support his interpretations as is the case with 3 Results a-Rai and asserts that since the hadith was narrated by uslim thereby it indicates its authenticity in addition to In the context of creation of women, Halimatussa’diyah having a sahih status and recorded in the grand hadiths opines that the sources are mosty from the Israilliyyat compiation books. n addition, bn athir does not Torah, ibbe and Tamud compared to the a-Quran eaborate on the creation of ve as does he on the itsef, whereby the atter does not een hae cear creation of man from cay without a mother and a father, absoute passages as eidence thereof. There are creation of esus from only his mother without a father neertheess three uranic verses that ed to the story of and creation of mankind other than Adam, ve and esus creation of women. or instance, erse 1 Al-Nisa’; verse through the process of pregnancy. This discussion 189 surah A-A’raf and verse 6: surah Al-Zumar. signifes that the creation of man can be understood from owever erse 1 of surah Al-Nisa’ is more often quoted arious dimensions based on its formative eements [10]. b mufassirun to prove the origin of women. The same can be said of uyuti who seems to have simiar iews to the schoars preceding him. oweer though the editor of his tafsir book by the name ah a- َ in opines that the hadith pertaining to the creation of يَا أيُّ َها ال َّنا ُس اتَّ ُقوا َربَّ ُك ُم ا َّل ِذي َخ َل َق ُكم ِ من َّن ْف ٍس َوا ِح َد ٍة Eve is indeed authentic however, the texts are in the َو َخ َل َق ِم ْن َها َز ْو َج َها َوبَ َّث ِم ْن ُه َما ِر َجا اًل َكثِي ارا َونِ َسا اء ۚ form of tamthil or parabes to showcase the stubbornness َواتَّقُوا َّ�َ ا َّل ِذي تَ َسا َءلُو َن بِ ِه َوا ْْلَ ْر َحا َم ۚ إِ َّن َّ�َ َكا َن of women compared to men [22]. bn Asyur too is found َع َل ْي ُك ْم َرقِيباا eaning mankind, reerence your guidence to hae supported the notion that nafs wahidah to be Lord who created you from a singe person, referring to Adam from whose rib ve was created as can be deduced from the word minha [8]. created of ie nature his mate and from them twain scattered countess men and women. owever a-araghi from amongst the ancient schoars have a dissenting iew from the consensus of There are three words that form the basis of the creation mufassirun. To him mufassirun jumhur’s interpretations of women namel wahidah, minha, and zaujaha a of are not based on the uranic passages but instead are which are gien different interpretation by the made on a natura basis that Adam is the father of mufassirun [6. The differences had sparked humankind as mentioned in Torah. e howeer does not disagreements among schoars of eegesis themselves. affirm whether he denies of concurs with this beief. e The ancient schoars in the ies of at-Tabari itera presents his eegesis by bringing in the opinions of a interprets min nafs wahidah to be referring to Adam number of schoars who opine that nafs wahidah does whie the word zaujaha refers to his spouse Eve. n not mean Adam but instead it means one singe sef or other words the verse according to him shows that from one singe type. The word zaujaha means wife or spouse a singe Adam, ve was created from his eft rib to be and the dhamir “ha” that is found in the word minha” his spouse. Al-Tabari further brings in the story of Eve’s refers to nafs wahidah which is defined as one type or creation from Adam’s rib while he was asleep as from that ery one type that the spouse of Adam was narrated by a-Suddi [23. created and thereby means Adam and ve were created A-Tabari’s view is supported by a prominent from the same materia that is cay [13]. mufassir such as a-Rai who not only opines that the The view of a-araghi is in ine with the iews of creation of Eve was from Adam’s left rib, but he aso certain present mufassir figures ie Muhammad Abduh.
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