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“Islamic Feminism in the Works of Fatima Mernissi”

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“Islamic Feminism in the Works of Fatima Mernissi” School of humanities Master programme Language education for refugees and migrants Postgraduate dissertation “Islamic feminism in the works of Fatima Mernissi” Koutsogianni Vasiliki Supervisor : Mrs Zampaki Theodora Patras, July 2020 Theses / Dissertations remain the intellectual property of students (“authors/creators”), but in the context of open access policy they grant to the HOU a non-exclusive license to use the right of reproduction, customisation, public lending, presentation to an audience and digital dissemination thereof internationally, in electronic form and by any means for teaching and research purposes, for no fee and throughout the duration of intellectual property rights. Free access to the full text for studying and reading does not in any way mean that the author/creator shall allocate his/her intellectual property rights, nor shall he/she allow the reproduction, republication, copy, storage, sale, commercial use, transmission, distribution, publication, execution, downloading, uploading, translating, modifying in any way, of any part or summary of the dissertation, without the explicit prior written consent of the author/creator. Creators retain all their moral and property rights Islamic feminism in the works of Fatima Mernissi Koutsogianni Vasiliki Supervising Committee: Supervisor: Co-Supervisor Mrs Zampaki Theodora Mr Gogonas Nikolaos Hellenic Open University Hellenic Open University Patras, Greece, July 2020 Koutsogianni Vasiliki, Islamic feminism in the works of Fatima Mernissi For all women – fighters smashing patriarchy daily Dissertation iv Koutsogianni Vasiliki, Islamic feminism in the works of Fatima Mernissi Περίληψη Η έννοια του Ισλαμικού φεμινισμού αμφισβητήθηκε για τα συστατικά στοιχεία της τόσο από κοσμικές όσο και από Μουσουλμάνες γυναίκες παγκοσμίως, και έχει χαρακτηριστεί σαν σχήμα οξύμωρο. Οι κριτικές γύρω από τη Φατιμα Μερνίσι είναι περιορισμένες, και αυτές οι λίγες μελέτες καταδικάζουν τις μετατοπίσεις στην προοπτική της ως αντιφατικές. Ο σκοπός αυτής της μελέτης είναι να διερευνήσει την γυναίκα μέσω από τον Ισλαμικό φεμινισμό, όπως εκφράζεται από τα έργα της Μερνίσι και μέσα από τα διάφορα στάδια που έχει διανύσει. Σαν ερευνητική μέθοδος χρησιμοποιήθηκε η ποιοτική ανάλυση περιεχομένου ακολουθώντας τα στάδια της προετοιμασίας, οργάνωσης και αναφοράς των δεδομένων με κατηγορίες κωδικοποίησης, για να συναγάγει ένα εννοιολογικό μοντέλο επάνω τον Ισλαμικό φεμινισμό στα έργα της Μερνίσι. «Η χιτζάμπ και η ανδρική ελίτ: μια φεμινιστική έρμηνεία των δικαιωμάτων των γυναικών στο Ισλάμ», «Οι ξεχασμένες βασίλισσες του Ισλάμ» και «Η γυναίκα στο μουσουλμανικό ασυνέιδητο» είναι τα υπό εξέταση βιβλία. Τα αποτελέσματα επιβεβαιώνουν την μη αντικρουόμενη φύση του Ισλαμικού φεμινισμού και τη διττή κριτική της Μερνίσι. Επιπλέον, μέσα από τα αποτελέσματα καταδεικνύεται η ανδρική αριστοκρατία και τα πολιτικά συμφέροντα πίσω από τον αποκλεισμό των γυναικών από την εξουσία, την κοινωνική ζωή καθώς και πίσω από τη χιτζάμπ που παρουσιάζεται από αυτούς σαν μέρος μιας αυθεντικής Μουσουλμανικής παράδοσης, μέσω της χειραγώγησης ιερών κειμένων, του Κορανίου και των Χαντίθ (Ισλαμική παράδοση που παραδίδει τη τα λόγια και τις πράξεις του Προφήτη Μωάμεθ και λειτουργεί σαν καθοδήγηση). Ωστόσο, απαιτείται περαιτέρω έρευνα για να κινητοποιηθούν οι Μουσουλμάνες αλλά και ο παγκόσμιος πληθυσμός των γυναικών να διεκδικήσουν τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματά τους και να ανακτήσουν τη δύναμή τους μέσω της αμφισβήτησης του ορθόδοξου θρησκευτικού λόγου της ανδρικής ελίτ. Λέξεις κλειδιά: Ισλαμικός φεμινισμός, Κοράνι, κοσμικός/μουσουλμανικός, θρησκευτική ερωτική λογοτεχνία, ορθόδοξος Ισλαμικός λόγος Dissertation v Koutsogianni Vasiliki, Islamic feminism in the works of Fatima Mernissi Abstract The notion of Islamic feminism has been challenged regarding its constituents both by secular and Muslim women from all continents and rendered an oxymoron. Critiques on Fatima Mernissi are limited, and these few studies condemn her shifts in perspective as conflicting. The purpose of this study is to explore Islamic feminism as expressed in the works of Fatima Mernissi and the various stages it has undergone. Qualitative content analysis has been employed as a research method, following the stages of data preparation, organizing, and reporting, using coding categories, to deduct a conceptual model on Islamic feminism in the works of Mernissi. "Veil and the male elite: a feminist interpretation of women's rights Islam", "Le harem politique/ The forgotten queens of Islam" and "Woman in the Muslim unconscious" are the books under scrutiny. The results demonstrate the non-conflicting nature of Islamic feminism and Mernissi's double-front critique on the subject. Additionally, the results section pinpoints the male aristocracy and political interests behind Muslim women's exclusion from power, social life, and veiling alleged as part of an authentic Muslim tradition through the manipulation of sacred texts, the Qu'ran and the Hadith. Further investigation is necessary to motivate Muslim women and women's worldwide population to claim their human rights and regain their agency through the contestation of "religious" elitist male orthodox discourses. Keywords: Islamic feminism, secular/secularist, religious erotic/orthodox discourse, erotic discourse, female/male, Qu'ran, Prophet Dissertation vi Koutsogianni Vasiliki, Islamic feminism in the works of Fatima Mernissi Table of content Contents Περίληψη............................................................................................................................... v Abstract ................................................................................................................................ vi Table of contents ................................................................................................................. vii 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 2 Theoretical framework .................................................................................................. 3 2.1 Fatima Mernissi .......................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1 Early life and career ....................................................................................... 3 2.1.2 Mernissi’s methodology .................................................................................. 4 2.1.3 First and second stage feminism in Mernissi's works ..................................... 5 2.2 Islamic feminism ........................................................................................................ 6 2.2.1 Socio-historical background of Islamic feminism ........................................... 6 2.2.2 What is Islamic feminism? .............................................................................. 7 2.2.3 Main characteristics of Islamic feminism ....................................................... 7 2.2.4 “Islamic-islamic” terms .................................................................................. 8 2.2.5 The term "feminism" in Islamic feminism concept .......................................... 9 2.2.6 “islamic-secular” terms in Islamic feminsm ................................................. 10 2.2.7 The manipulation of sacred texts in Islamic feminism .................................. 10 2.2.8 Arkoun's theory in Islamic feminism ............................................................. 11 2.2.9 Is Islamic feminism an oxymoron? ................................................................ 12 2.2.10 Issues in Islamic feminist methodology ......................................................... 12 3 Research methodology ................................................................................................ 14 3.1 Qualitative content analysis – literature .................................................................. 14 3.2 Research objectives .................................................................................................. 16 3.2.1 Importance of the study ................................................................................. 17 3.3 Research questions ................................................................................................... 17 3.3.1 Thematic categories ...................................................................................... 17 3.4 Sample ...................................................................................................................... 18 3.4.1 Woman and the Muslim unconscious: a critique .......................................... 18 3.4.2 Le harem politique: a critique ....................................................................... 19 3.4.3 The Veil and the male elite – a moment of shift – a critique ......................... 21 4 Results ......................................................................................................................... 24 4.1 The forgotten queens of Islam/Le harem politique .................................................. 24 4.1.1 The importance of titles and legitimacy ........................................................ 24 4.1.2 Eligibility criteria for sovereignty ................................................................. 25 4.1.3 Female queens fulfilling elibility criteria to reign- subaltern history ........... 26 4.1.4 Fifteen women queens of Islam ..................................................................... 26 4.1.5
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