Gender, law and society in Islam

• Main Author: Kamaruddin, Zaleha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IIUM Press 2020
• Subjects: BL Religion; K Law (General)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/92129/7/92129_Gender%2C%20law%20and%20society%20in%20Islam.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/92129/; https://journals.iium.edu.my/shajarah/index.php/shaj/article/download/1145/442/1824

The thought that immediately comes to my mind when reading “Gender, Law and Society in Islam” is the sincere attempt made by Professor Anis Ahmad, the author, in recording his decades of experience not just dealing with key issues on gender but as a social scientist and distinguished professor of comparative religion and Islamic studies in Pakistan and across the globe. This valuable experience has been adeptly curated into a framework that is not only thought-provoking but easy to follow. This book contributes to a growing body of literature on gender studies – specifically on a line of inquiry that has formed around certain important contemporary issues in gender from an Islamic perspective. The aim of this book according to the author is an academic effort to elaborate features of an ethical worldview and the new identity it provides to both genders. He insists throughout this book that this identity is not based on the superiority of one gender over another, but rather on “ethical transcendence” whereupon individuals are elevated due to excellence in their good deeds. His search for viable solutions in the light of guidance from the Qur’an is illustrated through his formation of a theoretical framework which assists readers in understanding the Qur’anic worldview brought forth in this book.