The Department of Communications and Development were able to sit with Dr Karen Bauer and Professor Feras Hamza to discuss their recently released聽Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍Muslims believe that the Holy 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 contains divine revelations to the Prophet Muhammed received in Mecca and Medina over a period of 23 years in the early 7th century CE. More: A Patronage of Piety. This book examines the Qur示anic corpus to uncover the social context of 7th-century Arabia to understand the text鈥檚 egalitarian moral message. Watch highlights from the discussion here and subscribe to the聽聽to watch the full discussion, coming soon.
Gender egalitarianism in the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍
Video Transcript
Dr Karen Bauer: We might assume from a modern perspective that there can be no fairness or justice without social egalitarianism. And yet, if we look around ourselves, we know that our societies are anything but egalitarian. You know, try buying a property in London, for instance. We do not actually live in egalitarian societies, even today. However, it can be easy to mistake what the聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍聽takes for granted, which is that seventh century Arabia is inegalitarian, for a promotion of inequality in society. And that鈥檚 not at all what is going on. What鈥檚 going on in that text is not promoting inequality in the world. It鈥檚 promoting equality and salvation for the next life. And its recognition that there is inequality in the world.
Prof Feras Hamza: I think there is a tendency in contemporary thinking: for some reason, inegalitarianism, the lack of equality for all, somehow excuses individuals perhaps from being morally responsible. As though, that if only we were all equal, we could then be better moral beings. And I think the聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍聽says: well actually, the individual has free will and they have agency, even if they don鈥檛 think they have agency. Even if they鈥檙e in the most destitute of socioeconomic situations, there鈥檚 always that moral agency of choosing the good, thinking of the good option, and so on. And I think that鈥檚 an important point: we perhaps are more inclined to think of the importance of egalitarianism because then it makes us equal to be empowered to then think about morality and ethics and law and everything else in that kind of categorized way. And I think the聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍聽is different from that.
Households in the context of the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍
Dr Karen Bauer: Of course, the聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍, it presumes a certain social structure. It presumes male-headed households and it presumes a social structure of patronage by which there would be a聽pater familias聽in a house (a male head of household) who would be patron for poor and disenfranchised people in the society. So, women become a prime example of vulnerable people who are cared for within those social structures of households.
Feras Hamza: And I think, just to build on that, once the聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍聽establishes its ambition to recalibrate the role of the patron or the head of the household as a role of looking after vulnerable individuals, not just the women, but of course everybody else in the household. I think the really subtle move that is not appreciated that the聽蚕耻谤鈥檃苍聽makes is that once it speaks to those heads of household, the elites of the time can say: your duty is one of care, because what鈥檚 involved in that care is potentially a mutual or reciprocal benefit, which is that of doing pious acts and gaining in piety which then has a reward in the hereafter. Then that becomes a paradigm for anybody. And so, then anybody can become a patron of piety. And that鈥檚 the effect of the subtitle of our book: 鈥淎 Patronage of Piety鈥.
Adding to our understanding of women in the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍
Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur'an: A Patronage of Piety
Based on a new historical-critical study of all the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍鈥檚 verses on women, this book compellingly shows that the Qur’an offered a moral transformation of the major social structures in its milieu: households, patronage, and kinship.
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