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Aisha Abd al-Rahman, or Bint al Shati' as she was more commonly known, was an author, journalist and professor of Islamic studies at Cairo University. She wrote many articles and books – including a series on lives of wives and female relatives of the Prophet Muhammad.
She has been identified as the first Muslim woman to separate the message of the Qur'an from its established interpretation and recognise the conflation of divine and human authority.[1] Indeed she has been recognised as leaving an 'indelible mark on modern literary exegesis of the Qur’an.'[2] |
Although Bint al Shati’s work had feminist themes and she was a passionate advocate of women’s rights, she did not describe herself as a feminist.
Margot Badran wrote: ‘neither feminists or fundamentalists would consider her radical enough but widely differing regimes through the years have considered her both safe and useful.’[3] She was revered by male and female scholars of her time - Hasan Hanafi paid her the compliment: ‘She belongs to fuqaha al-sultan (the sultan’s men of jurisprudence.’)[4] |
[1] Shuruq Naguib, ‘Horizons and Limitations of Muslim Feminist Hermeneutics: Reflections on the Menstruation Verse’ (2010) P. 2
[2] Shuruq Naguib 'Bint al-Shati (d.1998) and her approach to tafsır: The journey of an Egyptian exegete from hermeneutics to humanity' (2013)
[3] Margot Badran ‘Feminism in Islam Secular and Religious Convergences’ (2009) p. 35
[4] Ibid
[2] Shuruq Naguib 'Bint al-Shati (d.1998) and her approach to tafsır: The journey of an Egyptian exegete from hermeneutics to humanity' (2013)
[3] Margot Badran ‘Feminism in Islam Secular and Religious Convergences’ (2009) p. 35
[4] Ibid