Interpretation of the Quranic verse “al-Qiwamah” (“Guidance in the family”) by Islamic modernists

Abstract

In Islam, in family relations, special attention is paid to the issue of leadership in the family, called in the Quran by the term “al-qiwamah”. This is due to the fact that leadership or headship in the family is the basis for establishing the nature of the relationship between husband and wife in Islam, since various issues of such relationships somehow come from the issue of “leadership”. Leadership in family relations, due to the arbitrariness of its concept and application, became the subject of a dispute between spouses, and became one of the main reasons for disagreements and divorces in the modern era. The present work analyzes the interpretation (tafsir) by Islamic modernists such as Jamal al-Banna (1920–2013), Nawal al-Sa‘dawi (1931–2021), Muhammad Shahrur (1938–2019) and Nasr Hamid Abu-Zaid (1943–2010) of the ayah “al-qiwamah” (“guidance in the family”) (4:34) [1, c. 83], set forth in their writings. Their approach is compared to the treatment of the representative of conservative and traditional theologians of Islam Muhammad-Sa‘id Ramadan al-Buti (1929–2013). Modernists believed that both men and women were entitled to the role of a leader in family relations, but they disagreed about the interpretation of the Quranic ayah “al-qiwamah” up to the complete rejection of the concept of leadership in family relations.