Mernissi, F. (1987). Beyond the veil: Male-female dynamics in modern Muslim society

Abstract

In Beyond the veil: Male–female dynamics in modern Muslim society, Mernissi explores the impact of modernization on the social order in Morocco in the early 1970s, which was traditionally built on segregation and patriarchal understandings of Shariah law. Divided into two parts, the book begins with the traditional Muslim view of women and the social order through an analysis of the Qur’an and hadiths. Using Imam Ghazali’s concept of sexuality, Mernissi illustrates how this concept, and our understanding of it, resulted in inequalities between the sexes, as well as the belief that the social order is dependent upon women as a consequence of their active female sexuality. Social order is described as being “secured when the woman limits herself to her husband and does not create fit, or chaos, by enticing other men to illicit intercourse” (Mernissi, 1987, p.39).