Abstract
This study examines the Qurʾān’s view towards gender and argues that all three masculine, feminine and egalitarian (gender-inclusive) discourses exist in its text, and that these discourses do not follow a simple and linear model but rather a nonlinear and complex one. It also provides evidence, showing that gender equality in the Qurʾān is achieved in two ways: firstly, through linguistic devices that are devoid of gender distinctions, and secondly, through concurrent use of masculine and feminine gender markers in one context. The masculine discourse is, however, more prominent in the verses of this book and manifests itself to varying degrees in three ways: (1) in some verses, only masculine indicators are used but it can be inferred based on the (Taghlīb) principle that both men and women are the intended addressees; (2) in some verses, rules regarding women are stipulated, whilst men are, in fact, the main addressees and (3) in verses that state rules on reciprocal issues such as divorce and marriage but these rules are addressed to only men. The feminine discourse is also present in the Qurʾān and can be seen in verses that address women. Contribution: Revealing gender discourses in the Qurʾān requires not only a historical but also an integrative and holistic understanding of its text. This study attempts to identify the relation of the Qurʾān to the three gender discourses based on the linguistic elements of the text and their classification.
Highlights
Text analysis is one of the most effective methods for studying gender discourse(s) (West, Lazar & Kramarae 1997:119) in a text
All the propositions that are somehow related to the three main gender discourses were extracted and classified into detailed subcategories, and the quality of these discourses and, more generally, the proportion of the use of each discourse type were described
This study applied a rather novel method of investigation, that is, it used gender-related language indicators to determine the dominant discourse in the Qurān
Summary
Text analysis is one of the most effective methods for studying gender discourse(s) (West, Lazar & Kramarae 1997:119) in a text. Masculine pronouns can be used generically to refer to both sexes, but the gender grammatical shift makes a fundamental difference in this regard, that is, it adds to the generalisation and weakens male gender dominance through introducing gender-neutral devices in the male-dominated context Another important type of language use found in egalitarian discourse, which is more prominent, is the concurrent use of male and female gender indicators within the same context, a topic that will be dealt with below. The only other verse in which the rules about menstruation have been mentioned is Qurān 65:4, in which the main issues are the period [ ] ُع ّدهfor specific women, menopause and pregnancy, at the time of their divorce In these verses, there is a conditional clause the grammatical gender of which is masculine, ‘if you doubt’ [ ]إن ارتبتُمand presents a male discourse. More evidence is needed to verify the veracity of this claim
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