God and Gender in Islam

Abstract

The feminist theology depends on the thesis that the theology based on male-dominant culture. According to this thesis, it is believed that the present theology must be revised from women's point of view. It has been said that this theology is a relative theology on the assumption that the present theology is largely a masculine paradigm, which is a result of man's historical experience. When the concepts of Islam and feminism are thought together, the status of women in Islamic societies is generally discussed. However, instead of this, it should be investigated whether present situation has a theological foundation in Islam or not. It should be discussed whether God' attributes and names have sexual or masculine content. Biologically, it is widely believed that God has no sexual character. But metaphorically, whether God has female or masculine attributes, and women's socially backwardness results from Muslim's imagination of God is an important issue to research. In this paper, it will be discussed whether some Qur'anic verses commented against women are masculine commentaries or Quranic data.