Unveiling The Mind
Najma Moosa
R400.00
R400.00
The basic thesis of Moosa's intriguing monograph entails the belief that equality is an ideal anchored in the primary sources of Islam (see eg 24-26 and 101-106). However, Islamic law historically developed in a contrary direction through interpretation by an elite group of jurists in the preservation of male interests (see eg 8-10, 138 and 164-166; "The divine Qur'an lies buried underneath layers of interpretative classical jurisprudence" (168)). The author does not consider the door of reform and development to be closed (see especially 136-139 on ijtihad; cf Ramadan Radical Reform. Islamic Ethics and Liberation (2009)) and, in any event, "[i]t is to the broader ethical and egalitarian message and spirit implicit in Qur'anic norms that we must now return in order for women to have access to a more egalitarian Islamic law" (124) (cf Ramadan 72: "The point is to be faithful to the higher, universal objectives of scriptural sources and no longer only to the wording of a specific ruling").