Nimat Hafez Barazangi. Woman's Identity and the Qur'an: A New Reading.

Nimat Hafez Barazangi. Woman's Identity and the Qur'an: A New Reading. University of Florida Press, 2004. 164 pages + index. Hardcover $59.95.

WOMAN'S IDENTITY AND THE QUR'AN: A New Reading by Nimat Hafez Barazangi is a fresh re-reading of woman's moral-religious-rational place in the holy book of Islam. It is an uncompromising call for freeing the Qur'an from the patriarchal interpretations that have dominated the construction of Islamic knowledge throughout the centuries and have as a result led to fundamental gender inequalities. Taking Islamic justice and the essence of Qur'anic revolution against all inequalities (be it gender, class or race) as her foundational principle, Barazangi clearly demonstrates that patriarchy and inequality can be contested from within Islam, particularly through its primary source the Qur'an.

Gender justice, Barazangi argues, is a Qur'anic mandate and unless Muslims are implementing it and practicing it in their lives they are in fact straying away from Qur'anic teachings. The main thesis of the book is that the only way to restore the Qur'anic gender justice and implement changes in Muslim women's lives is for women to self-identify with the Qur'an. She states that the Self-Identified Muslim woman (or man) is "the Muslim who recaptures the meaning and the practice of being a Muslim by choice; who intimately accesses (without intermediary), consciously understands, rationally interprets the Qur'anic text using its own rules" (24).

The book consists of seven chapters including the introduction and the conclusion. In the Introduction, "Women's identity and the Qur'an", Barazangi maintains that the Qur'an emphasizes the self identity of the Muslim woman as an autonomous spiritual and intellectual being, contrary to the secondary class status and complementary relationships that traditional and dominant interpretations of the Qur'an might have us believe. She argues that the tensions and contradictions that Muslim women have been experiencing in their identification with Islam has a lot to do with accepting conventional interpretations without questioning them and believing that they hold the same status as the Qur'anic principles. The framework she proposes instead is identification with the Qur'an from within Islam and self-identifying with its goal of justice.

In Chapter One, "Pedagogical reading of the Qur'an," Barazangi decries the wrong assumption that Muslim women do not constitute a theological authority. She maintains that underlying the large absence of women's voice in the construction of the Islamic knowledge is the conventional assumption that a Muslim woman's religio-moral rationality (Din) as being under the guardianship of her male kin. The reproduction of these interpretations by subsequent generations has obscured the moral ethics and guidance of the Qur'an. Barazangi affirms that women's participation in the construction of the Islamic sciences is an Islamic duty and a provision for being a Muslim. She therefore advocates Qur'anic higher learning by accessing the Qur'anic text directly and generating new readings of the Qur'an and drawing rational judgment that would resuscitate the essence of the Qur'anic teachings and principles.

Chapter Two, "The religio-moral-rational characteristics of the Qur'an and the story of creation," examines the human Creation story and its relation to understanding the Islamic religio-moral worldview (Din). Barazangi challenges Muslims' adoption of the Judeo-Christian interpretation of creation (Adam's rib) that ascribe primordiality to the male as well as the meaning that ascribes the "burden of Adam's fall to Eve." Barazangi sees these interpretations and concepts as stark contradictions to basic Islamic principles; the principle of taqwa, which is the only viable criterion that distinguishes between human beings. The interpretations, she adds, undermine the Qur'anic principle of individual trust and accountability that no one carries the burden of the other. These erroneous readings have promoted a discourse of the inherent dangers of females' temptation (fitna) against which men need to seek protection and have consequently impacted social relations and the power structure of knowledge in Muslim societies.

Chapter Three, "Autonomous morality and the principle of modesty," brings the issue of material attire back to its Qur'anic pedagogical context. Barazangi's goal here is to steer away from the discourses of liberation and enslavement that dominate the myriad interpretations of the practice and the issue of the attire. It is argued that these discourses have failed to deliver perceptual and attitudinal changes. Barazangi rereads the guiding principles of modesty and morality in the Qur'an (surat nnour and alHazab) through a pedagogical lens and stresses the need to go beyond the limited discussion of material attire in order to better understand the Muslim woman's religiosity/spirituality.

In Chapter Four, "Gender equality (al-Musawah) and equilibrium (Taqwa)," Barazangi argues that one of the most important aspects of the Qur'anic social revolution is the equality and justice between males and females but she reminds us that this Qur'anic gender social revolution has hardly taken place then or now. She criticizes in this chapter not only the traditional interpretations of male guardianship over women but previous Muslim female works who have failed to deconstruct this conventional conception and as a consequence ended up reinforcing the licensing of male guardianship over women and perpetuating woman's proxy morality. Barazangi asserts instead the Muslim woman's right to self determination by turning to the Qur'anic concept of taqwa as the only measure that distinguishes between individuals. This concept, she maintains, is integral to Islamic identity.

Chapter Five, "Self-identity and self-learning: A shift in curriculum development", as the title suggests proposes a paradigm shift that would "open possibilities for learners away from the Muqallidun (followers of precedence) and some Orientalist focus on rituals or perceived history (structure or form), and from the dichotomies between ideals and practice. Consequently, the learner will move in conception and practice toward the intended gender revolution of the Qur'an" (86). Her proposed Self-Learning (S-LI) curricular framework is intended to serve as a theory and practice for self-identifying with the Qur'an for Muslim women and men. Its objective is "to facilitate metacognitive learning or a higher-order thinking of Islam and of Islam's strategies for learning, knowing, teaching, and living" (87). It is particularly this integration of Quranic ideals and practical knowledge that sets the S-LI as a dynamic pedagogical framework. Moving Quranic ideals into practice, Barazangi believes, is bound to bring about a shift in perceptions and attitudes at the individual level, which is part and parcel of changes in the social structure. Barazangi ends the chapter by linking the ultimate goal of the S-LI to achieving taqwa and emphasizes that this Islamic principle is "the only criterion in judging the success or failure of Islamic education, much as it is the only criterion of differentiation between individuals" (109).

The Conclusions chapter, "Where do we go from here?", sums up the main points of the book and juxtaposes them to other scholarly claims. Among these philosophical and theoretical issues, she elaborates on what constitutes a better unit of analysis for social change within Islam. Barazangi clarifies, for instance, how taking gender as a unit of analysis would contradict the Qur'anic criterion of distinguishing individuals from one another by taqwa. She adds that "Feminist emphasis on gender as a central concept is viewed by Muslim women as simply replacing patriarchal power with feminist power instead of bringing about taqwa, balancing individual and social relations" (120). Barazangi opts instead for viewing Islam as Din (worldview) rather than mere religion, which she believes would be the keystone for social and political change. She defines the Islamic worldview as "an action-oriented worldview that encompasses social, cultural, and political elements, including religious and secular ijtihad" and emphasizes its reliance "on the human capacity to reason and its goal, the construction of fairness (qist) in the decision-making process that brings equilibrium (taqwa)" (119).

The book is to be applauded for weaving together fascinating and complex arguments that challenge some of the beliefs inherent in the patriarchal Islamic discourse. It tries to develop an alternative theory and a practice of generating new meanings of the Qur'an that do not compromise the integrity of fundamental Islamic principles of social and gender justice. It nicely integrates a pedagogical reading and analysis of the Qur'an and provides a well thought out curriculum design for Muslim women's education in Islam. In short, the book is a welcome addition to critical works on women in Islam.

One of the central arguments of this book is that self-identity and Islamic higher learning are prerequisites to social and political change. While I agree in principle with Baranzangi's clarion call to Muslim women to access the Qur'an and the Qur'anic sciences, the book seems to be oblivious to the realities of Muslim women around the world almost half of whom are not even literate. Without wishing to distract from the validity of Barazangi's hypothesis and the noble goals of seeking gender justice within Islam, the book seems to be speaking primarily to elite Muslim women and therefore seems to take an up-to-bottom approach to social change. Perhaps, a call for action to first eradicate illiteracy in Muslim societies and a curriculum design that teaches Muslim children, girls AND boys, the essence of Islamic justice and gender justice might be more amenable to social changes.

Another point that I found less helpful particularly from a book with such a revolutionary stance on issues of social and gender justice in Islam is devoting a chapter to a pedagogical reading of the attire, without hardly any serious consideration of more important and more challenging issues such as the concepts of nushuz and Darb, polygyny among others. It would have made the book an even stronger read, I believe, if a pedagogical reading and analysis of these issues has been provided but I hope that is a consideration for a subsequent book.

In conclusion, Woman's Identity and the Qur'an: A New Reading is a valuable contribution to the fields of Islamic studies, women's studies, Islamic and religious education and Middle Eastern studies to cite just a few. I must add that Barazangi's book is an excellent resource for young women and men who wish to claim and identify with Islam. As a Muslim woman myself who has been grappling with issues of gender justice and woman's autonomy in Islam the book has proved to be an invaluable reference.

Atiqa Hachimi is an assistant professor in the Department of African and Asian Languages and Literatures, the University of Florida, Gainesville.