Beyond the Binary: Gender and Legal Personhood in Islamic LawA free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. One of the most hotly debated issues in contemporary Muslim ethics is the status of women in Islamic law. Whereas Muslim conservatives argue that gender-differentiated legal rulings reflect complementary gender roles, Muslim feminists argue that Islamic law has subordinated women and is thus in need of reform. The shared assumption on both sides, however, is that gender fundamentally shapes an individual’s legal status. Beyond the Binary explores an expansive cross section of topics in ninth- to twelfth-century Hanafi legal thought, ranging from sexual crimes to consent to marriage, to show that early Muslim jurists imagined a world built not on a binary distinction between male and female but on multiple intersecting hierarchies of gender, age, enslavement, lineage, class, and other social roles. Saadia Yacoob offers a restorative reading of Islamic law, arguing that its intersectional and relational understanding of legal personhood offers a productive space for Muslim feminists to move beyond critique and instead think with and through the Islamic legal tradition. |
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Abbasid Abu Bakr Abu Hanifa acquired active/passive binary al-Kasani Al-Mabsut al-Sana’i al-Sarakhsi al-Shaybani allowed anal intercourse argument Badai Beirut bodily chapter child marriage childhood conception concubinage consent construction critique different legal divorce early Hanafi law early Islamic emphasized femininity enslaved person enslaved woman father and paternal female enslaver Feminist Freamon free woman Geissinger gender binary girl granted guardians hadith Hanafi jurists Hanafi legal school hegemonic masculinity History human husband illicit sexual intercourse individual’s individuals intersection Intersectionality Intersex Islamic law juristic discussions Katz Kecia legal agency legal capacity legal majority legal person legal personhood legal rulings legal status legal subjects Marriage and Slavery marriage contract marry Maududi minor marriage Muhammad Muslim ownership passive paternal grandfather patriarchal premodern Islamic prepubescent Qur'an recognized relation Roman scholars Seedat sexual autonomy sexual desire sexual intercourse slave social hierarchy social identities society Studies Sunni legal schools tion virgin wife women