The Authority of the Revealed Text and the Limits of Modern Critical Methods: A Juristic and Analytical Study of Women's Discourse in Islamic Law

Author

, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

This study aims to establish the authority and centrality of the revealed text (al-naṣṣ al-sharʿī) in Islamic legal reasoning and to examine the interpretive methods developed by Muslim scholars in engaging with it. Against this foundation, the study critically explores the application of modern Western critical theories to religious texts, focusing on select methodologies that are closely tied to the subject. These modern approaches are analyzed and evaluated in terms of their scope, applicability, and limitations, while affirming the sanctity and unique status of the revealed texts within the Islamic tradition.
The study includes a focused examination of juristic issues in which Qurʾānic or Prophetic speech is addressed to women or pertains specifically to them. It analyzes how contemporary Arab critics, particularly those informed by modernist and post-structuralist approaches, have dealt with such texts, and contrasts this with the methodological orientation of Islamic jurisprudence.
Employing inductive, descriptive, and analytical methods, the study is structured around two main sections: the first addresses the authority of the revealed text and the interpretive frameworks used by Muslim scholars; the second explores modern critical approaches to religious texts—their assumptions, methodological foundations, and applications to Islamic legal discourse.
The study concludes that the revealed text holds a place of sanctity and permanence in Islamic law, providing the foundation for stable and enduring rulings while remaining capable of responding to changing circumstances. It further argues that modernity, as framed in Western critical theory, often entails a rejection of foundational beliefs and sacred referents, rendering such methods unsuitable for application to Sharīʿa texts due to the vast difference in intellectual and cultural contexts.
The research emphasizes the necessity of upholding Islamic epistemological frameworks, particularly in issues related to women, and warns against fragmenting sacred texts or detaching them from their intended purposes and legal objectives. The study offers several recommendations directed to jurists, fatwa councils, and research institutions, urging vigilance in addressing contemporary challenges and highlighting the importance of preserving the normative status of revealed texts. It also advises academic institutions—especially in the fields of Islamic and literary studies—to remain attentive to the ideological assumptions embedded in modern critical methodologies and to protect students from uncritical adoption of frameworks that undermine the integrity of Islamic law.

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