The Modern Feminist Interpretation of the Qurʾān: A Study of the Concept of the General and the Particular in the Writings of Amina Wadud and Asma Barlas.

Ali Gomaa Afifi, Mahmoud

doi:10.21608/bfsgm.2025.443582

The Modern Feminist Interpretation of the Qurʾān: A Study of the Concept of the General and the Particular in the Writings of Amina Wadud and Asma Barlas.

Author

Mahmoud Ali Gomaa Afifi

Azhar University

10.21608/bfsgm.2025.443582

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of the binary of the general and the particular as conceptualized by the feminist interpreters of the Qurʾān. It aims to demonstrate how modern feminist exegetes, particularly Amina Wadud and Asma Barlas, have adopted frameworks influenced by Western philosophy in defining these categories in ways that depart significantly from their traditional treatment in Islamic legal and hermeneutical theory. The feminist interpreters characterize the "general" in the Qurʾān as an abstract moral ideal—encompassing values such as divine justice, compassion, and mercy—while the "particular" is understood as the specific historical and social context of the revelation, or any interpretation that arose in a given historical moment. Although this formulation bears a resemblance to the distinction between universals and particulars in the discipline of maqāṣid al-sharīʿa (the higher objectives of Islamic law), it diverges fundamentally in its treatment of language. The classical tradition regards the Qurʾān as a linguistically inimitable Arabic text, revealed in both word and meaning, while Islamic feminist interpretations often shift emphasis away from linguistic form to moral intent, which problematizes key assumptions about the sanctity of the Qurʾānic text. The study argues that the incorporation of Western philosophical categories into Islamic feminist interpretations—though not inherently illegitimate—raises substantial questions regarding the authority and sacredness of the Qurʾān. This, in turn, weakens the epistemological force of feminist tafsīr in certain respects and contributes to its limited impact on the lived reality of Muslim women, rendering it, in many cases, an elite discourse with minimal social effect. The paper traces the conceptual structure of the general and the particular within modern feminist Qurʾānic hermeneutics and highlights the underlying influence of Western philosophy in shaping these categories. It does so through a critical reading of the writings of two of the most prominent figures in this field: Amina Wadud and Asma Barlas.

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