Sociological Cultural Studies

Sociological Cultural Studies

Critical examination of the image of "God" in the feminist thoughts of Amina Wadud

Document Type : .

Authors
shabnam faraji 1
Rasoul Rasoulipour 2
1 PhD student in Islamic Theology, Shahid Motahari University, Tehran, Iran
2 Associate Professor of Philosophy Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Kharazmi University Tehran, Iran
10.30465/scs.2024.50490.2943
Abstract
Abstract
Feminist thinkers have created new theological systems by drawing a different image of God. With regard to the formation of feminist currents of thought among Muslims, this research examines the "image of God" in the thought of "Amina Wadud".The purpose of this research is to critically examine some foundations of Islamic feminist theology. According to wadud, traditional theology has created the concept of "male God" due to being caught in "linguistic" limitations; But the monotheistic hermeneutic interpretation method, by dressing the revelation of linguistic limitations, goes beyond the image of the male God and considers God with "feminine and masculine attributes".This concept also suggests "reciprocal relations" and "monotheistic paradigm" regarding the two adjectives "monotheism" and "justice". Based on the findings of the research, wadud's point of view is faced with criticisms such as violation of divine perfection, dualism of essence and attributes, dualism of the divine essence, pantheism, etc. The method of this research is descriptive and analytical, with a critical approach.
Keywords: Amina Wadud, feminism, God, monotheism, justice

Introduction
"Feminism" is one of the intellectual movements of the West, which was initially a social movement centered on the defense of women's rights, but gradually entered other fields. The introduction of feminism into the field of theology is referred to as "feminist theology". There are many disagreements about what feminist theology is, and part of it is due to the theoretical diversity of the schools that are formulated under feminist theology. However, "breaking the monopoly of male narratives of religion and striving for influential female narratives in religion" can be considered as the common core of many feminist theological schools. Feminist theology tries to reread traditional theology with a focus on women's perspective and rethink the three main concepts of a theological system, namely "God", "human" and "world". A different idea of ​​each of these three can lead to a different theological system.
The focus of this article is to examine the "image of God" in the works of Amina wadud. She came to Islam from Protestant Christianity and in her most famous work "Quran and Woman", she tried to reread the Quran from a woman's perspective. So far, various issues have been mentioned in the criticism of wadod's opinions. But the fundamental issue that has been overlooked by the critics is the concept of God, which has led to her different understanding of the religion of Islam and the Qur'an. In the feminine theology, the doctrine of God is presented in the sense that in traditional theology, "male face" is narrated from God and God has been confiscated for the benefit of the male sex. Therefore, the female sex is considered "second sex" and "inferior". Feminist theology seeks to correct this doctrine; Therefore, a wide range of approaches have been born that try to challenge the traditional concept of God in the first step and in the second step to create another concept of God that, if not "feminine" in an extreme interpretation, at least combines male and female aspects or be fundamentally transsexual. Limitation of other concepts such as "sacred text", "monotheism", "polytheism" etc. largely depends on the image of God. The present study examines the opinion of wadud as a theological system centered on the basic pillar of "God".

Methodology
The present research is a research, theoretical and its method is analytical-critical. The research approach is also qualitative; Qualitative research requires identifying sources related to the research topic, studying texts, understanding the meaning of the text and extracting the desired content from these sources, establishing a relationship between the content and describing and analyzing and criticizing them, and discussing and concluding the collected information.

Discussion and Results
According to Wadud, although the feminine pronoun is not used in the Qur'an to refer to God; But this should not lead to prejudice about the male aspects of "Allah"; because the literal meaning is discarded through interpretation. However, many Muslims translate the masculine pronoun in its literal sense. If we use the pronoun "He" without fear about God who is not male, then we should be able to use the pronoun "She" without fear about God who is not female; While this is not the case and due to the existence of the image of a male God, the male pronoun is always used when referring to God. Pronoun is just a kind of indicator and function of language, and its use does not mean to express the quality and truth of divine nature or to express gender policies. Wadud divides divine attributes into "masculine" and "feminine" and considers masculine attributes as "glory attributes" and feminine attributes as "beauty attributes". She considers the root of "Rahim" and "Rahman" to be "Rahem" and tries to find a connection between "God" and the womb, which is a sign of femininity. According to wadud, the male-dominated system has caused injustice against women and polytheism by denying feminine attributes, so to return to monotheism and justice, one must put aside the image of a male God and believe in a God with feminine and masculine attributes. In wadud's criticism, it can be said that she has a double standard in the meaning of justice and her ideas have led to the imperfection of divine perfection, pantheism, etc.

Conclusion
wadud considers God's essence to be unknowable and believes that knowing God is possible through attributes. She faces the image of God from a feminine perspective and introduces a dynamic image of God. In the sense that knowing God is not a mere intellectual knowledge; rather, a Muslim should establish an active relationship with God's attributes and see its results in improving his personal and social life. From her point of view, God has two categories of attributes "beauty" and "glory" and human beings should connect with the attributes of God's beauty more than anything else and manifest these types of attributes in themselves. Although Wadud associates her idea with Islamic documents, her image of God is very similar to the image of Christian feminists, but it is often associated with more veiling and caution. It seems that wadud has not been able to establish the necessary compatibility between her feminist views and the Quranic approach in the discussion of God. And therefore sometimes she is ambiguous in her words; For example, while considering God as transsexual, she describes him with gender attributes. Although she (the woman) tries to justify her ideas for narrative reasons with interpretative methods; however, both these interpretation methods and the resulting results are faced with numerous criticisms, such as violating the divine perfection, dualism of the essence and attributes, considering the divine essence to be multifaceted, pantheism, etc.
Keywords
Amina Wadud
feminism
God
monotheism
justice
قرآن کریم
ابن‌منظور (1405). لسان‌العرب، قم: نشر ادب الحوزه
خامنه‌ای، سیدعلی(1396). طرح کلی اندیشه اسلامی در قرآن، قم: انتشارات ایمان جهادی.
خدابخشی، حسین(1401). «بررسی مفهوم وحدت اضداد در اندیشه‌ی عرفانی لائوزه با تکیه بر کتاب تائوته‌چینگ»، مطالعات ادبیات، عرفان و فلسفه، دوره 8 شماره 1. ص21-33
خواجوی، محمد(1374). ترجمه مصباح‌الانس یا پیوند استدلال و شهود در کشف اسرار وجود صدرالدین قونوى‌، تهران: مولی
زبیدی، مرتضی(1966). تاج العروس، بیروت: دار صادر
موحد، مجید(1385). «الهیات فمینیستی و دنیوی شدن»، فصلنامه اندیشه دینی دانشگاه شیراز، شماره 20، ص81-106
حسن‎زاده: https://najmeddinamoli.ir
Bose, B(2005).post-colonial feminism: nation, gender and sexualities india, in feminist theory, Vol 6(1): 81-97.
De Beauvior,Simone (1997). The second sex, New York: vintage.
Rivers, Nicola(2017). Post-feminism(s) and the Arrival of the fourth wave: Turing Tides. New York: springer international publishing.
Wadud, Amina (1999). Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wadud, Amina (2008). Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.
Wadud, Amina (2009). Islam Beyond Patriarchy Through Gender Inclusive Qur’anic Analysis, Wanted: Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family
Wadud, Amina (1995). Towards a Qur'anic Hermeneutics of Social Justice: Race, Class and Gender, Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 12, No. 1 (1995 - 1996), pp. 37-50, Cambridge University Press
Wadud, Amina (2019). “Without Women, You Cannot Understand the Qur’an”, Oasis, pp.37-44.
Wadud, Amina, https://aminawadud.com/
Sociological Cultural Studies
Volume 16, Issue 4 - Serial Number 58
Winter 2026
Winter 2026
Pages 181-215

  • Receive Date 15 November 2024
  • Revise Date 13 December 2024
  • Accept Date 14 December 2024
  • Publish Date 20 February 2026