The Qur'an and Gender Hermeneutics: A Comparative Study of Indonesian Transformational Muslim Feminist Approaches to Gender Verses
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15575/hanifiya.v9i2.55668Keywords:
Gender Hermeneutics, Husein Muhammad, qira'ah mubadalah, Qur'anic gender writing, women's true justiceAbstract
This study examines and compares five gender-interpretation models developed by Indonesian Muslim feminist thinkers: Qirāʾah Mubādalah (Faqihuddin Abdul Qadir), Maʿrūf (Badriyah Fayumi), True Justice of Women (Nur Rofiah), contextual interpretation (Husein Muhammad), and Qur’anic Gender Writing (Nur Arfiyah Febriani). Focusing on their characteristics, convergences, differences, and contextual origins, the research analyzes how these approaches construct gender justice within Indonesia’s social reality. Grounded in theological feminism and Gadamer’s hermeneutics, it employs a qualitative-comparative method through literature study, in-depth interviews, and textual analysis of primary works and secondary sources on hermeneutics, Islamic feminism, and Qur’anic interpretation. The findings show that Indonesian transformational Muslim feminist hermeneutics is contextual, critically engages patriarchal biases in classical exegesis, and epistemologically prioritizes justice and women’s liberation. While all five thinkers share a commitment to gender justice as a divine value, they differ in hermeneutic strategies, academic orientations, social experiences, and institutional positions. The study concludes that these approaches constitute a distinct, contextual, and transformative school of Qur’anic interpretation aimed at gender justice in Indonesia.
References
Abidin, M. (2011). Paradigma Tafsir Perempuan di Indonesia [Paradigm of Women’s Interpretation in Indonesia]. Malang: UIN Maliki Press.
Ahmed, L. (1992). Women and Gender in Islam. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Anwar, E. (2018). A Genealogy of Islamic Feminism: Pattern and Change in Indonesia. New York: Routledge.
Barlas, A. (2019). Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of The Qur’an. University of Texas Press.
Beattie, T. (2004). Religion and Diversity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. London and New York: Continuum.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Pendekatan kualitatif, kuantitatif, dan mixed. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.
Fayumi, B. (2024). Tutup Auratmu Buka Pikiranmu: Sketsa Muslimah Fondasi Peradaban [Cover Your Body, Open Your Mind: Sketches of Muslim Women, the Foundations of Civilization]. Bandung: Afkaruna.
Febriani, N. A. (2025). Menafsir Ulang Gender dalam Al-Qur’an: Kritik Falosentrisme dan Rekonsiderasi Stereotipe Tafsir Patriarki [Reinterpreting Gender in the Qur’an: A Critique of Phallocentrism and a Reconsideration of Patriarchal Stereotypes]. Tanggerang: Youth Progressive Muslim.
Gadamer, H.-G. (1999). Truth and Method. London: Continuum.
Gross, R. M. (1993). Buddhism After Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Hidayatullah, A. A. (2014). Feminist Edges of the Qur’an. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Husaini, A., & Husni, R. (2015). Problematika Tafsir Feminis: Studi Kritis Konsep Kesetaraan Gender [Problems of Feminist Interpretation: A Critical Study of the Concept of Gender Equality] (Vol. 15). Ponorogo: Al-Tahrir: Jurnal Pemikiran Islam.
Kodir, F. A. (2023). Qira’ah Mubadalah. Yogyakarta: IRCiSoD.
Lan, K. P. (2005). Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
Marcoes-Natsir, L. (1993). Pendidikan Gender dalam Islam: Membangun Kesetaraan [Gender Education in Islam: Building Equality]. Yogyakarta: LKiS.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Muhammad, H. (2005). Perempuan, Islam dan Negara [Women, Islam and the State]. Yogyakarta: LKIS.
Mulia, S. M. (2006). Islam dan Feminisme: Politik Islam dan Gender di Indonesia [Islam and Feminism: Islamic Politics and Gender in Indonesia]. Jakarta: Paramadina.
Nurmila, N. (2021). The Spread of Muslim Feminist Ideas in Indonesia: Before and After the Digital Era. Jakarta: Al-Jamiah.
Rahman, F. (1980). Major Themes of The Qur’an. University of Chicago Press.
Rofiah, N. (2020). Nalar Kritis Muslimah: Refleksi atas Keperempuanan, Kemanusiaan, dan Keislaman [Muslim Women’s Critical Reasoning: Reflections on Women, Humanity, and Islam]. Bandung: Afkaruna.id.
Ruether, R. R. (1983). Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology. Boston: Beacon Press.
Smith, J. A. (2011). Evaluating the Contribution of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Health Psychology Review, 5(1), 9–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2010.510659
Subhan, Z. (1999). Tafsir Kebencian [Interpretation of Hate]. Jakarta: Pustaka Alvabet.
Sugiyono. (2022). Qualitative Research Methods for Social, Educational, and Public Policy Research. Bandung: Alfabeta.
Wadud, A. (1999). Qur’an and Women: Rereading the Sacred Text from Women Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.
Zulaiha, E. (2022). Diskursus Tafsir Feminis dalam Islam [Feminist Interpretation Discourse in Islam]. Yayasan Values Institute.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Citation Check
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Bannan Naelin Najihah, Jajang A. Rohmana, Eni Zulaiha
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC-BY-SA)  that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
