Islamic Studies and Quranic Research in the Contemporary World

Islamic Studies and Quranic Research in the Contemporary World

Study of a new research on feminist readings of Islamic moral philosophy

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Maryam Nasr Esfahani
Assistant Professor oin the Research Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/iscw.2023.707107
Abstract
This article is a critical review of the book Gendered Morality: Classical Islamic Ethics of the Self, Family, and Society, by Zahra Ayubi, published in Columbia University Press in 2019. This book is a feminist interpretation of three influential akhlaq treatises, written in Persian between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries: Kimiya-i Sa‘adat or The Alchemy of Happiness by Al-Ghazali; Akhlaq- iNasiri or The Nasirean Ethics by Nasir- ad Din Tusi; and Akhlaq- iJalali or The Jalalean Ethics by Jalal ad-Din Davani. The main problem of patriarchal Islamic ethics is the notion of "vicegerent of God" and Ayubi proposed that we should move beyond the definition of man as a rational animal and free reason from exclusion. Despite the fact that this is the first English book on this subject, Ayubi carried out her research within the framework of Western feminist philosophy concerning history of philosophy, and because of this, she has been unable to achieve original accomplishments and educate the English academic communities about the subtleties and possibilities of contemporary Islamic philosophy studies.
 
Keywords
Islamic ethics
gendered philosophy
The Alchemy of Happiness
The Nasirean Ethics
The Jalalean Ethics

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  • Receive Date 26 February 2023
  • Revise Date 19 April 2023
  • Accept Date 14 May 2023
  • First Publish Date 14 May 2023
  • Publish Date 21 March 2023