Description
Book SynopsisIn Gendered Morality, Zahra Ayubi rethinks the tradition of Islamic philosophical ethics from a feminist critical perspective. She calls for a philosophical turn in the study of gender in Islam based on resources for gender equality that are unlocked by feminist engagement with the Islamic ethical tradition.
Trade ReviewWell-suited for advanced undergraduate and graduate students,
Gendered Morality makes a monumental intervention to debates in philosophy, feminist studies, and Islamic studies. -- Joud Alkorani, University of Toronto * Religious Studies Review *
I recommend this book to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and academics working in the broad field of Islam and Gender, Gender and Religion and more specifically feminist approaches (philosophy) of religion or Islam. * Reading Religion *
This book has much to offer a diverse set of readers. -- Justine Howe * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *
Gendered Morality, Zahra Ayubi’s first book, is a substantial contribution to the study of Islamic ethics, law, and philosophy. -- Benjamin P. Beames * Bustan: The Middle East Book Review *
Zahra Ayubi’s
Gendered Morality: Classical Islamic Ethics of the Self, Family, and Society represents a major feminist intervention in the field of Islamic ethics (akhlāq). -- Samuel Kigar Religion Department, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA, USA * Journal of Islamic Ethics 4 *
In revealing the deep-rooted gendered and hierarchical cosmology prevailing in the classical Islamic world view, the author provides a realistic pathway to her goal of establishing a feminist philosophy of Islamic ethics...Recommended. * Choice *
In
Gendered Morality, Ayubi explores Muslim masculinity as imagined by influential medieval scholars. Her turn to ethics—understood not as a vague catch-all phrase for right living but as a rigorous and exacting genre within Muslim thought—represents a significant contribution to scholarship. She also offers a constructive feminist account of what might be retrievable for Muslim philosophical ethics. This is an essential and innovative book. -- Kecia Ali, Boston University
Turning the lens of gender analysis to the study of Islamic ethics, Zahra Ayubi interrogates the most formidable texts of the Persianate philosophical tradition. The result is a persuasive demonstration of feminist scholarship and a welcome contribution to Islamic studies. -- Carl W. Ernst, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In this brilliant and wonderfully creative book, Zahra Ayubi combines a sophisticated analysis of Islamic ethics with a strikingly original feminist critique. Her work is a major achievement in the fields of medieval Islamic philosophy as well as feminist theory. Indeed, this is one of the most important and innovative works in the field of feminism and religion. -- Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College
Zahra Ayubi
presents compelling evidence to show how medieval Islamic scholars created a philosophical system of ethics that is inherently gendered. The insights she provides as to how truth and virtue were cast in masculine, paternal terms and how those terms shaped beliefs about human agency and happiness are profound. Her concluding vision of a 'feminist philosophy' based on justice promises to render
Gendered Morality a tour de force in the field. -- Kathryn Kueny, author of
Conceiving Identities: Maternity in Medieval Muslim Discourse and PracticeTable of ContentsList of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Epistemology and Gender Analytics of Islamic Ethics
2. Gendered Metaphysics, Perfection, and Power of the (Hu)man’s Soul
3. Ethics of Marriage and the Domestic Economy
4. Homosocial Masculinity and Societal Ethics
Conclusion: Prolegomenon to Feminist Philosophy of Islam
Glossary of Persian and Arabic Terms
Notes
Bibliography
Index
