Abstract 

One of the most subtle yet pervasive forms of discrimination against women in Islamic jurisprudence is the inequality within the family context. Traditionally, Islamic jurisprudence has granted women fewer rights than men in many instances. However, over the past two decades, a group of prominent Iranian Shi’a jurists has adopted a more rational approach to interpreting legal sources and Islamic texts, paving the way for new interpretations. The critiques directed at traditionalist jurists' provisions on women's rights have become a pivotal focus in the reformist jurists' inquiries. As a result, these inquiries have led to a fundamental reassessment of the epistemological, theological, and jurisprudential principles related to women's individual, familial, judicial, and socio-political rights. The project, 'Shi’a Reformist Jurists and the Challenge of Women’s Rights in Islam: Presenting an Egalitarian Reading of Religion,' aims to identify and introduce how reformist jurists have brought about these revolutionary changes in traditional jurisprudence.

Short Bio 

Masoumeh Rad Goudarzi is an AIAS Fellow and an assistant professor of Political Science, at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Humanities, University of Guilan, Iran. Her research interests are in the intersection of religion and politics: Islamic political thought, Islamic political theology, and Shi’a political jurisprudence. She particularly work on the new methods in the study of Islam in Shi’a jurisprudence, with an emphasize on Shi’a reformists jurists and the subject of human rights

What is an AIAS Seminar?

The AIAS Seminar Series is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellows, AIAS Visiting or Tandem Fellows or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, a fellow will present and discuss her/his current research and work-in-progress to an interdisciplinary audience for 30 minutes, closing off with 30 minutes for questions, comments and discussion.

All seminars are in-person and held in English. To attend online, please contact Sofia Bentsen at sofia@aias.au.dk by 9:00am on the day of the seminar as the latest to request a link.