The al-Ghazali Enigma and why Shari'a is not Islamic Law - Haifaa G. Khalafallah
Chapter 5: Textualising Context: The Case of Women
The al-Ghazali Enigma and why Shari'a is not Islamic Law - Haifaa G. Khalafallah
Haifaa G. Khalafallah [+]
Sinai Centre for Islamic Mediterranean Studies
Description
This chapter illustrate how Islam’s rulemaking process worked in real life, in the case of women. Modern obsession of Muslim women is not the reason for turning to this example, however. The opposing rules that Ghazali deduced on gender throughout his career throw light on the trajectory of Shari'a rule/law-making -- as an unceasing flow between divine instructions, proofs of reality, and the precedents that the community established in reading both, the scriptures and the world around it. Consequently, the chapter turns to more portraits from his career and personal life in the trail of the changing yardsticks by which Ghazali measured reality and valid precedent at different times.