Islamic reflections of feminist thought: Fatima Mernissi

This thesis evaluates the relationship between feminist discourses of social justice and gender equality; and the Islamic projections in the views of the Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi. Mernissi does not accept being defined as a "feminist", she has embraced the ideas presented by feminist discourse. Although her views are influenced by feminist discourse, Mernissi compares Muslim women's struggle for emancipation with the position of women in the Western world. She criticized the passivization of women in the Islamic world through patriarchal forms of traditional values, particularly the weak foundations of hadith narrations. She emphasized the contradictions between the Prophet Mohammed positive attitudes towards his own wives and the hadith narrations that degrade women in the Islamic world. Utilizing the example of Scheherazade from the Thousand and One Nights tales, she explains the influence of the powerful women of the East on Mernissi's world of thought and perception of women. Contrary to popular belief, she emphasizes that women who care about reason have a strong stance in the geography and oral culture she lives in. In this thesis study, it was tried we try to show that Mernissi was not an academic who only criticized the problems that caused the oppression of women in society and was not content with taking a photograph of the society, but that she sought solutions to problems by emphasizing reason and knowledge and produced solutions. It was also drawn attention to the space and time limits placed in front of women in the East and the West, which Mernissi criticized. The possibilities of overcoming the limitations of space in the East and time in the West with the power of reason and knowledge are sought through Mernissi's solution proposals. In this context, it is discussed on the axis of reason and knowledge that the strong female identity that Mernissi proposes and tries to create can inspire not only the women of the East but also the women of the Western world. In this sense, it is thought that reason and knowledge can be a guide for women who do not submit to any imposition, regardless of where and from whom it originates in the search for freedom. As a result of the research, it should be noted that Mernissi, as an intellectual who has closely recognized both cultures, has tried to show the women of the world by living and writing that the way to freedom for women who are wanted to be imprisoned in space in the East and time in the West is to be equipped with knowledge and reason.