The Idea of Women in Fundamentalist Islam

In an attempt to create a working prevalent theory about gender in Islam, this work deconstructs the religio-political writings and political practices of the nine Islamic ideologies of the 20th century who masterminded the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism - Hasan al-Banna, Abu al-'la al-Mawdudi, Sayyid Qutb, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Mortaza Mutahhari, Zaynab al-Ghazali, Hasan al-Turabi, Rashid al-Ghannoushi, and Sheikh Hussein Fadlallah. It shows that although these ideologies have individual peculiarities, their consistent emphasis on the subordinate status of women in society and their relation to men constitute a vehicle for attaining political power. By examining the spectrum of 20th century Islamic fundamentalist discourse on the subordinate role of women, this work builds a bridge between political ideology and gender theory. It determines how the diversity of political, social, and economic domains within the discourse of the nine ideologies - male or female, Sunni or Shi'ite, radical or moderate - applies to gender relations, and whether their discourse is distinctive or remains within the classical or traditional mould of Islam.