Secular and Islamic Feminist Critiques in the Work of Fatima Mernissi

In this book, Raja Rhouni, undertakes the first study of the full corpus of Mernissi’s work. Rhouni advances what she calls ‘post-foundationalist islamic feminism’. Some of what is said in the Qur’an is spoken in a patriarchal language, to a patriarchal audience, and we must recognise this for what it is. When we approach the Qur’an we need to distinguish between description – of historical conditions – and prescription. It is important to recognise that there are certain things that are permissible in the Qur’an that are not longer acceptable today – the big example being slavery.