A comparative study of the Qur'anic bases of religious and gender conditionality in retribution

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Abbas Elahi ¹

Syed easar hussain Shah ²

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Quranic Studies, Tafsir, Al-Mustafa Al-Alamiyah University, Qom, Iran.

² Instructor at the School of Quranic Interpretation and Sciences, Jamia al-Mustafa al-Alamiyah, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

10.22067/jfiqh.2025.91269.1888

Abstract

The research focuses on the principle of gender and religious equality in retribution (qisas), analyzing interpretive foundations amidst the longstanding debates among Islamic jurists regarding the qisas of men and women and Muslims and non-Muslim dhimmis. The necessity of examining the roots of these disagreements is highlighted as a pathway to resolving these challenges. The significance of this topic lies in its profound impact on social justice and the regulation of human relations in Islamic societies. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the study explores the perspectives of Sunni and Shia schools, critically analyzing their reasoning.Social justice and gender and religious equality are scattered topics in Islamic jurisprudence, necessitating a contemporary interpretive and ijtihad-based approach. The study examines literalism, the generality of Quranic verses, the authority of solitary reports (khabar wahid), and the role of social justice in interpreting legal rulings. Findings reveal that disagreements stem from divergent interpretive methodologies and jurisprudential principles. For instance, the Literalists (Ẓāhirīs) have sometimes relied on weak or solitary (āḥād) reports instead of valid particularizing evidence (mukhaṣṣiṣāt) to specify the general texts (ʿumūmāt). The study concludes by emphasizing the need to revisit interpretive principles and consider modern exigencies to align jurisprudential rulings more closely with social justice, thereby resolving many disputes.

Keywords

"؛ Interpretive foundations"؛ Sunni and Shia perspectives"؛ qisas"؛

"؛ gender and religious equality"

Subjects

• Criminal jurisprudence

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