Zeenath kausar’s views on women’s empowerment : an analytical study from Qur’an and sunnah perspective

Abstract

This thesis critically examines Kausar’s perspective on women’s empowerment. Kausar is critical to feminism and all its various ideologies. Although she criticizes Western feminism so heavily, she does not spare Islamic feminist ideologies. She believes that external and internal cultural practices in Muslim societies such as patriarchy led to the emergence of Islamic feminism in Muslim world. Kausar bases her critique on feminism in all its forms on the Qur’ān and the Sunnah primarily. This thesis analyses Kausar’s contributions to issues related to women and their empowerment from Qur’ān and Sunnah perspective by comparing them with Western and Islamic feminist ideologies. It analyses the Islamic Action Plan (IAP) proposed by Kausar as an alternative to Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA) endorsed by the feminists. The thesis is qualitative in nature drawing its data chiefly from primary and secondary sources namely, interviews, Qur’an, Sunnah, books, archival documents, and articles. It employs a content analysis approach in analysing the primary and secondary sources mentioned above. The thesis develops few major findings i) Kausar views Islamic feminism as a perfect image of Western feminism; ii) She represents the view of that women’s empowerment on Islamic perspective is rather balanced in comparison with feminist view related to the same matter; iii) Kausar’s model on issues related to women and their empowerment is drawn from the Qur’ān and Sunnah-based framework; iv) Kausar suggests the Islamic Action Plan (IAP) as alternative to Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA) endorsed at the 1995 Fourth International Conference on Women. The study arrives at few significant findings; i) Kausar recommends the adoption of IAP for women’s empowerment by Muslim government institutions especially constitutional and legal bodies and authorities; ii) She presents IAP for women’s empowerment to be endorsed, enacted, and enforced by legal authorities in Muslim societies to maintain family and all social institutions from moral degeneration and decadence; iii) She recommends that IAP for women’s empowerment to be introduced in their internal statutes and executive regulations; iv) Finally, Kausar suggests IAP for women’s empowerment should be incorporated into school curricula and syllabuses to educate and nurture the children and young generation about the necessity of empowering women.