Comparative Studies of Quran

Comparative Studies of Quran

The Qur’anic Approach to Cultural Formation of Women in Specific, Shared, and Interactive Legal Verses of the Medinan Surahs

Document Type : Original

Author
khadigeh ahmadibighash
Assistant Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University. Tehran. Iran.
10.22034/csq.2025.487118.1487
Abstract
Detailed Abstract
Research objective:
The present study examines the method of Qur’anic cultural formation in relation to the legal verses (Āyāt al-Aḥkām) concerning women across three domains: specific, shared, and interactive with men, particularly in the Medinan surahs. This issue represents a significant aspect of the divine discourse on women.
The analysis aims to uncover the network of Qur’anic legal verses concerning women and the developmental trajectory of their subjects, illustrating how the Qur’an employs methods to create greater influence and engagement among its audience with these rulings. Based on these considerations, the objective of this study is to investigate the evolutionary process of Qur’anic cultural formation through the revelation of explicit legal verses related to women.
This study employs a descriptive-analytical approach. The research universe consists of the Qur’anic verses, and the research sample focuses on the explicit legal verses (Āyāt al-Aḥkām) specifically pertaining to women.
To examine the developmental trajectory of the revelation of women-specific legal verses, the study first collected all relevant explicit legal verses from the Qur’an. Subsequently, these verses were analyzed through library-based sources, including exegetical, narrational, and historical references, in order to investigate the Qur’anic method of cultural formation in addressing this category of verses related specifically to women.
methodology:
This study employs a descriptive-analytical approach. The research universe consists of the Qur’anic verses, and the research sample focuses on the explicit legal verses (Āyāt al-Aḥkām) specifically pertaining to women.
To examine the developmental trajectory of the revelation of women-specific legal verses, the study first collected all relevant explicit legal verses from the Qur’an. Subsequently, these verses were analyzed through library-based sources, including exegetical, narrational, and historical references, in order to investigate the Qur’anic method of cultural formation in addressing this category of verses related specifically to women.
Findings:
In this study, the legal verses (Āyāt al-Aḥkām) concerning women in the Medinan surahs—where their juridical capacity is explicit and clear—were examined. The findings indicate that the primary audience of the Qur’an consisted of the people of the time of revelation, and the verses were revealed in response to their positive and negative behaviors. Subsequently, the audience extends to people after the time of revelation until the Day of Judgment, who are obligated to read and act upon the Qur’anic messages.
In contrast, the women-related legal verses in the Meccan surahs are scattered and implicit, even appearing in narrative passages such as in the Āyāt al-Qiṣaṣ. The propagation of Islam in Mecca concluded in an environment dominated by the struggle against idolatry, limited interaction with the People of the Book, and an unfavorable context for social implementation of certain issues—including women’s legal rulings. Consequently, these matters were not explicitly addressed in the Meccan verses but were instead revealed explicitly in the Medinan surahs.
Analysis of the Medinan surahs regarding women’s legal verses (Āyāt al-Aḥkām) across the three domains—specific to women, shared with men, and interactive with men—indicates that in Medina, the social environment allowed for the implementation of religious culture. The divine legislation and the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH) provided the necessary groundwork for the formation of a faith-based society.
Consequently, issues such as women-specific legal verses, which are important and require cultural embedding, are explicitly addressed in these verses. The process of cultural formation and their transformation into social norms can thus be clearly understood.
Subjects
The Holy Qur’an
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  • Receive Date 04 November 2024
  • Revise Date 21 December 2024
  • Accept Date 05 February 2025
  • Publish Date 23 July 2025