Female Readings of the Quran

For centuries, interpreters have held supreme authority in Islam—mediating between divine text and human understanding, between the permanence of revelation and the shifting conditions of people’s lives.

This field has long been dominated almost exclusively by men. But as Muslim societies evolve, women are beginning to enter spaces once reserved for men.

In recent years, women’s voices have started to emerge in Qur’anic interpretation. One of those voices is Celene Ibrahim.

Through her academic and feminist lens, Ibrahim brings fresh light to overlooked dimensions of traditional exegesis—much of which has been shaped by a distinctly male perspective.

In doing so, she not only challenges the stereotype that women are incapable of deep interpretation, but also affirms that women are equally capable of engaging with sacred texts.

Her scholarship underscores a crucial point: interpretation is not the monopoly of one gender, but an open field for anyone equipped with the necessary tools and methodology. This is what makes her work distinctive—and gives it special significance.

In her 2020 book Women and Gender in the Qur’an, Ibrahim examines the marginalization of women scholars in Qur’anic studies. She argues that this exclusion does not stem from intellectual or spiritual shortcomings, but from social and structural factors that have historically limited women’s participation in interpretation.

In a special interview with Alhurra, Ibrahim elaborates on the methodology she employed in her book, the motivations behind her choice of subject, and her perspective on the place of women in the Qur’anic text.

According to Ibrahim, the importance of women interpreting the Qur’an lies in the effort to “deconstruct assumptions and correct the demeaning ideas about women entrenched in religious thought,” while also bringing forward “female-affirming elements that have been overlooked in most previous studies.”

For her, an academic approach to the Qur’an means setting aside questions of divine authorship. She deliberately uses neutral formulations—“the Qur’an says…” or “the Qur’an contains…”—to make her work accessible across theological and scholarly backgrounds. This approach, she notes, helps maintain neutrality even as she draws on her own religious training and personal faith.

She also cites South African scholar Fatima Seedat, who argues that women’s contributions to tafsir are not simply a “historical correction,” but a “necessary rebalancing of the relationship between Creator, text, and reader.”

In her book Women and Gender in the Qur’an, Ibrahim traces the development of female figures in the text – from the primordial mother, the ancestress of prophets, to the women who lived during the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

Her analysis employs philology, examining Qur’anic narratives through their linguistic, grammatical, rhetorical, and structural features. This close reading allows her to probe how the Qur’an addresses sexuality, family relations, and women’s voices.

Ibrahim emphasizes that Qur’anic stories are not mere tales, but pedagogical tools designed to instill moral lessons about individual responsibility and the protection of others’ rights. Women, she argues, are not peripheral or secondary characters; they are central to Qur’anic discourse and contribute meaningfully to its ethical vision.

Her findings highlight how women in Qur’anic narratives play decisive roles in sacred history and in affirming divine truth. Though rarely identified as prophets or messengers, women often embody God’s word in ways men do not. Mary, for instance, quite literally bore the “Word of God.”

Ibrahim’s research further demonstrates that the Qur’an portrays women as moral agents, fully capable of shaping their own destinies—for good or for ill. The text not only acknowledges their spiritual and ethical capacities but also affirms their role in sustaining family and community bonds.

Ibrahim insists that her choice of topic was no accident, but the product of deliberate scholarly vision. “My starting point was textual methodology,” she explains, “because I saw untapped potential in examining the Qur’an’s cohesion while also exploring verses related to biological sex, gender, and family roles.”

Adopting a multidisciplinary approach – blending linguistic, grammatical, rhetorical, and structural analysis – she describes herself as a “provisional exegete.” By this, she means to carve out space for contemporary scholars, especially women, to engage with the intellectual tradition in ways that allow it to speak in a modern idiom.

She also highlights how women’s voices in the Qur’an are often framed through prayers of striking power. As she tells Alhurra: the first recorded speech by a woman is the supplication of the wife of Imran (Q. 3:35–36), affirming the value of a female child, while the last is the prayer of Pharaoh’s wife (Q. 66:11), seeking deliverance from tyranny and corruption.

This framing underscores women’s voices as central rather than peripheral – vehicles for grappling with fundamental issues such as human dignity and resistance to oppression.

Ibrahim points to the Queen of Sheba as “the most eloquent female character in the Qur’an,” whose words, she says, carry a “noble quality and prophetic resonance.” When the Queen declares, “I wronged myself” (Q. 27:44), the same confession reappears in the next surah on the lips of Moses: “My Lord, I have wronged myself, so forgive me” (Q. 28:16). Such parallels, Ibrahim argues, suggest that women in the Qur’an apprehend the essence of divine truth in ways that align them with prophets.

She also draws careful comparisons between male and female figures, such as Zechariah and Mary. “Zechariah wept from the pain of childlessness, while Mary wept from the pain of giving birth. Yet both became parents of prophets after their private prayers—and both were alone when angels appeared to them.”

Ibrahim stresses that the difference between “ideal” women and male prophets lies not in devotion, faith, or piety, but in the specific missions assigned by God. The Qur’an describes Moses’ mother as receiving divine wahy (revelation) (Q. 28:7), showing that women, too, were recipients of God’s communication.

She notes that God directly addresses women in several instances. Adam’s wife speaks to God alongside her husband in the only prayer Adam utters in the Qur’an. The wives of the Prophet Muhammad (Q. 33) and Adam’s wife in other chapters are the only female figures addressed directly by God.

Above all, Ibrahim emphasizes Mary’s unique status.: after the Prophet Muhammad, she is the character who engages most frequently with divine messengers. She draws attention to a subtle detail—while the Qur’an refers to “daughters” in the plural several times, it uses the singular “daughter” only once, in naming Mary as “the daughter of Imran” (Q. 66:12).

Ibrahim rejects reductive portrayals of women in Islam. Her book, she says, seeks to offer a deeper and fairer reading of the text. While extremists may manipulate scripture to justify the mistreatment of women, the Qur’an itself, she argues, presents a radically different vision.

Asked whether the Qur’an treats men and women equally, she replies that there are differences in roles, particularly concerning reproduction, but “the difference is not in sincerity of worship, or capacity for faith, or degree of piety.” For her, difference does not mean inequality. Rather, the Qur’an acknowledges physiological distinctions while affirming women’s full agency and moral responsibility.

“There is no single archetype of women in the Qur’an,” Ibrahim concludes. Instead, they appear across a wide spectrum – from devout to rebellious, wise to ignorant, strong to weak. The text presents both inspiring examples of believing women and cautionary tales of corrupt ones – underscoring that women, like men, bear complete moral responsibility for their actions.

Looking ahead, she admits there are areas she has yet to fully explore, such as masculinity studies in the Qur’an, which, she suggests, could add new dimensions to understanding gender and open fertile ground for future research.