Reconsidering Amina Wadud’s Qur’anic Hermeneutics: An Epistemological and Philosophical Analysis from the Perspective of Islamic Knowledge

Abstract

The emergence of feminist approaches to Qur’anic interpretation has generated significant debates concerning the epistemological foundations and normative boundaries of Islamic knowledge. Among these approaches, Amina Wadud’s Qur’anic hermeneutics seeks to reinterpret gender relations in Islam through a contextual and egalitarian reading of the Qur’an. This study examines the philosophical and epistemological implications of Wadud’s hermeneutical approach from the perspective of Islamic knowledge, particularly in relation to ʿaqīdah, uṣūl al-fiqh, and Islamic legal thought. Using a qualitative library-research method, the study critically analyzes Wadud’s major works alongside classical and contemporary literature on Qur’anic hermeneutics, Islamic epistemology, theology, and jurisprudence through a normative-philosophical approach. The novelty of this study lies in examining Wadud’s hermeneutics not merely as a method of gender interpretation, but as an epistemological project that potentially reconfigures the relationship between revelation, reason, human agency, and normative authority. The analysis finds that Wadud’s contextual hermeneutics prioritizes historical context, human agency, and gender equality in ways that may generate tensions with established Islamic epistemological principles concerning revelation, divine authority, and the normative status of Qur’anic injunctions. These tensions indicate the need for a critical epistemological framework when employing contemporary hermeneutical methods in Islamic thought.