Recapturing the Sunni Tradition

“Traditional Islam” and Gender in the United States

Abstract

In this study, the arguments on gender developed in the contemporary American Muslim community are analyzed by focusing on the discourses promoted by Muslim intellectuals who advocate revival of the Sunni scholarly tradition. Since the mid-1990s, growing interest in Sunni scholarly traditions has been observed among Muslim youth living in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. While this is not a group or movement sharing a coherent ideology, proponents of this Sunni revivalist trend have formed a constituency within the American Muslim community under the leadership of several intellectuals who claim to have learned religious sciences from Sunni scholars in the Middle East and North Africa. This new trend is known to emphasize the Sunni scholarly tradition, advocating the authority of what its proponents call “Traditional Islam,” which is a version of Islam abiding by the framework of classical Sunni jurisprudence, creeds, and Sufism. With its heavy focus on classical interpretations, this could give the impression that the trend is merely another anachronistic reaction to—and rejection of—the changing circumstances and lifestyles of contemporary Muslims. However, the trend’s leading intellectuals are actually taking a more flexible stance on some issues at a practical level. These issues typically revolve around gender, over which heated disputes have been taking place within the American Muslim community. By focusing on Hamza Yusuf’s discourses on gender, this study unravels the approach taken by intellectuals of the trend when paraphrasing historical Sunni concepts in the United States context. More specifically, the paper presents a discussion on how established Sunni views on gender are reframed in the discourses of Traditional Islam by examining several contested issues as cases. With its heavy focus on classical interpretations, this could give the impression that the trend is merely another anachronistic reaction to—and rejection of—the changing circumstances and lifestyles of contemporary Muslims. However, the trend’s leading intellectuals are actually taking a more flexible stance on some issues at a practical level. These issues typically revolve around gender, over which heated disputes have been taking place within the American Muslim community. By focusing on Hamza Yusuf’s discourses on gender, this study unravels the approach taken by intellectuals of the trend when paraphrasing historical Sunni concepts in the United States context. More specifically, the paper presents a discussion on how established Sunni views on gender are reframed in the discourses of Traditional Islam by examining several contested issues as cases.