In search of Islamic view of justice on women testimony

• Main Author: Husni Mubarrak
• Format: Article
• Language: Arabic
• Published: Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Salatiga 2017-01-01
• Series: Ijtihad: Jurnal Wacana Hukum Islam dan Kemanusiaan
• Subjects: Women testimony; Gender equality; Islamic legal reasoning; Contextualizing interpretation, Maqasid Shariah
• Online Access: http://ijtihad.iainsalatiga.ac.id/index.php/ijtihad/article/view/691

The most current challenges faced by Moslem in terms of Islamic religious discourse are religious interpretation on gender equality on position men and women. Among long crucial debate related to the issue is position of men and women in testimony, when the place of two women witnesses which are conceived equal to one man. It seems an ambivalent takes place regarding Islamic religious interpretation when many verses mentioned in the Quran and some hadiths have declared explicitly the same shared opportunity and capacity as well as mutual relation between men and women as vicegerents (khalifah) of God on the earth, meanwhile in the practice which inherited over centuries demonstrated inequality of men and women. This contrast, however, ultimately indicates a tension between Islam that ethically egalitarian and historically determined. This article tries to seek an Islamic view of justice on women testimony by arguing the importance of contextualizing interpretation by revitalizing appropriate maxim of Quran exegetes and up grading maqasid studies in order to find a more equal and just religious interpretation on women in Islam.