Islamic Responses to Orientalists Concerning Women Issues : A Critical and Analytical Study

Orientalist views are no longer only restricted to the cultural aspect of the Arab countries, but also began to raise some issues about Muslim women, such as the issues of equality between women and men in Islam and the differences between them in certain aspects of life. This study includes clear and explicit responses by Muslim scholars on three fundamental issues that have recently sparked debate: equality between men and women, the veil of Muslim women, and polygamy in Islam. Orientalist are launching different terms on these issues, including "women's liberation". The responses of Muslim scholars are based on logical evidence and a well-established principle that would protect Muslim women from the rush behind the Western model. As for the Orientalists' writings, they have received responses from three groups of Muslims, each based on their ideas and motives. The first group: their thinking was in line with the orientalist movement, where they called for changing the Islamic thought, which was applied for many years arguing that it no longer corresponds to the requirements of the present era, so they called for a reinterpretation of the Quranic verses and the Prophet's Hadiths. While the second group categorically rejected any Orientalist ideas, whether positive or negative. They also wrote books to respond to the orientalists. The third group is looking objectively to these new ideas, it does not reject or accept them only after knowing its impact on the Islamic world, whether positive or negative. In this research, the writer seeks to discuss and analyses the opinion of each team in order to develop the tools of Islamic scientific research and to take advantage of everything that is positive and face what is negative and refute it.