عورت کی گواہی سے متعلق قرآنی نصوص کی عصری تعبیرات: تجزیاتی مطالعہ

Modern Interpretations of Qur’anic Texts on Women’s Testimony: An Analytical Study

Abstract

The question of women’s testimony represents a significant and contested issue within contemporary gender discourse. Classical Muslim exegetes and jurists, drawing upon Qur’an 2:282, traditionally differentiated between the testimony of men and women, maintaining that women’s testimony holds a position of inequality in certain legal contexts. This distinction is also reflected in classical jurisprudence, where the admissibility and weight of women’s testimony vary across specific types of cases. In the modern era, however, global discussions on gender equality, human rights, legal justice, and social development have reshaped interpretive frameworks. As a result, the Qur’anic verses on testimony and their traditional interpretations have been revisited and critically examined. Contemporary scholars have raised crucial questions: Was the Qur’anic differentiation in testimony based on an inherent notion of female deficiency, or was it grounded in the socio-economic realities of the time? Furthermore, in today’s world—where women increasingly participate alongside men in educational, economic, and social spheres—do the classical interpretations require reconsideration? This research undertakes an analytical study of the Qur’anic texts related to women’s testimony by examining classical exegetical and juristic interpretations as well as modern scholarly perspectives. Through a comparative and critical approach, the study aims to explore whether the Qur’anic framework inherently supports inequality in testimony or whether its principles allow for context-sensitive and equitable reinterpretations in contemporary times.