Riffat Hassan facts for kids
Riffat Hassan, born in 1943, is a Pakistani-American thinker and a leading Islamic feminist scholar. She studies the Qur'an and believes in equal rights for everyone.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Riffat Hassan grew up in Lahore, Pakistan. Her family was an upper-class Muslim family. Her grandfather, Hakim Ahmad Shuja, was a famous Pakistani poet and writer.
Riffat had a comfortable childhood. However, her parents had different ideas about life. Her father held traditional views, while her mother was more open-minded. Riffat first disliked her father's traditional ideas about roles for men and women. But later, she learned to appreciate his kindness.
She went to Cathedral High School, an Anglican missionary school. Later, she studied at St. Mary's College, Durham at Durham University in England. There, she focused on English and philosophy.
In 1968, she earned her Ph.D. from Durham University. Her special study was about Muhammad Iqbal, a famous poet she often writes about.
Career and Teaching
From 1966 to 1967, Riffat Hassan taught at the University of the Punjab in Lahore. She also worked for Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting from 1969 to 1972.
In 1972, she moved to the United States with her daughter. She has taught at several universities, including Oklahoma State University and Harvard University. Today, she is a professor of Religious Studies at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.
Understanding the Qur'an and Human Rights
Riffat Hassan's ideas are part of what is called Progressive Islam. She believes the Qur'an is like a "Magna Carta of human rights." This means she sees it as a very important document that gives rights and equality to all people.
She says that if women are not treated equally in some Muslim societies today, it's because of cultural reasons, not because of the Qur'an itself. Hassan believes the Qur'an supports rights like the right to life, respect, justice, freedom, knowledge, and privacy.
Interpreting the Qur'an
Hassan believes the Qur'an should be understood in a flexible way. She says that while it is God's word, words can have many meanings. So, there can be many ways to understand the Qur'an.
She thinks we should use hermeneutics to find the meaning. This means looking at what the words meant when they were first written. She also talks about an "ethical rule." This rule says that the Qur'an should never be used to cause unfairness, because the God of Islam is fair and just.
Activism and Social Change
Riffat Hassan is not just a scholar; she is also an activist. In 1999, she started a group called The International Network for the Rights of Female Victims of Violence in Pakistan. This group works to stop "honor killings."
She argues that honor killings are a wrong way to understand Islam. She also says that the idea of women being less important comes from a mistaken belief. Some Muslims think that Eve was made from Adam's rib. But in the Islamic story of creation, both Adam and Eve were created at the same time.
Peace-Building Programs
As an activist, Hassan also created and led two important programs. "Islamic Life in the U.S." (2002–2006) and "Religion and Society: A Dialogue" (2006–2009) helped people from different faiths talk to each other. These programs set a good example for how different religions can work together for peace, especially after the events of 2001.
She also wrote a chapter in the book Transforming the Faiths of our Fathers: Women who Changed American Religion (2004).
See also
