Riffat Hassan facts for kids
Riffat Hassan, born in 1943, is a scholar from Pakistan and America. She is known for her work on the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, and for being a leading voice for women's rights within Islamic teachings. She is considered an Islamic feminist, meaning she supports equality for women based on Islamic principles.
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Early Life and Education
Riffat Hassan was born in Lahore, Pakistan. Her family was Muslim, and her maternal grandfather, Hakim Ahmad Shuja, was a famous Pakistani poet and writer. She grew up in a comfortable home.
As a child, Riffat saw differences between her father's traditional ideas and her mother's more modern views. Even though she sometimes disagreed with her father's traditional ideas about how boys and girls should act, she later learned to appreciate his kindness.
She went to Cathedral High School, an Anglican school, and then studied at Durham University in England. There, she focused on English and philosophy. In 1968, she earned her Ph.D. from Durham University. Her studies often focused on the ideas of Muhammad Iqbal, a well-known philosopher and poet.
Career and Teaching
After her studies, Riffat Hassan taught at the University of Punjab in Lahore from 1966 to 1967. 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. Since then, 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
Riffat Hassan's way of understanding religion is 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 document that guarantees basic rights and equality for everyone. She argues that if women are treated unfairly in some Muslim societies, it is because of cultural traditions, not because of the Qur'an itself.
Hassan teaches that the Qur'an supports many important rights. These include the right to life, respect, justice, freedom, knowledge, and privacy.
She believes that while the Qur'an is God's word, its words can have many meanings. She thinks we should understand the Qur'an by looking at what its words meant when they were first written. She also says that any interpretation of the Qur'an must be fair and just, because the God of Islam is just.
Advocacy for Women's Rights
Riffat Hassan supports the idea that Muslim women should have choices about their health and family planning. She explains that while the Qur'an does not directly talk about modern family planning methods, the overall teachings of Islam support people making responsible choices for their families. She notes that in Islamic law, some early scholars allowed for certain health choices within the first few months of pregnancy.
In February 1999, she started an organization called The International Network for the Rights of Female Victims of Violence in Pakistan. This group works to stop violence against women, including harmful practices sometimes wrongly called "honor killings." Hassan argues that such violence goes against the true teachings of Islam. She also points out that the idea of women being less important than men comes from a misunderstanding. In the Islamic creation story, both Adam and Eve were created at the same time, not Eve from Adam's rib.
Promoting Peace and Dialogue
Beyond her academic work, Riffat Hassan is also an activist. She created and led two programs focused on building peace and understanding:
- "Islamic Life in the U.S." (2002–2006)
- "Religion and Society: A Dialogue" (2006–2009)
These programs helped create a way for people of different faiths to talk to each other and work towards peace, especially after the events of 2001.
She also contributed a chapter to the book Transforming the Faiths of our Fathers: Women who Changed American Religion, which was published in 2004.
See also
