Quote by Leila Ahmed: “It was in the interpretations of the Quran rather than in the Quran itself that patriarchy found its voice.”

Ahmed argues here that the suppression of women in Islamic societies stems more from human interpretations and cultural traditions than from the core religious text. This highlights the power of interpretation in shaping societal norms and gender roles over time.

In the early 1990s, feminist scholarship was increasingly scrutinizing religious texts and their historical interpretations to understand the roots of gender inequality. Ahmed's work became a landmark in this academic and social discourse.

Egyptian-American scholar and the first professor of women's studies in religion at Harvard Divinity School. Her 1992 book Women and Gender in Islam is a foundational academic text examining the history of gender in Islamic thought, and she received the National Book Award for her memoir A Border Passage.