HADITH RECOGNITION OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS: Muhammad al-Ghazali's Sufistic Reinterpretation

Abstract

Discrimination against women's rights is still a trending topic in the Post-Truth Era. Women still get different treatment in the eyes of reviewers of religious texts. This can be found in one of the Youtube Application videos, an ustadz said that women need not be given an understanding of gender. As a result, it creates a paradigm that women do not have a role and existence in the Post-Truth Era. Unfortunately, this paradigm contradicts the hadith narrated by a friend of Ibn Abbas, that Allah recognizes women as human beings who are the same degree as men. To examine this hadith, the author focuses on the thought of Muhammad Al-Ghazali as one of the modern intellectual figures who have a contribution in thinking about the recognition of women's rights. In understanding the hadith, he offers 4 principles which are not in conflict with the Qur'an, understanding with other traditions, correlating with history, not in conflict with scientific truth. The result of understanding the narration of Ibn Abbas's history is that every human being has a religious side (Sufi) in his life, whether male or female, while the Sufi dimension of women in the time of the Prophet is different from the dimension in the post-Prophet's death. The Sufi dimension of the Jahiliyyah Period shows that women only have the right to educate children at home, serve their husbands inside the house, and are not permitted to worship outside without their husband's permission. The author believes that when God recognizes women's rights, it is obligatory for men to recognize women's rights, especially in the Sufistic aspect. This was implemented through the leadership of women in leading dzikir assemblies, assemblies of knowledge, and worship in mosques without waiting for husband's permission.