Asghar Ali Engineer

Asghar Ali Engineer was born in Rajasthan (near Udaipur, India) in 1939. He earned a doctorate in civil engineering from Vikram University (Ujjain, India). The knowledge gained from his father's religion is Shiite. He is a activist nongovernmental organization (NGO) that has a big concern on the themes of liberation in the Koran. He once wrote an article entitled "Toward a Liberation Theology in Islam" which is then translated intoIndonesia "Islam and liberation" (London: LSIK, 1993). As for his book related to the problem of women is The Rights of Women in Islam that has been translated into Indonesian under the title Women's Rights in 14Islam (1994). There are many others who voiced his justice and liberation (Nuryanto, 2001: 7-13).

In early writings Asghar said, for the sake of perpetuating the power of women, people often curb the norms of existing fair and egalitarian in the Qur'an (Engineer, 1994: 1). Asghar also said that the Koranis the first scripture that gives dignity to women as human beings when they were abused by the great civilizations like the Byzantine and Sassanid. According to him, this scripture gives many rights to women inmarital problems, divorce, property, and inheritance (Nuryanto, 2001: 61).Relating to women, Asghar considers that although the Qur'an glorify women equal to men, but the spirit was subdued by patriarkisme which has been ingrained in the lives of many people, including Muslims. Although the normative can be seen that the Qur'an favoritism towards equality of status between the sexes,  contextually al- The Qur'an recognizes the existence of excess males in certain areas than women.However, by ignoring the context, jurists' (plural of faqih) seeks provide superior status for men (Engineer, 1994: 56). In the process the establishment of sharia, the verses pertaining to women's issues often construed in accordance with the prejudices that diidap by Arab and non-Banga Pre-Islamic Arabs - that Hellenism and Sassanid civilization - about women (Engineer, 1994: 80). Thus, the interpretation of Quranic verses are verydepending on the angle of view and position taken priori interpreter. Regarding the verses in the Qur'an "al-rijalu qawwamuna 'ala al-nisa'" (Surah al-Nisa '(4): 34)Asghar said qawwam word in that verse means the provider and regulator family affairs, and the Qur'an does not say that men should be qawwam. According to him, if God intends the verse as a normative statement,then surely it will be binding on all women at all times in all circumstances. However, God does not want it (Engineer, 1994: 63). For Asghar reinforcing it cites the opinions of several experts like Parvez, a leading interpreter of the Koran from Pakistan, Maulana Azad, a pioneer's rights women, and Maulana Umar Ahmad Usmani, which in principle says that God is not preferred men over women. From the above, it seems Asghar want to say that in heritage interpretation, particularly relating to women's issues, there are actually opinions to be empathetic or pro-women. Although it must be admitted, Such opinions less popular compared to other opinions misogynistic. On the basis of empathy is Asghar try to show an alternative interpretation of oursome verses of the Koran that has been used to perpetuate subordination women, which is associated with divorce, marriage, inheritance, testimony, and economic rights (Engineer, 1994: 220).


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