Ahmad Qabel's Thoughts on Women's Equal Right to Divorce in Islam: A Reinterpretation of Shari'a by a Shi'a Reformist Cleric in Favor of Gender Equality and Justice

ABSTRACT Ahmad Qabel is a reformist mujtahid known primarily for his jurisprudential innovations and critique of traditional jurisprudential structures in the framework of Rational Shari'a theory. Central to Qabel's jurisprudential innovations is his rational approach to religion and his efforts to empower reason in the face of consensus. With this perspective, he reinterprets jurisprudential texts, especially those related to women's rights, and presented new opinions. One of the topics he addresses is the discrimination between the treatment of men and women regarding the right to divorce under Shi'a jurisprudence. Qabel criticizes Shi'a scholars' views on separation through khul' , and instead advocates for women's unilateral right to separation through khul' , just as men have the unilateral right to divorce through Talaq . In this article, I first evaluate the most significant reasons that Qabel presents for recognizing khul' as women's unilateral right to separation. Then, I investigate the foundations and components of the jurisprudential method that enabled Qabel to issue innovative fatwas in the field of women's jurisprudence, by examining his epistemological and theological arguments with respect to the equality of men and women in ending the marriage contract.