A Critical Examination of Joseph Kenny’s Views on the Origin, Miracle and Veracity of the Qur’an

Christian missionary scholarship on Islam and the Qur’an in Nigeria dates back to the advent of Christianity in the country. The reason was that Islam had become well established and indigenized in most parts of northern Nigeria and south Western Nigeria, and the Qur’an provides Muslims with information on Christianity and its doctrines. Thus, Islam became a serious obstacle to their endeavour. The early 20th century Christian Missionaries therefore, held that they could only get to the Muslims through the learning and research on the Qur’an.  This spurred them to produce works on the Qur’an. Joseph Kenny was a Christian Missionary who was sent to Nigeria in 1964 through the directive of the Holy See, to assist the Catholic Church in reaching the Muslims in Nigeria. He underwent trainings in the fields of Arabic and Islamic Studies, and was able to produce more than 170 works on different areas of Islamic Studies.  This paper critically examines some of his views on the Qur’an, as compared to the views of other Christian missionary scholars of Qur’an and thus elaborates on the misrepresentations contained in them.

Postfeminist and Islamic Feminist Discourse: An Analysis of Discursive Practices of Muslim Feminists

Thesis Title: Postfeminist and Islamic Feminist Discourse: An Analysis of Discursive Practices of Muslim Feminists New feminist initiatives with indigenous instruments to combat challenges faced by women are emerging from different geographical locations to suit their local socio-cultural environment. One such instance is Islamic feminism where Muslim women are reclaiming their rights through Islam and Quran and in effect liberating Islam and Muslim women from patriarchy. Postfeminism like other non-essentialist movements is an amorphous phenomenon; there is no fixed definition of it. Postfeminist agenda revolves around challenging victimization, favouring autonomy and inculcating responsibility. Based on liberal humanism, it is very adaptive concept that accommodates myriad versions of women’s movements. This study is postfeminist framing of Muslim women’s fiction, specifically, women from Pakistan and Arab world. The objective of the study is to investigate discursive patterns that emerge from creative constructions of Muslim women as protagonists in Chick-lit. It proposes the concept Islamic postfeminism, which is a merger of secular and religious sensibilities without betraying any of the respective traditions. Owing to complex web of affiliations and influences, Islamic postfeminism is a nexus of Islamic feminism, post-colonial feminism and post-structuralist feminism.In addition to theoretically situating this merger, this study examines the ways that re-orient Muslim womanhood as it appears in contemporary anglophone writings of young Muslim women, hence recontextualizing postfeminism in Muslim contexts. There is no single, homogeneous, explicitly traceable Islamic feminism or postfeminism in literary discourse of Muslim women. Rather we observe a fluid, free-spirited, juvenile, version of postfeminism that is simultaneously bold and impressive in its manifestations. These postfeminist Muslim writers are shedding the burdens of affiliations and expectations of Muslimness and are producing characters that do not necessarily wish to foreground their religious self as a form of identity. They are living their lives to the full, without being fearful of being tagged as good or bad Muslim. This contemporary phase in feminism marks generational difference and evolutionary nature of the concept.