Unity Lens

Rahmatus Solikha

Gender inequality remains a persistent issue in many Muslim societies, often reinforced by patriarchal interpretations of religious texts and institutional practices that constrain women’s agency. This study examines a particular strand of Islamic feminist thought by analyzing Musdah Mulia’s reinterpretation of tauhid as an ethical-theological framework for gender justice. Using a qualitative descriptive, library-based approach, the study analyzes selected texts, publications, and documented initiatives associated with Mulia through thematic content analysis. The findings indicate that tauhid is articulated as an ethical principle that rejects hierarchical gender relations and emphasizes moral and ontological equality between men and women. Contextual interpretations of Qur’anic passages such as Q.S. al-Aḥzāb: 35 and Q.S. 7:189 are used to challenge gender hierarchy and affirm shared religious responsibility. The analysis further shows that this framework integrates elements of Islamic ethics, liberal feminist theory, and critical pedagogy, resulting in a dual orientation toward institutional reform and cultural-educational transformation. Rather than proposing a universal model, the study situates this approach within the Indonesian context as part of a humanist-liberal current in Islamic feminism. This study contributes to existing literature by demonstrating how tauhid-based interpretation can be analytically linked to feminist theory and social praxis while remaining contextually and methodologically bounded.