Components of Women’s Identity Formation in the Quranic Thought of Martyr Imam Khamenei

Document Type : Scholary

Authors

1 Assistant Professor and Faculty Member at Al‑Mustafa Virtual University; Head of the Department of Quranic Exegesis and Quranic Sciences at Jamiat al‑Zahra, Qum, Iran

2 Ph.D. (Level 4) Student in Islamic Theology (Kalām), Researcher at Jamiat al‑Zahra, Qum, Iran

3 Graduate of Ph.D. (Level 4) in Quranic Exegesis and Quranic Sciences, instructor and researcher at Jamiat al‑Zahra, Qum, Iran

Abstract

The issue of the components that contribute to the formation of women’s identity is one of the fundamental questions in the field of women’s studies from the perspective of the Holy Quran. The significance of this topic has long motivated Muslim scholars to identify and analyze these components. Employing a descriptive–analytical method and drawing on library-based data, as well as the perspectives of several experts in the fields of Quranic studies and women’s studies, this article seeks to answer the following question: According to the Qur’anic thought of Imam Khamenei, what are the principal components involved in the formation of women’s identity? The most important finding of the present study indicates that, from his perspective, factors such as adopting a positive view toward the lofty value and status of women within the order of existence, belief in women’s diverse God-given capacities and potentials, recognition of the equality of women and men in the realm of faith and righteous action, and acknowledgment of the exceptional role of women’s emotional capacities in the sphere of life, among others, constitute some of the most significant components in the formation of women’s identity.

Keywords

References

Qarai, Ali Quli. Trans. (2005). The Qur᾽ān: With a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2nd ed.). London: ICAS Press.
Akhbārī, Zaynab. (1399Sh/2020). Women’s Identity in the Light of the Philosophy of Women’s Specific Rulings in the Torah and the Quran. Maʿrifat, 29 (2), 29-39.
ʿAlavī Nizhād, Sayyid Ḥaydar. (1380Sh/2001). Intellectual Approaches to the Issue of women in the Quran. Quranic Research, 7(25-26), 236-273.
Al-Ṭāʾī, ʿAlī. (1396 Sh/2017). Buḥrān-i huvīyat i qawmī dar Īrān. Tehran: Shādgān.
ʿAmīd, Ḥasan. (1375 Sh/1996). Farhang i ʿAmīd (6th ed.). Tehran: Amīr Kabīr.
Dihkhudā, ʿAlī Akbar. (1341Sh/1962). Lughat nāmih yi Dihkhudā. Tehran: Sāzmān i Mudīriyyat va Barnāmah Rīzī yi Kishvar.
Fattāḥī-Zādih, Fatḥīyah. (1387Sh/2008). Zan dar tārīkh va andīshah yi Islāmī (3rd ed.). Qum: Būstān i Kitāb.
Ḥusaynī Akbar-Nizhād, Hālih, & Shūshtarī, Zahrā. (1397 Sh/2018). Zan dar Qurʾān (Vol. 2). Tehran: Daftar i Nashr i Maʿārif, Pizhūhishgāh i Farhang va Maʿārif i Islāmī.
Ḥusaynī, Zahrā al-Sādāt. (1404Sh/2025). The Enlightening Role of the Quran in Shaping the Identity of the Muslim Woman and Consolidating the Family. Journal of Humanities and Islamic Strategic Studies, 6(76), 459-470.
Ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad ibn Saʿd. (1410 AH/1989). Al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al ʿIlmiyyah.
Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbdullāh. (1375Sh/1996). Zan dar āyīnih yi jalāl va jamāl. Qum: Isrāʾ.
Khamenei, Sayyid Ali. Daftar-i ḥifẓ wa nashr-i āthār-i Āyatullāh al-ʿUẓmā Khamenei [Office for Preservation and Publication of the Works of His Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei]: https://english.khamenei.ir & https:٫٫farsi.khamenei.ir
Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir. (1403AH/1983). Biḥār al Anwār. Beirut: Muʾassasat al Wafāʾ.
Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. (1374Sh/1995). Tafsīr i Nimūnih. Tehran: Dār al Kutub al Islāmiyyah.
Muballigh, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1380Sh/2002). A comparative study looking at women in ignorance, religions, Islam and feminism. Quranic Research, 7(27-28), 194-223.
Muʿīn, Muḥammad. (1351Sh/1972). Farhang i Muʿīn. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr.
Muṭahharī, Murtiḍā. (1396Sh/2017). Niẓām i ḥuqūq i zan dar Islām. Tehran: Ṣadrā.
Najafī, Mūsā. (1399Sh/2020). Huvīyat shināsī. Tehran: Ārmā.
Niyāzī, Kirishmih. (1389Sh/2010). Huvīyat va buḥrān i huvīyat dar dawrān i Nawjawānī. Kabul: Markaz i Rāvānshināsī va ʿUlūm i Tarbiyatī.
Qarā’atī, Muḥsin. (1383Sh/2004). Tafsīr-i Nūr (11th ed.). Tehran: Markaz i Farhangī yi Darshā-yī az Qurʾān.
Riḍā, Muḥammad Rashīd. (1990). Tafsīr al Manār. Cairo: Al Hayʾah al Miṣriyyah al ʿĀmmah.
Ṣādiqī Tihrānī, Muḥammad. (1406AH/1986). Al-Furqān fī tafsīr al Qurʾān bi-al-Qurʾān wa al-Sunnah. Qum: Farhang i Islāmī.
Suyūṭī, Jalāl al Dīn ʿAbd al Raḥmān. (1404AH/1984). Al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi al-maʾthūr. Qum: Kitābkhānah yi Ayatullāh al ʿUẓmā Marʿashī Najafī.
Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. (1420AH/1999). Jāmiʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
Ṭabāṭabā᾽ī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1374Sh/1995). Tarjumih yi Tafsīr-i al-Mīzān (Muḥammad Bāqir Mūsavī, Trans.). Qum: Daftar i Intishārāt i Islāmī.
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. (n.d.). Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Yūnusī, Muḥammad. (1400 Sh/2021). Barrasī yi taṭbīqī-yi tafāvut-hā-yi ṭabīʿī yi zan va mard az dīdgāh-i Qurʾān va pazhūhish-hā-yi ʿIlmī. Tehran: Nūr al Amīn.
The Quran: Contemporary Studies
Volume 4, Issue 14
Fourth year, Number 14, Winter 2026
March 2026
Pages 141-160

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics