From Male Authority to Female Agency: A Genealogical Study of Discursive Shifts in Contemporary Theology of Hijab

Mohajer Milani, Amir

doi:10.22059/jstmt.2025.395069.1791

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article / Original Article

Author

Amir Mohajer Milani

Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Jurisprudence and Law, Women and Family Research institute, Qom, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22059/jstmt.2025.395069.1791

Abstract

In the decades leading up to the Constitutional Revolution, the introduction and establishment of modern concepts within the Iranian epistemic order posed significant challenges to the authority of traditional knowledge systems. In the face of these emergent challenges, religious thought could no longer rely solely on dogmatic or devotional responses. At the same time, the historical embeddedness of religious thinking limited its capacity to transcend the dominant epistemological structures of the time. This regime of knowledge, grounded in a specific constellation of values and presuppositions, confined rational deliberation to its own discursive boundaries. Interpretations of hijab, produced within this traditional framework and devoid of female agency, often reflected gendered biases and, at times, overt misogyny. Such readings could not endure within the evolving intellectual landscape of Iranian society. As shifts occurred in the traditional structure of knowledge, religious discourse was compelled to reconsider its fundamental assumptions. Employing a Foucauldian archaeological method, this study investigates the rupture and its conditions of possibility within contemporary Islamic thought. By dividing the relevant historical period into three distinct phases—pre-Pahlavi, Pahlavi II (excluding the final decade), and the pre-Revolutionary era—it traces the development of hijab discourses and reveals how the entanglement of cultural and religious norms, alongside increased female agency, has necessitated a gender-inclusive language for its reinterpretation.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Intellectual, historical and civilizational traditions of Muslim social thought

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Social Theories of Muslim Thinkers

From Male Authority to Female Agency: A Genealogical Study of Discursive Shifts in Contemporary Theology of Hijab

References

References

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 30 October 2025

From Male Authority to Female Agency: A Genealogical Study of Discursive Shifts in Contemporary Theology of Hijab

References

References

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript Available Online from 30 October 2025

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 30 October 2025