Visualisasi Wanita dalam Al-Qur’an: Pendekatan Tafsir Sufi terhadap Kosakata al-Ḥūr (Bidadari)

Abstract

The dictions used by the Qur'an in visualizing women are often misinterpreted. Many people are still shackled to the classical understanding that women are a second creation. This understanding eventually gave birth to a stigma that women's status was lower and had limitations in pursuing piety. Not only so, the diction of the holy book (Al-Qur'an) which seems to explore the physical form of women in a vulgar way is also interpreted as it is, so that the meaning becomes irrelevant to contemporary reality. Thus, a new method of reading the scriptures is needed. In this context, the researcher will use a Sufi interpretation approach to review the verses of the Qur'an, especially the verses that visualize the physical appearance of women in the afterlife as angels (al-ḥūr). This study has its own relevance even though this issue has been responded to by many feminists. For researcher, the Sufi commentators' views on this issue need to be offered to the public, because from the beginning the Sufi did not differentiate between men and women - just as the spirit is not male and not female. This is of course different from feminists who started the discussion by distinguishing between men and women, so feminists need a movement that demands equality between men and women.