Qasim Amin (1863 - 1908) was an Egyptian jurist, modern Islamist and one of the founders of the Egyptian National Movement and Cairo University. Qasim Amin has historically been seen as one of the "first feminists" in the Arab world, and "feminism" has been the subject of scholarly debate. Amin was an Egyptian philosopher, reformer, judge, member of Egypt's aristocracy, and a central figure in the Renaissance movement. His advocacy for greater rights for women stimulated debate on women's issues in the Arab world.
He criticized the veil, isolation, early marriage, and the lack of education for Muslim women. Recent scholars have argued that he assimilated colonial discourse on women's issues in the Islamic world, viewed Egyptian women as goals that served to fulfill national aspirations, and in practice advocated reforms that would reduce women's legal rights in marriage contracts.
He was also influenced by the work of Herbert Spencer and John Stuart Mill who advocated gender equality; Amin believes that raising the status of women in society would greatly improve the nation. His friendships with Muhammad Abdo and Saad Zagloul also influenced this thinking.
Amin blamed traditional Muslims for the oppression of Egyptian women, saying that the Qur'an did not teach such slavery but rather supported women's rights. His beliefs were often supported by Quranic verses.
He was born into an aristocratic family, his father was the governor of Diyar Bakr al-Ayat, and his mother was the daughter of an Egyptian aristocrat. Amin finished law school at the age of seventeen and was one of thirty-seven people to receive a government scholarship to study at the University of Montpellier in France. There he was said to have been influenced by Western lifestyles, especially their treatment of women. This will soon be a role model in his struggle to liberate Egyptian women.
His crusade began when he wrote a refutation in a book called "The Egyptians" in 1894 in response to the work of the Duke of Darcourt (1893), which underestimated Egyptian culture and its women. Not content with refuting it, Amin wrote in 1899 Women's Liberation, blaming Egyptian women's "veil", lack of education, and their "slavery" to Egyptian men. It is the reason for the weakness of Egypt. He believed that Egyptian women are the backbone of a strong nationalist people, and therefore their roles in society must be radically changed for the betterment of the Egyptian nation.
Amin lived a sheltered life among the political elite and the wealthy in Egypt. His father, Mehmet Emin Bey, served as governor of Diyarbakir Province, before moving the family to Alexandria, Egypt where Emin was born. Qasim's father settled in Egypt and became the commander of the Khedive Ismail Pasha's army. Qasim's father owned large feudal estates in Alexandria and Diyarbakir. Qasim's mother was the daughter of Ahmed Bey Khattab Ibn Taher Pasha (Egypt) nephew of Muhammad Ali Pasha
marriage
In 1894, Amin married Zeinab, daughter of Admiral Amin Tawfiq, to join him in an Egyptian aristocratic family. His wife was raised by a British governess. Therefore, he felt it necessary for his daughters to be brought up by a British governess as well. Amin's call to resist women's wearing of the niqab is said to have continued within his family. Although he could not change his wife from wearing it to him, his plan was to teach the younger generation of females, like his daughter, not to wear it again.
career path
After his accomplishment in France, Amin became part of the civil servant class of the British Empire. In 1885 he was appointed a mixed court judge.
By 1887, he had joined the predominantly Western Egyptian office of the Government's Legal Department. Within four years, he was chosen as one of the Egyptian judges in the national courts.
Cairo University
Qassem Amin was one of the founders of the first Egyptian University, then known as the National University, which formed the nucleus of the current Cairo University, and was a member of its founding committee. Qassem Amin insisted that Egypt needed a Western-style university.
his positions
President of the National Court of Appeal in Cairo
Secretary General of Cairo University
Vice President of Cairo University
Kassem was appointed first secretary-general of Cairo University Sharis Wadi, an Islamic scholar and writer, and the first woman to graduate from the Department of Oriental Languages at Oxford University says that Kassem was a "brilliant young lawyer".
There he worked in Al-Moayyed magazine, and was the personal translator of Imam Muhammad Abdo during his stay in France. Then he returned to Egypt in 1885 and was appointed as a judge there.
He published a book entitled "Women's Liberation" under the supervision of Imam Muhammad Abdo - under whom Qasim was a student - in which he called for the liberation of women, which sparked widespread controversy and received a lot of criticism in the newspapers and the press. Despite this, Qassem Amin's name gained wide popularity, and some segments of society began to circulate his statements in support of women's liberation.
This book was translated into English and spread widely. The writer and economist Talaat Harb responded with the book "Fasl Al-Khattab fi Al-Wo'a wa Al-Hijab", followed by Muhammad Wajdi's book entitled "The Muslim Woman".
As a result of the many pressures he was subjected to after his views - which some opponents considered a threat to Islam and the status and life of Muslim women - he republished the book in 1901 after making some amendments to it and called it "The New Woman". In his new book, he called for the legislation of women's rights and giving them sovereignty over themselves in various aspects of life.
Focus on the position of women in the upper classes of society, who are bound by societal and domestic restrictions to the point where they are imprisoned in their homes as a result of these restrictions. They are even intellectually imprisoned by their enforced lack of education. He believed that a woman who dedicates her life to raising her children should have the education to correct her children properly.
He also stopped at some of the traditions of marriage and divorce in society, which place sovereignty on the man alone, which he considered a kind of extreme slavery and sadism, and a great marginalization of women in society.
He published many editorial ideas, and is said to have called for a change in some Islamic concepts. He pointed out that the Qur'an did not mention the necessity of wearing the niqab, as covering the face and hands hinders the work of women.
Despite his death in 1908, his forward-looking ideas still form the basis of modern Islamic reform. His teachings continue to inspire women's liberation movements.
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