Reconstructing the Narrative of Eve’s Creation in Qur’anic Exegesis through Gender and Sufi Perspectives
Amid the intensifying global discourse on gender justice, Qur’anic interpretation continues to be shaped by a long-standing legacy of patriarchal exegesis, particularly in narratives concerning the creation of woman. This tension is especially evident in interpretations of Surah al-Nisāʾ verse 1, a passage that affirms humanity’s origin from a single ontological source (nafs wāḥidah), yet has frequently been read through hierarchical frameworks that position women as derivative and subordinate. This article seeks to reconstruct the narrative of Eve’s creation in Qur’anic exegesis by integrating gender analysis with Sufi perspectives as an alternative hermeneutical framework. Employing a qualitative library-based approach, the study draws on classical and contemporary Qur’anic commentaries as primary sources, supported by scholarly literature on gender, Qur’anic hermeneutics, and Islamic ontology. Data were analyzed using critical hermeneutics and thematic analysis to identify ontological assumptions and gender bias embedded in exegetical traditions. The findings demonstrate that hierarchical portrayals of Eve’s creation do not originate from the Qur’anic text itself but from historically contingent patriarchal epistemologies that shaped classical interpretation. Contemporary egalitarian tafsīr emphasizes the shared ontological origin of men and women, while Sufi interpretations further reinforce this equality through concepts of spiritual parity and human perfection (insān kāmil). By integrating these approaches, this study proposes a reconstructive, non-hierarchical model of Qur’anic interpretation that is ethically grounded and contextually responsive. This research contributes to Qur’anic studies by advancing a gender-just and spiritually informed exegesis that remains faithful to the Qur’an’s moral vision while addressing contemporary demands for gender justice.
Abdel-Latif, S. (2020). Narrativizing early mystic and Sufi women: Mechanisms of gendering in Sufi hagiographies. In Routledge Handbook on Sufism (pp. 132–145). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315175348-11
Afsaruddin, A. (2020). Women and the Qur’an. In The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies (pp. 527–537). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199698646.013.54
Al-Alusi, M. S. (t.t). Rūḥ al-Ma`ānī Fī Tafsīr al-Qurān al-`Aẓīm wa Sab`i al-Maṡānī . Beirut: Dar Ihya at-Turas al-Islami.
Al-Razi, F. (1981). Mafatih al-Ghayb. Dar al-Fikr.
Alwani, Z. (2016). Socioeconomic and gender justice in the Qur’an: Modern challenges. In Poverty and Wealth in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (pp. 77–103). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94850-5_5
Amina Wadud. (2020). Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective. Oxford University Press.
Arenberg, M. (2015). Rethinking Hawaa: Gender in Abdilatif Abdalla’s Utenzi wa Maisha ya Adamu na Hawaa through the lens of John Milton’s paradise lost. Research in African Literatures, 46(3), 24–45. https://doi.org/10.2979/reseafrilite.46.3.24
Asad, M. (1980). The Principles of State and Government in Islam
Banu, M., & Jamali, P. S. S. M. (2019). Some reflection on paradigm shift in qur’anic, interpretation on gender issue discourse. Hamdard Islamicus, 42(1–2), 199–213. https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85076564993&partnerID=40&md5=845041f411e2bebb4b4cc385bb43b38d
Bauer, K. (2015). Gender hierarchy in the Qur’ān: Medieval interpretations, modern responses. In Gender Hierarchy in the Quran: Medieval Interpretations, Modern Responses. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139649759
Borgoiakova, T. G., & Lopsan, A. P. (2024). Gender issues in the Tuvan Internet Discourse. New Research of Tuva, 4, 46–60. https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2024.4.4
Cable, E. (2022). Stirring Being with Grace: A Queer Pneumatological Disruption of Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Gender. Feminist Theology, 30(3), 312–331. https://doi.org/10.1177/09667350221085165
Coleman, R. (2021). Was eve the first femme fatale? Verbum et Ecclesia, 42(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v42i1.2138
Dike, U. A. (2025). Adam and Adamah: A Feminist Re-examination of Gender and Environment in the Yahwist’s Narrative. Perspectiva Teologica, 57(1). https://doi.org/10.20911/21768757v57n1e05843/2025
Diko, M. (2024). Her influence: The constructive roles of womein the lives of Moses and Boaz. Verbum et Ecclesia, 45(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v45i1.3238
Engineer, A. (2008). The rights of women in Islam. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Ewing, K. P. (2021). Embodied Metaphor: Playing with Gender in South Asian Sufism. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 89(4), 1256–1289. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfab080
Hadromi-Allouche, Z. (2023). ḤAWWĀ’: Eve in Medieval Islamic Sources. In The Routledge Companion to Eve (pp. 88–108). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003132332-8
Hamka. (2015). Tafsir Al-Azhar. Gema Insani.
Hasan, H., Jahar, A. S., Umar, N., & Abdullah, I. (2022). Polygamy: Uncovering the effect of patriarchal ideology on gender-biased interpretation. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 78(4). https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v78i4.7970
Hentschel, Y. V. (2025). When the Rūḥ Meets Its Creator: The Qurʾān, Gender, and Visual Culture in Contemporary Iranian Female Sufism. Religions, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16020132
Ichwan, M. N., Ming, D., & Sya’roni, M. (2025). Bridging Tradition and Modernity: Integrating Classical Interpretation and Modern Hermeneutics through Ijtihad in Qur’an Studies. Pharos Journal of Theology, 106(SpecialIssue-2). https://doi.org/10.46222/pharosjot.106.2021
Irsad, M., Mustaqim, A., & Qudsy, S. Z. (2024). Paradigm Shifts in Gender Narratives of of Tafsīr al-Ibrīz through Oral Exegesis on Youtube. Jurnal Studi Ilmu-Ilmu Al-Qur’an Dan Hadis, 25(1), 141–160. https://doi.org/10.14421/qh.v25i1.5416
Jaffer, A. (2017). Spiritualising Marginality: Sufi Concepts and the Politics of Identity in Pakistan. Society and Culture in South Asia, 3(2), 175–197. https://doi.org/10.1177/2393861717706294
Khorchide, M. (2019). The Qur’anic turn of women’s image: From being the object to the subject of history. In Muslim Women and Gender Justice: Concepts, Sources, and Histories (pp. 140–169). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351025348-9
Langer, G. (2017). The split man. Some thoughts on creation, transformation, and gender in the rabbinic tradition. Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society, 3(2), 185–213. https://doi.org/10.14220/jrat.2017.3.2.185
Lerner, A. (2019). Rib or side, right or left and the traits of women: Midrashic dilemmas about the creation of Eve in medieval Islamic tradition and literature. Studia Islamica, 114(1), 27–46. https://doi.org/10.1163/19585705-12341387
Maraghi, S. A. M. (2001). Tafsir al-Maraghi. Dar al-Fikr.
Mascarell García, M. (2025). Biting the Apple: Luigi Dardano and Isotta Nogarola on Eve’s Side. Transfer (Spain), 20(2), 98–115. https://doi.org/10.1344/transfer.v20i2.46825
Nugroho, B. H., Mustaniruddin, A., & Taufik, A. (2024). Ideological Contestation on the Production of Gender Exegesis within Institutional Quranic Interpretation in Indonesia. Jurnal Studi Ilmu-Ilmu Al-Qur’an Dan Hadis, 25(2), 346–369. https://doi.org/10.14421/qh.v25i2.5388
Ridha, M. R. (1949). Tafsir Al-Manar. Dar al-Ma’rifah.
Salahuddin, A. (2023). Feminine or Patriarchal: Story of Adam and Eve in Urdu Novels by Women Writers. Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 13(2), 231–241. https://doi.org/10.32350/jitc.132.15
Sawja, A. (2023). Propagating Gender Norms in an Islamic Republic: Three Pakistani Alims and their Online tafsīrs. Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 25(3), 55–88. https://doi.org/10.3366/jqs.2023.0556
Shaikh, S. (2022). Spirituality and Gender in Islam. In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Islamic Spirituality (pp. 217–233). wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118533789.ch12
Shihab, M. Q. (2003). Tafsir Al-Misbah: Pesan, Kesan, dan Keserasian al-Qur’an. Lentera Hati.
Subhan, Z. (1999). Tafsir kebencian. Yogyakarta: LKiS.
Tabroni, R., Izudin, A., Yuwono, D. B., Isnanto, M., Sujibto, B. J., & Suarsana, I. M. (2025). Hybridity, Intersection, and Challenge: Navigating the History of Customary and Islamic Family Law in Moluccan Marriages. Al-Ahwal, 18(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.14421/ahwal.2024.18101
Thiede, B. (2023). DISRUPTION, DISORDER, AND DEATH: Eve (and Lilith) in Classical Rabbinic Literature. In The Routledge Companion to Eve (pp. 74–87). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003132332-7
Van Den Eynde, S. (2004). Between rainbow and reform: A gender analysis of the term in the Hebrew Bible. Zeitschrift Fur Die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 116(3), 409–415. https://doi.org/10.1515/zatw.2004.116.3.409