ABSTRACT
This chapter continues the analysis of the major Qur’anic concepts invoked in the legitimation of the privileged male authority. Divorce related gender issues will be investigated using as a starting point three central concepts: ta’a, nushuz and daraba. The chapter analyses how the meaning/s of these three concepts differ when approached through the patriarchal as compared to the gender egalitarian paradigm. It presents how the hierarchical structure of male authority was negotiated in the premodern types of divorce. The chapter contains a discussion of a multitude of interpretations regarding ta’a, nushuz and daraba. It explains how, when approached through the lens of the patriarchal paradigm, the above-mentioned concepts created highly gender hierarchical marital relationships. The chapter details the gender egalitarian paradigm of analysis and outline how the interpretational approaches that inhere in this paradigm create very different understandings of the above-named concepts.
