ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book depends on a literary approach to the suras that relate to the Qur'anic story of Maryam. Scriptural scholarship from a literary and feminist perspective will unravel the Qur'anic language and the meanings of the concept of the feminine and maternal through the portrayal of Maryam. Feminist criticism also refers to any linguistic, stylistic and narrative construction that sees the relationship between the sexes as one of inequality, subordination, or oppression. Fatima Mernissi is a good example of a social scientist and an activist of women's rights who, for the first time, has used 'science for the authentication of hadith' for the interest of women in Islam in order to criticize the interpretation of two prophetic traditions that manipulated hadith to belittle the participation of women in politics. Muslim scholars have written extensively on the art of Qur'anic narrative.
