Peran Perempuan Dalam Ranah Publik: Studi Komparatif Tafsir Al-Misbah Dan Tafsir Al-Maraghi

Abstract

The role of women in the public sphere remains a live discourse in contemporary Islamic studies. The Qur’an affirms the equality of men and women in social-religious responsibility, yet some restrictions on women are presumed to stem from interpretations shaped by the exegete’s cultural bias rather than from the text itself. This study analyzes the Qur’anic outlook on women’s public role according to Tafsir Al-Misbah (M. Quraish Shihab) and Tafsīr al-Marāghī (Aḥmad Muṣṭafā al-Marāghī), identifies the similarities and differences between the two interpretations, and examines their relevance for contemporary women’s lives. This qualitative library research uses a descriptive-comparative (muqāran) method within a thematic exegesis framework, analyzed through Nasaruddin Umar’s gender-equality theory and Sperber-Wilson’s Relevance Theory, on QS. at-Taubah [9]: 71, QS. al-Mumtaḥanah [60]: 12, and QS. al-Aḥzāb [33]: 35. The findings show both exegetes provide theological legitimacy for women’s public role, agree on moral-religious equality yet differ in the scope of social implication: Shihab is contextual-expansive while al-Marāghī emphasizes the moral-ethical dimension, and both remain relevant as a basis for women’s participation in public life.