MOVING BEYOND THE LINES OF MUSLIM CATECHISM -ILMIHALS-: A SOCIOCULTURAL ANALYSIS ON ISLAM ANDGENDER

Muslim Catechism (ilmihals) are the works that contain the orders and prohibitions in Muslim societies, as well as the culture and traditions of the societies.In terms of containing these socio-cultural features, Catechism books include elements that reveal the sociocultural structure and are settled in the common memory of the society.The aim of this paper is to make a gender examination on these works, ilmihals.In detail, to reveal the ways in which different masculinities are constructed and how men are positioned and act in ilmihals (Muslim catechism) published at Republic Period in Turkey, with a specific emphasis on sociocultural structure of these works.The analyses show that men were portrayed as carrying gendered masculine traits and traditional masculine gender roles.Moreover, the characterization of men is gender-biased and ilmihals uphold hegemonic ideals that show how masculinities should be.All these findings demonstrate that there are two masculinities handled in these works: being equal to women in terms of servitude and being superior to women in terms of being God's deputy and trusty.Furthermore, ilmihals play an important role at reproduction of gender roles and serve as a model for the reflection of the patriarchal structure by putting women at private sphere and men at public sphere.