Olfa Youssef

Olfa Youssef ( Arabic ألفة يوسف, DMG Ulfa Yūsuf ; * 1964 in Sousse ) is a Tunisian university professor and author who specializes in Arabic linguistics and psychoanalysis as well as applied Arabic studies. Her publications deal with Islam, the Koran, the role of women in Islam, religious freedom and interfaith dialogue.

biography

Olfa Youssef studied at the École Normale Supérieure de Tunis and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Since she graduated with honors and gave the farewell speech for her class, she was honored by President Habib Bourguiba in 1987. Youssef received her PhD in 2002. Her dissertation was on the subject of Polysemy in the Koran (Ambiguities in the Koran).

Youssef was director of the National Library of Tunisia from 2009 to 2011.

Scientific work

In her doctoral thesis Polysemy in the Koran , after analyzing texts in the Koran , she came to the conclusion that ambiguities in the interpretation are always possible. According to Youssef's testimony, there is no proof in the Koran that dogmas that have been socially maintained for a long time are also incontestable laws given by God.

She elaborates on these ideas in her book, The Confusion of a Muslim Woman: On Inheritance, Marriage and Homosexuality (2008). Conservatives interpreted the book to mean that Youssef was of the opinion that homosexuality was not forbidden according to Islam. Also, that a sister shouldn't inherit half as much as her brother. Furthermore, that men have no rights based on polygamy. The publication of the book sparked controversy and litigation.

Youssef was also the co-author of The Dramatic Discourse of Mahmoud Messadi's The Dam (1994).

Publications

• Women in Quran and Sunna (1997),
• The Quran at the Risk of Psychoanalysis (2007)
• Bereft of Reason and Religion (2003)
• Yearning (2010)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Olfa Youssef dénonce" la démission de l'autorité »et renonce à la direction de la Bibliothèque nationale," Leaders , 4 may 2011
2. ^ World Cat author listing