A book launch was held on the premises of the Bosniac Institute Sarajevo on July 16, 2014 at 11 am. A journalist, Adnan Rondić moderated the entire event, and the book presenters were prominent professors and scholars: Enes Karić PhD, Nermina Baljević, MA, Emina Abrahamsdotter MA and Zilka Spahić Šiljak PhD. Mr. Eric Catalfamo addressed the audience on behalf of the American Embassy attaché for culture.
At the beginning Mr. Eric Catalfamo pointed out that American Embassies all around the world enable translations of capital books by American authors. Wadud's books have been translated to several world languages, and on the request of TPO Foundation Sarajevo the American Embassy supported the translation conducted by Zilka Spahić Šiljak and Đermana Šeta.
Professor Enes Karić said that this book is considered sui generis literature in studying the Qura’nic text in the second half of twentieth century. Amina Wadud was courageous to undertake this journey and critically examine traditional commentaries of the Qur’an that have not revealed the integral worldview of this Book about women. She discovered primordial equality of women and men in the sacred text of the Qur’an. As a prominent intellectual Wadud felt obliged to underline that Qur’an was revealed to all worlds including the world of women. That is why a woman should read the Qur’an as a text that is also revealed to her. Moreover, Wadud requires permanent rereading of the Qur’an and states that Qur’an speaks to us from all perspectives and always offers fresh insights.
Nermina Baljević in her presentation said that Amina Wadud is a vanguard of gender sensitive hermeneutics of the Qur’an and advocates for interpretation and exegesis of the Qur’an from a woman’s perspective and experience. The methodology and hermeneutics Wadud proposes take into account the context of the revelation of the Qur’an, the content and grammatical composition of the text, as well as the whole text and its Weltanschauung.
Wadud dared to think for herself, to doubt and examine something that every reasonable Muslim man and woman should question, to check the facts and, as a result, to find out that gender and all other inequalities cannot be based on Quran. She goes beyond the traditional methodology and exegesis of the Quran, which accepted and justified male domination, because she poses question that have never been asked and does not consider

interpretations of the Qur’an more relevant than the Qur’anic text itself.
For Wadud, the only genuine distinction among human beings in the Qur’anic text is taqwa, the Qur’anic term that refers to piety and accountable behavior with permanent consciousness of God’ presence. Therefore, she goes against guardians of the status quo, who do not allow changes in, and the flow of, the living message of the Qur’an.
Mr.sci. Emina Abrahamsdotter raised two important points about the text. The first is the book's references to the first commandment to Muslims, iqra', which means permanent learning, studying and research, which is exactly what Wadud is doing here. The second is the it refers to necessity of constant moving "moving in the interpretations and understanding of the sacred text", in accordace with the context, and not blocking this process as some conservative voices tend to. One of the Islamic tradition (hadith) says: In every move there is a blessing . That move is constant search for meaning and understanding of the divine message in terms of it essence, to preserve it in all the layers of history, political events, and patriarchal and conservative readings of Qur'an.
From her perspective as the translator of this book, professor Zilka Spahić Šiljak talked about challenges she faced while translating this text, which needed to be ‘unpacked’, in order to deliver the meaning of the text in the spirit of the Bosnian language. She also said that this book is important because it communicates the following to 21st century men and women:
-that the divine message mediated by the Qur’anic text is not exclusivist, discriminatory, but in its essence egalitarian, providing it is read under the framework of the key principles of justice, equality, love, freedom, and compassion.
-that women as well as men are invited to read and interpret the Qur’an, but not in order to perpetuate existing patriarchal interpretations; they should immerse themselves into the ocean of the divine message and communicate what they found on that exegetic journey.
-to demonstrate that the Qur’an is a universal message for all times and contexts through opening the space of permanent reading and interpretations of the sacred text. Only in this way is it possible for the text to communicate to all of us. It also means that God’s message is revealed to all those who want to hear it, and not exclusively to theologians, imams, and legal scholars. It is not anybody’s property.