ISLAM, GENDER, AND MODERNITY

Instructor: Claire Robison Summer 2014

Logic of Our Course

the rise of feminism and women’s rights movements in the early 20th c., parallel to those movements in Europe and America

the effect of European colonialism and nationalist movements on women and gender issues

post-independence nationalism and the receding of religion from public sphere

the rise of Islamism and return of religion to the public sphere; need to separate from the West

complex modernities, time is morally neutral

Models for Women in Islamic Tradition

Women and the Prophet Women in Sufism Women in the Quran and in Tradition Education of the soul (nafs) Woman as Manifestation of God

Categories from Annemarie Schimmel’s My Soul is a Woman

Women and the Prophet

Khadija: first wife of Muhammad. She was the first to learn the Quranic revelation and encouraged Muhammad that it was authentic. Owned her own business, hired Muhammad, and later proposed to him. While she was alive, Muhammad did not take any other wives.

 Aisha: later wife of Muhammad. Much younger but a strong figure, especially in Sunni Islam. Led troops into battle. An important source of hadith about Muhammad’s life.

Fatima: daughter of Muhammad and mother of Ali, central figure for Shia Muslims. Figure of devotion in Shia Islam, known for her purity, truthfulness, righteousness.

Women in Sufism

Women have been Sufi teachers and practitioners from the early days of Islam

Rabia, of Basra, Iraq (d. 801) is a central figure in Sufi tradition. Fatima of Nishapur, Iran (d. 854), known for her wisdom and devotion to God

Noblewomen, like Jahanara Begum (d. 1681; daughter of Shahjahan) were influential in Sufi history. Jahanara commissioned mosques and shrines to Sufi saints, and wrote Sufi biographies and poetry

In mystical tradition, common spiritual equality of all souls is often emphasized

Education of the Soul (nafs)

Sura 12:53 in the Quran speaks of the nafs “inciting to evil.” In some places, the Quran talks about a good and bad nafs

– a higher and lower soul – one “accusing,” the other “at peace.”

Traditional statement from Muhammad: “man’s worst enemy is the nafs, and the struggle against it is the greatest jihad.”

Nafs generally pictured as female, and should be subordinate to the ‘aql, intellect or reason

Though many allegorical stories about the nafs also show that it/she can attain perfection and become “a soul at peace.”

Women as Manifestation of God

Classical Arabic and Persian literature is full of love poems and descriptions of the sweetly perfumed beloved with all her charms

In mystical poetry, God as Divine Beloved is sometimes expressed as male and sometimes female (also many times gender-ambiguous)

In poetry, Beloved, or Kaaba, as veiled bride or desired virgin In Rumi’s Sufi poetry, the mystical state (hal) and its lasting stage

(maqam) described: “The hal is like the unveiling of the beauteous bride, while the maqam is being alone with the bride.” (Masnavi 1 1435)

Descriptions of Beloved as female in Indian Sufi poetry, Manjhan’s 15th c Madhumalati: “The maiden’s face shone like the moon… As he beheld the loveliness of her

form, he fainted away every second… He was astonished to see such beauty… as the prince observed her lovely form and adornments, he found fulfillment.”

Women in the Quran and Tradition

The Quran explicitly states that men and women are equal in the eyes of God. Furthermore, the Quran:

forbids female infanticide (practiced in pre-Islamic Arabia and other parts of the world)

instructs Muslims to educate daughters as well as sons insists that women have the right to refuse a prospective husband gives women the right to own and inherit property (though in Sunni

Islam they get only half of what men inherit. Men are expected to care for their mothers and any unmarried female relatives, and would, it is reasoned, need greater resources for this purpose.)

While polygyny is permissible, it is discouraged and on the whole practiced very infrequently. It is most frequent in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia. Many Muslims cite the Quranic phrase "But treat them equally... and if you cannot, then one [wife] is better" and argue that monogamy is preferable, or even mandatory.

Regional Interpretations of the Quran

As the Islamic state and religion expanded, interpretations of the gender roles laid out in the Quran varied with different cultures.

For example, some religious scholars in 9th- and 10th-century Iraq were prescribing more restrictive roles for women, while elite women in Islamic Spain were sometimes able to bend these rules and mix quite freely with men.

Interpretation or exegesis of the Quran: tafsir Shariah: way, path, law, based on Quran and

Sunnah/hadith of Muhammad Who does the interpreting? Amina Wadud on women’s reading and interpretations

of Islamic texts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luyjABV1nYw

Complexities surrounding women’s status illustrated by country-specific differences:

Islamic Tradition and Local Interpretations

Director of the New Delhi-based Centre for Peace and Spirituality, editor of the monthly Al-Risala journal and author of almost two hundred books, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is one of India’s best known Islamic scholars.

Women as political leaders in Muslim-majority

countries

Razia was a Muslim woman ruler of 13th-century India

Amina was a 16th-century queen of Zaria in present-day Nigeria

Shajarat al-Durr was briefly sultan in Mamluk Egypt, but was the power behind the throne for even longer

The so-called "sultanate of women" in the Ottoman Empire during the 17th century was a period when several strong women had enormous power over affairs of state

Benazir Bhutto (11th Prime Minister of Pakistan)

Sheikh Hasina (current Prime Minister of Bangladesh)

Women as leaders of social justice

Shirin Ebadi

(born Iran 1947) internationally-renowned human rights advocate and lawyer, former high court judge, first Muslim woman Nobel Laureate. Founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran.

Quranic Excerpts

Quran 24, Surat An-Nur: “Light” 1-20 on adultery and lying 23-26 on blaspheming chaste women 30-34 on how men and women should conduct

themselves with modesty, on marriage 56-61 on proper behavior and seeing people

undressed

http://quran.com/24

Quranic Excerpts

Surah 33, Al-Ahzab (the combined forces) 28-34: wives of the Prophet, you are not like

other women 35-40 Believing men and women 53 on showing respect by not barging in 59 tell women to draw their wraps around them

http://quran.com/33