Mernissi’s work intervenes in the interpretation of
Muslim religious texts to show how their legacy has been shaped by a persistent
misogynistic bias, what she calls structural manipulation of Muslim traditions.
Mernissi focuses on the access to interpreting history, reserved for mullahs
and imams and overwhelmingly male. She sees Islamic interpretations as often patriarchal
and false, and instead looks for a new, more equitable interpretation (such as
Wa’dud’s). Mernissi is interested in how misogyny has arisen not from “God or
Muhammad” but from human (male) action; a “fabrication of false traditions”
(page 9).* To do this, Mernissi engages critically with the historical record
on Muslim religious texts, specifically those which have become consequential
to norms about women in Islam.
For instance, the first chapter in the course packet
focuses on one specific hadith which has become “omnipresent and all-embracing”
when discussions about women in politics come up, that says “Those who entrust
their affairs to a woman will never know prosperity.” Rather than taking this
as a given, a principle of the religion, Mernissi examines the historical/biographical/religious
records relating to this hadith, looking
for how the singular circumstance of its pronouncement might challenge its
current status as a “universal wisdom” to be manipulated as its interlocutors
see fit. The Hadith was pronounced by Abu Bakra, who Mernissi demonstrates to
be unfit as a source of hadith according to traditional standards of citation
in Muslim religious science (for example, having been convicted of false
testimony by Caliph ‘Umar) and misogynistic, immoral, and prone to politicized
hadith-reciting besides.
Mernissi’s last section looks at verse 53 of sura
33, to which scholars trace the first moment of the hijab in Muslim society. She elaborates on the very specific
circumstances of this moment (Muhammad’s rare break in patience in leaving
behind lingering guests at his wedding party; furthermore the high tension of
the year 5, when Muhammad led the Medinans/Muslims to war against the Meccans,
a moment when the Muslims could have been defeate decisively) and how it became
such a consequential moment. Furthermore, Mernissi is interested in how a
nuanced (and negative) etymological stem such as the hijab, which plays a crucial role in many strains of Muslim thought,
has been popularized as a positive, identity-affirming garment in contemporary
societies. The last few pages of the chapter deal with the republication (in
Morocco, presumably) of several highly conservative religious texts, from authors
old and new. The works insist that women stay in a subordinate position in
society, which shows that the specially male access to interpretation
continues.
*All citations are from Mernissi’s own book, not the
course pack.
Questions for discussion:
1. Is
there a way to bring about full political equality without minimizing the
impact of hadiths as a current and relevant document? How/why is Quranic
interpretation an important avenue for Islamic feminisms?
2. What
avenues, if any, are available for bringing about more women-led interpretation
of religious documents?
3. How
has the original purpose of the hijab transformed into popular stereotypes
today?
Quotable quotes:
“But can one ever “simply” read a text in which
politics and the sacred are joined and mingled to the point of becoming
indistinguishable from each other? It is not just the present that the imams
and politicians want to manage to assure our well-being as Muslims, but above
all the past that is being strictly supervised and completely managed for all
of us, me and women. What is being supervised and managed, in fact, is memory
and history…This book is intended to be a narrative of recollection, gliding toward
the areas where memory breaks down, dates get mixed up, and events softly blur
together, as in the dreams from which we draw our strength.” Page 10.
“So it is strange
indeed to observe the modern course of this concept [of the hijab], which from
the beginning had such a strongly negative connotation in the Koran. The very
sign of the person who is damned, excluded from the privileges and spiritual
grace to which the Muslim has access, is claimed in our day as a symbol of
Muslim identity, manna for the Muslim women.” Page 97.
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