The
excerpts taken from Mernissi’s text constitute a critique of present day interpretations
of certain Koranic scripture and the Hadith that accompany them. Suggesting
that history and memory have been managed and retooled by individuals with an
interest in concentrating power among certain historical actors and not others
(men and not women), Mernissi reexamines the work of prominent Muslim scholars.
She attempts to supplant their scholarship with revisionist readings of holy
scriptures and with historiography that privileges the concerns of women who
are a marginalized population. Although her reading challenges views held by
many (that women should be excluded from politics and leadership, and that her place is the home, the private sphere),
she legitimates her disagreement and makes it less threatening by situating it
in the context of the time-honored tradition of isnads. Isnads is “a
science for the authentication of Hadith” that seeks to reveal and counter the
“misrepresenting [of] privileges and interests in the name of the Prophet”.
In
her indictment of “The Tradition of Misogyny”, she invokes the seminal Hadith
that states: “Those who entrust their affairs to a woman will never know
prosperity”. In the process of retracing the events that led up to the uttering
of these words and presenting the background of those who were party to their
utterance, namely Abu Bakra, Mernissi contests the divine inspiration for which
these words are known. She reveals that this particular Hadith was recalled by
Abu Bakra 25 years after they were supposedly spoken; and notwithstanding the
dubious value of these words due to the prodigious delay in recoding them,
Mernissi reveals the intrinsically unreliable nature of Abu Bakra’s testimony
by exposing his alleged misdeeds in a past court-proceeding. These revelations
when viewed alongside the historical power struggle (the fitna) that was concurrent with the mention of the above Hadith,
reveal that the authenticity of this particular Hadith is questionable at
least. It was very likely subject to the personal interests of Abu Bakra who had
an interest in courting the victor of said power struggle.
Using
a similar methodology Mernissi attempts to unpack the original significance of
the hijab. She follows the reduction of
this concept through the ages to its present-day misuse a socio-political
technology. Her investigation reveals that contextual details were similarly
ignored during the “descent” of the hijab
in Muslim society, and it also reveals an alternative conception in Sufism
that she believes represents the Koranic hijab
more faithfully.
It
is not a cloth, she reckons; it is anything that veils, or keeps one from
communing with the divine. Deploying this conception, she imposes an irony: the
hijab only accentuates the carnal
entrapment of Muslim men whose preoccupation with this tool seems to signals
their inability to perceive their inner “divine light” – to overcome their
carnal desires. In a sense they are behind a hijab as much as some women are.
This reading reminded me of a video that isn’t related to
our subject, but to the task of our scholars, ancient and contemporary. It is
tagged with the title, “Is Their Truth in Interpretation?”. It’s a long video,
but very interesting if you have the time to stick with it.
No comments:
Post a Comment