Religions/Adyan Is an Annual and Bi-Lingual

Religions/Adyan is an annual and bi-lingual (English and Arabic) publication in interfaith studies published by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue with an emphasis on interreligious dialogue and the relations between Islam and other faiths.

In a world of religious misunderstandings, violence, and hijacking of religious faiths by political ideologies, Religions/Adyan intends to provide a welcome space of encounter and reflection upon the commonalities and shared goals of the great religions of the world. The title of the journal suggests religious diversity while suggesting the need to explore this diversity in order to develop keys to both a deepening of one’s own faith and a meaningful opening to other creeds. The Qur’ân suggests a commonality of faith and a striving for the Truth within the context of religious diversity:

“To each among you have we prescribed a law and an open way. If God had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to God; it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which ye dispute.” (The Table Spread 5:48, version of Yusuf Ali)

As a refereed international publication published the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue, Religions/Adyan finds its inspiration in the universal message of monotheism broadly understood, while engaging the various religious faiths that share common principles and values within this broadly defined context.

Religions/Adyan encourages comparative studies and interreligious exchanges in a spirit of dialogue and mutual enrichment. Its aim is to promote understanding between religious faithful of various traditions by exploring and studying the rich field of their theological and spiritual common grounds, their mutual and constructive relationships, past, present and potentially future, a better understanding of the causes of their conflicts, and the current challenges of their encounter with atheism, agnosticism and secular societies.

In addition, Religions/Adyan wishes to highlight and revive the universal horizon of Islam by fostering studies in the relationships between Islam and other religions and civilizations in history, the arts, and religious studies. This is also a way to revitalize intellectual discourse in Islam, within the context of an interactive and cross-fertilizing engagement with other faiths.

The essays published in Religions/Adyan exclusively engage the intellectual responsibility of their authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the DICID. They are published as part of an ongoing dialogue on religions, and should not be construed as the expression of the positions of any sponsoring organization.

1 Photo courtesy of Kai-Henrik Barth 2 Contents

Editorial 5 by Patrick Laude

Interview with Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser 7 Foreword 11 by Renaud Fabbri

Feminine Wisdom and the World-Soul 14 by Florence Quentin

Faire de la place en soi pour l’autre: L’ouverture au féminin, une néces- sité pour les religions du monde 21 by Eric Vinson

The Celestial Virgin 35 by Franklin Merrell-Wolff

Feminism, Muslim Theology and Religious Pluralism 37 Interview with Jerusha T. Lamptey and Nayla Tabbara

The Eternal Feminine in Sufism: Readings of Ibn ‘Arabī and Emir Abd el-Kader 56 by Eric Geoffroy

Women Mystics in Medieval Islam: Practice and Transmission 64 by Jean-Jacques Thibon

Arab Women in 2015: Hope Amidst Chaos 77

Photo courtesy of Kai-Henrik Barth by Mohammad Naciri

Antigone, Irony, and the Nation State: the Case of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) and the Role of Militant Feminism in Pakistan 84 by Shaireen Rasheed

Mary, Mother of Mylapore: Symbolic Engagement as an Interreligious Transaction 97 by Francis X. Clooney, S.J.

The Indian Paradox 110 by Shumona Sinha

3 Saint and Sinner: Women in Christianity 117 by Peter C. Phan

Sophia, Androgyny and the Feminine in Franz von Baader’s Christian Theosophy 130 by J. Glenn Friesen

The Indescribable Sophia and the Semiotics of Gender: A Brief Excur- sion 146 by Elizabeth Zelensky

Mary Nyangweso Wangila, Female Circumcision: The Interplay of Reli- gion, Culture, and Gender in Kenya 156 by Akintunde E. Akinade (Book Review)

The Frailest Thing in the World; On Faith, Suffering and Cinema in Our Time 158 by Elizabeth Zelensky (Movie Review)

Biography 167

4 Editorial The themes and issues per- Bible and the Quran unambiguously taining to women and matters of gender have probably never received theology, in all three monotheistic as much attention as they have in the faiths,refer todid “Him.” not fail And to take still, account classical of last decades. The contemporary con- the fact that there is no perfection cerns for equality and freedom are in creation the principle and seed of obviously not foreign to this keen which is not to be found eminently interest. There is a sense, quasi- in God. If the feminine or femininity inherent to the modern ethos, that must be considered as perfections women and feminine contributions — and how would not they be so?, have been all-too often ignored, that one must admit that they are to be their voices have been oppressed found in God. The metaphysical reality of God must therefore include the of social and cultural activities. The feminine, even though it is obviously religiousor confined domain, within especially restrictive in itsareas in- so in a way that cannot be fully fath- stitutional dimensions — in which omed in human terms, nor be taken leadership has been for the most down to the level of purely human part a masculine affair, has been par- concerns. ticularly scrutinized in this respect. It has been the locus of passionate The second issue relates debates on the role of women and to the modern, and post-modern, the feminine. In this regard, two question of identity. In this regard, questions have often emerged. The it appears that religions tend to af- or that of the masculine and femi- identity in difference, and difference ninefirst isas thatattributes of the or “gender” dimensions of God, of infirm identity. both identity There andis clearly difference, both or a the Ultimate. The second question universal dimension and a differen- has pertained to the role of women tialist bent in the discourse of reli- in religious universes. The two ques- gions, as also interestingly, but dif- tions have often been connected as ferently, in most feminist discourses. Should universality, and the equality theology. between women and men that it im- testified by most trends in feminist plies, be incompatible with identity A monotheist belief, or reli- and difference? On the one hand, it would seem that there is no identity that does not entail difference, thegious Creator heritage, of heaven leads and one earth. to affirm The and no difference that does not im- that God is “masculine” since He is 5 ply a relative superiority: one being ed —nor limited— to some feminine is superior from a certain point of view, another from a different point outwardly a priest or a preacher. of view. This means also, and most Finally,“values” othersor symbols, have but argued, she was espe not- importantly, that no human superi- cially among feminists hailing from ority is absolute, and must remain the Abrahamic world, that one must therefore open to its complement or take care of distinguishing the nor- its corrective. For instance, there is mativity that has emerged from historical crystallizations from the in some way and no man who is not scriptural sources and their intrinsic no woman who is not “masculine” principles. what is symbolized by the Chinese yin-yang“feminine”. in some ways. This is Be that as it may, religions are keen to point to a transcend- The connection of the two ence of all differences, whether they - are thought to be natural or socially vine and the identity and status of constructed. In monotheistic reli- womenquestions is farof thefrom “gender” being one-dimen of the Di- sional and unidirectional, however. equality of all human beings before Some have demonstrated, for exam- God.gions, In they Chinese, do so Indian by affirming and other the ple, that a recognition of the femi- wisdom traditions they tend to open the highest Way to all humans inde- not necessarily translate, far from pendently from gender differences, that,nine into dimension a socio-cultural of the Divine promotion does or from other differences that may of women. It is actually sometimes differentiate them from one another. the contrary that holds true, as ap- No human difference, whether of pears for example in some religious sex, race or gender can be absolu- sectors of South Asia. Others have tized since there is nothing relative suggested that one must distinguish that can limit or bind the Absolute. between the metaphysical dimen- There is much evidence to suggest sion, the spiritual realm and the that the great religions teach that socio-cultural realities. In this per- while one is born a woman or a man spective, what can be highlighted is one is re-born beyond the limitations the complexity and, oftentimes, re- and boundaries that those identities versed analogy between inner val- involve or imply. ues and outer phenomena, spiritual ranks and social hierarchies. For in- Patrick Laude, Editor-in-Chief stance, Mary illustrates an inner su- pereminence that cannot be unrelat-

6 Interview with Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser

Adyan: Let’s start Your Highness with attempts pregnant with endeavours your being an inspiring Arab woman, leading to a resurgence and appar- both in your leadership roles and ently to several libertarian move- your entrepreneurial projects. Can ments which were not destined to you tell us about your view of the reach fruition. In any case, in these state of Arab women? attempts to create movement in stagnant waters women have always Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint been around affecting and being af- Nasser: It needs to be said from the fected by their environment. outset that the condition of Arab women, as well as that of Arab men, in the mind and the way to it is ed- is not unrelated to the condition of ucation.I firmly believe It is reassuring that liberation that startsArab the society as a whole in its relation- countries have begun to realize that and have started paying particular It is quite well-known that for dec- attention to education and its devel- adesship ofthe mutual Arab influence.world has lived in a opment. This interest carries with state of torpor, at times even eco- it a true recognition for political nomic and cultural decline which reform as the relationship between - education and political reform is not dition of members of the society. Re- mutually exclusive. In fact one sim- centhas reflected history however negatively has on witnessed the con ply cannot reform without the other. 7 In all that, I am encouraged to say grammes and monopolizing of pow- that the future of Arab women, God er, and ignoring the ‘other’s’ opinion. willing, promises to be for their good This caused the Arab revolutions. as we have already begun setting But there were forces countering our feet on the right path to reform this revolution on various fronts: the nation. by social groups being affected by Adyan: In recent years, the Arab the change first was as well internal; as the represented absence of world has witnessed stormy changes a culture of democracy and experi- manifesting themselves in the Arab ence of governance. The second is Spring; on the other hand, however, there were equally strong currents sway with the winds in accordance to counter this movement of change. a regional one; as regional powers How, Your Highness, do you perceive in alliance with those quarters who the post-revolutionary period and wishedwith their to abort interests; the theyArab workedrevolu- what are its most significant chal- tions or at least cause it to digress lenges? from its path so it would make the whole idea of a revolution dubious. Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint The third challenge was internation- Nasser: For several decades now, the al and it is by the way quite a famil- Arab world in general has been wit- - nessing a political, intellectual and tunately do not hesitate to militarily developmental stagnation hindering interveneiar one; major when world their powers interests unfor are prospects of development and thus at stake, whereas they are rarely en- worsening our social and econom- thusiastic about supporting the right ic problems which resulted from of peoples to build their own future. the absence of development pro- In spite of all the challenges, the rev- 8 olution continues because the Arab youth will not retreat from its right Adyan: In 2008, the Secretary-Gen- eral of the United Nations appointed Your Highness as the Ambassador Adyan:to freedom, Earlier, justice Your and Highness a decent life.ad- for the Alliance of Civilizations and dressed the stereotyping of the im- in 2011 the UN Alliance of Civiliza- age of women and Muslims in general tions held its Fourth Global Forum in in the Western media. What in your Doha. Is there someone or something view needs to be done to correct this in your personal life or in the history image? of Qatar that inspired your commitment to the dialogue of cultures and Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint religions? Nasser: Muslims in general and the Arabs in particular, have suffered as Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser: There is much in our own Western media. This stereotyping fundamental beliefs that motivates stretchesa result of back this racialto historical profiling and in culthe- us to proceed toward our goals with tural reasons much as it is a product a clear conscience. We have been of Orientalism. However, besides the brought up both religiously and cul- various efforts being devoted to cor- turally upon the belief that there is rect this situation, the informational no difference between human be- awareness and openness that the ings, and what unites them far ex- world is witnessing has also helped ceeds what divides them. And that in this regard. Perhaps it is impor- - way to serve humanity. In spite of sess ourselves which is to say that thesejoint action sublime and and solidarity universal is the values, best wetant turn that ourwe firstattention and foremost to the causes reas we sometimes exaggerate our differ- of this stereotyping of our image and ences which adversely affects our re- we will realize that we are partially lations. I am a strong believer in that responsible, and therefore we have religion can be the most effective to begin by addressing what is with- means to achieve this solidarity as it in the scope of our responsibility is one of the strongest motivational before we demand of others to ini- forces driving our civilizational and tiate a change in what they believe. cultural pursuits. In fact much of my This change undoubtedly requires attention towards global dialogue at tremendous intellectual struggle on all levels is inspired by my Islamic the part of our scholars and thinkers identity. We need to remember that much as it requires efforts by our we live in a world in which isolation media. I also think that Muslims in is no longer possible much as uni- role in this regard. - the Diaspora can play an important lateral action is no longer possible; it is an era of joint action and9 per Photo courtesy of Qatar Foundation - - tion. We should however be cautious should however tion. We of balance and a that our perceptions are and success of satisfaction sense political, econom by shaped largely which factors and social ic, cultural - interna or regional can be domestic, tional. means that at This times we find ourselves restricted and thus - account our tem into take need to and spatial The in- conditions. poral this balance comes achieve ability to of the teachings our ignorance from of religion, lack of self-confidence, vision. civilizational and a blurred most dangerous the one of Perhaps is that our future for propositions change. to is opposed religion adheres to what it possesses. It is it possesses. what to adheres that perceive to not right perhaps upon encroaches modernization religious from it is because religion in- seeks that one themselves texts and moderniza change for spiration It needs to be mentioned that to It needs 10 Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Sheikha Moza Her Highness Nasser: Adyan: Your Highness has always always has Highness Your Adyan: of our “that modernization insisted at the not be achieved should world one’s to of one's commitment expense Many heritage.” and cultural religious a in maintaining struggle however, of betweenbalance the requirements on the one hand, and modernization and so- traditions family their beliefs, do you How other. on the cial values kinds with these this struggle assess of transformations? between this is an ancient struggle two mentalities; one seeks change other the and while modernization, petual petual dialogue. Muslims not should dialogue, this to oblivious remain - regu must be actively they rather lating it. Dialogue is the only - civili a all for to available zational choice all share. we which world Foreword

Gender studies has become thing in the world we live in become very fashionable in academia. At the same time, writing about the topic At some level, it may seem has become more and more peril- morethat this fluid second and hybrid. phase is character- ous. In some circles, it is deemed un- ized by a reassertion, at least in west- acceptable to write about women’s ern countries, of feminine values. experience in general. Worst, any The masculine and power-oriented statement about the feminine runs conception of rationality would be the risk of being stigmatized as es- replaced by a more welcoming and sentialist (the cardinal sin of our inclusive attitude toward reality and post-modern age). toward the other. This impression, To understand the present sometimes reinforced by a loud cel- situation, we may want to turn to the ebration of diversity (regardless of analysis of the French metaphysician what it means), is however gravely René Guénon, who wrote little about misleading. In the clash of ideolo- women but was a lucid critique of gies that dominates the internation- our age. In his opus magnum, The al scene, namely the clash between Reign of Quantity, Guénon was dis- religious fundamentalism and post- tinguishing between two stages in modern neoliberalism, women are the development of secular moder- - It seems also very doubtful ized by a process of materialization thatoften the the only first way casualties. to free women from andnity. the The second first stagestage wasby a characterprocess of masculine domination is to refrain dissolution. from searching for some universal It cannot be denied that the common ground and withdraw into - the strengthening of the masculine ical conclusion of a certain form of values.first stage It was seemed the ageto correspond of the indus to- post-modernrelativism and deconstructionism subjectivism (the log for trial revolution, nationalism and the whom any truth-claim is alienating, rise of modern bureaucratic States. a mask for an unspeakable "will to The second stage that we have now arguably reached is characterized by truth, one only radicalizes the anti- a process of collapse of all the intel- essentialistpower"). In rejectingbend that the Guénon very idea diag of- lectual landmarks and a dissolution noses at the root of modernity and of all normative hierarchies. Every- that is largely responsible for the 11 contemporary spiritual crisis. One pher Eric Voegelin, who was arguing that symbols represent the trace handed when faced with the most left of certain founding experiences, revoltingalso finds formshimself of or violence herself empty-perpe- when human consciousness opens trated by men against women. As itself to the Sacred. It is through Plato was already reminding us, one these symbols that human beings cannot at the same time claim that - there is no truth and protest against ful cosmic order. On the contrary, whencan find these their symbols place into are a meaningcut from Fortunately, it is not the path their experiential roots, they tend to followedinjustice. by the contributors of this turn into (empty) dogmas and even issue. By interrogating the religious into a source of alienation and dis- myths about women and the femi- order. One may argue that it is what nine, by looking into the experience happened with the symbols of the of saints or simple believers, they are feminine. Symbols originally created not seeking to subvert religion but to express a mystery located in the on the contrary to (re-)awaken cer- human soul, and maybe more enig- tain spiritual possibilities buried in matically in God, became a means to the divine revelations or in our col- control women and perpetuate pow- lective spiritual unconscious. They er-structures responsible for the are thus inviting to us a form of an- suffering of women, as well as men. amnesis, a rediscovery of the deeper A feminist hermeneutics of meaning of the polarity between the symbols and myths is certainly not masculine and the feminine. an invitation to return to some illu- It was the religious philoso- sory Golden Age, in which tradition- 12 al religious communities would have that has been frequently marginal- treated women more fairly. (On the ized or repressed but can become topic, the historical record of all reli- emblems of resistance against old gions is nothing less than appalling.) and new ideologies that subdue and The feminist hermeneuticist will not very often kill women. In a world in claim either to have decided wheth- which political and socio-economical er God is less inadequately desig- of a deeper spiritual crisis, a feminist be treated as simply beyond gender disorders are frequently a reflection (although,nated as a remembering“He” or a “She” the or lessonsshould to a kind of collective therapy by re- of Feuerbach, he or she will certainly storinghermeneutics a balance may between finally contribute the mas- see a correlation between the alien- culine and feminine in the world, in ation of women and the tendency of our soul and, more importantly, in classical theologians to depict God our vision of God. with mostly masculine attributes). A feminist hermeneutics is Renaud Fabbri, Managing Editor possibly best interpreted as a form of utopian thinking. Symbols such as the Anima Mundi, Androgyny or the Great Indian Goddess (Mahadevi) belong to an alternative imaginary

13 Feminine Wisdom and the World-Soul

Florence Quentin

The exacerbation of the masculine at the sake of the Feminine may be the root-cause of the contemporary “disenchantment of the world.” Might it be that the only “way out” of this dead-end is for the feminine energy to be allowed once again to flow freely in our societies?

______Translated from the French by Patricia Reynaud (SFS-Qatar). The article was originally published in Ultreïa! 5, autumn 2015, p.65-69. 14 But where are people? You, man, should Two complementary polarities not seek the feminine in women, but In each individual, to vari- seek and recognize it in yourself as you ous degrees, are combined in an possess it from the beginning. equal manner these polarities, this You, woman, you should not seek the yin-yang masculine in man, but assume the mas- hand in hand harmoniously. In Tao- culine in yourself, since you possess it ist“ thought,”, which,the yin-yang in us, is should a creative go from the beginning. opposition from which all perspec- But humankind is masculine and femi- tives emerge, two polar opposite but - hardly say of your soul what sex it is. mentary forces necessary in order nine, not just man or woman. You can But if you pay close attention, you will fornot Unitya final toduality, arise. only The two world comple lives see that the most masculine man has a by the tension between two ways of feminine soul, and the most feminine acting, yang (as concentration or at- woman a masculine soul. tack) and yin (dilution or defense). C.G. Jung, The Red Book1 These two forces mix ceaselessly in the universe and in human being, whatever his/her sex is. Without dominant and permanent features one ever prevailing over the other. “Feminine: referring to all the According to depth psychol- - ogy, and according to its founder C.G. aryconsidered of this substantive to belong contains to women.” the Jung, there is a feminine in man, or seedsThe definition of a rather given common by the confusion, diction anima, and a masculine in woman, - or animus, the goal being the inner standing masculine and feminine as wedding between these two oppo- namesreflecting designating the difficulty genders of underrather site and complementary forces, as a than sexes. These differences are step toward the achievement of the real however and they do not over- process of individuation.2 - ure of the Self can thus be revealed only though the alliance between The fig thelap. one“We hand are often ‘men’ split and between on the other two the masculine and the feminine, be- ‘women’,essential as and if each definite of us classes, belonged on tween two differentiated opposite, - and this without gender confusion nounced the sociologist Irene Théry. but though an intimate union of the Sheonly argues to one that half the of humanity,”gender, either de two polarities. masculine or feminine, is not part of But then, if one admits that the identity of the person, but a mo- dality of acting and relating to others, a way of acting. they might show us the “way out” – barring “saving the world” – how to define, without caricaturing 15 them, as a tale, and therefore devalued, One generally holds that the and the logos, the word based on the the “virtues” of the feminine? work of reason and a demonstrative from a psychical, inner standpoint approach. As the sociologist Michel masculine – it goes without saying- Maffesoli rightly reminds us of the tion, the intellect, the Logos (word), dominant values of modernity: motion,– pertains action to the and realm power. of theThe asser ideal of masculinity would revolve around Malebranches call ‘the chatter of the house’“Imagination, (la folle which du logis Descartes) is an obsta and- To the feminine, one com- cle to the proper working of the God- monlyvalues ofassociates objectivity values and lucidity. such as - compassion, the affective order, the triarchal values, our societies have, ability to welcome the other, to re- atdess the Reason.” same time, In the relegated footsteps everyof pa- late to the other, to receive from the thing that pertains to the heart and other, interiority and the dimension to the experience of receptivity into of Eros the area of the archaic and the irra- function between divine and human tional. To quote the psychoanalyst love. – which ensures a mediating The feminine would be as- granted the highest position to the intelligenceLily Jattiot, “inof doingthe masculine so [they] type,have aiming at results to the expense of associated such are with only nature destined – which to repro does- the intelligence of the feminine type ducenot mean, or are of incapable course, thatof logical “women” reasoning, as a certain form of feminist « The anima mundi per- essentialism would like us to believe meates all of creation like (according to it, there would be no salt in water. » reason to distinguish between sex and gender, since the sex of a person Marsilio Ficino determines his/her gender). One cannot ignore that since which looks for linkages and con- Antiquity, the Western world has excessively valorized the rational, Cut from its nourishing roots, mathematical and syllogistic logic as thenections.” logical and technological reason- well as the sensory-experience. The Hellenist Jean-Pierre Vernant shows course a question of abolishing it convincingly (in Les Origines de la hereing that but prevails rather oftoday enriching – it is itnot and of Pensée Grecque opening it though the integration of new notions such as the imagi- in the 5th century) the BCE divorce between – mu and- thosthen the(word transition and explanatory – that took narra place- world to harbor illusions of unlimit- ednary power: and the the emotional myth of a –promethean has led the tive)16 on the one hand, thus defined science that would provide us with - the keys to fully understand the universe while dominating nature. This withdraw into one’s self”) or “ges myth proves to be, more than ever tation” in order to prepare us for a in the history of mankind, a mere notions,new era he characterized associates those by of “a kind new- ness,feminization common of sensethe world.” and motherlyTo these clemency toward the other and to- Weber,vanity. Isn’twho “thewas announcing disenchantment the ward nature, thus creating the basis adventof the world”of an order prophesized reducing by every Max- of a viable universe. thing to the material, to the rational As for Pierre Rabhi, he also and to the technical, one of its most makes the connection between the depressing consequence? This evo- societal crisis we are going through lution took and still is taking place and the urgent necessity to reclaim at the expense of the Sacred and of feminine values as well as to give - again their rightful place to women, anNature, understanding which finds and themselves a wisdom dis of is necessary to bring this exaltation thequalified, relation, as well eminently as the expensefeminine, of ofthe the true masculine salt of the toearth: an end,“I believe mean it- more receptive and more aware of ing the will to power, aggressiveness what binds man to the universe, to and domination. I feel deeply hurt by his environment, to others and … to the universal subordination of wom- himself. An essential dimension that en. How many men would be able eco-spirituality now seeks to recap- to take care of themselves without ture. In this spirit, Michel Maffesoli those they deem inferior to them? (in Matrimonium) calls into ques- How many girls have no access to tion the image of the autonomous education and how many spouses man, the man of progress, the domi- are still oppressed and beaten up? I nating and controlling man and link am abashed by the fact that so many this man to the despise for the earth lives are born from this violent en- - counter between the masculine and raison sensible) against the feminine. The families, the so- athan morbid follows. rationalism, By calling forhe ais “sensoplead- cieties that result from it, can only rial reason” ( experience a deep imbalance. In Nature, the two sexes are indispen- ing in favor of an “ecosophy,” thus sable to the process of creation. And therevivifying postmodern the figure man ofcan Wisdom. retrieve A hisdisciple roots of by Gilbert taking Durant a renewed holds carethat An idea lies at the heart of the feminineeco-feminist possibly movement even more andso.” connects together the two forms of isin worth“Mother-Earth” mentioning as that “the he ground uses ex of- domination: that of men over wom- all experience of living together.” It en and that of human beings over pressions such as “invagination” (“to 17 nature. By introducing the question everyday experience of most of us, of women within environmental whatever our sex is, because it is not ethics, this movement aligns itself as a new form of altruism, but rather a universal form of care for others. - ed the highest position the concept of care from the context to the intelligence of the ofMoreover, medical itinstitutions is important and to to “extract trans- Our societies “have grant fer it into a more relational environ- masculine type, aiming at ment, into a human ecology in which results to the expense of we are all dependent on each other. the intelligence of the fem- In fact, care, as a medical proposition, introduces a form of inequal- inine type which looks for ity whereas in itself the act of taking care reintroduces a form of equality Lily Jattiot between all human beings. Cure and care split into two different paths as linkages and connections.” Gilles Raymond summarizes.5 - tion, care, responsibility, thoughtful- The rehabilitation of the world ness,well withmutual an care ethics3 of care – atten soul political, seeing itself as a warning to the masculine, which – more in this social world, and always favors economic successes at the expense of other aspects, of our worldOur connection and the emergence to “Mother of a such as dependency or generosity Earth” in the face of the devastation … Ecofeminism thus develops a new type of attention to environmental inrenewed the Encyclical attention Laudatoto our “common Si, pub- questions (connected to health and lishedhome” in comes 2015 backby Pope as aFrancis: leitmotiv in to vulnerability) and calls into ques- it, the Holy Father establishes a link tion an alleged autonomy of economics, with its tendency to obscure its double dependency toward the thebetween relationship “the ethical, to the Earth cultural and and to household and toward the earthly wisdomspiritual … crisis of the ofFeminine, modernity” since andthe 4 latter has always displayed the face If an ethics of care, consisting of the Sophia, with the mystery of environment.”in bringing a concrete answer to the Love attached to Her. It is thus that Goethe, in his Second Faust, was values, it should not remain howev- writing that the Eternal Feminine needser the only of others,moral concern reflects of feminine women, - neither should it be seen as their essence. Care should become the can“always accomplish attracts the us andsalvation lifts usof upthe ward, toward the Highest”, only She 18 world since She holds the keys of Indigenous Mothers, created by the enigma on which it is grounded. women-healer and women-shaman coming from the US, Nepal, Tibet, Central and South America, the Ar- “World-soul” which “ ordains and inmaintains most cultural, the nature spiritual of all and things” philo in- spread throughout the world the sophicalthe platonic traditions thought of – humanity, she is found as messagetic Circles, of andawakening Africa inof orderthe Great “to in India where she takes the shape Original Mothers according to the of the Atman, the universal soul of tradition of the North American Na- - tives: this earth that carries us and losopher Muhammad Taleb stresses nourishes is the sacred earth, our the world – about whom the phi awakening of consciousness will “the feminine dimension,6 Taleb especiallyadds that takemother” place According only through to them,the femi thein Ibn Arabi, who identifies Her with- nine through the transmission of the celestial Eve”. ancestral and spiritual customs such she is also our “innermost interiori ty”, the one that ”opens to us the side- role of these women, working for paths of the great universe.” peaceas traditional and healing, medicine. indispensable “Salutary” nowadays,The such emergence as groups of or “the circles Sa cred Feminine” adopts new forms More than ever has the throughout the world, betraying feminine a pivotal role to sometimesof women, the flourishing syncretic everywhere shortcom- play in the collective psy- ings of the New Age, are the sign of a mutation in our societies. These che, in the manner of a gatherings that for some of them - are related to the worship of Moth- vated world to come into er Goddesses, tracing their lineage being. before the rise of monotheistic reli- “midwife” helping a reno gions, by essence patriarchal as well matriarchy as such is a contempo- - raryas matrilineal fantasy — societiesare often –related because to “fire-break” in order to prevent the a criticism of capitalism, which in its focused“in flight as crash” it is only of our on society technology pos most savage forms destroys nature tosessed the point by hubris of neglecting – immoderation— the ethical, and dehumanizes. A sort of echo to social and human dimension which constitute it: a hubris dreaming of century will be to reintroduce the abolishing death in the name of the Malraux’s call – ” the task of the 21st new trans-humanist catechism. could have as its epicenter the In- - ternationalgods in man Council – which of among the 13 others Great l’homme augmenté) Are cloning and “the in creased man” ( 19 haunting our future? It has become ______urgent to unite the real and the eter- - NOTES sciousness to action! nal, theRationality flesh and (thelogos spiritual, in the sense con 1 C.G. Jung, The Red Book: Liber Novus, creating word) and spirituality (eros a Reader’s Edition, edited with an inof definition, proposition, science, troduction by Sonu Shamdasani, W. W. - terin theinto larger dialogue sense and or fertilize “incarnated each Norton & Company, p.227. [Note from other.participation to things”) should en the translator] indivi- A return to the fundamen- dum tals of the soul is needed in order to 2 isIndividuation a concept that– from we theowe Latin to Jung. It provide her with a support, in order designs, “that the whichpath of cannot growing be divided”through for her to accomplish herself in all 3 Care is used in the original French text the dimensions and places where which an “individual” becomes one. - because as Florence Quentin remarks tion, prayer, the exercise of the body, she expresses herself – art, medita- “care in the French language does not ing places where the hidden face of have a precise translation.” [Note from 7 4 According the philosopher and femi- beauty in general. So many “welcom the translator] More than ever has the femi- ninethe divine a pivotal reveals role itself.” to play in the col- the woman as mother implies the care nist Elizabeth Badinter, the figure of lective psyche, in the manner of a - come a trap. of the weakest; for her, ”care” may be to come into being. “midwife” helping a renovated world care? Souci des autres, sensibilité, 5 Gilles Raymond, “Qu’est-ce que le with man and the feminine with Molinier, Sandra Laugier and Patricia “By confusing the masculine woman, ours simplistic world muti- Paperman,responsabilité”, Sociétés directed et jeunesses by Pascale en dif- ficulté, hors-serie, 2010, URL: http:// restore to their full place the values sejed.revues.org/6658 andlates wisdom both” concludes of the feminine, Lily Jattiot. to "Tore- nafs al-kulliyya) de - 6 in“L’âme Eloges universelle de l’Ame du ( Monde, conversa- discover play and joy without rea lations philosophie with Nathalie visionnaire Calme, islamique”Entrelacs, son, may help us to find the way out 2015. of the dead-end.” 7 Michel Cazeneuve, in Eloges de l’Ame du Monde, Entrelacs, 2015.

20 Faire de la place en soi pour l'autre: L'ouverture au féminin, une nécessité pour les religions du monde. Eric Vinson

In this article, Eric Vinson revisits the symbolism of the Feminine, drawing from the teaching of the great spiritual traditions of the world and proposing a new definition of the feminine as “the capacity to make room in oneself for the other”. (Editor)

Comment oser parler du - « féminin » aujourd’hui ? proche que les leurs de la question deset en sexes/genres. disqualifiant A toutecommencer autre par ap Parler du « féminin » est fort celle qui caractérise les principales - religions et qui relève fondamen- erne, notamment universitaire. Y talement de la logique symbolique, tenantdifficile le dans haut ledu mondepavé, l’école post-mod de la - déconstruction, les gender studies, stituent (souvent implicitement) des la Queer archétypesoù le féminin structurants. – et le masculin – con principe une telle idée, en agitant contre elle theory le soupçon rejettent rédhibitoire en effet par d’« essentialisation » (peu ou prou existe troisA côté autres de cette obérant difficulté, actuelle en- complice de l’ordre sexiste en place) quelque sorte conjoncturelle, il en

ment toute réflexion sur le religieux21 et le féminin. La première est liée à la diversité des religions en la mat- parler du féminin sans évoquer le masculin,ière ; la seconde et réciproquement, à l’impossibilité car de les deux notions sont intrinsèque- ment liées et (cor-)relatives, comme le sont « chaud/froid », « droite/ - - triquegauche dans », etc. la Dernière plupart desdifficulté, cultures/ en religionsfin : ce couple du monde. notionnel Et ceest du dissymé fait de leur commune infériorisation1 du féminin à l’égard du masculin, qui fait de la domination virile et de ses corollaires (misogynie, phallocratie...) un fait pratiquement universel. - té tardive cherche à rompre avec ce millénaireDu moins jusqu’à ordre desce que choses. la moderni Exam- iner la question du féminin dans les religions est donc impossible sans interroger cette hiérarchie/inégalité structurelle. Pour autant, « Le » masculin et « Le » féminin n’y sont pas traditions qui exaltent le féminin à façon. Ce qui bien sûr affaiblit tout toujours caractérisés de la même attribuées en Occident au masculin voire à l’universalité, dans son effort partir des idées/valeursPrakrti justement du Sâm- pourdiscours déterminer prétendant ce qu’il à l’objectivité, faut enten- khya, à la Shakti du tantrisme, toutes dre par l’un et l’autre de ces termes. ;deux qu’on « actives pense », à « la mobiles », « puis- dans les religions/cultures mono- le premier rôle dans la religiosité théistes,Deux le masculin exemples est globalement suffiront : santes » (la seconde prenant même connoté par les idées d’activité, de puissance, de mobilité, d’extériorité, (desYin dévots) reçoit de «quelques La Déesse détermina »). Et dans- - letions taoï�sme comparables chinois, sià lecelles « féminin mises » tions inverses et/ou complémen- en avant par l’approche monothé- tairesdureté... : passivité, ; et le féminin faiblesse, par lesimmo no- iste du féminin (l’intériorité, en bilité, intériorité, douceur … Or, on particulier), ces dernières y sont trouve dans l’hindouisme certaines parfois interprétées/valorisées de Yin (sombre, hu- 22 façon opposée ; le mide, mou, lent…) étant dans ce cas monde ». A savoir la différence ob- présenté comme plus « fort » que le - Yang masculin (lumineux, sec, dur, ganiquement constituée et em- - jective entre les deux sexes – or chétype symbolique du Yin de reproduction sexuée. En effet, àrapide…), long terme de par même triompher que l’eau de –tout ar faut-ilpiriquement le rappeler évidente : l’individu – en matièrehumain rocher, en l’érodant. Sachant, –en finitou- de sexe féminin procrée son petit à tre, que c’est la complémentarité l’intérieur de son propre organisme, harmonieuse et l’équilibre non-hié- alors que l’individu humain de sexe rarchique du Yin et du Yang qui sont masculin le fait, lui, à l’extérieur de - - humains, seule celle-ci (la femme) entale.fondamentalement Ce qui nous conduit,affirmés/recher au vu de seson reproduit corps. Du en mâle faisant et placede la femelleen elle- lachés condition par cette féminine tradition en extrême-ori Chine2 pendant de nombreux siècles, à ne pas mésestimer la distance potentielle- simême ce n’est à sa progéniture,son rapport duau moinsmonde le3 ment à l’œuvre entre les représenta- temps de la gestation ; et son corps, tions, notamment socio-religieuses, - et les pratiques socio-politiques ef- cueilsont configuréspotentiel –pendant au moins neuf pour mois une fectives. A tenir compte, en un mot, part – par ce trait spécifique : ac de l’écart entre les discours et images représentant « le féminin », desdu bébé cas) à duna î�tre,géniteur et accueil de cepréalable derni- - (du moins dans l’immense majorité tion effective des femmes au quoti- « le féminin » comme la capacité à dien,d’une danspart ;la et sociétéd’autre enpart, général, la condi et faireer. C’est de la pourquoi place en soi nous pour définirons l’autre4. dans le champ religieux en particu- Comme le pouvoir non seulement de lier, puisque un panthéon mettant à - - sède aussi, en tant que fécondateur), ures féminines ne garantit (presque) maisdonner celui la vie de (le porter mâle lahumain vie, au le senspos l’honneur le féminin et/ou des fig d’accueillir une autre vie5 au plus in- femmes dans la société considérée. time de la sienne propre. Un pouvoir rien au sujet de la place concrète des Une caractéristique incontestable possibilité, et qui n’a pas forcément du « féminin » vocationspécifique à quise concrétiserconstitue bien pour sûr tous une les individus de sexe féminin. pensons qu’un caractère incontest- L’irréductible uni-dualité du able duMalgré « féminin ces difficultés,» peut malgré nous genre humain - struire la question « du masculin ettout du être féminin retenu, dans et les utilisé religions pour indu yeux : celle du caractère paradoxal Deuxième idée clé à nos 23 de la différence des sexes/genres, vers cette « uni-dualité » genrée/ que l’on peut exprimer cursivement sexuée. Contradictoires, ces deux comme suit. Il n’y a rien de plus diffé- propositions sont simultanément rent d’un homme qu’une femme, en vraies, et nous mettent en présence tant qu’ils sont de genres/sexes dif- de l’ambivalence fondamentale qui - caractérise le genre humain (et sans blable à un homme qu’une femme, doute, toute réalité). En présence enférents tant ; etqu’ils il n’y sont a rien tous de plusdeux sem des du mystère de l’inséparabilité/com- plémentarité des opposés, dont les - tensions entre « le masculin » et « le humains ; ou plutôt, que l’humanité existe24 – et existe seulement – à tra enne (y compris psycho-corporelle, qu’entre le singulier et l’universel, cf. le symbole du cœur, lieu de cette constituentféminin » dans des marques l’humain, éclatantes. de même rencontre), la domination masculine et l’infériorisation du féminin à homme ou femme, soit le fruit de l’œuvre dans la plupart des religions l’unionLe fait d’un que père chaque et d’une être mère humain, en n’ont-elles pas quelque rapport avec témoigne assez. Sous le rapport des un certain déséquilibre spirituel de ces dernières ? Et leur potentielle re- vocation à s’unir, et à engendrer le découverte du féminin, comme celle sexes, le même et l’autre ont ainsi du spirituel, ne reviennent-elles pas et ainsi de suite. Chaque personne humainemême de portant l’un, et de l’autre ce fait de en l’autre, elle- - brerà une les seule relations et même entre dynamique miséricorde ? A la trace de la différence/complé- etune rigueur, même entreopportunité mystique de rééquiliet légal- mentaritémême, à la propredes sexes/genres. racine de son Plus être, : isme, entre symbolisme et ration- chacun(e) portant dans son corps alité conceptuelle, entre ésotérisme et son psychisme, pour une part, l’autre genre/sexe. - et exotérisme ? A une même chance Faire de la place en soi pour aspectsde mieux « fémininsconnaî�tre » 6le aussiPrincipe bien spir que l’autre : une quadruple nécessité ituel suprême, en étant attentif à ses pour les religions nous et hors de nous ? Sans oublier que« masculins les uns et », les et autres à leurs sont reflets (seule en- C’est donc à la lumière de ce ment) des symboles, impropres à mystère de « l’uni-diversité » hu- cerner adéquatement la Réalité di- maine et de l’ouverture intime à l’autre proprement féminine, aupar- humains limités (c’est-à-dire, en avant évoquée, que nous traiterons l’occurrence,vine, mais indispensables sexués/genrés) aux êtrespour - rentrer en relation avec Elle. Prenons tre axes interdépendants suivants. un exemple de cette dialectique du « notre question ; et ce selon les qua féminin » et du « masculin » dans la a) faire de la place au spirituel - Tout d’abord, un axe spirituel, ituel qui tourne sa conscience vers c’est-à-dire métaphysique, renvoy- vie spirituelle : l’être humain spir- ant à l’économie interne de chacune théistes, le Soi pour les hindous, le des religions. Taoson ou Principe le Ciel pour (Dieu les pour Chinois, les monol’Eveil ou la nature de Bouddha pour les comme la capacité à faire place à bouddhistes, le Grand Esprit pour Si l’on définit la spiritualité les Amérindiens, etc.) se trouve en quelque sorte « féminin » par rap- plusl’Autre intime (au de Divin) son existence dans sa quotidi propre- port à cet Autre, dans la mesure où vie ; à se relier à l’Absolu, à l’Infini au 25 - monisme, au dualisme et au rela- formerle fidèle par accueille elle. passivementSimultanément, Son tivismeet manichéennes par une approche ; à échapper ternaire, au l’orantinfluence ou etle seméditant laisse pénétrer, se trouve trans actif, qualitative, relationniste. A passer c’est-à-dire en quelque sorte « mas- de la logique du tiers exclu à celle culin », par rapport à l’ensemble de du tiers inclus, en faisant place à la manifestation universelle, dans la l’autre de la science et de la raison mesure où sa focalisation spirituelle (à savoir la sensibilité et le poé- tique, par exemple) dans la science de cette manifestation. Mais que se passe-t-ille configure quand justement un tel au équilibre, Principe rendre plus fortes et véridiques. Le une telle « respiration » entre le et la raison elles-mêmes, pour les englobante, plus complète, relevant féminin se trouvent perturbés pour d’unetout au « profitpensée d’une complexe synthèse », d’une plus unefini etraison l’infini, ou entre une autrele masculin ? Une etdis le- épistémologie et d’une anthropolo- harmonie qualitative aux multiples gie « complémentaristes »7 conséquences néfastes, qui appelle cas de l’étude du fait religieux, cela - implique par exemple de combiner. Dans le ment entre le masculin et le féminin. justement un ré-équilibrage, notam des différentes théologies et écoles b) faire de la place à la complexité et relevantles points de de la vues religion internes considérée – ceux sortir du manichéisme La perspective d’un tel ré- autres religions, mais aussi des dif- équilibrage nous conduit à notre férentes– et les regardsdisciplines externes académiques (ceux des et second axe, qu’on pourrait dire des philosophies non-religieuses) épistémologique, gnoséologique, méthodologique, ou encore globale- d’angles d’approche permettant de ment philosophique, au sens de à chaque confession ; cette variété- relatif à la connaissance et à la comment de la réalité étudiée. préhension de la réalité. Regarder mieux rendre compte scientifique en face et interroger l’inégalité tra- c) faire de la place à la diversité reli- ditionnelle des sexes/genres permet gieuse et convictionnelle en effet d’envisager un autre rap- Cet exemple nous conduit port possible au monde, valorisant cette fois la complémentarité dans que l’on pourrait dire éthique et la différence : l’unité dans la dualité, dialogique.à notre troisième A la fois axe intra- de réflexion,et inter- autrement dit, ce que l’Occident ap- religieux, il renvoie à l’économie des rapports entre les différentes reli- et l’Orient la « non-dualité ». Ce qui gions, et au sein de celles-ci, entre revientpelle la à« sortircoï�ncidence des a priori des opposés dichoto »- miques, des approches univoques les différents courants, sensibilités, la majorité et les minorités (entre 26 écoles…). Pour les religions, faire place au féminin revient ainsi à - renoncer à l’exclusivisme et au sen- de même que les amants ne sont timent de sa propre supériorité pour oùjamais ils s’unissent, autant homme en goûtant et femme à la foisre faire place en soi à l’autre conviction spectivement qu’au moment même comme à l’autre croyant, proche ou genrés, à leur unité d’espèce et à la féconditéà leur singularité que cette d’êtresunion des sexués/ com- rapproche les uns et les autres sans plémentaires peut impliquer. Ce qui lointain ; à reconnaî�tre tout ce qui conforte le caractère heuristique de plus, à authentiquement valoriser l’analogie entre différence sexuelle lanier diversité ce qui les religieuse distingue interne ; à accepter, et ex- et différence religieuse/culturelle, terne. A accueillir les richesses, les eu égard à l’universel humain con- questions venues d’ailleurs, et sur- cret (autrement dit, enraciné, singu- tout les frères et sœurs autrement croyants (ou non-croyants), par chrétien ou musulman ou hindou ou une nouvelle hospitalité, synonyme bouddhistelarisé). En effet, ou agnostique,c’est en étant etc. juif que ou d’une nouvelle fécondité mutuelle. - et notre humanité commune à tous, tre et à (re-)valoriser l’apport spéci- quije manifeste ne va pas mon sans humanité ces singularités propre, Ce qui revient, notamment, à connaî-� tion considérée, que cet apport soit effectiffique des ou femmes potentiel. dans Une chaque telle évolu tradi- monconcrètes. appartenance Et ce de laà mêmel’humanité façon tion passe bien sûr par la non-vio- (planqu’en parlant,de l’universel) je manifeste et à àtelle la foisou lence, le dialogue et le « faire ensem- telle communauté linguistique par- ble », qui procède de la célébration - son Pèlerinage aux sources,8 Lanza rences) et de leur dépassement (Auf- ticulièredel Vasto (plana l’intuition du singulier). de ce que Dansnous hebungconjointe) dans des l’universelsingularités humain, (les diffé re- voulons dire : « L’Occidental qui n’a principielle. Cela va sans dire, cette hospitalitéflet de l’unité « fémininecosmique » et n’implique de l’unité jamais quitté l’Occident ressemble à pas de devenir ou d’absorber l’autre un garçon qui n’est jamais sorti du croyant, ce qui serait une dynamique l’enfance,collège et rentrequi n’a dansjamais sa connufamille que et de fusion et de confusion, faisant dansdes garçons. le monde, Enfin et la femme il se réveille lui est ré de- conduisant à son auto-destruction. ordre qui nous attend aux Indes. Biendispara auî �trecontraire, les pôles par de la relationrencontre et Nousvélée. yC’est trouvons une expérience une humanité du même sem- la plus intime, une telle hospitalité blable à la nôtre autant qu’opposée : conforte chacun dans son identité oui, quelque chose comme un autre propre comme dans son ouverture sexe. » et son élan vers le nouveau, partagé ; 27 la question de la place des femmes,

non seulement dans l’ordre reli- et des injustices qui leur sont faites, l’ordre socio-politique au sens large (économique,gieux lui-même, culturel, mais etc.). aussi Et dansc’est

matière,demander non aux simplement femmes – de et façon tenir théoriquecompte – demais leurs aussi avis pratique, à elles enpour la engager un changement collectif ef- fectif quant à la question du rapport des genres/sexes. Par ailleurs, assumer et ques- tionner le déséquilibre marquant historiquement les rapports masculin/féminin dans la plupart des civilisations, c’est interroger à nou- veaux frais la problématique égali-

que la modernité se caractérise d) faire de la place aux femmes, dans parté/hiérarchie une « irrésistible elle-même. » poussée Sachant une logique de complémentarité vers « l’égalisation des conditions », et non de rivalité, en affrontant la reconnue par Tocqueville comme question hiérarchique, au cœur de le ressort essentiel de la démocra- la tension entre les religions et la tie en tant que fait anthropologique postmodernité - Socio-politique et culturel, blent (par nature ?) s’organiser aut- ourmajeur d’un ; alorsprincipe que hiérarchique, les religions semdont l’économie des rapports entre les religionsnotre dernier et leur axe contexte renvoie enfinactuel à postmoderne (leurs organisation et unetémoigne meilleure l’étymologie parité dans même le devécu ce positionnements ad intra et ad extra etterme. le fonctionnement Dans ces conditions, institutionnel viser étant bien sûr interdépendants). Faire de la place en soi pour avec ce modèle hiérarchique tradi- l’autre, c’est bien sûr avant tout tionneldes religions ? Et implique-t-ilquelles conséquences d’en finir faire de la place au féminin, et aux tirer d’une réponse positive ou né- femmes en chair et en os, au sein des gative à cette interrogation, sachant religions, de leurs institutions et hié- rarchies, de leurs démarches exégé- tiques et rituelles, etc. C’est se poser adversairesque le « sexisme post-modernes » – réel ou supposé (domi- – reproché aux religions par leurs 28 nants en Occident et dans la plupart des institutions internationales) les paniques morales et identitaires constitue l’un des principaux et plus violences et conflits divers ainsi que les religions du monde s’énonce ain- pas seulement de manière rhéto- siafférentes, : résister le aux principal poussées enjeu post-hu pour- riqueefficaces ? Pour arguments le dire autrement, contre elles, une et meilleure (au sens de « plus égali- plus. Or l’un des principaux verrous taire », plus « complémentariste ») anthropologiquesmanistes qui s’affirment que ces de dernières plus en appréciation de la différence des s’attachent à faire sauter est bien sûr la différence de sexes/genres, différence qualitative par excellence, endiguer…sexes/genres Les para religionsî�t une peuvent- lame de et ses implications quant à la repro- ellesfond s’y civilisationnelle adapter sans fortse dénaturer, difficile à duction (véritablement) humaine... c’est-à-dire à partir de leurs propres ressources traditionnelles, de leur profondeur par le féminisme, défen- propre logique symbolique (pour dreDans cette le contexte différence actuel, comme travaillé l’un des en une part hiérarchique) et répertoire marqueurs clés de l’humanité elle- scripturaire ? Sont-elles en mesure d’échapper à l’antique hiérarchisa- tion du masculin et du féminin, à la etmême la domination n’est possible masculine. qu’à condition Recon- séculaire domination des femmes de la désidentifier avec le machisme par les hommes, sans se dissoudre fondamentale de la nature humaine dans une globalisation hostile à toute estnaî �treainsi et apprécierinséparable la dualitéd’une sexuéerécon- différenciation héritée et à toute hié- ciliation avec celle-ci, en l’Homme, rarchisation qualitative ? Autant de mais aussi avec l’idée de nature questions épineuses, que nous ne hors de lui. En cela, l’ouverture des pouvons que poser pour l’instant. religions au féminin ne va pas sans une certaine prise de conscience Faire place au féminin pour re- écologique, au sens d’une écologie trouver l’équilibre cosmo-socio- globale et intégrale. Une écologie hu- théandrique, ou l’urgence d’une écologie intégrale humanisme intégral, qui reconnecte l’alliancemaine elle-même non-dualiste inséparable des sexes d’un humains et l’alliance de cet Homme- du « règne de la quantité » et de couple primordial avec son Principe l’indifférenciation-uniformisationDans le contexte actuel spirituel (cf. l’analogie universelle matérialiste qu’il implique, avec entre le couple hétérosexuel et le la crise anthropologique et civilisationnelle globale (à la fois envi- - ronnementale, économique, intel- coupleple humain humain/Divin). primordial, Uneintrinsèque écologie- lectuelle, géopolitique, etc.), les menthumaine relationnel, qui reconna la véritableî�t dans ceimage cou9 29 de ce Principe. sciemment ou non) « dans l’autre sens » les déséquilibres machistes Féminisme et souci du féminin pour corriger ces derniers serait (authentique) contre-productif, pour ne pas dire absurde, notamment par les raid- En tant que problématique issements qu’un tel excès provoque- globale, pour une part métaphy- rait à l’encontre des femmes chez sique, la question du féminin dé- certains hommes, et certaines tra- passe ainsi de beaucoup celle de la ditions ou cultures se sentant à tort ou à raison menacés par un tel pro- cessus. Inverser les déséquilibres et visible,seule condition l’un des féminine,plus urgents même mais si les stéréotypes, mimer ou, pire, cari- aussicet aspect sans dudoute sujet l’un est des certes moins le plus dif- caturer l’autre sexe pour rivaliser veuille vraiment. Prenons un ex- - empleficiles àtrivial régler, mais pour parlant peu qu’on: tendre le tionavec facelui –aux ou problèmes ce qu’on s’imagine qui nous ocde- vers une réelle égalité salariale en- lui – n’est vraiment pas une solu- tre hommes et femmes n’est pas confortable au monde est l’une des rien … mais demeure bien peu par missionscupent ; etprivilégiées rappeler cette des traditionsvérité in rapport au souci de ré-équiliber la religieuses dans le contexte actuel, civilisation postmoderne sous les ces dernières ayant de ce point de rapports que nous avons soulignés. vue (de par leur « expertise en mat- Cette distinction entre « féminisme » ière d’humanité ») des ressources et « souci du féminin » conduit à la remarque suivante : une civilisa- au débat planétaire. En cela, les re- tion ou une religion faisant plus de spécifiques irremplaçables à verser place aux femmes n’en feront pas global, pour éviter que l’inévitable plus au féminin si, pour accéder à ligions sont requises par cet enjeu- la reconnaissance et au pouvoir, les sance du féminin ne revienne à un femmes doivent se « viriliser » et/ – et nécessaire – remontée en puis ou les hommes se « féminiser » de contradictoires, montant inévita- - déchaî�nement de la dialectique des- duisant immanquablement à un ac- desfaçon femmes forcée, se superficielle, fait au détriment volonta des croissementblement aux deextrêmes la violence ; le tout et de con la hommesriste, artificielle… et celle du Ou féminin si la promotion au détri- confusion générale, universellement ment du masculin, dans une logique nuisibles. Oui, le rééquilibrage global (pas seulement religieux) entre mas- entre les genres, « guerre des sexes » culin et féminin ne doit pas se faire sansde rivalité issue et et de mutuellementconcurrence sans désa fin- au détriment du masculin, mais bien vantageuse pour les unes comme à l’avantage des deux polarités, dans pour les autres. Reproduire (con- une logique de vraie complémen- 30 31 - de toute façon sommées par les temps actuels (et futurs) d’échapper ettarité l’autre différenciante ne sont que et l’ombre unifiante d’eux- mu à une phallocratie séculaire, contrai- tuellement bénéfique. Parce que l’un re à leur authentique génie et inten- bien ou se coupe de son partenaire. - Parcemêmes que si l’un et ou l’autre l’autre ne ne peuvent va pas modèleable à moyen humain terme. individuel De quoi et cherch collec- se bien porter qu’ensemble, en se tif,er etcombinant un jour modernité proposer un et tradition nouveau nourrissantêtre véritablement et se renforçant eux-mêmes l’un et - l’autre, dans une complémentarité culerait différence et inégalité, égal- qualitative semblable à celle du Yin ; une nouvelle synthèse qui désarti - seulement comme cela que l’on évit- laritéité et uniformité,et complémentarité... pour conjuguer Entre lesau eraet duque Yang le féminin selon le authentique taoï�sme. C’est (à contraire spécificité et égalité, singu savoir : offrir activement sa capac- relativisme, de l’exclusivisme et du ité d’accueil) ne se mutile en copi- confusionnisme,excès jumeaux du du dogmatisme hiérarchisme et duet ant un masculin caricatural, et que de l’égalitarisme, d’un sexisme mas- le masculin véritable (à savoir : se culiniste ou féministe s’ouvre ainsi lancer comme capacité de don) ne une perspective relationniste, para- se déforme en féminin contrefait. Seulement comme cela que l’on se gardera en la matière des multiples dudoxale, milieu se ettenant d’une sur nouvelle le fil du alliance, rasoir « pathologies » post-modernes, in- centréeentre les sur extrêmes. la relation Celle et led’une dépasse voie- dividuelles et collectives, par nature ment des oppositions stériles en vue hostiles aux traditions religieuses : d’une fécondité partagée. troubles socio-psychiques, parodies, contrefaçons, inversions, radicalisa- tions, etc. Elle était béante : par lui, elle est com- blée Conclusion : promouvoir la com- plémentarité, ou l’apport irrem- Il était trop-plein : par elle, il se vide et plaçable des religions s’ouvre

Photo courtesy of Alexi Liotti Ensemble, ils ne font plus qu’Un Et de l’Un naissent les dix-mille choses. Dans une meilleure évaluation commedu féminin de ses – en rapports tant que avec capacité le mas à- culinfaire deet dela place leur complémentaritéen soi pour l’autre in –- trinsèque, s’ouvre l’opportunité d’un nouveau rapport au monde et d’une

nouvelle32 jeunesse pour les religions, ______n’est- « Il » pas aussi « Mère » ? Ou bien

NOTES serait-ce là une qualification adaptée à 7 C’est-à-dire, ici, une pensée atten- la spécificité de l’Esprit Saint ? tive aux complémentarités plus 1 Infériorisation où il faudrait distingu- qu’aux oppositions, Cf. Les travaux er ce qui relève du religieux en tant que tel, ou de logiques « profanes », psychanalyste franco-hongrois qui de George Devereux, ethnologue et d’abord socio-politiques, culturelles et passe souvent pour le fondateur de psychologiques. l’ethnopsychiatrie. 2 Une telle distance entre les représen- tations et les relations réelles des 118. 8 Paris : Denoël, (1943) 1962. 407 p., p. sexes/genres vaut bien sûr pour la 9 Car, comme le dit le premier récit de plupart des contextes civilisationnels, création de l’Homme dans la Genèse pas seulement pour l’ex-empire du Mi- - lieu. (1, 27) : « Dieu créa l’Homme à son im autrementage; c’est à l’imagedit, l’humanité, de Dieu qu’il c’est le créa.bien Mâle et femelle furent créés à la fois » ; 3 cycleCf. en menstruel, particulier d’une l’impact grossesse – physique, éven- - tuellepsychologique, (à commencer socio-culturel… par le risque – dude mains, et c’est bien ce couple qui con- l’union du mâle et de la femelle hu mourir en couches, si déterminant, à l’échelle historique) et de l’allaitement seul. Certes, le deuxième récit biblique stitue l’image du Créateur, non le mâle des bébés. de création de l’Homme (Gn 2, 18-25) est nettement plus ambigu du point 4 Cette idée provient d’une interview de de vue qui nous occupe (femme créée non seulement après l’homme, mais rabbin en France) par Vincent Remy, surtout après les animaux, comme Télérama.fr.Delphine Horvilleur 26/07/2014 (troisième http://www. femme « une aide » (Gn 2, 18) pour Adam, et à telerama.fr/idees/le-rabbin-delphine- horvilleur-le-judaisme-liberal-est-mi- noritaire-en-france,115169.php. Voir eupartir égard d’une à l’égalité « côte homme/femme...).» de ce dernier ; ce qui peut être interprété diversement Emmanuelle Gilloots. Gestalt 2015/1 (n°aussi 46) “De Société la place française en soi pour de l’autre”.Gestalt (S.F.G.) ed. 5 Nous parlons de la vie de l’enfant à

oublier que ce dernier peut se faire placenaî�tre, dans bien sa sûr mère ; mais seulement l’on ne doit dans pas la mesure où son père y a été aussi, pré- alablement, « accueilli » pour une part.

« Père » la première Personne de la 6 En contexte chrétien, l’on qualifie de

Trinité ; mais, absolument illimité, 33 34 The Celestial Virgin

Franklin Merrell-Wolff

Traditional woman has been they deserve. That essence the outer the custodian of pleasure, and the embodiment of which is woman in dis-pensing of pleasure has been a a peculiar sense constitutes a need large part of her glory and power. Too of this world today that is especially often, in these later days, woman- poignant. There is too great an over- kind has been disposed to discredit balance of harsh willfulness abroad her own natural glories and powers in the world. Consequently, there by becoming an imitator of man. This is a need for the counter-balancing is really giving to man-power and forces, and these woman, alone, is man-function a greater tribute than really competent to exercise. Among ______Excerpt from Franklin Merrell-Wolff, Pathways Through To Space, Julian Press, 1973, pp.46-7. 35 these essentially feminine quali- Light of Consciousness remains void ties the following stand out: Beauty, of self-consciousness. Since self-con- Mercy, Tenderness, Charm, Ecstasy, sciousness is the one great achieved preservation of proven values, etc. value, it is easy to see how vitally im- It is a grave mistake to regard these portant the Shakti principle is. powers as inferior to the Creative In Her highest aspect, Wom- an is the Celestial Virgin, and this is of the Unknown, and the Judgment none other than the Current of Bliss. thatWill, peculiarly the Will to mark Power, the themasculine Daring The Current is a Virgin, because of principle. The latter powers are un- the quality of ever-becoming-new. questionably indispensable both Though impregnated by the Fire of Wisdom, yet She remains a Virgin Penetration, but by themselves they because She is ever-changing within arein theunbalanced world-field and andcan foreasily Inward drop Her own Self-identity. The union of from a constructive to a destructive Wisdom and the Virgin gives birth level. The isolated masculine princi- to the Christ, and this is the real Im- ple cannot check this tendency and, maculate Conception. This union is so, right here is where the feminine the untellable Joy of which all lesser quality is grievously needed. The ecstasies are but faint shadows. So, deep and lasting Joy is the true sign as the mas-culine, although they of the genuine and noble religiosity. functionfeminine in powers a more are subtle just asway. strong We Austere gloom in the name of reli- - gion is a sacrilege and sign of fail- ly appreciate the ancient and natural ure. Only false religion is dreary. The femininegreatly need powers more and women arts. who just Holy is Free and Joyful. Man is Siva, the formless Shakti, the Current which opposes and embodies the Light;Light. womanWithout is embodiment, the

36 Feminism, Muslim Theology and Religious Pluralism

Interview with Nayla Tabbara and Jerusha Lamptey

Renaud Fabbri: Since at least the Is- in world affairs in general and in the lamic Revolution in Iran and other relation between Islam and the West- more recent political developments ern world in particular. Rightly or in the Sunni world, the question of the wrongly, there is also a growing per- status of women has become a cen- ception that the situation of women tral and increasingly polarizing topic has worsened rather than improved

______Jerusha T. Lamptey is Assistant Professor of Islam and Minis- try and Advisor for the Islam, Social Justice and Interreligious Engage- ment Program at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Nayla Tabbara is Vice Chairperson of Adyan Foundation, a Lebanese foundation for Interreligious Studies and Spiritual Solidarity (www.adyanvillage.net the Adyan Institute. ) and Director of 37 in the Muslim world over the last by various Islamic groups in order decades, at least in some countries. to highlight perceived fundamen- Would you agree with this assessment and if so, why has it been so and why has the status of women become situationstal distinctions women between have “Islambeen used and such a contentious issue? asthe propaganda, West”. I would and argue that thatconcern in both for women is not always the primary Jerusha T. Lamptey: To begin, I would concern. Finally, I would say that if say that the question of the status of women are suffering, if women do women extends back much further not have equal rights, and if women than the Islamic Revolution in Iran. need support, then it is a real issue. Speaking only of Islamic contexts and traditions, we see questions certain Muslim groups exploit the about women, their status and roles topicThe fact of womenthat certain for their“Western” purposes and discussed in the Qur’an and ahadith. does not negate the fact that there are real issues and lives at stake. there is also a longer history that is evidentIn relation in multiple to the “Western”discourses, world, espe- Nayla Tabbara: It is true that since cially in the genre of writing known the 1980s there are two movements as traveler’s accounts and in artistic on the Islamic scene: one movement representations of Muslims, Muslim

Kahf has written a book that traces “on women”, and one movement somesettings, of andthese Muslim various women. and Mohjalong- the“from emergence women”. and proliferation of standing representations. In relation IslamistBy movements extremist “on women”movements, I mean of to the last few decades, the rise and Islamist rule (whether of Sunni or spread of rigid and conservative ide- Shi’i) and Islamist legiferation that is ologies and Islamic interpretations against the other, the other without is certainly a concern in relation to being the person from a different re- women. This does not mean that the ligion or sect, and the other within, situation of every individual Muslim mainly women. woman has worsened, but it does Yet in parallel, since the 1980s Is- mean that in many contexts women lamic feminism has been expand- do not have the same legal status and ing, and this is what I call the move- rights as men. This impacts the physical, economic, marital, educational not only been demanding rights and and even spiritual opportunities of changingment “from rules women”. and laws Women and havepar- women. In terms of it being a con- ticipating more in public life, which tentious issue, it is also true that the they have been doing in Muslim ma- topic of women has been utilized by of the 20th century, but they have jority countries since the beginning various38 “Western” contingents AND achieved since the 1980s big steps in (re)gaining their place in the re- from a general concern for women’s ligious sphere. Women have fought wellat different being to junctures. particular Thesecolonial range for- their back into the mosque to pray, mulations of universal feminism to as they had been over history moved third world feminisms. away from it and in some cases pro- hibited access to the mosque. They Nayla Tabbara: In a nutshell, the have changed religious laws in many feminist discourse in the Middle countries regarding personal status, East was not Islamic nor Christian and have in some cases breached the nor Jew nor other, it was a feminist taboo of women being at the pulpit movement that started at the be- as an imam giving a Friday or Eid ginning of the 20th century and re- sermon. Finally they have regained sponded to the needs of women from their place in Islamic studies, not the different religious backgrounds only in transmitting traditional stud- to break the limitations that were by ies but in producing new Islamic law imposed on them and demand thought, new theories in the study of their rights in participation in politi- Qur’an, and new theologies. cal life. Religious feminism came at a later Feminism(s) and Muslima Theol- stage. Some argue that the feminist ogy movement worldwide was becoming too a-religious, if not anti-reli- Renaud Fabbri: Could you give us an gious, and some believing women overview of the emergence and evolu- wanted to combine their feminist tion of the Feminist discourse in the positions with their religious beliefs. Middle- East and the Muslim World? This led to the development of Chris- tian feminism, and Muslim feminism Jerusha T. Lamptey: There are many as of the 1980s. This faith-based good books written on the topic by feminism stems from within the re- specialists in these areas, including ligion to effect change in it regarding those written by Margot Badran, women. One important note is that Leila Ahmed, and Lila Abu-Lughod. the feminist movement in the Mid- I would direct you to these and oth- dle East and the faith-based feminist er sources, which provide detailed movements have also had men that analyses of particular contexts. One championed them since the begin- comment I will add is that feminist ning of the 20th century, including Muslim religious leaders. are many formulations of feminism. Therefore,discourse is in not looking a single at entity;this history there Renaud Fabbri: For most Western you see multiple strands of discourse secular feminists, religion is the root- stemming from different sources cause of the historical alienation of 39 women and the origin of patriarchal values. Why and how do you see the our interpretation of religious texts role of Islam as potentially more posi- andmake we of either it. Our rigidify culture interpretation influences tive in terms of women’s identity and and sanctify it so that no one dares women’s lives? to change it, or we are allow interpretation to evolve according to the Jerusha T. Lamptey: Religion certainly has been a cause of historical and contemporary alienation for women and a zone of patriarchal values. This is true. What is not true is that this is all religion has been, has to be, or can be. Religions all have the potential to be egalitarian and the potential to be patriarchal. Islam is no different. There are aspects of the tradition, for example tafsir and law, that are dominated by patriarchal and androcentric assumptions. Can this be different? Of course, but it will take a lot of challenging self- worldwide Muslim community.reflection And there on behalf are aspects of the of Islamic sources and tradition that are phenomenology will need to be prioritized. Photo courtesy of Patrick Ringgenberg egalitarian and just. These traditions, I do not believe that they core values of both our faith and our areWhile necessarily I find great or beautyinherently in Islamic more time. One of the root causes of patri- positive than other traditions—in- archalism and of extremism is thus, cluding other secular worldviews— according to me, the rigidifying of when it comes to women’s identity medieval interpretations. Therefore, and women’s lives. to promote human rights, women’s rights, religious freedom, and other Nayla Tabbara: Religion is what we of our most important causes today, 40 I believe that we need to go back to odology, and if we base ourselves on - the end note of the verses concern- terpretations of the Qur’an ing women in terms of advancement expressionthe text and from “un-read Asma patriarchal Barlas, pro in- at the time of the beginning of Islam, viding new interpretations”, to using verses an then we can see this as an opening for us to go towards more opening perception of women. But all this in explaining some verses that are shouldthat led be to doneunjust based rules on and a theologinegative- still interpreted in a problematic and cal foundation, that of God’s love for apologetic way. all humankind equally and of God’s Renaud Fabbri: How do you see the the Qur’an, i.e. taking the whole of role of Muslim-Woman theologians in thejustice, Qur’an with, not a a holisticselection reading of verses, of promoting gender equality and social and a contextual approach, i.e. read- fairness toward women and fighting ing verses about relations between the various forms of violence against men and women in the context of women in the Muslim World and else- 7th century Arabia and taking from where? them the moral of the story, in this case the impressive advancement Jerusha T. Lamptey: Muslima theolo- in regards to women’s rights at that gians and other Muslim women who time, instead of sticking to the letter critically yet committedly engage of the verse. If we follow this meth- the tradition play an invaluable role 41 in terms of promoting equality and causes come within this framework, - and women theologians can assist ical violence against Muslim women. Muslim feminists and activists by Theyfighting have against knowledge structural of theand tradiphys- providing them with the theological tion, its sources, and the diversity foundations for what they do, and of interpretations that have been vice versa, activists and feminists offered throughout the centuries. can help theologians by giving them They are able to chart the manner in information from the ground that al- which authority has been constructed throughout the tradition and the Thinking that women theologians manner in which diverse contexts onlylows themdeal towith test issuestheir reflections. concerning shaped ideas of authority. They are women is like saying women doctors capable of challenging patriarchal are not only gynecologists. We need and androcentric interpretations to get out of this mentality and see that are frequently presented as the that women theologians deal with word of God, and thus as indisput- all matters of faith, otherwise, we able. This is why some other Mus- would have feminine theologies for lims seek to delegitimize the work women and masculine theologies of Muslima theologians and Muslim for men! women scholars. It is provocative because it is rooted in the tradition, Renaud Fabbri: Prof. Tabbara, you knowledgeable of the tradition, criti- present yourself as a Muslim-Wom- cal of aspects of the tradition, and re- an theologian and Prof. Lamptey as a Muslima theologian. None of you people. claim to be Feminist Theologians. lentless in its pursuit of justice for all How would you position yourself vis- Nayla Tabbara: The role of Muslim- à-vis Western Secular Feminists? Do Woman theologians is not only to you see overlaps between their con- promote gender equality and work cerns and yours? for the rights of women, this being the role of Muslim feminists and ac- Jerusha T. Lamptey: My usage of the tivists for women’s rights. The role Muslima - of Muslim women theologians is signed to be particular yet not dis- like the role of Muslim men theolo- missivelabel “ of feminism. Theologian” In other words, is de gians, to promote new interpreta- I consider myself a feminist, yet I am a particular sort of feminist. In line on religious issues, concerning dog- with other forms of feminism, such mations, and new concerning reflections, the explanations role of the as womanist theology, mujerista the- believers and their relations to the ology, Latina theology, African wom- world, i.e. to creation, to each other, en’s theology, and Asian women’s to politics, to society…etc. Women’s theology, I started using this termi- 42 nology in order to critique assump- is not the position of all secular femi- tions of universal female experience nisms. and assumptions of parity across religious and secular worldviews. In Nayla Tabbara: I present myself as a addition, I use this label to capture Muslim Woman theologian and not aspects of my personal, experiential as a feminist theologian because I and theoretical positionality. It indi- do not work on women or gender is- cates that my approach arises out of - - practicing Muslim. More important- tionsues. of My diversity focus in and theology other isreligions. “Theol ly,my it identification indicates that asmy a work believing is rooted and Thusogy of my the workother” only i.e. Islamic overlaps percep with in the Islamic tradition, while simul- the work for western secular femi- taneously probing and testing the nists around the fundamental values bounds of that tradition. The term such as human dignity, equality, re- Muslima also indicates an intercon- spect of individuality, respect of di- nection with my positioning as a versity…etc. woman. Part of this relates to my My work overlaps more with Mus- individual experiences as a woman. lim feminist exegetes (interpreters) However, another aspect of it aris- in methodology, the holistic and es from a deliberate choice to align contextual approach to the Qur’an myself with—and draw pointed in- and the unreading of patriarchal or exclusivist interpretations, i.e. inter- on women’s experience, including pretations that consider that other thosesights drawn from—scholarly from other reflectionsfeminisms than Muslims do not achieve salva- and feminist theologies. In refer- tion.

I would respond by asking, who do Renaud Fabbri: In your opinion, why youence actually to “Western mean? secular What feminists,” individu- is it that the concept of “feminism” als? What groups? Rather than reify has come to be considered by many the myth of an inherent clash be- women scholars of the Muslim world as intrinsically problematic? andtween informed. Islam and There “Western is indeed secular over- Jerusha T. Lamptey: I don’t agree lapfeminism”, in my work we and need the to work be of specific some that it is always considered in this feminists who are not religious, and fashion. Yes, there is an ambivalent in other cases I have concerns. In relationship with certain modern general, I would say that my con- formulations of feminism, particu- cerns arise when feminism (of any larly those formulated and enacted kind) is used to override the agency as part of missionary, colonial and and voice of people or to holistically modern imperialism. These particu- demonize all religion. However, this lar formulations have been used as 43 political capital and have promoted in their traditions, with secular and the notion that there is only one way universalized feminisms, and with for women to be free, equal and em- legacies of colonialism and imperi- powered. Underlying this has been alism. I believe deep knowledge of the assumption—not based on fact these diverse voices would make or research—that women’s experi- - ence is universal and homogene- ous. This is of course not true. But, the unequivocal rejection of all femi these are not the only forms of femi- Naylanism more Tabbara: difficult. As mentioned above, nism that exist. In fact, there exist Muslim women theologians deal with all issues related to Islam and preciselya multitude to critique of “second-wave” these notions and of Feminism was and still is very im- universal“third-wave” women’s feminisms experience that arose that Muslims, not only “women issues”.- were largely based on the experience archalizing our traditions and re- of white, Western and middle class gainingportant women’s in the journey voice and of de-patrirole, yet women. Among these critiques is the role of women theologians and post-colonial feminism that seeks to women religious scholars should expose the manner in which power, not stop at issues of women, but race, religion and sexuality converge should cover all issues in religion, in colonial and post-colonial con- otherwise feminism becomes a trap. texts. There are those female voices Religious knowledge and Qur’anic Hermeneutics morethat unequivocallythan entitled rejectto this feminism opinion. Inas “foreign”my view, or however, “un-Islamic.” this stanceThey are is Renaud Fabbri: Islam grants a very connected to two important reali- important place to women such as ties. First, it mimics the rhetoric of Maryam, Aisha or Fatimah. Can these authoritarian (usually patriarchal) women still represent a realistic mod- Islamic ideologies, as well as the el for women? Or do you think on the rhetoric of colonial and imperialis- contrary that the emphasis on these tic ideologies. Both of these try to ideal, paradigmatic figures tends to emphasize an inherent disconnect obscure more concrete contemporary between Islam and feminism. Sec- challenges for women? ond, I believe this opinion reveals a lack of knowledge of contemporary Jerusha T. Lamptey: Exemplary wom- feminism, and especially feminist en are by nature exemplary, meaning theologies, the diverse feminist ap- they have a particular and rare expe- proaches of women of faith in other rience. In the case of Mary, for exam- traditions. Contemporary feminist ple, not many women can relate to theologians grapple with patriarchy the notion of being impregnated by 44 God’s will through the angel Gabriel. This is not their experience. How- ever, there are other aspects of Mary, such as her persistent trust in God, which can be emulated and valuable. How- ever, one issue is that accounts of these women have been largely recorded and interpreted by men. This means that can be used to enshrineidealized patriar figures- chal and androcentric conceptions of the ideal woman and to obscure contemporary challenges. I Photo courtesy of Shuang Wen would like to see two things in this area. First, women must re-interpret Nayla Tabbara: Sayyida Maryam in these examples in ways that actu- the Qur’an is a model not only for ally relate to their contemporary women: she is a model for believers, experience. What can Mary teach men and women, as is Asia, in the us about our struggles, about being verses 11-12 from Surat al Tahrim alone, about being slandered, about (Sura being in positive relation with God believers the example of the wife of even when family or community re- Fir’aun 66): (Pharaoh), “And God whenhas cited she for said, the only look to women as exemplars? house in the Paradise, and deliver Womenjects us? need Second, to engage why must male women exam- me“My from Lord, Fir’aun build forand me, his neardeeds, You, and a ples and read them through their particular female experiences. And (God has also cited the example deliver me from the unjust people. 45 whether juridical, theological or spir- guarded her chastity, so We breathed itual, were they the most active? of) Maryam, daughter of ‘Imrān who to the truth of the words of her Lord Jerusha T. Lamptey: Once again, this andinto Hisher Ourbooks, spirit, and and she she was testified one of is a huge topic that has been chroni- cled in many books. I will make two summary points. First, there is a andthe devout.”Zaynab areLikewise, also models I believe for boththat tendency to glorify the early role of menAisha and and women. Fatima as well as Khadija women in the transmission/record- In the case of Aisha, Umm Salama ing of religious knowledge while and Fatima, we could highlight their overlooking the fact that they were role in the transmission and pro- later excluded. So Aisha did recount duction of religious knowledge, as the bulk of Sunni ahadith, but usul al- a model for women: Aisha alone is hadith would come to be dominated reported to have transmitted 1200 by men. Women were there and this hadith, and Umm Salama and Fa- is notable, but they did not stay in the center of the structure of reli- Umm Salama spoke on the question gious authority. Second, women did oftima Shura have, and a role Fatima in jurisprudence provided analy as- sis on the question of inheritance of There are notable and important prophets. not dominate in any of these fields. Yet models for men and women in did not dominate or have equal rep- resentationwomen figures in any.in all The fields, absence but they of should not stop at the beginning of women and lack of equal represen- Islam.general Islamic and for history women and in specificculture tation means in the worst-case sce- has shown us many models that we nario patriarchal and androcentric need to invest in highlighting, men laws, practices and customs were or women who have spent their life enshrined. In the best case scenario, defending, based on their Islamic it means that the valuable perspec- deep rooted faith, the rights of the tives and concerns of women were excluded and the marginalized, in peaceful ways and without expect- in the formulation of what would being anything in return, on the lines comenot heard tradition. first hand or considered of the prophets. Nayla Tabbara: An overview of the Renaud Fabbri: Historically men have history of women in the transmis- tended to monopolize religious knowl- sion and production of religious edge. What was the role of women in knowledge during history may as- the transmission of religious knowl- tonish us. It actually shows that edge in early Islam and how has it women have been taking part in the evolved? In what fields of knowledge, religious studies scene from the be- 46 ginning. After the women compan- position in the 20th century. It is to ions that transmitted hadith, the be noted that women were mostly following centuries show women present in hadith sciences. They had learning hadith by heart and teaching it, and women engaging in fiqh a faqiha muftiya gave authority that - wasa limited considered role in as fiqh, men’s for becomingpreroga- ing and teaching it, women learning tive. hadith(jurisprudence) books and at Qur’anic least in recita learn- tion as well as women sermonners Renaud Fabbri: A very significant de- (wa’izat velopment in contemporary Islamic at a later stage women as shaykhat theology has been the development of ribat. Many), renowned women gained sufi women notoriety and a feminist exegesis. Do you think there in their knowledge and were sought is a properly feminist perspective on the Qur’an and the ahadith, and what of Islam, there were no Islamic stud- have been its main contributions? iesout teachers.institutes In( madrasathe first ).6 centuriesReligious knowledge was given in public and Jerusha T. Lamptey: I am not sure private locations and each student would pride him/herself on the question. There are exegetical pro- teacher they had learned with, re- what is meant by “properly” in this- ijaza) spectives. Some of these scholars and adding it to their CV (called jects carried out from women’s per- ceivingmashyakha from). themIt is very a certficate interesting ( to ers do not. I think that some of this note that most of the classes were workadopt has the labelbeen “feminist”revolutionary and othand mixed for men and women, and the highly valuable, including the work women were teachers as well as of Amina Wadud, Riffat Hassan and Asma Barlas in English scholarship. instance studied with 53 women. This work has made many contribu- Alstudents. Khatib Ibnal Baghdadi, Hajar al AskalaniIbn Battuta, for Ibn Hanbal, all had women teachers. are its challenge to the hegemony of Likewise, women had female and alltions. male Some and oftypically the most androcentric significant male teachers. With the beginning of the institutionalization of religious that all interpreters are human and knowledge through the madrasa thusexegesis; all interpretations its emphasis of on the the Qur’an fact that was a purely male environment, the non-formal religious education and its centering of egalitarian as- began slowly to be reduced and pectsare human—not of the Qur’an divine—products; as the primary thus the number of women in the ethical norms of the text. Also, this transmission of religious knowledge work has made it clear that women slowly degrades after the 7th centu- can and should interpret, that this is ry H/ 13th century, to regain a new a valid and valuable enterprise. The 47 Qur’an has been the primary focus of tas or Carol Christ have even argued exegetical work. This is understand- that it is impossible to improve the able in light of its authority and po- status of women without acknowl- sition in Islamic thought. There has edging the feminine dimension of not been as rigorous engagement God. By comparison with Indic reli- with ahadith. Some new work is now gions or modern neo-paganism, Is- being produced that seeks to inter- lam seems to conceive God as beyond pret and assess ahadith without ho- gender in terms of metaphysical in- listically embracing or holistically comparability or masculine (Huwa) as based on scripture. What is your theological position on these issues, Naylarejecting Tabbara: the content. There are many lines and how do you see their contempo- of interpretation of the Qur’an, the rary relevance? traditional exegesis, the analytical exegesis, the theological one and Jerusha T. Lamptey: I would agree what the batini tafsir that means that there is a theological and meta- interpretation of symbols (shia, is- physical difference in the Islamic tra- maili….), the legal one, the mystical ditions in relation to the incompara- one… then there are the modern bility of God and the notion that God tafsirs with the liberal and the femi- is beyond gender. Thus, in many cas- nist tafsirs as well as ideological es, the question of what sort of hu- ones. Yet the tafsirs that are the most man language (masculine, feminine, widespread are the tafsirs of the tra- or neutral) should be used to denote ditional line, done not only by men God is not as central. It is however but by men who represented power. somewhat different when Arabic Yet the Qur’an cannot be understood texts are translated into other lan- from one side of the social stratum. guages, such as English, that are not It has to be understood through the grammatically gendered. In most eyes of the poor and the powerless English Qur’ans, to complete the picture because Is- an impact on the reader and the the- lam is not the religion of the rich and ological understandingGod is “He.” inculcated This has in the powerful. Feminist exegesis is the reader. While one could respond that this is the reason the Qur’an Qur’anic interpretation. should be read in Arabic, it is not re- one exegesis that fills such a gap in alistic that all Muslims will ever do Religious Pluralism this. Additionally, even though there is a theological distinction with re- Renaud Fabbri: Some religious tradi- gard to language, in the Islamic tra- tions worship the Divine under both dition we need to consider whether Masculine and Female aspects. Neop- people see God as a male even if lan- agan feminists such as Marija Gimbu- guage and theological concepts are 48 Photo courtesy of Marco Guinter Alberton beyond gender. More precisely, is

- “beyond gender” perception of God- pearGod depictedto address as only being males, on the or males“side” delstrengthens in the eyes equality, of God promotes just as dis the- primarily?of or favoring What males? are the Does perhaps God apin- criminationperception ofand the double other asstandards an infi advertent theological implications whereas the perception of the other of this? The point is that there may be a theological claim (with which promotes respect of the other and I would agree) made about God be- as a “believer in a different path”- ing incomparable and beyond gen- ception of God is also important for theequality. believer The in “beyond his/her own gender” personal per interpretation or practice. This is relation to God. God’s most beauti- ander, important but this claim area may of consideration not filter into ful names are in effect divided into in contemporary discourse. How do make the connections between of Beauty. The former refer to the egalitarian theological claims and masculinethe names ofside Majesty of God, and dealing the names with sometimes non-egalitarian realities solidity, strength, power etc, and the on the ground? latter to the feminine side of God, dealing with mercy, nurturing, lov- Nayla Tabbara: I agree that a pa- ing, forgiving etc. If someone were triarchal image of God strengthens partriarchal mentalities and that a names, one’s relation to God would to focus on just one of these sets of 49 be lacking. - man difference, which is associated Renaud Fabbri: Prof. Lamptey, I be- guishes this from “hierarchical” hu lieve you are working on the connec- piety) and is the basis of evaluation tion between sexual and religious dif- with taqwā (God consciousness, or ferences. Could you tell us more about too much detail, I seek to apply this the specific insights that Muslima distinctionand judgment. between Without lateral, going divinely into Theology can provide on the question intended forms of human difference of religious pluralism? of human difference to the Qur’anic Jerusha T. Lamptey: In my work on discourseand taqwā-related, on religious evaluated diversity. forms I ar- reinterpreting the Qur’anic dis- gue that the Qur’an actually speaks course on religious others and reli- of two genres of religious difference, gious diversity, I draw resources for and only one form is evaluated. I also rethinking the meaning and value argue that the recognition of two of religious difference from Mus- genres of religious difference in the lim women’s interpretation of the Qur’an helps to explain the presence Qur’an—primarily the hermeneuti- within the text of verses that appear cal and theoretical approaches of contradictory and which have been Amina Wadud, Riffat Hassan, and the source of much exegetical debate Asma Barlas—and feminist theol- throughout Islamic history. concerned with religious difference, Renaud Fabbri: Prof. Tabbara, your ogy. While neither field is primarily own work is focusing on the Qur’anic dominant paradigms of human dif- approach to religious diversity. Could both fields offer pointed critiques of- you explain to us what you see as the ence). In doing so, they provide in- scriptural foundation in the Qur’an sightsference into (specifically, and conceptual sexual fodder differ for for dialogue with Christians and the articulation of alternative mod- Jews? What are the main challenges els of human difference. For exam- in the content of the Qur’an itself and ple, Asma Barlas draws a distinction in the way it has been interpreted tra- between difference that differenti- ditionally to interfaith engagement?

Nayla Tabbara: In the book entitled mainates “laterally”contention andis that difference sexual differ that- encedifferentiates (that is, biological “hierarchically”. difference) Her dialogue of Islamic and Christian - “Divine Hospitality: the other in the ference. It is divinely-intended and purposeful.is one form It of should “lateral” be human acknowl dif- Munster,theologies” 2014, that in I Arabic, co-wrote Saint with Paul Fr. edged. But it should never be used as Editions,Fadi Daou Beirut, (in French,2011), I Litwent Verlag, over the basis of assessment. She distin- all the Qur’anic verses that deal with 50 the other, especially the People of row sense and that all other reli- the Book and tried to resolve some gions are not accepted, meaning that apparent contradictions on the the- the followers of other religions will ological level. not receive salvation in the hereaf- For, on the one hand, we have vers- ter. Yet this contradicts the verses es showing diversity as a divine mentioned above and the following will, such as: Al Baqara verses in An-Nisa’ each is a direction towards which your desires, nor those of the Peo- 2:148 “To ple of the Book (can 4:123-124: prevail): who “Not- deeds and towards the good. God ever works evil, will be requited ac- willto turn; bring therefore you all back compete to Him. in good For God, any protector or helper. If any Hud docordingly. deeds of Nor righteousness,- will he find, be besides they HeGod would hath power have madeover all mankind things”, andone male or female - and have faith, they 11:118: “Had your Lord willed, will enter Heaven, and not the least verses that promise salvation to the Peoplecommunity.” of the Addedbook: toAl thatBaqara we have2:62 These two verses from Surat an-Nisa’ stressinjustice on willthe factbe done that salvationto them.” is not follow Judaism, and the Christians a question of religious identity but and“Those the who Sabians,- believe, any and who those believe who a question of faith and good deeds. They are followed by a verse that al- righteousness, shall have their re- lows to give a wider understanding in God and the Last Day, and work of islam, i.e. islam in the wide sense: An-Nisa’ Andward Al with Ma’ida their Lord; on them shall- submit to God (aslama) while doing believe, no those fear, who nor follow shall theyJudaism, grieve.” the the good, 125: following “The best Abraham’s religion com is to- Sabians and the 5:69: Christians,- “Those anywho who be munity, and God took Abraham for a work righteousness,- on them shall all those who believe in God, aban- believe in God and the Last Day, and well beloved”. It is thus the faith of Yet on the other we have verses such and follow the steps of Abraham. asbe noAl Imrafear, nor shall they grieve.” Itdon is themselvesin this wide to sense Him thatin confidence the word Al Imran 3:85: Islam is to be understood in verse n 3: 19: “Religion before 3:85 (Whoever desires a religion thanGod isIslam, Islam” it shall and not be accepted other than Islam, it shall not be ac- from“Whoever him and desires in the a religion Hereafter other he cepted from him ) especially since this verse is preceded by the verse The narrow understanding was to seeshall in be theseamong verses the losers.” an exclusivist God, and that which has been re- stance, meaning that the only ac- vealed3:84 that to says:us, and “Say, that ‘We which believe has in cepted religion is Islam in the nar- been revealed to Abraham and Ish- 51 Photo courtesy of Patrick Ringgenberg mael, and Isaac and Jacob, and the been bestowed from on high upon to Moses and Jesus, and the proph- us,say: as “We well believe as that in which that which has been has Tribes; and in that which was given- bestowed upon you: for our God and your God is one and the same, and it ets, from their Lord; we make no di vision between any of them; and to Al ‘Ankabut 29: 46) Him we submit’.” Itis untois important Him that Weto [all]note surrenderthat the thisAs for manner verse but 3:19 can “Religion also be under before- Qur’anicourselves.” theological ( positions to- stoodGod is asIslam” such: it according can be understood to Islam in wards the other are the same the narrow sense, the best religion throughout the entire Qur’an, i.e. is Islam (in the narrow sense) yet throughout the 23 years of revela- this does not contradict that other tion. What affected the understand- religions (Islam in the large sense) ing of theses verses and led to an ex- have truth and guidance and that clusivist standpoint is interpretation followers of those religions receive and legal positions related to histori- salvation too, especially that they cal, political and economic reasons. Resolving these issues in the man- argue with the followers of earlier revelationbelieve in the otherwise same God: than “And in ado most not meant for the other, to improve dia- loguener I justwith summarized the other or ourabove image is not in them as are bent on evildoing -and - kindly manner – unless it be such of 52 front of the other, it is first and fore most meant to improve our under- ring relations with Jewish tribes standing as Muslims as to how God want us to perceive others and how phase starting with the return to to act with them. in Medina, and finally an opening- ing up to all peoples and verses call- Renaud Fabbri: Prof. Tabbara, in your ingMecca for withconviviality verses with enjoining the people open work, you also stress the importance of contextualizing verses, to under- We have indeed created you from a stand the attitude of the Qur’an to- maleof the and book a female, such and as: made “O mankind! you na- ward other faiths. Could you elabo- tions and tribes that you may come rate more on this topic? to know one another. Truly the noblest of you in the sight of God is the Nayla Tabbara: In the previous ques- most God-fearing among you. Truly tion I mentioned the verses that deal Al Hujurat with theology and dogma. Another challenge is the verses that have an areGod permitted is Knower, to Aware.”you, and ( the food of incidence on Muslims’ behavior to- those49:13) who and: were “Today given the the good Scripture things wards the People of the Book, for is permitted to you, and permitted there are some verses that speak to them is your food. Likewise, the highly of the People of the Book and believing married women, and the married women of those who were or take them as allies, and others given the Scripture before you, if thatothers talk that about enjoin wars not with to trustthe People them you give them their wages in wed- of the Book. lock, and not illicitly, or taking them What allowed me to get a clearer as lovers. (Al Ma’ida picture of this question was the re- every one of you, We have appointed arrangement of these verses chron- a divine law and a way. 5:5) If God and had “To ologically. This led me to realize that willed, He would have made you one the verses talking negatively of the community, but that He may try you people of the book and that mention in what He has given to you. So vie violence with them belong to the warring period between Muslims God you shall all return, and He will and Jews during the Medinan phase, thenwith oneinform another you inof goodthat works;in which to Al Ma’ida 5:48). The peoplebut that of the the final book. phase In fact of revelation 3 phases toyou open differed.” up to (others, to go to them enjoins fraternal relations with the andfinal get call acquainted of the Qur’anic with cultural text is thus and where the talk about the people of religious others, to build fraternal theare bookto be isseen: always a first positive, phase a (Mecca) second and even familial relations with the phase (Medina) where slowly we people of the book and, instead of move from good relations to war- fighting on dogmatic differences53 or prospect is new knowledge, and that is always a - edge does not meanbenefit. direct Knowl coop- tation of other beliefs, views or strategies but it means opportunities to think about what we are doing and what we could be doing differently. In terms of a role to play in dialogue, I believe the presence of Mus- lima theologians and Muslim women scholars is vital because its reveals some of the internal diversity of the Islamic tradition. letting those build walls between us, Also, women are work together for the common good. not typically seen as the primary religious authority or Imam, and Renaud Fabbri: To conclude, as the thus their concerns and voices have Muslim world is going through a pe- been excluded in certain forms of riod of intense political and sectar- dialogue. Inclusion therefore prom- ian turmoil, what do you see as the ises to change the nature of dialogue concrete prospects and potential out- itself. One way it can do so is that comes of interfaith dialogue for the Muslima theologians and Muslim Muslim community? Do you see Mus- women scholars are working against lim-Woman theologians and Muslim their own marginalization and thus women in general as having a specific may be sensitive to other forms of role to play in this endeavor at a theo- marginalization as well, including retical and a more grass-root level? marginalization or negative charac- terizations of other religious tradi- Jerusha T. Lamptey: One concrete tions. They may also help to create 54 a space in dialogue where theoreti- equally in the public sphere. Based cal ideals and on the ground realities on the acceptance of diversity, it is a are discussed in tandem, rather than buffer against extremism that by def- in isolation from one another. Fi- inition refuses diversity within and nally, women in dialogue can be sup- without. In this inclusive citizenship porters and helpers of other women and this call for participation of all from other traditions. They can rec- in the public sphere as social change ognize some common struggles, em- agents, all responsible individu- brace real differences, and channel als, be they male or female, be they the strength of their diversity into a Muslim or Christian or other, be they Arab or non-Arab, have a role to play. It is time to move from our clustered Naylapursuit Tabbara: of equality I andbelieve justice. that the need today is to go beyond dialogue roles to work for the common good and work together in the framework forreligious all. Among identities our fundamentaland fixed gender val- of citizenship that is inclusive of religious and cultural diversity in our one is the acceptance of diversity as different countries and I work on aues value at and Adyan the foundation,second is seeing the indi first- actualizing this through Adyan foun- vidual itineraries as a richness: Each dation (www.adyanvillage.net) and person, male or female, has some- the Adyan Institute that I direct. This thing to add to society, to religion inclusive citizenship can assure that and to the human heritage. all religious and cultural groups, and that men and women, participate

55 The Eternal Feminine in Sufism: readings of Ibn ‘Arabī and Emir Abd el- Kader

Eric Geoffroy

cupation, between 1832 and 1847. - (al-shaykhWhile al-akbar) Ibn ‘Arab of ī �the (d. spiritu 1240)- vironment and always declared that alityis known and esotericism as the “greatest of Islam, master” the hisYet, spiritual he was broughtvocation up came in abefore Sufi en all

of his life and numerous visions, he hisEmir uprising Abd el-Kader against (‘Abd the al-QādirFrench ocal-- else. As testified by many episodes ______Jazā’irī�, d. 1883) is better known for was a disciple of Ibn ‘Arabī�, across

Translated from the French by Edin Q. Lohja. 56 the centuries. As we shall see, both doctrine which was followed in particular by Abd el-Kader. Multiplicity sense that all their formulations unfolds gradually starting from di- withare “Muḥammadanrespect to the heirs”Feminine in and the vine Unity through an uninterrupted woman emanate from what is called succession of divine self-disclosures (tajalliyyāt). These take on innu- merable forms which never repeat loved“Muḥammadan the Feminine. Presence” His famous in Sufism. say- themselves. All things or beings are The Prophet Muḥammad been made to love three things from a receptacle that receives this radia- youring bears world: witness women, to perfume, this: “I haveand tiontherefore in accordance a “locus of withself-disclosure”, its predis- prayer which is my supreme pleas- - fested in the sensory world, and the what is most subtle and spiritual. positions. Divine Beauty is mani Theure.” grammatical Women are shift thus used linked in withAra- bic clearly indicates that this love for disclosingProphet has possibility said: “I saw is contained God in the in women has a divine, metaphysical theform following of a beardless ḥadīth youth.” qudsī This3 self- according to My servant’s opinion : “I am- source; it therefore means: “God has tion of this self-disclosure, it is only madethe Prophet me love, felt fromfor women your world....”was due of Me.” Woman being the actualiza Ibnto the ‘Arab factī � explains that they that are this the love mani that- festation of God’s most actualized islogical a Sunna, that, a forprophetic the “Muḥammadan model to be heir” or the gnostic, love of woman Essence is utterly inaccessible and by their true worth and knows their independentbeauty on earth. from Sincethe worlds, the Divine the followed: “Whoever values women contemplation of God requires spir- - itual supports, and woman is said to likeintimate the ascetics. secret,” Rather, writes such Ibn love ‘Arab isī�, - an“does integral not disdain part of tothe love gnostic’s them, per un- maẓhar) of God.1 Herein fection, for it is a prophetic heritage be the most perfect “locus of mani 4 thefestation” formula ( ‘The Eternal feminine’ lies the justification for the usage of Theand apre-excellence love from a divine of the source.” Femi- ‘women’ I mean the Femininity dif- nine fusedby the into very the pen world: of Ibnit is manifested ‘Arabī�: “By more in women, which is why they What are then, broadly speak- have been made dear to him they ing, some of the elements and teach- - 2 have been made dear to [that is, the veryings ofaudacious the two shaykhs metaphysics on the of “Eter sex. Prophet].” Allnal thatfeminine”? is created They is arethe basedfruit of on the a A clarification must be made here about Ibn ‘Arabī�’s metaphysical 57 fi‘l, In fact, without woman’s function fā‘iliyya infi‘āl, infi‘āl, qābiliyya), qābiliyyaunion of the), twoimpregnating poles: “activity” (nākih ( ) fi‘l) would re- and impregnated) and “receptivity” (mankūh), mascu ( - of “receptivity” ( ‘adam line and feminine principle, man and mutlaqman’s ). “activity”12 ( woman, etc. Creation is therefore remain “pure nothingness” ( love three Startingthings from from your the world: ḥadī�th of cosmic marriages: the First Intel- quoted earlier, “I have been made to produced by an infinite procession the Qalam, that is the divine pen, women, perfume, and prayer...”, Ibn fertilizeslect impregnates the Guarded the Universal Tablet Soul; ‘Arabī � tells us that “The Prophet has (al-Lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ) wherein mentioned first women because is engraved all that is dictated their true worth and knows their to it5 the command revealed by “Whoeverintimate secret values does womennot disdain by God6 ; the sky casts onto earth to love them, unlike the ascetics. the spirit (rūḥ) impregnates Rather, such love is an integral the soul ; Adam (nafs impregnates)7 Eve; part of the gnostic’s perfection, interpenetrate, as the Qur’an ; night and8 Theday for it is a prophetic heritage and motion of the spheres is thus identicalaffirms in tomany the places. movement made during coitus.9 lies a classical explanation particulara love from a divine source.” to the ancient and medieval“Herein world - as primordial nature (al-tabī‘a) pre- cedesthey are all thethat locus is engendered of receptivity, from just it. was not always formulated in terms For primordial nature is none other view even though before Ibn ‘Arabī � it- - 10 nafas al-Raḥmān), because it is of sexualIt follows activity. that It finds the active, its equiva mas- inthan Him the that “Breath the formsof the Compassionof the world culinelence with principle them canin Qur’anic only be terms.”realized areate” unfolded, ( from the highest to the if it is welcomed by the receptive, 13 feminine principle. The Pen, for ex- Emir Abd el-Kader gives an ample, loses its essential identity, audaciouslowest ones.” pre-excellence to the Feminine, gifted as it is with recep- support (the Guarded Tablet) to ex- presswhich and is writing, accomplish if it doesthis notidentity, find of manifestation (maẓhar) of the i.e., passing from potentiality to ac- degreetivity: “Woman of receptivity, as such which is the is locusnone tion.11 Thus, it is man who needs other than the degree of possibili- woman, not vice versa. This is true ties. Yet, this degree possesses an eminent and excellent position. In first58 of all on the ontological level. fact, were it not for femininity, that engendering (al-takwīn), the indis- is, the degree of receptivity of the pensable place where human be- - ing is formed.17 The Engenderer ity and of the divine Names, these (al-Mukawwin) is not found in the Namesactive Agent would which have notis that been of actualDivin- canonical list of divine Names, but 14 it is evidently one of the attributes One must remember here that, ac- of God who is He who engenders ized, thereby remaining unknown.” things, bringing them into existence. and therefore of his disciple Abd After God, on the level of creation, it el-Kader,cording to the the divine doctrine Names of Ibn are ‘Arab in-ī � is woman who stands at the origin of termediary instances between the life. therefore it is they who manage the The secret of feminine strength pure divine Essence and creation; but in its manifestation, is somehow This secret is mentioned inworld. need The of theDivine, Feminine not in inits orderEssence to reveal itself. based on the surprising Qur’anic Given the lack of separation in verseboth by 66:4. Ibn Its‘Arab revelationī � and Abd is el-Kadercurious- Islam between the metaphysical and physical levels the situation of man’s need towards woman is equally em- ly provoked by “alcove secrets” in bodied on the physical plane: in hu- theone Prophet of the conflict and himself. episodes, The tingedverse with jealousy, among the wives of partner (nākih) who is the seeker (mantālib sexuality,), and therefore it is man, the the indigent “active” involves two of his wives, ‘Ā� isha and or lacking (iftiqār youḤafsa, repent who to had Allah, joined for againstyour hearts him. The verse commands: “If the two of ); whereas woman verse and more generally human sheis sought is superior (matlūba), to man, desired: for she since is have swerved…”. It is the rest of the stronger.“[masculine]15 Woman desire therefore is imperious” has a greater capacity to contain her de- logic that our two Sufis investigate: his“…but guardian, if you back and eachGabriel, other the against right- explains the foolhardiness of mascu- eoushim, thenamong [know the that]faithful, Allah and, is indeed there- linesires desire and to for hide woman her love. as due Ibn to‘Arab theī � fact that Eve emerged from Adam, Why does God convoke Himself and and he has ever since experienced Hisafter, supreme the angels angels are his and supporters.” the right- an immense nostalgia caused by this eous servants to provide their sup- void.16 port against two women? Let us go further: woman is The exegetes of the Qur’an - have generally avoided the interpre- closer to God than man, more “di vine”, for like God she is the seat of tation of this verse. As for Ibn ‘Arab59 ī�, he brings elements of explication by him. Then he develops his own which remain very allusive. After exegesis of verse 66:4. The two having discussed it with a gnostic friend, he asks God to make known perfect manifestations of active real- to him the secret of this verse.18 He ity,women due -to ‘Ā � ishatheir and human Ḥafsa perfection: – “are the then realizes that these two women possessed a science and a capac- two presences of the active (fi‘l) and ity for action which gave them a thein effect, receptive they (joininfi‘āl in themselves the strength comparable to that held by saying that woman as the seat of inadvertently by prophet Loth when procreation is closer).” to He God, continues the En- he invoked God’s succor against his genderer (al-Mukawwin).22 people.19 Later in the Futūḥāt, the - In mawqif 249, Abd el-Kad- Andalusian master underlines with regards to this verse that the angels did not unveil the secret of feminine who were created from breaths (na- strength.er reiterates There his he remark: states, Ibnin slightly ‘Arabī � fas, pl. anfās) of women are the most different terms from what he writes powerful of all.20 The key resides in - another passage which is centered on the notion of passivity/ receptiv- in the preceding mawqif, that “perity (infi‘āl). In brief, he writes that all notfection be the lies privilege in women of – men. as attested The Real to those who are called scholars (‘ālim) by the Messenger of God – and can- ma‘lūm) ceptivity (infi‘āl and have had to be receptive to andis too the elevated angels, tothey be doqualified not have by this re knowledgehave first beenbefore “known” receiving ( it. And synthetic, totalizing) […] capacity As for Gabriel which belongs only to humankind. They knowledge and later are engendered injust accordance as things pre-existwith what in God the knowsdivine therefore they can neither manifest about them, the masculine follows norcannot realize realize fully allthe thedegree Names of recep […];- the feminine because the latter re- tivity which belongs to women in their own right. It is this secret that receptivity. The receptivity of the explains the incredible strength of feminineveals to himtype his is thus first more femininity encom or- these two ladies, as mentioned in passing, more complete (jāmi‘).21 the Qur’anic verse.23 Abd el-Kader devotes two Let us attempt to summarize mawqif) to the commentary the position of these two shaykhs. of this verse: The receptivity proper to the Femi- “stops”- (In mawqif before expanding with his own expe- cosmological plane. The active can rience the spiritual unveiling 127, he affirms(kashf) onlynine isproduce first on its the effect ontological by start anding from this receptivity and solely which had not been really unveiled - he had received from Ibn ‘Arabī�, but 60 in its presence; otherwise it re mains in the order of potentialities (mumkināt), and can be pure noth- even more arrogant, I submit to her out of humility – she is ingness permanently. The secret of She abandons me, I see it, in the hardest feminine strength seems to reside in way. 26 - ceptive presences, at least when ex- For a renewed reading of Qur’an, the conjunction of the active and re pressed in spiritually accomplished 4:1 - ing realized fullness in themselves, Let us, however, not go from womensuch women like ‘Ā � ishahold and pre-excellence Ḥafsa. Hav the above to secular, modern femi- over man, who has forgotten his nism. For the Prophet as for these femininity, his original receptivity. In shaykhs, it is a question of realizing - al-Qawwī al-insān al- his commentary of the Divine Name- kāmilin us the “perfect” or “fully accom- ated world (“the there Strong”), is none more Ibn ‘Arabpow-ī � selfplished” the two human masculine being and ( feminine erfultherefore than concludes woman, by that virtue “in theof a cre se- ), who unifies in himself / her cret which is accessible only to him in numerous instances, our sexual who knows in what has the world condition,poles. As mentionedmale or female, by Ibnis but ‘Arab ad-ī � been engendered and through what ventitious, transient, and secondary. 24 Once reintegrated to Unity (tawḥīd), - the human being transcends these daciousmovement observation: has God engendered he mentions it.” polarities which are as many aspects woman’sIbn nobility ‘Arabī � reaches(sharaf) by this com au- of the duality characterizing the em- paring the most classical position bodiment. of the sexual act (when the man is The Qur’an states in a very above the woman) to the prostra- clear manner the non-sexual origin tions (sujūd) of the human being of the human soul into which we are before God during the Muslim ritual prayer: did not the Prophet say that wary of your Lord who created you it is in this stage of the prayers, while fromcalled a to single resorb: soul “O (nafs humankind!), and creat Be- the servant’s is facing the earth, that ed its mate (zawj 27 Let us - - ual act, man is therefore in prostra- ter The Women (al-nisā’) from ),it…” which can- 25 tionhe is over closest woman to God? … DuringHere is the Abd sex el- notnote be first considered that this verse as a coincidence.opens chap Kader, the valiant Arab knight who Moreover, the conventional, male rose against the French army for chauvinistic interpretation (and seventeen years, confessing in his translation) of this verse contradicts verses no doubt regarding his wife the very letter of the Qur’anic text. Khayra: - nine in gender (nafs) is most often In fact, the first term, although femi 61 understood to refer to Adam, and the second, masculine in gender, as Essence, both that which is more alluding to Eve! The conformist ex- subtleusually and with more Sufi ineffable? poets, the divine egesis of the Qur’an is in fact marked by the Judeo-Christian reading of Seekest though Layla when she is in the primordial couple, as attested thee manifest? by the legend of the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib.28 Numerous think- Thou holdest her for another, and yet she is none but thee!30 pointingers and modern out this Muslim misappropriation feminists – These verses which address ofmen meaning, and women and the– have verse not is missed about to be re-read in accordance with its to recognize the divine Feminine in grammatical structure. him,a priori that man, is, his Arab femininity. man, enjoin him The awakened person, the gnostic, is therefore he who recog- Bibliography nizes in himself the opposite sex. The transcending of oppositions, which Abd El-Kader, - Kitâb al-Mawâqif , he then realizes and which is a pre- liminary to all initiatic rise towards 2005, 2 vols. Unity, is therefore visible in the eyes edited by ‘Abd al-Bâqî � Miftâh, Alger, of the other. It seems to characterize Dîwân well Abd el-Kader, according to the Beyrouth,- Jazâ’irȋ � ‘Abd 1964. al Qâdir [Abd el-Kader], testimonies of his contemporaries: , edited by Mamdûh Haqqî�, Ahmed Bouyerdene, Abd el-Kader L’harmonie des contraires, Paris, “A duality stems indeed from Seuil, 2008. English translation: Abd shythe majorityhajji with of calm portraits eyes, the of him thought [Abd- el-Kader– – Hero and Saint of Islam, el-Kader] that have been painted: ‘‘A Bloomington IN: World Wisdom, Les Châtiments by the pen of Victor 2012. ful emir, ferocious and gentle” in - Hugo; “strength covered by grace’’ Abd el- inby theEugène biography de Civry; by “a Churchill, beautiful whoide KaderShirine – Dakouri,Un spirituel “La dans femme la moder selon- al of morals and physical grandeur” Abdnité, el-Kadercollective al-Hassanvolume directedî � », by - saw in him the29 result of a “perfect 257-273. conjoiningHow ofthen, feminine can one and not mascu end É� ric Geoffroy, Albouraq, 2010, p. withline qualities.” these verses by the Moroccan Al-Futûhât al-makkiyya,

1845), in which Layla denotes, as Ibn- Fusûs ’Arab al-Hikamȋ�, - shaykh Muḥammad al-Harrāq (d. Dar Sader, Beyrouth, s.d., 4 tomes. 62 , éd. ‘Afî�fî�, Beyrouth, 1980 ; translated into French by Charles-André GILIS, Le livre des 12 Ibid. Chatons des Sagesses, Albouraq, Par- 13 Fusūs al-ḥikam, op. cit., I, 219. is, 1997. 14 Abd El-Kader, Kitāb al-Mawāqif, ed. Asma Lamrabet, Le Coran et les , op. femmes – Une lecture de libération, ‘Abd al-BāqAl-Futūḥātī � Miftāḥ, Alger, al-makkiyya 2005, II, 3. Tawhid, Lyon, 2007. cit., II, 466. 15 Ibn ’Arabȋ�, 16 Ibid., I, 136. 17 Abd El-Kader, Kitāb al-Mawāqif, op. sa métaphysique du sexe », Les Ca- cit., I, 330. Mokdad Mensia, Arfa,n° 168, « Ibn 1st ‘Arab quarterî � et hiers de Tunisie 18 Abd el-Kader mentions this episode in 1995, p. 13-47. his Mawāqif, op. cit., I, 329.

______Futūḥāt, op. cit., I, 180. See Qur’an, 11:80. 19 Ibn ’Arabȋ�, NOTES 20 Futūḥāt, op. cit., II, 466. 21 Ibid., IV, 84.

Fusūs al-ḥikam 22 Abd El-Kader, Kitāb al-Mawāqif, op. Beirut, 1980, I, 217. cit., I, 329-330. 1 Ibn ’Arabȋ�, , ed. ‘Afī�fī�, Al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya 23 Ibid., II, 3-4. Sadr, Beirut, n.d., III, 256. 24 Futūḥāt, op. cit., II, 466. 2 Ibn ’Arabȋ�, , Dar 3 Prophetic tradition in which God 25 Ibid., III, 256.

, op. speaks usingAl-Futūḥāt the first personal-makkiyya Dīwān cit., II, 190. 26 Jazâ’irȋ � ‘Abd al Qādir [Abd el-Kader], 4 Ibn ’Arabȋ�, , critical edition by Mamdūh 5 Ibid., III, 60-65 in particular. 27 4:1. ḤaqqQur’anī�, Beirut, 1964, p. 59. 6 Ibid., I, 131, 139, 142. 28 See on the question Asma Lamrabet, 7 Ibid., III, 99. Le Coran et les femmes – Une lecture de libération, Tawhid, Lyon, 2007, p. 26- 8 Ibid., II, 170, 445. 27. 9 Ibid., I, 526, 583. L’harmonie des contraires, Paris, Seuil, Les Cahiers de 29 2008,Ahmed p. Bouyerdene,220. Emphasis Abd added. el-Kader – 10 Mokdad Mensia Arfa, “Ibn ‘Arabî � et sa Tunisie, no. 168, 1st quarter 1995, p. 30 Excerpt from his Dīwān, or collection 19.métaphysique du sexe”, of poetry.

Abd el-Kader – Un 11 Shirinespirituel Dakouri, dans la modernité “La femme, directed selon Abd by el-Kader al-Hassanî�”,

É� ric Geoffroy, Albouraq, 2010, p. 268. 63 Women Mystics in Medieval Islam: Practice and Transmission

Jean-Jacques Thibon

Islam is no exception to the always been radically misogynist, as commonplace that women seem to if women had never been given the have played a minor role in the elab- slightest prominence in its history. oration and transmission of spiritual And yet the role played by women, doctrine in the three monotheistic or the position they have often ac- religions. But as a result of wide- - spread ignorance of the history of lowed a smooth course throughout Islam, even amongst believers them- quired with difficulty, has not fol selves, it is often somewhat hastily history.1 upheld that the position of Islam has nearly The fifteen aim centuriesof this paper of Islamic is to 64 study the position of women in a devoted entirely to women were few and far between but some do ex- masters and mystics of Islam who, specific context: that of the spiritual hagiographic or historiographic lit- be grouped under the generic term eratureist; the placeis variable occupied and oftenby women modest in for purposes2 This ofstudy simplification, will be limited can or very modest. In biographical dic- chronologically to medieval times, tionaries, some earlier authors did andof Sufis. in particular to the pivotal period of the tenth century, even if there in the voluminous work entitled al- will be cause to mention women Ṭabaqātgive a significant al-Kubrā placed’Ibn toSa‘d women (d. 230/ as who lived earlier or later. Finally, focus will be placed on religious prac- women mostly from the prophet- tices and teaching work, and conse- 845) which includes five hundred quently on the mission of spiritual (d. 430/1039), a contemporary of transmission which these women ic period. Abū Nu‘aym al-Iṣfahānī � undertook throughout their lives. only included a few pages on women inSulam Ḥilyatī�, who al-awliyā’ was one, his of hisgreat masters, ency- Sources clopaedia, despite the hundreds of notices throughout the ten volumes First the sources on which and even then the thirty or so women this study is based. Of particular in question all lived in the days of the note is a book dating from the end of Prophet. In contrast, a work by Ibn the tenth century entirely devoted to - - al-sideredǦ� awz īworthy � (d. 597/1200) of serving entitled as models Ṣifat circlesSufi women, from whichvery early proves on. that At womleast, ofal-safwa piety from lists figuresthe beginning who were of Islam con theiren played role anwas important important role enough in Sufi and amongst them are to be found a large number of women, mostly 3 who re- for an author, Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sulammasters, īwhether � (d. 412/1021), men or women, to oneSufis, thousand. totalling Yet approximately he was accused two of writecorded a thebook teachings containing of Sufi portraits spiritual of misogynyhundred and in other fifty worksout of andmore he than was eighty-two women. Admittedly, the succinct biographical notices gen- book entitled Talbīs Iblīs. Further- erally give incomplete information more,extremely he did critical not omit about to criticiseSufis in thehis about their spirituality. Nonetheless, information can be gleaned from the text on how these women, who orig- aswork a source of his of predecessor, inspiration. ḤilyatHowever, al- aawliyā’, good many which women he nonetheless remain anony used- were perceived by their contempo- mous and the truth is that despite the raries.inally cameSubsequently, from Ḫurāsān similar or works Iraq, large number of entries only a mea- 65 gre amount of information is given But there is a certain gap between about each woman. It is of interest theory and reality, which is far from to determine whether the attitudes being peculiar to Islam. of the men who wrote the history of Exemplary figures course of time. Admittedly, towards Sufism and its saints changed in the But to return to the Middle 973/1565) bibliographical compen- Ages. There are special cases, which thedium sixteenth of saints entitled century, al- Š�ā‘rānṬabaqātī�’s (d.al- 7 Kubra devoted no more than a few who lived in the eighth century and consequentlyinclude that of during Rābi‘a the al-‘Adawiyya, period that whoscant waspages his to disciple,a total of didfifteen not or fol so- lowwomen. his master’s Munāwī � example (m. 1031/1621), and even gave rise to Sufi streams of thought- if he did not give particular promi- and who is the very first mystical- nence to women as they only rep- cultfigure to ofpinpoint, Islam and she one is in of fact the of great little 4 he did importanceest. If the historical as this woman, woman who is diffi is at at least treat them as men’s equals. the origin of the passionate and ex- Later,resent the thirty-five Ǧāmi‘ karāmāt entries, al-awliyā’ clusive love which can be shown for written by a contemporary author, God, disappears behind ‘the homage paid to feminine sanctity’,8 to quote no more generous in his treatment P. Lory. It is to be noted that she is ofNabhān women.ī � (d.5 All 1350 in all, /1931), authors appears in the the only woman whose name was tenth and eleventh centuries seem quoted and mentioned three times to have given greater visibility to women than later hagiographic writers did even if in numerical evenin one though of the he very spares first little treatises space foron terms women remain marginal. This womenSufism in by his Kalābāḏ work. Yetī � (d. the 380/990)introduc- visibility certainly corresponded to a social reality which was to change gradually. But it is not only a ques- relatingtory chapter, a meeting which during sets out which to define the the origin of the term Sufi, ends by given a formal yet poetic lecture on time,tion of cast the times.a very Thedifferent case of light Š�a‘rān onī � great Egyptian master Dhū l-Nūn is womenand Munāw andī �, demonstrateswho lived at thethat same the remains anonymous. This can none- emphasis placed on women in hagi- thelessSufism bybe ataken woman as whoa sign admittedly that the ographic literature is also a question author recognises the contribution of an author’s individual sensitivity. made by women to constructing this A great many authors explicitly ad- spirituality.9 mit absolute equality between men One particular woman il- and women in spiritual matters.6 lustrates the position occupied by 66 women and the role - cles during the eleventh they played in Sufi cir century, namely Fāṭima bint Abī � ‘Alī � al-Daqqāq (391–480/1001–1088). Her father Ḥasan b. ‘Alī � andal-Daqqāq the master was of a a wellma- known Sufi in Nishapur jor figure in medieval 1072),Sufism, ‘Abdauthor al-Kar ofī �mthe al- Qušayrī � (376–465/986– - mainedRisāla, ato handbookthis day a key on referenceSufism which for the has study re his daughter in marriage of Sufism. Daqqāq gave become head of the con- ventto Qušayr he hadī � whofounded was for to remarkable descend- ants,Sufis. many The of couple whom hadbe- came renowned scholars thus described as ‘The own right through her personality, and Sufis. Fatima was daughter of the master, the wife of which is certainly exceptional. From the master and the mother of mas- her early years when she was still an ters’. Of particular note is the fact only child, her father gave her his full that Fatima comes from a mystic attention, as much as he would have and learned background extending given to a boy. He set up sessions of over several generations. Even if it is often the case, Fatima, who is de- the Koran by heart and mastered the scribed in our sources as ‘the pride artmystical of Koranic teaching commentary. for her; she Contact learnt of the women of her time’, owes her with the great scholars who came fame to more than her family back- through Nishapur or visited her ground. She not only exists through father made a scholar of her and lineage or marriage but also in her she was allowed to transmit had- 67 ith, which was no small privilege. thereby indicating her high degree Her longevity resulted in her had- of spirituality. But she in turn had ith dictation sessions being highly valued towards the end of her life imposed on herself the constraint of as she transmitted the teachings of a daughter; Sulamī � tells us that she so as to give herself fully to God. consequently described as šayḫa in Thesenot leaving few herexamples house forare fifty corrobo years- ourthe greatsources figures as her of theauthority past. She par is- rated by numerous other examples which show that these women fol- her radiant spirituality drew rec- low their own spiritual paths inde- ognisedticularly scholars in the field who of came hadith to andlis- pendently and that their teachings ten to her alongside her children are perpetuated after their death in and grand-children.10 Although she accounts which are to be found in was a member of the city’s aristoc- hagiographic works. Our knowledge racy, she nonetheless completely de- of Nishapur is well documented, but tached herself from worldly goods the same cannot be said for all cities and devoted her time to worship, in the Muslim East. It is consequent- spiritual exercises and teaching and, later on, to her children who inher- is an exception or not as regards the ited her radiant fervour. One might ly difficult to tell whether Nishapur the society of their time. seems that she was not, as several position and role of Sufi women in otherobject examplesthat she was are a to special be found case. inIt the city of Nishapur. One example sanctityFāṭima who lived of in Nishapur the province (d. 6),11 223/838) is another major figure of13 is Faḫrawayh bint ‘Alī � (d. 313/925– one of the wives of Abū ‘Amr b. Gnosticof Ḫurāsān and infar the superior ninth to century. all the Nuǧayd (d. 366/976). The latter was otherSulam īwomen � considers of her her time. to be It ashould great a reputed Sufi and traditionalist; he be pointed out that she frequented time.was the He grandfatherrecognised her of Sulamworthī�, say our- some of the greatest names of Mus- ingmain ‘What source I gained on Sufi from women my at com this- - was no less than what I gained from limten visitedmysticism her and saidin particular of her ‘I have Abū panionship with my wife Faḫrawayh Yazneverī�d al-Bisṭāmmentionedī � (d. a mystic260/874). station He of to Fatima which was unknown to her’. my companionship with Abū ‘Uṯmān city,(al-Ḥ thisī�rī�)’. is As no thissmall master compliment. is one He of the greatest spiritual12 figures(d. 346/957), in the asThere one is of also God’s the Egyptiansaints, the Dhū noblest l-Nūn (d. 245/859); he recognised her herhad prayersa daughter were ‘Ā�’iša always answered, about whom Sulamī � writes that woman he had ever met; he simply 68 confessed ‘Fatima is my master’– a strange admission coming from a her wanderings into a form of asceti- master with such a reputation and cism. Our sources relate something noted in our sources as being of great she said to a learned gathering, pos- importance. Although little remains sibly the religious elite. This illus- of the historical person, these two trates the lessons a woman could - give her equals and her participation cluded amongst the great saints and in the city’s social life: ‘Be careful not earnedtestimonies her a sufficed place in for a large her tonumber be in to use your occupations for the com- of hagiographic works. She died in fort of your souls when you think Mecca where she lived but it would you are seeking knowledge’.15 Another woman is worth of her occasional visits to Jerusalem, therebyseem that proving Dhū l-Nūn that met these her women on one princely extraction, with a strong travelled in response to constraints mentioning:personality. UmmShe chose ‘Alī�, a womanher own of unknown to lesser mortals. Nowadays it would appear surprising that women could prac- fatherhusband, for Aḥmadher hand. b.16 ḪiḍrawayhHer father ac (d.- tice peregrination (siyāḥa), even 240/854–5), forcing him to ask her if it was more marginal for women the blessings of his future son-inthan for men. Peregrination is a sort lawcepted who as was he ahoped well-known to benefit spiritual from of wandering aimed at acquiring master but who had acted reluc- knowledge, which certain masters tantly. She also forced him, by way saw as an essential step on the spiritual path.14 Consequently, women Whenof a dowry, they towere take inher his to Abūpresence, Yazī�d long periods of their lives regardless sheal-Bisṭām unveiledī � to ask her him face to marryand started them. ofdid the travel; dangers they on travelled the roads. alone Thus for talking with him. But this free be- haviour stopped the day he noticed that her hands were painted with wehalf know of the from tenth Sulam centuryī � that and Umm that al-all henna. She informed him that since theFaḍl great came masters to Nishapur of the in city the came second to he had looked at her his spiritual listen to her, including prestigious companionship was henceforth un- scholars who occupied the highest lawful. This shows the rigour of a woman who refused to overstep the law despite an appearance of describedpositions in her the as city, ‘unequalled such as Abū in Sahl her freedom. When they were about to timesṢu‘lūk īin � (d. eloquence, 369/980). knowledge When Sulam andī � leave, her husband asked the master, spiritual states’, he linked sanctity - elled widely from city to city to seek Abūlearn Yaz spiritualī�d, for somechivalry advice, (futuwwa as was) knowledgewith knowledge. and transmit Umm al-Faḍl it, turning trav fromcustomary. his wife, Abū an Yaz attitudeī�d suggested based on he 69 altruism and sincerity. Here is another unusual and paradoxical situ- 4, has some points in common with who died in Jerusalem in 229/843– who was well-known for his futuw- ation as Ibn Ḫiḍrawayh was a master Fāṭima. She too was the wife of a - thegreat ninth Syrian century. master She Aḥmad too was b. rich Abī � erwa. the Was explanation, it because this he womanfollowed spent Abū andal-Hawār spentī � all(d. her230/845) wealth whofor her lived hus in- herYazī �d’sfortune advice on to the the poor letter? and Whatev on her band and his disciples with enthu- husband’s disciples, supporting him in his role of spiritual master. They love you as a husband but as a broth- were an exceptional couple, but they er’.siasm; Her she life admitted was completely to him ‘I turneddo not are not the only case in which hus- towards acts of worship and she band and wife are reputed for their was accustomed to a rigorous form sanctity and their knowledge of the spiritual path.17 When they settled in weighed heavily on her, so much so Nishapur, she met the great masters inof asceticism;fact that she the gaveduties her of marriagehusband money for him to take a second wife. - theof the founder day and of in a particular particular Abū stream Ḥafṣ ousy and even went so far as to cook ofal-Ḥaddād, Muslim spirituality who might called have ‘People been Shemeat did for not him show to give the slightesthim strength jeal of Blame’ (Malāmatiyya). He was so impressed that he admitted ‘I had always detested women’s conver- before he went to join his other wife. sation until I met Umm ‘Ali. Then I whoAdmittedly was a itwoman, was an severely unusual case;criti- knew that God’s gnosis may be given moreover, Rābi‘a’s spiritual master, to whoever He wishes’. This demonstrates that women participated sharecised his Aḥmad affections as she between considered several it in the learned discussions held in wives.was unfitting18 for a spiritual man to literary or spiritual circles. It might It can be seen from these ex- seem surprising that the entries on amples that a commitment to the her husband in hagiographic works spiritual path sometimes runs in devote almost as much space to her the family. Lineages are formed and as to her husband. It is all the more knowledge and sanctity are trans- surprising when one knows that mitted from one generation to the his biographers claimed he had one next like heirlooms which are to be thousand disciples, all of whom had conserved and made to fructify. But reached the end of their spiritual ‘management of spiritual wealth’ such as may be found at the time con- his wife played a decisive role in this - path. It is not difficult to image that mission of knowledge: knowledge of cerns first and foremost the trans spiritual influence. 70 Rābi‘a bint Ismā‘ī�l al-Š�āmiyya, Sufism but also of hadith or Koranic exegesis, and possibly the bequest of dinary power of persuasion over a female audience. This explains why family. This knowledge goes hand she had a large number of female ina schoolhand with as in certain the case personal of Qušayr qualiī�’s- - ties and education (tarbiya ro. She got them to learn the Koran in which women actively participate bydisciples, heart andboth she in Damascusrelentlessly and urged Cai in addition to occupying a), centrala field them to come to God. Indeed, she be- place in the transmission of knowl- lieved that God’s love could be found edge. When economic issues ap- through subservience to the Law pear later, with the development of and by acting in the interest of one’s brotherhoods and zawiya, and above fellow creatures.20 all with a saint founding a spiritual lineage, they are linked to the trans- Marginal women mission not only of spiritual wealth but also of various material goods Some women had exception- and property.19 al spiritual experiences which led them to live on the fringe of their society. It was a man, a famous man in 714/1315,Fāṭima is worth bint ‘Abbāsmentioning al- fact, who brought them out of their evenBaġdādiyya, if she lived who in a died later inperiod. Cairo She in Cordova, a saintly woman who had that is not what makes her differ- anonymity. One example is Fāṭima of ent.was What devout, is unusual erudite andis that a Sufi,she was but a Mufti and as such she had the right athe great meagre spiritual biographical influence informa over Ibn- to give her opinion on legal matters, ‘Arabtion īthat � to whomis available. we are Inindebted his youth for an eminently masculine function. the great Andalusian master was in It is certainly the reason why the service to her when she was almost sources mention her school of law, the Hanbali school, reputed to be the face was that of a young girl of four- strictest of all, which is quite excep- teena hundred and he years did old;not atdare that to time, look her at tional in the case of a woman. But her. If ordinary mortals took her to that is not all: from the pulpit in a mosque she harangued the women, miracles which testify to the perfec- and even the whole population ac- tionbe simple-minded, of her spirituality. Ibn 21‘Arabī � reports cording to one source. It is said that the scholars of the day were struck those mystics whose experience by the extent of her knowledge and of divineRayḥāna love has al-Maǧnūna drawn them is into one - states of rapture or madness. She probably lived in the eighth cen- hereven intelligence the great Ibnand Taymiyya, the intensity a fin of tury in the region of Bassora in Irak hericky meditation. critic of Sufi She doctrines, had an extraorpraised- but there is very little historical in- 71 Photo courtesy of Sousan Khayam formation about her. Hagiographic - sources have singled out her sublime ular gathering of disciples around words. But it is possible to deduce ahead scholar of a maǧlis,or a master, a more either or less in regthe from these short accounts that men mosque or in houses. She had a very from ascetic circles in Bassora spent beautiful and particularly musical whole nights in her presence ben- her sermons with recitations possi- have given in the course of her noc- voice;bly of shethe Koran.spoke inShe public, had consideradorning- turnalefiting prayers, from the as she teaching was renowned she may able impact on her audience, espe- for the rigour of her vigils.22 This is cially when she spoke of death in a yet another unusual situation which throttled voice. Indeed, hers was a demonstrates that the spiritual au- particular form of devotion, marked thority acquired by some women by attrition, a characteristic she put them on an equal footing with shared with other ascetics, both men - and women. Tears would stream down her face sometimes making wheremen; their social womanhood conventions was were no more ob her words totally incomprehensible stacle to their influence in contexts to her disciples.23 At the same time, and in theflexible. same region, another woman, Conclusion known by the one enigmatic name of Islam consequently has no

Š72�a‘wāna, appears to have been at the the great metropolis of Nishapur until very recently, oriental studies, offered an environment which ena- lack of saintly female figures. Yet- bled women to participate actively lowed in the steps of Muslim histori- in the spiritual life of the city, at least a largely male-dominated field, fol for those belonging to a certain elite: teaching, de- Masculinity or femininity are acci- bates or studies, they un- dents that make no difference to the dertake the same activities essence of human nature which is as men. But Bassora, Bagh- one. All means to reach perfection not outdone, as the exam- are consequently open to women plesdad, aboveDamascus have or illustrated. Cairo are Thus women are seen to travel so they can study and become recognised and re- justographers as they by are showing to men. little interest spected masters. On occasion they in the question. It is perhaps not by pure chance that their relative ano- - nymity came to an end thanks to … nancialcan lecture support men; tothey the have development disciples, women. The pioneer works are those both male and female; they give fi written by Margaret Smith, Anne- They devote themselves to serving marie Schimmel and Nelly Amri. theof avery Sufi poor group and around spend atheir master. for- Numerically speaking, the tunes to further the cause of God. women who are most frequently mentioned in our sources lived in women come from all social classes, fromAnother princes noteworthy to servants. fact is that Sufi the same way as men, women who They have a place both inside livedthe first in the two days centuries of the Prophet of Islam. en In- and outside the home. They resist - their husbands even if the latter are tus which stems from the privilege of recognised spiritual masters and havingjoyed a seenspecial God’s and messenger.unparalleled Then sta claim their right to lead a contem- come the numerous women who plative vocation.24 played a role in the expansion of as- struck by the fact that several wom- ceticism and the different forms of en are presented in Insituations Sulamī � onewhich is itinerant lifestyle: some participated give them the upper hand over their in collecting hadith or in develop- husbands. As a result their husbands who are nonetheless eminent mas- appeared and started expanding, womening the legalcommitted sciences. themselves When Sufism to The greatest masters may stand in spiritual matters. aweters appearof the learningin a less offlattering one woman, light. Around the tenth century, of the virtue of another, of the pow- 73 er of love that drives another, of the used by the Gospels or its Christian endurance another might show in that of a ‘ābida,—ancilla domini— as they are shown at the end of the exegeticists: the figure of Mary is tenthexercises century of mortification. have no reason Women to be and vowed to silent worship’.25 The - she is totally subjected to God’s will less differ in at least one respect: with women: the former must hide thejealous lack ofof men,information but they about neverthe them. malāmhis spiritualī � shares states a common from his destiny fellow Their spiritual teaching and prac- creatures, while the second must tice have come down to posterity hide her femininity from men. With but their personality lacks historical Mary as the prototype of sanctity, female sanctity gradually acquired result very little bibliographical in- a form of anonymity in Islam. In fact formationdepth as the is available.subject is avoided. As a our sources contain a great many ‘The Greatest Master’ Ibn ‘anonymous servants’ who have lost everything including their name. femininity are accidents that make This may well be the reason why an no‘Arab differenceī � clearly stated:to the essencemasculinity of hu or- man nature which is one. All means about the women whose spiritual to reach perfection are consequently authorteachings such and as practices Sulamī � said he recount so little- ed. Everything else was private and men. From the point of view of the had to be concealed from his read- Andalusianopen to women master just it is as not they a simple are to ers. doctrinal statement. His biography shows the decisive role played by ______women on his spiritual path and in his writings. He thus stated that the most perfect contemplation of God NOTES which man may experience comes through a woman. But for the šayḫ al- 1 See Annemarie Schimmel, ‘The Femi- akbar, the highest form of sanctity is that incarnated by the Malāmatiyya, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Chapel Hill,nine NorthElement Carolina, in Sufism’, 1975. appendix II to isanonymous sealed by God spiritual and He figures alone whocan R. Cornel, Early Sufi Women, Louis- penetrateare unknown it. According to men; to their M. Chod heart- 2 Onville, the 1999 question and Arezou of Sufi Azad, women, ‘Female see Mystics in Medieval Islam: The Quiet Legacy’, in Journal of the Economic and askiewicz represented ‘the features in Islamic of the literature malāmī � Social History of the Orient, 56, 2013: basedare to beon found the Koran in the butfigure the of terms Mary 3 The title of the book is used there are often similar to those 53–88. Ḏikr al-niswa 74 al-muta‘abbidāt al-ṣūfiyyāt. See R. E. mystiques, éd. Audrey Fella, Paris, Laf- Cornell, Early Sufi Women, Fons Vitae, font, 2013: 809. Louisville, 1999 and the French trans- 9 See Doctrine of the Sūfīs, trans. A. J. lation of the text entitled, Femmes sou- Arberry, Cambridge, 1991, reprint of fies Paris, Entrelacs, 2011. For an analysis , trad. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Andreucci, 10 For a list of her disciples and trans- of the text, see J.-J. Thibon, L’œuvre 1935 first edition, 11. d’Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī mittors, see Francesco Chiabotti, En- (325/937–412/1021) et la formation tre soufisme et savoir islamique : ‘Abd du soufisme al-Karīm al-Qušayrī (376–465 /986– 1072), doctoral thesis, Université de - , Damas, Ifpo, 2009: 330–9. ty-eight lived in the second century of 4 It is nonetheless significant that twen 11 See R. E. Cornell, , the Hegira. It would seem that sanctity Provence, 2014:104–6.Early Sufi Women was particularly common amongst female ascetics in the early days of Is- 12 See R. E. Cornell, Early Sufi Women, lam. 176–9.

5 For a more detailed history of hagi- 13 For further details, see Jean-Jacques 184–5. ographic works and the position each Les attributed to women see, Nelly et La- femmes mystiques roussi Amri, Les femmes soufies ou la Thibon, ‘Fâtima de Nichapour’, in 14 But there are a great many examples passion de Dieu, Saint-Jean-de-Braye, , 369–70.

Chodkiewicz, ‘La sainteté féminine dansEditions l’hagiographie Dangles, 1992, islamique’, ch. 2 and M.in of suchtravelling women, once such a month as Umm on Hārūn foot Saints orientaux al-Dimašqiyya, who was in the habit

, D. Aigle éd., Paris, Lesfrom femmes Damascus mystiques to Jerusalem, see Nelly Kitāb Amri, ‘Umm Hârûn al-Dimashqiyya’ in 1995: 99–115, in particular 101–2. 15 For quotations and further details, see siyar al-sālikāt al-mu’mināt, entirely , 928–9. 6 devotedAl-Ḥiṣnī � to (d. women 830/1426) is a good and hisexample Jean-Jacques Thibon, ‘Umm al-Fadl al-Wahtiyya’, in Les femmes mystiques, author of Al-rawḍ al-fā’iq, quoted by of this, as is al-Ḥurayfiš (d. 801/1398) 16 It should be pointed out that late In this work, the author states in the 925–26. introductionNelly and Laroussi to the Amri, section op. on cit., women 57–8. give rise to a possible confusion with that God ‘has associated pious women sources call her Fāṭima, which can and pious men and that in women can scholars consider that the two women be found the same spiritual states, re- wereFāṭima in de fact Nishapur only one, and as forsome example Western R. nunciation, perfection and piety as in men’, quoted by M. Chodkiewicz, op. details see Jean-Jacques Thibon, ‘Umm cit., 102. DeladrièreLes femmes or A. Schimmel; mystiques for further 7 For further details, see Margaret Smith, Rabi’a the Mystic and Her Fellow-Saints ‘Alî�’, in , 364–6. in Islam, Cambridge, 1928. 17 Another famous case is that of Ḥakī�m 18 For further details, see Jean-Jacques Les femmes Tirmiḏī � and his wife.

8 ‘Râbi‘a al-‘Adawiyya’ in 75 - yya’, in Les femmes mystiques Thibon, ‘Râbi‘a bint Ismâ‘î�l al-Shâmi 19 On this question see Family, 926–28.Portraits with Saints, Hagiography, Sanctity and Family in the Muslim World, ed. by Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen § Alex- andre Papas, Islamkundliche Untersu-

chungenKlaus Schwarz Band Verlag,317, Berlin, 2014. É� coles des Hautes É� tudes en Sciences Sociales § 20 For further details, see Jean-Jacques - Les femmes mystiques, Thibon, ‘Fâtima bint ‘Abbâs al-Bagh dâdiyya’, in 21 For further details, see Jean-Jacques 926–28. de Cordoue’, in Les femmes mystiques, Thibon, ‘Fâtima bint Ibn al-Muthanna 22 For further details, see Jean-Jacques 368–9. Les femmes mystiques Thibon, ‘Rayhâna al-Majnûna’, in 23 For further details, see Jean-Jacques , 826–8. Thibon, ‘Sha‘wana’, in Les femmes mystiques

, 866–8. future husband, a reputed ascetic from 24 Bassora,Rābi‘a al-Azdiyya when she whoallowed chastised him to hersee

wait a certain length of time: ‘Oh lust- fulher one!for the What first did time, you after see making in me thathim aroused your desire? Why don’t you ask a lustful person like yourself to marry you?’ see R. E. Cornell, Early Sufi Women, 128. 25 See M. Chodkiewicz, op. cit., 113.

76 Photo courtesy of Shuang Wen

Arab Women in 2015: Hope Amidst Chaos

Mohammad Naciri My non Arab colleagues of- thing that is done in it´s name. ten tell me that they fear challenging My faith is deeply personal, I certain norms, not because they do not dare to, but because there is very my faith is also mine and mine alone. little one can counter with when the am humbled by it, it guides me; but- ers only in the sense that I treat them withIt influences respect howand Ikindness, engage with for whooth Indeedargument it is, – but “this it is is also my my culture, religion, my religion, my country” is brought up. give me a sense of superiority. I am am not in agreement with every- am I to judge anyone else. It does not my culture, and my country; and I defined by my faith, but it does77 not force, - Labor force participation things. I am a man. A Muslim. I work rates in the MENA region for men are define me, and my identity is many 76% as opposed to 27% for women and none of these are mutually ex- (versus 74 % and 56% respectively clusive.for gender When equality. it becomes I am a problemfeminist;- - atic for others to reconcile my iden- en continue to be very absent from tities, is when freedom of choice is thefor thepolitical rest of sphere.the world); The and regional wom removed for my sisters in the name - of the very faith I prescribe to. I will be examining where we stand in the hadreview been of themade Beijing in some Platform areas, of most Ac region in terms of gender equality, tion found that significant progress- how the larger regional issues are dentally is also a millennium de- linked to discrimination, and how, velopmentnotably in educationgoal. Across – whichthe region, inci despite the grim outlook, there is gender parity in primary education hope and inspiration spearheaded is almost reached, and in some coun- by some of the bravest women I have tries exceeded for secondary and had the honor to meet. tertiary education.4 The region in which I work is However, the review also one that is rife with turmoil, current- found that this advance in education ly home to 3 of the 4 level 3 humani- has not translated to further rights, - and women continue to be margin- en and Syria.1 The discrepancies in alized in the public spheres. What tarianpoverty crisis are stagnatingin the world; from Iraq, some Yem of we are looking at, therefore, is a re- the world´s wealthiest to some of the gion where more and more women world´s poorest nations. The needs receive higher education, but where are many, and in a region that is pre- they are then silenced or not given dominantly inhabited by believes of the space to use the education obtained. In many ways, the millen- one innocent life is like taking all of nium development goals, which had Mankind,a faith that and proclaims the saving –“the of taking one life of education as a point to measure 2 To the outside world, it is quick and easy to assumption that education alone is like saving all of Mankind.” wouldequality, equal were greater flawed access – because to rights the is not founded in reality. We need longpoint caused fingers rifts at religion in our societies as the cause and to look beyond the notion of educa- thisof our is thewars easiest – sectarian explanation. divides We have do tion, and examine why if knowledge the same when it comes to women´s rights, the region has closed only particular in this region. 60% of the gender gap according to is powerKhalil – it isGibran not also once equality; wrote, in the global gender gap index.3 There is limited participation in the labor “Faith is a knowledge within the 78 heart, beyond the reach of proof.” Faith, therefore, is malleable, and cross section that is so important, doing something in the name of not arguing for or against a practice, faith leaves no room for arguments - the sexes within our culture and re- vine intervention. My good friend ligions.but rather finding equality among and– it becomesscholar, Marwa divine lawSharafeldin without hasdi With the exception of Sudan written on the topic of Gender and and Somalia, all Arab countries have Equality in the Muslim Family Law. - on the Elimination of All Forms of qiwama, - the meaning of signed and ratified the Convention- whichShe specifically may range examines between thethe contra- 7 However, all but Tunisia and ditionalistcept of “ understanding of it as Discrimination Against Women (CE the husband’s authority, superiority, DAW). - Palestine have specific reservationsSharia.8 ship towards the wife on one hand, pertainingAdd do this to that it – andSharia most is adaptedare that orfinancial the more obligation reformist and understand guardian- CEDAWdifferently cannot in each contradict country, and we ing of it as responsibility for the care have a very broad understanding of women´s rights, from inheritance family, which may be shared by both to marriage and divorce across the and financial maintenance5 She is further of the Arab region. supported by prominent scholar Lebanon may be the most spouses, on another.” extreme example of religion dictat- Muslim family laws are the products ing personal status, and individual Ziba Mir Hosseini, who argues “that- rights. As reported by Human Rights ristic reasoning about the nature of Watch (HRW), Lebanon has 15 dif- relationsof sociocultural between assumptions men and women. and ju ferent personal status laws, all with In other words, they are ‘man-made’ their own limitations, but across the social, cultural and political condi- other obstacles when terminating tionsjuristic within constructs, which shapedIslam’s bysacred the confessions “women faced legal and- texts are understood and turned 6 Sharafeldin and Mir Hos- andunhappy the risk or abusive of losing marriages; their children limi seini are both members of Musawah iftations they onremarry their or pecuniary when the rights; so- into law.” called maternal custody period (de- and equality in the Muslim family. 9 This– the movement, global movement made up forof women justice In Morocco, it was only last year, and men, is a coming together of aftertermined tremendous by the child’s public age) pressure, ends.” scholars, academics and activists challenging us to rethink the inter- allowed a rapist to be freed of his - that penal code article 475 – which ing up our Muslim identity. It is this was repealed. 10 pretation of the Qurán – without giv charges if he married his victim – 79 It almost seems absurd that in 2015 these issues are still being debated, but they are, and they continue to be. Inequality, at the core, is the unequal dis- wealth, power, resources.tribution For equality of something to be – achieved, someone will have to give up some of needed to balance the their resources – that is shown us that giving up privilegescale; and is historynot some has- thing that comes easy to most. It becomes more is hidden under a cloak ofdifficult culture when and privilegereligion, and even more com- plicated when some of those who are less privileged agree with the im- Photo courtesy of Shuang Wen of protecting their culture. The case inbalance Morocco – in changed the name the penal code However, it is not all dark, because the victim, who had been there are glimmers of hope, individuals who are trailblazers, hero- ines and heroes supporting gender suicide.forced to This marry is what her rapist it took – withto bring the equality, often risking their own life attentionblessing of to her the parents issue, and – committed this out is in doing so. the only one she saw as an option, I could list those who have without a support network includ- died for the cause here, those who ing her own family. Women, there- dared speak up and were silenced fore, are often also custodians of a either because of their politics or patriarchal culture, which is some- because of their sex, most likely be- thing that we cannot and must not cause of both. Recently, I met Libyan forget. - women who had come together – 80 across the political divide – to dis states in February 2014.12 - laration is a strong document, call- incuss May the of future2014. A of month their later, country. a poli “A- ing for complete social, economic The Dec ticianjournalist, who Naseeb co-founded Kerfana, the was transi slain- equality between men and women, tional body that governed Libya after including a life free of violence. The the 2011 uprising, Salwa Bugaighis, declaration was further adapted by was shot to death in her residence. the Arab league ministerial council, In July, Fariha al-Barkawy, one of as was announced in New York dur- only 33 Congresswomen elected in ing the global leaders summit.13 So 2012, was shot to death publicly in there is commitment, there is politi- broad day light. Last February, a civil cal will, the issue remains on push- society activist, Intisar al-Hassairy, ing this through, on not only putting was found murdered in the trunk the agenda on paper but making it 11 Against this back- drop, women still come together to as long as the harmful cultural prac- discussof her own and car.” to push for their own ticesinto action; still exist. and thisIn particularly cannot be done not - when these are done in the name of termination that most of us do not the very same God I believe in. have.future – and that is strength and de As we are moving into a new Also on the political arena, era in global development, the focus there have been hopeful changes, an attention is on the sustainable legislations to ensure equality in the workplace has been passed in some countries, moves to criminal- thereunderdevelopment a goalscomprehensive (SDGs), a stand more - alonejust planed goal on by gender 2030. equality, The 17 pledg goals,- cluding in the domestic sphere have beenize all made. violence There against are small women steps – in in focus on people, planet, prosperity the right direction, showing that the andes that peace. “no14 one Where is left the behind”, millenni and- push for policy change is there and um development goals didn´t quite the follow up through can happen. At the regional level, in addi- pick up the pieces. It is an opportu- tion to a record 21 countries submit- nitymeasure for the up, world the SDGs to come are meanttogether to ting their reports on the status of the and move forward as one, but what we forget is that the world is broken been a large call for greater equality. and talking about development in a TheBeijing agenda Platform is being for Action,pushed there forward, has region torn apart by violence seems and while still not a priority in many almost farcical. This is where resilience and acknowledge it. One such example hope comes in, and where faith and cases – there is a commitment to our values play an important role. endorsed by Arab League member While I advocate that rights are is the Cairo Declaration, which was 81 universal, they are not at the cost rights movement. If, as Sharafel- of faith, at least not the faith I pre- din and other argue that the laws scribe to. I mentioned the women that guide us as Muslims are indeed in Libya, and their strength. I can man-made social constructs, then tell you similar stories from Yemen we need to change this. We owe that not only for an equality movement, but also to our communities and our amidstand Syria chaos. – across This the voice region is Muslimso en- nations. I am proud to be a Muslim women are finding a voice of peace Arab, and I do continue to see space to the security Ismail Ould Cheikh for women´s right in this region, as I Ahmed,couraging, the in fact,special that envoyin his briefingof the continue to be inspired by the wom- secretary general to Yemen, he said day. There is indeed hope in this cha- I also have share with you some fac- os,en and who championing fight for their women´s rights rights every tors“despite which the still misery inspire of thehope situation for the does not mean negating our culture 15 he then spoke or religion, the two are not mutually about the Yemeni women who, while exclusive, but rather can be recon- future of Yemen,” ciled in a peaceful and prosperous of the current crisis, they came together“differed in indemanding the views thatof the these origins po- the 2030 agenda. litical differences be addressed in society – as has been envisioned for 16 The issue is not ______that there is a lack of voice, but that thepeaceful space dialogue.” will not allow the voice to be heard, and this is where I go back NOTES to privilege. Equality means balancing the scale, which in turn means - that someone has to let go of some nation of Humanitarian Affairs, http:// 1 www.unocha.org/where-we-work/United Nations Office for the Coordi our natural state. emergencies of theirWe privilege, have seen and thatfighting there this is isa 2 5:32. tidal shift in policies, a push from Holy Qur´an, governments to open the space, so 3 Global Gender Gap index, 2014, http:// at least, on paper, women are equal reports.weforum.org/global-gender- to men. What we are yet to see is gap-report-2014/report-highlights/ these policies translate into action 4 United Nations & Arab League The Arab Millennium Development address the root causes of why we Goals Report: Facing Challenges, 2013; and are– and unequal the only to begin way to with. do thisIn doing is to Looking Beyond, 2015. so, we have to reconcile our culture, - our faith, our values with a broader 5 http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/famMarwa Sharafeldin, ”Gender and Equal- 82 ity in Muslim Family Law” (2015), ily/docs/egm15/MarwaSharafeldinPa- 16 ibid perGenderandEqualityinMuslimFami- lyLaw

Equality: Muslim Family Laws and the 6 Sha’riahMir Hosseini,http://www.musawah.org/ Ziba, “Towards Gender sites/default/files/Wanted-ZMH-EN. pdf ”, 7 https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewD- etails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV- 8&chapter=4&lang=en 8 ibid 9 Human Rights Watch, 2015. Unequal and Unprotected: Women´s rights under Lebanese Personal Status Laws, https:// www.hrw.org/report/2015/01/19/ unequal-and-unprotected/womens- rights-under-lebanese-personal-status- laws 10 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/01/morocco-repeals-rape- marriage-law-2014123254643455. html 11 http://arabstates.unwomen.org/en/ news/stories/2015/11/libyan-women- forge-agenda-for-peace- 12 http://www.empowerwomen.org/en/ news/csw-mena-regional-preparatory- meeting 13 http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/ headquarters/attachments/initiatives/stepitup/commitments-speeches/ro-leagueofarabstates-stepitup- commitmentspeech-201509-en. pdf?v=1&d=20151009T162349 14 https://sustainabledevelopment. un.org/post2015/transformingour- world 15 23.10.15 Security council briefing on Yemen, http://www.un.org/undpa/ speeches-statements/23102015/yemen 83 Antigone, Irony, and the Nation State: The Case of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) and the Role of Militant Feminism in Pakistan

Shaireen Rasheed

Introduction conform to Islamist norms (i.e., by

In the absence of institutional of values), they are also often pub- state support from their home coun- their dress, their “moral policing”- tries or support from Western femi- whenlicly branding such a labelthemselves carries in within “stereo it thetypical” potential performative fear of makingroles at athem time- tonists elucidate who are how critical certain of grassa “feminist roots selves vulnerable to hostility. What I women’sMuslim identity,” movements I hope in inThird this Worldpaper countries are forced to make alternative alliances. I will discuss the is- ‘radicalhope to Islamist,elucidate ‘piety’ via Devji’s ‘liberal article or a sue of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) ‘secular’is the difficulty discourses in engaging when interpret solely in- incidence in Pakistan to illustrate, ing nuanced scenarios such as the how Muslim militant feminists have Lal Masjid. As a way to extrapolate re-aligned themselves with the na- the events of the Lal Masjid their feminist identities. Through irony in the Phenomenology ,of I Spiritfind it1 thetion, case state, study and of religion the Red to Mosque justify usefulto the womento interject in the Hegel’s nation notion state. of in Pakistan and the militarization of the Jamia Hafsa feminists, I hope Background of the Lal Masjid to discuss the problematic of engag- In 2007 women students be- when interpreting scenarios such as longing to a religious school or ma- theing Lalin a Masjid “radical. Islamist” discourse drassa called Jamia Hafsa, which is part of the Lal Masjid mosque in the Red Mosque is the pivot on which I capital city of Islamabad, illegally contendFaisal that although Devji’s article Muslim on wom the- en in these situations are making a the mosque. They were protesting political and/or religious choice to againstoccupied the the government’s premises adjoiningthreat to 84 demolish and reclaim the mosque as Rashid Ghazi, had the support of the a potential venue for terrorist indoc- Jamia Hafsa trination. The Jamia Hafsa women - students conducted a vigilante pu- stan, comprised women—or of women the wielding “burqa brigade”sticks and as fully they clad are in called a black in burqa Paki practices, such as the sale of music, so their faces are not visible. Analysts andritanical demanded drive that against video “unislamic” shops be have argued that the stick-wielding shut down. They also kidnapped burqa-clad women who had illegally a woman from the neighborhood occupied the compound were being suspected of running a prostitution used as human shields by the cler- business and only let her go once ics of the Lal Masjid, but the women had a different story to tell. To quote General Musharraf, the army - chiefshe “repented.” instructed to dismantle the terviewed after the military opera- religious school and the mosque one “rescued” woman who was in where the militant women of Jamia will and of the desire of martyrdom. Hafsa tion, “we were here on our own free government security forces alleged leave our madrassa. We were ready that the were women living. and During two other this siege, cler- We spent five years here and cannot ics in the mosque compound were for our teacher, Maulana Abdul Aziz armed with sophisticated weaponry to sacrifice4 the last drop of our blood and bombs, and suicide bombers FaisalSahib.” Devji’s Red Mosque Inter- pictures of a young woman carry- pretation were living among them. “Television 2 Maul- anaing anAbdul AK-47 Rashid rifle insideGhazi, theone libraryof the see in the case of the Lal Masjid is twoshocked clerics, many died Pakistanis.” in the attack by the an exampleAccording of the to gradual Devji, whattransfor we- security forces, while his brother, Maulana Abdul Aziz, was detained Islamic militancy, which has in many by the police after trying to escape partsmation of or the at world least ‘flatteningbeen weaned out’ offof the building in disguise—wearing its dependence on highly organized a burqa—even before the security or institutional forms to become forces launched their attack.3 Many yet another kind of voluntary asso- women died in the attacks, although actual numbers have been withheld. own reasons, often as part-time Openly empathetic to the Tal- membersciation that rather individuals than full-time join for theirradi- - Pakistan army, the two cleric broth- ersiban who and tribalheaded militants Lal Masjid fighting, Maul the- militancycals. According as it spreads to Devji, through an interest soci- ana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul etying is aspect that it ofdoes this not flattening change so out much of 85 into a popular or national movement which he claimed was not only the as it does into a relatively open and world’s largest, but also included undisciplined sort of activism within English and science as part of its cur- civil society.5 riculum.6

might be able to account for these the presenceDevji’s and essay participation makes three of phenomenaDevji’s bythird seeing point isthe that Red we womenimportant in large points. numbers The first in the is thatRed Mosque crisis as a crisis of tradition- Mosque controversy was highly unusual for any group of Sunni in Paki- of the militant kind, by its gradual openingally organized up to the forms “fundamentalism” and vocabu- from Shia revolutionaries in Iran. In lary of civil society actors like NGOs, thisstan; sense,such behavior the Red is Mosque more familiar event especially in the part-time and ex- tracurricular activism that differs so radically from the closed and cult- can be described, in Devji’s word, as like character often said to mark “co-ed.”the language used by the mosque’s teachersDevji’s and secondstudents point during is thatthe comparing these held up in the Red controversy was strongly marked Mosqueradical groups.to the Taliban According or al-Qaeda to Devji, by the vocabulary of development, is also misplaced. For one, he noted transparency, and accountability that their kidnappings and their for- that is the stock-in-trade of NGOs cible closing of immoral businesses and other civil society organizations. were attempts to court publicity that They made use of this common and resulted not as much in the meting out of Islamic punishments as in the controversy rather than the usual sectarianalso “secular” tirades. language This language during was the subsequent release of alleged prostitutes.almost 7 Maoist “re-education” and fact that the female students in the In statements and interviews complexmatched were in its taught “secularity” English by and the before its siege, the residents of the science, thus departing from the Red Mosque mentioned such civil usual stereotype of a radical mad- society issues as the lack of security, transparency, and equal opportunity - uponrassa; whenEnglish talking and science about madrassawere the reformation.very subjects thatWhen “secularists” Al-Jazeera’s insist re- thein Pakistan mutation rather of Sunni than militancy any specifi into porter Rageh Omaar described the thecally kind religious of mobilization subject. This that suggests is nei- Lal Masjid - ther nationalist nor, in fact, militant - in any professional way but perhaps tion precisely as aby “conservative” pointing to the insti ma- nongovernmental. drassatution, of Ghazi the institution’s rejected this women’s, appella 86 Devji implies in all of this that the Red Mosque was linked more to Amina Jamal. They have a feminist the everyday and even secular prac- agenda when it comes to issues of tices of modern life in the region rights in marriage and divorce as than to any religious or cult behav- well as economic and social em- ior. This is evident in the fact that powerment, but they often take on it was the supposedly traditional a conservative religious ideology to Maulana Abdul Aziz who tried to es- achieve these ends, advocating seg- cape the besieged institution, not his regation of the sexes and a complete more modern brother, Maulana Ab- reliance on the Islamic way of life.9 dul Rashid Ghazi, who had studied The secular nature of the history at Pakistan’s most prestig- state is seen as a threat to the sta- ious university and had also worked bility and security that can come to for UNESCO.8 religion and religious politics. These Militancy and the Lal Masjid politicallywomen only active within women the see confines religion of Feminism as the lowest common denominator that can unite men and women, de- It is not uncommon for wom- spite differences in their aspirations. en’s religious groups from Jamia An important aspect in the Jamia Hafsa taking up various causes to Hafsa activism has been the women’s promote better living conditions for struggle against the perceived secu- women, protection of their civic and larization of the state. The women of legal rights and free education, and the Jamia Hafsa, who were rescued the establishment of Islamic univer- expressed their anger at a state and sities. An important aspect of Jamia government, that was moving away Hafsa has been the women’s pro- from Islamic principles and adopting tests and activisms against the per- a secular/pro Western idiom.10 The ceived secularization of the state of women argued that the secular sta- Pakistan. The women of the Jamia tus quo under Musharraf’s military Hafsia regime was problematic because it state security forces expressed their denied religious women their rights anger at who a werestate “rescued”and government by the and opportunities to pursue their (then led by General Musharraf) identity as articulated through the that was moving away from Islamic - principles and adopting a secular/ lamic society. pro-Western idiom. Of course, all “ideal” or “divine” woman in an Is of these activities by these women Role of Women and Irony in He- were conducted under a strict Is- gel lamic religious code of conduct. The Jamia Hafsa women have At the end of the section on been a mystery to feminists, argued ethical life in the Phenomenology of 87 the Spirit,11 Hegel wrote of wom- desire are directed toward the par- enkind as being the eternal irony ticular and the contingent. Although of the community. Hegel’s Antigone desire had at an earlier stage in the is recognized within the context of Phenomenology mediated the strug- the divine Man, who, in reenacting gle for self-consciousness,13 at this Spirit’s externalization from and reconciliation with its essence, ex- preeminently sexual, is incompati- blejuncture with both woman’s self-consciousness desire, which and is male individual. Providing the crite- the ethical. Her desire hinders the emplifies the life of the self-realizing performance of ethical duty, which social-ontological agenda: the ideal ria for the fulfillment of Hegel’s own Hegel gave ethical primacy to expression.12 isthe to sister fulfill andthe divineher platonic law. relation- state inPolyneices, which man unburied,finds his full lies self- at ship to her brother. For his repre- the mercy of being eaten by animals. sentations of both the ethical life of Antigone acts above the law of Creon woman and the destruction of the to bury her brother, returning him to Ethical Order, Hegel adapted Sopho- the earth. According to Hegel, when cles’ Antigone, the ideal sister. Be- a woman acts in accord with the di- cause Antigone is devoid of natural vine law, she is acting ethically. While desire in her relationships, particu- the ethical is decided by its univer- larly with her brother, and because sality, absolved of impurity, love and -

88 she has “the highest intuitive aware 14 she is fully not share in the communal actual- able to take upon herself her duty, ization of self-consciousness that is ness of what is ethical,” - 15 her ethical duty. Although not a do- which Instead “does not of sufferacting anyout perverof ani- mesticcoeval withangel the per fatal se—domesticity fulfillment of malsion ofpassion, its content.” Antigone acts out of has no explicit representation in the an all-consuming pathos that is her Phenomenology—Antigone embod- substance.16 17 a pure embodiment of the ethical actions, she articulates the truths of consciousness She of is women. her “character,” Without bothies the spheres truth as of well the Family;as their by union her self-awareness, Antigone actualizes - vine Man and Antigone, substitute forin Spirit.other Theseforms twoof individuality, figures, the diin the implicit truth of18 the By divine asserting law; particular the ironic conscience and shethe divine acts with law, “the Antigone simple confronts certainty ofthe immediate human law truth.” whose validity she - denies. Antigone commits a crime comewoman new as “theparadigms everlasting for the irony life [in of and concedes her guilt by acknowl- the life]gendered of the individual community,’’ in commuand be- edging the only partial truth of both nity.21 laws.19 Since her acknowledgment Syela Benhabib in a paper simultaneously entails her death, 22 this paragon of womankind’s pos- expanded on this idea of irony. She sibility cannot realize the truth of notedtitled that “Hegel when Women Hegel andtalked Irony” about her endeavor by the consciousness irony in the context of his discussion of the unity of both laws in Spirit.20 But, at this stage of Spirit’s develop- in the Phenomenology to refer to a ment, neither does the bearer of the certainof “womankind,” double bind he in used Greek this society: term male human law, the community, re- the absolute necessity of the existence of womankind to secure the believes its law universal and tri- physical existence and reproduction umphant.alize the truth; Consequently, instead, it mistakenlyAntigone’s of the community and the equally crime and punishment destroy the strong necessity to suppress wom- equilibrium of the Ethical Order and enkind. As he showed in the case of initiate a process that leads, with Antigone, this suppression turns her the aid of woman as irony, to the su- into an enemy of the community and persession of the nation and the ap- even the state. Benhabib argued this pearance of a universal world where point: Spirit may fall into irony for a legal status reigns. brief historical moment, but eventu- The death of Antigone also ally the serious transparency of rea- has lessons to teach. There is no son will discipline women and elimi- resurrection for woman. She does nate irony from public life. 89 Benhabib maintained that terms is that which must be recog- what remains of the dialectic is what nized, but it is also that which can- Hegel precisely thought he could not be allowed to exist on its own. dispense with: irony, tragedy, and It is the ironic that ought to be per- contingency. As we saw in the case manently disciplined. This is exactly of womankind, irony involves the what we saw in the production of the simultaneous necessity and unbear- actors or the women in Lal Masjid. able nature of a certain phenom- This tendency of women to enon. Moreover, irony exists for a be the keepers of culture—men’s brief historical moment and then is culture—has been documented in overcome. Where ethical embodiment Irony and the Lal Masjid Wom- denies the ideal of autonomy en: Ethical Encounters in Alter- nate Spaces ... ethical irony reformulates autonomy. I suggest that within the context of the Lal Masjid women, the term irony only applies to a giv- several feminist works. Women are en phenomenon for as long as that the ones who have much to lose if phenomenon is intolerable and con- they challenge the system, but they tinues to cause problems. As soon as have much to gain if they support it. the suppression of the ironic is com- There is also a new social mobility plete, the phenomenon no longer ex- that women have acquired through ists as ironic—as the necessity cre- their religious politics. They use ates an internal enemy. Again, why does irony remains of the dialectic? - In commenting on the general sues.their 23 status These of “religious violent women warriors” in movement of the dialectic—the pos- toreligio-political negotiate on movements specific gender impose is normative femininity, but their own lives and lived experiences are not anditing the by re-appropriation the subject of its of opposite, the self representative of model femininity. throughthe subject the losing recognition itself inof thethe other,other Scholars studying religious politics is but an extension or exteriorization are now reworking ways of under- of oneself. Benhabib remarked that standing religion and religious be- we—and in this particular case, the liefs in a manner that moves away women in Lal Masjid—are no longer from liberal, rights-based discourse. convinced by Spirit’s ability to re- Saba Mahmood is one such scholar who called for greater scru- must live with the otherness of the tiny of notions of freedom, agency, other.appropriate Such theotherness other; therefore, in Hegelian we and emancipation, which in liberal/ 90 Western discourse have come to be ethical irony and ethical embodiment. These orientations share the 24 She further expressed view that liberal constructions of concern“naturalized that, indespite the scholarshipthe post-struc on- universal ethical norms, or categori- turalistgender.” decentering of concepts, cal imperatives (Immanuel Kant), do normative agency for women has not hold, and that any ethics worth always meant resistance to estab- considering today must take seri- lished norms.25 ously its relationship to historical In South Asian societies, religion is the core of human existence where ethical embodiment denies the and the foundational framework specificity. But ideal of autonomy—the emergence upon which social/familial relations of agency as a result of moral be- are organized and political activism carried out. In such societies, it against its nature or circumstances to is unhelpful to understand agency ing, achieved when a subject chooses live according to higher, transcendental - principles— ethical irony reformulates ance of domination, but as capacity autonomy.28 “simply as a synonym for resist 26 According to Waggoner, ethical irony falls within an orientation for action that specific relations of In order to study the lives of these to ethics and the political that offers subordination create and enable.” women and their socio-political im- a disoriented understanding of the pact, is it worthwhile, then, to avoid right thing to do in light of the im- possibility of doing right and escap- political/social/cultural religious ing wrong. The idea it safeguards is judgments on their activities or the ends they seek to achieve? that a strong model of agency is a Matt Waggoner discusses are shaped by circumstances not Mahmood’s critique of universalistic misrepresentation because subjects ethicsthe role and of post-structural“irony” when he feminism. engages - conditionsof their doing; and their nonetheless, consequences. there - Causalis, more conditions to subjectivity are capable than of those giv- He contrasts her “ethical embodi fromment” literature with a concept (Brecht, of “ethicalBaudelaire) iro ny,” offering examples of the latter and cultural theory (Carolyn Steed- anding riseopenness to “undetermined to the unforeseeable, moments man, Judith Butler, Michel Foucault). of self-reflection, self-interrogation,29 His thesis is that ethical irony signi- Mahmood in her book The Politicsor what Kantof Piety called30 spontaneity”.argued in her that are not premised on notions analysis of the women’s mosques fies modes of critical engagement27 He in Egypt that women participating engages the question of critique by in religious movements should lead of metaphysical subjectivity. contrasting two ethical orientations: us to reconceptualize constructions 91 of human agency in current feminist the proper reading of the Quran, the discourse. She asserted that existing Islamic scriptures. The sociological notions of agency as comprehend- ed in current feminist discourses are too limited for understanding thatsignificance women ofin thislarge is numbers that it marks have the lives of devout Muslim women. takenthe first on a time historically in Egyptian appropriated history She proposed that despite their task of men, thereby altering (ac- inclusionary intentions, existing cording to Mahmood) the male char- feminists accounts of agency of re- acter of the mosque and the Islamic - pedagogic practices associated with cate rather than clarify our under- it. However, she cautioned against ligiously defined women may obfus a feminist interference that would Even as post-structuralist accounts understand these changes as modes disruptstanding ofthe these ungendered gendered subjects.autono- of gendered resistance to patriarchal structures. Such a conception political thought, Mahmood argued, of a pious women’s agency would theymous tend subject to reinstate of liberal the social secular and reinstate the normative liberal discourse of politics based on freedom and rights. Instead, Mahmood ar- andsubject agency of feminist of the thoughtIslamic woman.in ways gued that agency must be thought of Theythat erase do so the by continuingreligious subjectivity to rely on not only in secular terms of self-ful- secular discursive frameworks built upon ideas of resistance, autonomy, in terms of hope, fear, and religious virtue.fillment This and requires empowerment, a different but subalso- agency of Muslim women, including - Islamicand self-fulfillment feminists. to explain the course of rights. Mahmood’s book is an an- jectivity from the secular liberal dis thropological study of a women’s Conclusion: The Irony Surround- piety movement that is part of the ing a Politics of Piety larger Islamic movement in Egypt. Although we need to appre- conducted over two years, from ciate alternate ways of theorizing 1995She based to 1997, her in study three on mosques fieldwork in Cairo. Each of these sites, where the spaces, it remains, very important da’iya or female preacher adopts towomen’s direct our subjectivity attention as in readers alternate to a distinctive pedagogical style, is the fundamental gap or silence that deemed to represent a different so- holds up this space of theorizing, cioeconomic section of the city. In which, in Foucaultian terms, may be this movement of piety, women from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds for the coherence of texts. I refer to take up lessons to one another on thecalled explicitly one “conditions stated decision of possibility” by cer- 92 tain postcolonial critics, including The current politicized view Mahmood, to construct an arbitrary of Islamic identity presents one divide between politics and Politics. model for Muslim women, and the They have refrained from explor- Western so-called emancipatory ing the relationship between social view presents another. These two contradictory poles of desire rein- and the sphere of local and national forcing a structured ambivalence politicalsubjectivity, activities religious related or otherwise,to the na- within the notion of the ideal Mus- tion state. Even though Mahmood lim woman reduce her to the same implicitly accepted the involvement symbols and icons.33 Western ste- of symbolic processes of gendering reotypical views offer descriptive and piety in social action aimed at and devalued essentialist imaginary promoting interests, she failed to ex- of Islam through articles of faith, in- amine what happens when or if the cluding the hijab as a vehicle of oppression. In addition, stereotypical highlighted traverse the space from views interpreted through political informalalternate to subjects formal andpolitics agents as new she Islam, by contrast address contemporary women’s needs and present to Amina Jamal, this is disappointing - becausetypes of citizens-subjects.it is in the process According of mak- lutions though persuasion and, at ing entitlements and claims on the times,so-called coercion. “Islamically”34 inspired so nation state that feminists—includ- Consequently, by grounding agency ing women’s movements in Mus- and morality in alterity Kantian ethics - do not premise morality on the univer- stan—must come face to face with sality of the will and of the law. Rather thoselim majority women societies and men suchwho claimas Paki an Kantian ethics may proceed from the authoritative relationship to scrip- - tural interpretations and Islamic main open to an otherness on which it bodily practices.31 subject’s capacity to respond and re depends for its experience of a kind of Muslim women’s negotia- - tions (as seen in the Red Mosque sential or substantive.35 subjectivityMorality, ungrounded then, inbecomes anything esa are, to a large extent, shaped by the condition of absolute vulnerability incidence) of their subjectivities discourse of the sacred to legitimize because, as Waggoner stated, in fol- their authority. In reacting to the lowing the law, the moral agent is ob- Western discourse on liberal rights, ligated to act against its self-interest they tend to align themselves inby exposing itself to the disorient- voking increasing social and sexual ing effect of the other. But it is also through the response to the radical other that the agency articulates its control on the “symbolic32 and chaste identity politics. irreducibility to empirical given- woman” centered at the core of an 93 ness, and thus agency is constituted women activists of such Islamic political movements in Pakistan, piety literature challenges the notion that privatizationas a critical endeavor.of religion, Kant’s but “whatrath- right-wing women are pressured to eris enlightenment?”ways of appropriating did not implyreligious the speech and thought and the condi- The political experience in tions for expressing them freely in jointhe PakistaniIslamic political context, parties. especially as society.36 When Kant described his elucidated by the Lal Masjid case, historical moment as an age of en- however, has shown that faith-based lightenment but not an enlightened agency of women in religious par- age, he made an intentional distinc- - tion between what can be embodied nist ends. It is also used increasingly and realized and what remains an toties support is not justa patriarchal often used and for Islamic femi unrealized futurity. Critique within agenda. Women like those in Jamia this context relies on the ability to Hafsa, embrace the idea of the mod- see within what exists presently, the ern while seeking to domesticate it universality of a silent other, other- within a religious discourse.39 Yet 37 ironically, at the same time, it also - challenges the idea that Islam or ness, or how it could be otherwise.” an Islamic state is oppressive for we understandParashar agencyin her essay and “Theempow Sa- - ermentcred and in the the Secular” lives of theseasked: women? how do erature, or that women’s resistance, - agency,women, andas defined autonomy by orientalist must be oplit- gious politics are understood to be posites of subordination. upholdingAs she states, patriarchal “if religion values and relithat Mahmood is correct when can very often deny women public she criticizes Western and often presence and even visibility, how does the gendered religio-political impose a concept of victimhood on space respond to women’s activism thesesecular women. definitions Said ofKhan’s agency work which on and participation, including in vio- middle-class women of Pakistan has lence and militancy?38 shown that ‘modern’ and ‘religious’ Contemporary revivalist lit- in all their heteronormativity are not erature by academics like Mahmood, mutually exclusive but are part of a who have studied contemporary more nuanced web for many Muslim Islamic movements, advocate the women including those termed Is- viability of re-instituting alterna- lamists.40 tive Islamic economics, legal, and The ultimate irony, therefore, political systems. They do not con- is what remains of this dialectic: re- - appropriation is no longer convinc- actions to Western colonialism and ing, and we are left with witnessing imperialism.sider such projects Regarding to be the simply study re of the otherness of the other—whose 94 existence Hegel had to admit—rather than the actualization of Spirit. What women can do within this 6 Devji, (2008) context is to restore irony to the dia- 7 Devji, (2008) lectic. They can recognize that dis- 8 Devji, (2008) ciplinary measures were taken to modernity in the nation space: Wom- 9 Jamal, A. (2009), “Gendered Islam and eliminate irony and, in thus making en’s modernism in the Jamaat-e-Islam 91, 9-28. that recognition, recover that which Feminist Review, Retrieved from http://www.jamaat- was put down. women.org/article/ordinance.htmof Pakistan”, 10 Parashar , S. (2010) ______11 G. W. F. Hegel (1977) - NOTES Modern Language 12 QuarterlyGeller, J. , 53(2), (1992), 173-199. “Hegel’s self-con scious woman”, 1 G. W. F. Hegel, Phunomenologie des Geistes, in Werke, ed. Eva Molden- hauer and Karl Markus Michel, 20 13 PG, pp. 143-44; PS, par. 174-76 vols. (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 14 PG, p. 336; PS, par. 457 16 Geller , J (1992) 15 PG, p. 345; PS, par. 467 Miller, trans., Hegel’s Phenomenology of1970), Spirit (hereafter(New York: cited Oxford as University PG); A. V. Press, 1977), (hereafter cited as PS). 17 PG, p. 343; PS, par. 466 2 Siddique, Q. (2008), The Red Mosque 18 PG, p. 345; PS, par. 468 operation and its impact on the growth of the Pakistani Taliban. Norwegian 19 PG, p. 346;PS, par. 468, PG, p. 346;PS, Defense Establishment. Retrieved par. 468, PG, p. 348; PS, pars. 470-71 21 Geller.J, (1992) from http://www.ffi.no/no/Rapport- 20 PG, p. 348;PS, par. 471 er/08-01915.pdf 3 See the Jamia Hafsa website http:// www.jaminah-hafsa.com/videos.php 22 FeministBenhabib, interpretations S. (1996), of “OnHegel Hegel,. Uni- (accessed November 20, 2015). In S. versitywomen, Park,and irony”, PA: Pennsylvania in P. J. Mills (Ed.),State University. Sacrilegious: Exploring Women’s ‘Poli- 23 S. Parashar , (2010) tics’Parashar, and ‘Agency’(2010) “Thein Radical Sacred Religious and the Totalitar- 24 S. Parashar (2010) 454. ian Movements and Political Religions, Movements in South Asia”, 11:3-4.435-455. embodiment, and the docile agent: 4 Parashar, S (2010). 25 Mahmood, S. (2001), “Feminist theory,- Cultural Anthropology, Public 16(2),Some reflections202-238. on the Egyptian Is Culture, 20(1), 19-26. lamic revival”, 5 Davji, F. (2008), Red Mosque, -

26 Waggoner, M. (2005), “Irony, embodi95 ment, and the critical attitude: En- 39 Jamal, A. (2009) gaging Sabah Mahmood’s critique of 40 Khan, S. N (1993), Voices Within: Dia- Culture and Religion: logues with Women on Islam, Lahore: , 6(2), 237- An Interdisciplinary Journal Asr Publications. 261.secular morality”, 27 Waggoner M, (2005) 237. 28 Waggoner M, (2005) 237. 29 Waggoner, M (2005) 239. 30 Mahmood, S. (2005), The politics of piety: The Islamic revival and the feminist subject, Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni- versity Press.

Saba Mahmood: Politics of Piety: The 31 IslamicJamal, A.Revival (2008), and “Bookthe Feminist Review Sub on- Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Vol. 4, No. 3, Special Issue: In- novativeject”, Women: Unsung Pioneers of Social Change , pp. 121-128.

movements and women’s responses 32 See Moghadam, V. (1991),Gender and “Islamic His- tory, 3(3), 268-284. Helie-Lucas, M.-A. in the Middle East”, Islamic identity: Women in Muslim (1994), “The preferential symbol for (1994), Identity politics and women: Culturalpersonal reassertions laws”, in V. Moghadamand feminism (Ed.) in international perspectives (391-407). Boulder, CO: Westview.

difference: The perils of writing as a 33 Lazreg, M. (1990), “Feminism and in Keller, M. H. (Ed.). (1990), Conflicts inwoman feminisms on women. New York, in Algeria” NY: Routledge. (1994)., 34 Moghadam V, 1991. 35 Waggoner, M (2005) 256. 36 Waggoner, M (2005) 254 37 Waggoner, M (2005) 254 38 Parashar, S (2010). 96 Mary, Mother of Mylapore: Symbolic Engagement as an Interreligious Transaction

Francis X. Clooney, S.J.

In Symbols of Jesus: A Christol- ble, and accessible to the lives of ogy of Symbolic Engagement,1 Rob- individual believers and believing ert Neville explores how symbols communities. Such symbols are not mediate the realities at the core of signs standing between the observer religious traditions, thus render- and the reality to be known, nor are ing them apprehensible, imagina- they merely impoverished versions ______This article has been originally published in Theology in Global Context: Essays in Honor of Robert Cummings Neville. Edited by Amos Yong & Peter Heltzel. T & T Clark (2004).

97 - are the foundation of their effective lations do not necessarily improve presence in the Christian commu- uponof those symbols realities. by stipulating Doctrinal formumean- nity. Understanding them and their ings for them. Rather, symbols con- Christian usage, in word and art, stitute the necessary medium by offers a richer way to understand which people apprehend, appropri- Jesus as the person at the center of ate, and live the religious realities the Christian faith. On this basis, at- and truths in which they believe. tention may subsequently be paid to Theology does not produce the best the theological and doctrinal expres- symbols of God, but discovers them sions of these symbolized and lived already operative in the life of the truths. Since pluralism is also a lively upon them. It catches up with living concern for Neville in much of his community, then follows and reflects writing, Symbols of Jesus addresses to make conceptual sense of their ef- fectivesymbols power. and finds By the words study by of which sym- historical Jesus and the Incarnate bols, we are positioned to become this issue as well. Chapter 5, “The better theologians, and better able pluralism. Within that chapter, and to understand the rich and complex particularlyWord,” is most in the relevant section regarding entitled ways in which believers understand and practice their faith. - All this Neville states with plores“Existential the tension Location: between Jesus the Christ lo- clarity and philosophical sophistica- caland and Cultural localized Pluralism,” power of Neville religious ex tion at the beginning of the book. His symbols and the broad, varied ter- description of symbol here in part rain of religious pluralism. Today rehearses points that have occupied people live in their own familiar Neville in earlier works such as The blocks, yet have increasingly diverse Truth of Broken Symbols2. The substance of Symbols of Jesus is there- own symbols, yet notice more and fore given over to the application of moreneighbors; how theytheir are neighbors attached tolive their by the theory to an understanding of Je- other, also powerful symbols. He sus Christ. Neville introduces some emphasizes the enormous variety key symbols of Jesus: Lamb of God, within Christian communities them- Cosmic Christ, Trinitarian Person, historical Jesus and the Incarnate and also in the new emerging Chris- Word, Friend, and Savior. In addi- selves, in “old” Christian cultures tion, opening and closing chapters this internal Christian diversity is are dedicated to two related sym- accompaniedtian majorities by of thea complex “south.” interac In turn,- bols, God as Father, and God as the tion between Christians and people Holy Spirit. Such symbols communi- of other religious traditions in our cate and represent Jesus Christ and pluralistic societies. 98 Neville offers wise sugges- - tions for Christians on how plural- ened precisely on its own terms, by ism is to be acknowledged, under- aNeville’s more vigorous project study can beof the strength power stood and responded to. But he and function of symbols as media of strikes me as curiously reticent as to exchange in a religiously pluralistic how his understanding of symbols context. pays off in the pluralistic context To show this, I explore one in- where traditions continually posi- stance in which Neville’s approach tion themselves, in symbols and not can be fruitfully explored and ex- tended in the interreligious context. traditions acting similarly. It is strik- To his admittedly select and partial just theologies, in relation to other- list, I add another symbol of Jesus, - ing to note, for instance, that “sym trine and symbols connected with bol” and related terms occur hardly- Jesus,“Jesus, son son of of Mary, Mary.” and While Mary, the Moth doc- less,at all Neville’sin the section work ongives “Jesus us the Christ iner of God, have a long history and centiveand Cultural and resources Pluralism.” to understand Nonethe frequency in the West, here I move how symbols work in pluralistic directly to explore the use of these environs. The skill with which com- symbols in an interreligious context, munities shape and reshape their symbols and symbolic expressions of their faith is often far more inven- aspecifically single text, the the Hindu-Christian.Mataracamman tive and mature than the theologies AntatiEven more specifically, I introduce composed in response to pluralism. Queen (araci) among Women (ma- In the following pages I suggest that tar – “The Linked Versesamman for the

), the Divine Woman ( 99 )” of which Mylapore is to become a Christian hymn of 100 verses composed– a nineteenth by M. Appacami century Tamil Mutaliyar. Indian3 the whole: My goal is to shed some light on how part. The first verses give a feel for - ism was used in the south Indian Christianand why thecontext “son inof Mary”constructing symbol a You bear your jewel, the highest one, new symbolic representation of Je- jewelthe creator, of my eye,preserver, destroyer of the sus, possible because other symbols echoing sea and earth, were deemed ineffective. In this way, I hope also to underline the value of the underworld and the pure, bright, Neville’s theory and to show another dimension of its effectiveness in a jeweled world beyond, pluralistic context. garment: The hymn introduces Mary your wear the sky-jewel sun as your graciously grant my wish and her son Jesus in the south In- dian Hindu context and argues their to sing in praise of your feet, centrality to that culture. Mary is O queen among women in great presented as mother and queen in Mylapore. (1) Mylapore, an old center of orthodoxy lying within present day Chen- nai. The town is taken as representa- The queen among women in Mylapore tive of Hindu orthodoxy and culture surrounded by matavi groves, in part, I suspect, because it is also Mary, the great mother whose dwelling near the old Catholic community of touches the moon: San Thome, the competing religious center for which Mutaliyar may be If I praise her feet adorned by great as- supposed to speak, although San cetics in this world, then Thome is never mentioned. As she is mother and queen, perhaps she is a with eyes like fading kuvalai flowers me. (2) amman), prominent in the that fine fragrant one will glance upon hymn’sdivine presencetitle, never too, appears even if “divinein the verses.woman” The ( claim that Mary presides in Mylapore draws the traditions and lotuses bloom in broad pools, culture of that town in a new context The virgin in Mylapore where flagrant where Mary is a luminous, vital pres- mother of our highest beloved one dwelling in the mind lotus of the twelve along her son, and the Biblical narra- faithful companions tiveence of – God’sas a mother ancient who deeds also in brings Israel and in the life of Christ, a narrative who say, “This is the fellowship of faith 100 and friendship” – she is the wise one in the highest realm: the beginning until the time in which true realization will come you the poet is writing, since it was apostles with Jesus in their minds, minds if you think upon her lovely feet. (3) illuminated by Mary, who were able to bring the Gospel to places in As in these verses, through Mylapore. Ultimately, Mary is herself the hymn Mary is described in laud- wisdom embodied, a wisdom acces- atory and pointed terms. In verse 1, sible to all desiring it. perhaps echoing the Book of Rev- Occasional verses state more elation, she is garbed in the sun, and boldly the competition between this elsewhere she is often portrayed as new wisdom and enlightenment and crushing the serpent. She is the ruler the old store of Hindu wisdom. For of Mylapore, and against her there instance, her presence destroys the is no competing power. Sovereign, Hindu sacred texts: regardingshe carries the a radiant world, jewel,creating her preson- She is the rich one in Mylapore who fulfils all the divine functions

the gentle one wearing the bright sun as poet’sserving, eye. destroying In verse – 2,and she yet appears is more full of wealth, alari trees, paddy fields, intimately the jewel gleaming in the garment, even as her domain also reaches the bright one destroying by her strong intolike athe beautiful heavens. flower Transcendent, in Mylapore, the weapons goal toward which ascetics strive, the lying sacred texts they call true, she is always accessible, her feet on the earth, approachable to all those the lovely daughter of the eternal one who will take refuge there. Here that does the three-fold work: and throughout, the poet praises - O inner mind, know all this. (79)

Mylaporethe efficacious lush with power natural of her beauty, beau The poet reminds Mary of fortiful Mary glance. is the In versetruly beautiful 3, we find one a the spiritual hunger of the people of making her new abode a place of Mylapore, who are starving because beauty, vitality, wisdom, and culture. they had been relying on false rather Mary, mother of the transcendent than true sustenance: of the twelve disciples, in herself the wiseGod, flourishingone who gives in the life mind and lightlotuses to O lovely picture, mother, devotees today. Wisdom is abundant and available for those taking refuge at her feet. The process reaches from for the five thousand crying in hunger your son multiplied the five loaves his devout disciples gave; 101 we’ve gained the sure and never bitter man’s eyes by the blood and water way gave sight to the blind (88). Though focusedflowing intenselyfrom his onside” Mary, (51), the and theol he- thatwe’ve fits not the loved sacred the text evil he sacred gave, texts ogy of the Mataracamman Antati re- those blind, base ones in Mylapore mains conceptually orthodox. Mary teach us. (94) is the center of attention and the real sourceis a self-reliant of salvation. goddess; Mary’s son As her son fed the crowds But on the level of symbol, then, now she is the one to feed peo- - ple in Mylapore who are hungry for real food. transmutedthe basic Christological into the related symbol, symbol, “Je Mary’s importance is rooted sus, son of Mary” is regularly being- entirely in God and in the impor- ogy is probably stable, but on the tance of God’s plan and in the activ- symbolic“Mary, mother level there of Jesus.” is a Thereal theolshift, ity of Christ her son. The hymn never that matters greatly, even if it is dif- suggests that she can be understood apart from the Trinitarian God. In introduced, is positioned as Mary’s fact, she is a bearer of the mystery of ficult to state doctrinally. Jesus, once- the Trinity, of the descending Second comes the basis for discourse about Maryson; inherself. turn, Jesus that is positioning established be as Person: “She is the throne where the son of Mary, and so too God is sits the threefold infinite reality, a- fine garden …” (60) and “She is the devotes much of its attention and energyMary’s son;to her. on thatThe basis,focus theon hymnMary, isthrone readily for afforded the infinite to God threefold and God’s re workality, ain fine Jesus, garden who is…” acknowledged (67) Primacy as the agent of all God’s saving acts. entrymother for of Christianity Jesus – and into not Mylapore. simply He is the God who gave the Ten Com- PerhapsJesus, son the of Marypoet has– gives decided a point that of mandments (27, 53), helped Joshua Mary is the more vivid personality win the battle of Jericho by stopping in the Indian context, and hence the the sun (61), enabled Samson to better symbol of the faith. Consider, defeat his enemies (81), and saved then, the full version of several of the Jonah, even while himself dying at verses cited above. Jesus is lord and the hands of others (92). Jesus es- the revealed one who establishes the Church, but his mother is the one for on the wide sea that surrounds the tablished the Church (66), “walked us to know: foodland” pleasing (15), and to heeat, invited his blood the sweet good thief into paradise (30). “His body is “Peter is foremost in the scripture,” to102 drink” (76), he “opened the blind said the ruler and lord whom

she bore as her son “My body is food sweet to eat, lord in the stable, in the night, in front of the my blood the juice of the vine,” says the whom the pure, sweet one holds in her

greatshe is ascetic;the queen of Mylapore, O poisoned, puny heart, our mother, our life, radiant arms; if you meditate daily on her holy name, the place radiant with true, splendid realization Mylapore? (76) wider than the ocean. (66) what dejection can occur her in

He is able to walk on the wa- The hymn recounts Mary’s ter, but his mother is the one who is great deeds, events obscure to us but lovely for eyes today, here and now, remembered locally in Mutaliyar’s - Christian community (and perhaps borhood: too in its Portuguese ancestry): flourishing in the listener’s neigh

So that James could see it due to his de- The woman shines votion she showed her rare form in a splendid, bloom in the pools, in Mylapore where kuvalai flowers tall pillar, her ears like soft leaves, she is free of the sin of the spouse of her lovely face a broad lotus, most famous Adam,

the mother of the one slender as a flower stem, shewhere is the the unfading cool moon flower rises of over Mylapore houses, who walked on the wide sea that sur- even beyond the clouds. (36) rounds the earth,

everywhere on the shore The boy wearing her charm fell in the fresh conches gather to mark. (15) sea and was going to die, He offers his body and blood but to the delight of his pleading mother to eat, but as she cradles him in her arms, she is the one who truly con- the virgin protected the child, as fers wisdom: she had trampled to death the demon

snake;she is the queen of Mylapore 103 where bees swarm and sing sweetly in gardens that reach To end the fault that came by a woman, the clouds, tricked sin, she appeared as a flawed woman and so she is the jewel of our eyes. (43) great Mary of Mylapore amidst lovely, By a great lightning bolt those who meditate on her true, radiant two youths were killed that time, but ordered fields: feet with love the third, O pure one, honored you by your rosary three beads and so by your glance you protected and pray the auspicious prayer in fifty- rise to the heavenly place. (99) him,

The cumulative effect of the Ospotless immaculate, one wearing flourishing the sun grace, as your ra- verses is to position Jesus as a foun- diant garment, dation for full-hearted devotion to queen among women in Mylapore Mary, who turns out to be the proxi- bounded by rivers, mate and effective mediator of the graces one needs. In all of this, Jesus our great love. (97) is her son, she is still known as God’s

war, Jesus is a kind of supportive Ultimately, she not only cradles the symbolmother; pointingin a most to glorious her. As anda result, lofty savior in her arms, but makes salvation the mother of Jesus is the one able to accessible: grant the desired goal to those tak- In Mylapore where conches and lotuses ing refuge at her feet. abound in pools, The emphasis on Jesus as the virgin Mary holds in her arms Mary’s son, and then on Mary, mother of Jesus, is an effective strategy in the rare, unique, pure one part because the symbol of Mary is who opened the blind man’s eyes aligned with symbols already powerful in that culture. She is portrayed as a woman (matar), a queen (araci), side, by the blood and water flowing from his and (at least in the hymn’s title) a divine woman (amman). None of this is - justby heras she powerful, had destroyed pure, theholy, snake radiant es, as powerful, life giving, undying, independententirely new women,in Mylapore; already goddess matter feetwhen – people reach them, in the south Indian culture, and they the world stands in awe. (51) are more accessible than the gods 104 with whom they are related. You are deep red, This brief essay is not the You stand on Mahisa’s head, place for a consideration of the Ta- mil symbolization of goddesses, but You are the inner space, the dark one, it is worth citing several verses from ever virgin, the Apirami Antati, an eighteenth in Your hand is the skull of the forest century Tamil Hindu Hymn also of texts’ lord, 100 verses, in the same style, and in my thoughts, Your lotus feet. (8) evocative of many of the same images that later found their way into the Mataracamman Antati. This Ta- mil goddess hymn, though theologi- The rule is simple: in a pluralistic envi- cally distant from the Marian tradition, symbolically stands very close ronment,then theologize attend in torelation the symbols; to them, noticelearn- to it: whiching the flourish,possibilities where they andoffer. for whom;

Jewel dazzling my inmost mind, by Your great mercy - With our father looking on, reflecting, ies, Your great breasts grew larger than lovely one dwelling in the fine three cit golden hills Your delicate waist is burdened by

breastsO Ampikai, like jeweled caskets, withthere milk were for garlands the crying too, child; and still You make ambrosia from the and in Your bright hands a bow and ar- poison drunk by rows, and Your teeth gleamed like new palm buds: Siva,beautiful wearer lady of standingthe topknot; so elegantly in the lotus, come, O mother, inner space, stand right here, before me. (9) Your feet are on my head. (5) Giving wealth

Beautiful lady, helpmate to my father, giving learning You come and destroy the ties binding giving a mind that never wearies me, giving divine form 105 giving friends with no deceit in their taposition. Against the familiar hearts background of Hindu praise of god- giving every good thing desses, the symbol of Mary is both something recognizable and local, giving abundance to those said to love Her, new, because it turns out that she isbut also then, the upon mother reflection, of Jesus, startlingly a new- comer to India. The Mataracamman all this by the glance of Her eyes. (69) Apirami with flowered anklets – Antati a symbol (supported by dependent thus exemplifies the transit of In every direction I see symbols) from one religious culture - Her net and goad, pete, and coalesce in the minds and cool fresh blossoms where bees swarm, heartsto another; of religious as symbols people. jostle, com The Mataracamman Antati constructs a plausible basis for the fivethe holycane body arrows, of the lady of the three cit- Christian community’s existential ies who ends all grief, location in south India where, by Her slender waist, girdle, symbols of Jesus seemed likely to be the kumkum on Her breasts, ineffectiveMutaliyar’s unless judgment, hinged the to available a more the pearl necklace on Her bosom. (85)4 powerful and locally resonant symbol -- Mary, mother of Jesus. Mary resonates powerfully with the god- The relationship of Apirami dess traditions of Tamil Nadu, pop- and Siva is surely not to the same ular, living symbols in the culture. as that of Mary and Jesus, but the conclusion is similar in the two “Mary, mother of the divine son” is a Whileless potent the symbolbrahmins than of “Jesus,Mylapore son ithymns: is her “she”presence may that be theologicallyreally gives wouldof Mary have who beenis near, perplexed giving you by life.” the life,positioned beauty, inand relation wisdom. to “him,”Mutaliyar but ideas, words and symbols related to surely intended the Mataracamman to be read along with hymns Antati the symbols of the lamb, cosmic like the Apirami Antati. His goal is to Christ,“God’s second son” – including,person of the I presume, Trinity, replace such hymns with his, but in historical person and word, friend, the process symbols such as those - - thing of the divine Mother, her beau- companying images, metrical pat- saviorty, the –graciousness they already of knew her glance, some terns,of Mary stylized and Apirami markers – with of divinitythe ac the safe refuge one obtains at her feet. Now they are told that her true - and devotion – are placed together, changed106 and enriched by their jux ralistic environment and in environs, such as south India, where Christianity, though with ancient roots, remains new and exotic. That Mary and not Je- sus is the person most fruitfully symbolized

predicts) that effec- tiveconfirms symbols (as are Neville not merely the product of correct theological positions, but have often moved ahead quickly, leaving theology to catch up. Theology, perhaps especially comparative theology, then has to spend its time catching up with the openings and pos-

Photo courtesy of Alexi Liotti of Alexi courtesy Photo sibilities created by the vitality and ex- name is Mary, and that she has a son. cesses of symbols that The new yet old symbol (Mary) has actually work. The rule is simple: in arrived, the argument goes, in this a pluralistic environment, attend to old yet new setting (Mylapore), and now becomes the dominant symbol - allowing other old and new symbols gizethe symbols;in relation notice to them, which learning flourish, the to coalesce more fruitfully. possibilitieswhere and forthey whom; offer. then theolo Religious symbols may be I also admit that thus far there our hope in a time when pluralism seems to have been no good theolo- abounds and theology seems fee- gizing trying to catch up with the ble. Symbols, like those highlighted Mataracamman Antati by Neville are linked to theological hymn’s many virtues, at this writing positions, but not dependent on any . Despite the single set of positions. The symbols knows anything about it. Perhaps - theI am symbolismyet to find a Tamilin the Christian hymn, how who- ish anew and differently in a plu- ever well visualized and powerfully have lives of their own, and flour 107 who can make such as

In any case, we canjudgement). be grateful to Nev- ille on several counts. He reminds theologians writing for the churches to pay attention to the symbols that give life to the faith and make the mysteries of God

he shows comparative theologians,imaginable forwriting us; and for the churches but also

and in effect irreducible diversitymindful ofof thethe infiniteworld God has given us, how to follow the symbols, to imagine their creative interaction, and to keep our thinking and writing focused on the proposed, did not adequately hold play of symbols so won- the imaginations of either Christians derfully apparent in a world our the- or Hindus. Or perhaps no theolo- ologies have yet to comprehend. gian has been willing to give prior- ______ity to the symbol over the doctrine, in order to write from the Matara- camman Antati’s insight into Mary NOTES as the radiant mother whose presence makes Mylapore lovely, whose 1 Robert Cummings Neville, Symbols feet are the place of sure refuge, and of Jesus: A Christology of Symbolic En- whose son is Jesus, God. Perhaps it is gagement (Cambridge: Cambridge only now that we can begin to write University Press, 2001). theologies able to keep up with the 2 Robert Cummings Neville, The Truth of actual religious lives and actual sym- Broken Symbols (Albany: State Univer- bolic imagination of Indian Chris- sity of New York Press, 1996). tians (though of course it is Indian 3 The hymn was published by St. Joseph Christians themselves, and not I, Press, Madras, in 1888, with a prose 108 paraphrase of each verse by A. Jnana- prakasa Mutaliyar. At this writing I have no basis to place that hymn earlier than that date, nor any information about Mutaliyar himself. Since the hymn shows intimate familiarity with Tamil and Hindu modes of expression, one might guess that he was a convert to Catholicism. To my knowledge, the hymn has never been studied, much less translated, by modern scholars. I offer a full translation of the 100 verses, with some analysis, in my Hin- du Goddesses and the Virgin Mary: Six Hymns in Praise of Her (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). The translations offered here are my own. 4 My translation. The Apirami Antati is available in numerous popular editions but, to my knowledge, there are no English translations.

109 The Indian Paradox

Shumona Sinha

India may be the country of the woman but the spiritual veil that cov- ers it should not hide the violence perpetrated against many women there. For a long time venerated, women pay today a heavy tribute to the clash of modernity that splits the country into two worlds, one of which, feeling more and more alienated, is losing its references.

King Rama, eponymous hero for fourteen years with his wife of the mythological Hindu epic The Sita and his younger brother Lak- Ramayana exiled from his realm shman, found residence in the for- ______Translated from the French by Patricia Reynaud (SFS-Qatar). The article was originally published in Ultreïa! 5, autumn 2015, p.85-89 110 est in southern India. The people mise between the pedestal and dust, from South India, from Lanka (to- between veneration and repudia- day called Sri Lanka), referred to tion has not been found. Universal - laws continue to apply up till today dus because of their non-aryan ap- when invaders try to conquer new pearanceas “demons” (a dark by the skin northern and nappy Hin territories: men are assassinated, hair among other characteristics) houses burnt with cattle and crops, quickly noticed these young survi- women molested, dragged into mud vors in the forest. King Ravana kid- before they are thrown in the dun- napped Sita, the ideal princess and geon of secrecy and disgrace. For it wife and purity incarnate. After a is still the woman who remains the series of sadventures, Ram declared - a great war against the « non-ary- olence and aggression committed by an » Ravana so that evil is destroyed manfirst andof which only responsibleshe is the victim. for the It vi is and good triumphs. Thus, Sita was saved. But, upon the request of his kingdom’s people who It is stillalso herthe whose woman voice iswho stifled remains even deemed her dishonored and disgraced while in captivity, the violence and oppression com- Rama repudiated Sita and exiled her forever in the forest. themitted first by and man only of which responsible she is the for The Indian people, at victim … not forgotten the lessons of their before she is born in this patriarchal mythology.least a majority Since of the them, birth have of myths society. Rape, female fetus killing, and mystic lands, the Indian woman acid-attacks by men who have been is venerated as a goddess, princess, queen, spouse and mother… On her murder because of unpaid dowries, pedestal her role is to remain chaste illiteracy,rejected bychildbirth a woman, deaths… housewives the list of crimes is long and the victims, un- countable. Lakshmiand pure. the She promise is Durga, of thewealth, goddess Sar- Lately the Indian economic aswati,with ten the arms source to defeat of knowledge. Evil; she As is boom has received the attention Mumtaz, wife of the Moghol king of the media. Liberalism in market economy, globalization, individual mausoleum made of white marble as well as partisan ambitions are willShah be Jahan, constructed the Taj Mahal,when she sublime dies. being associated with the idea of a She does not belong to the real life, formerly glorious country, pre-colo- to the dirt, to the street where man nial India, Ancient India, the India lives and acts. of the Hindu Empire. The country is It seems that a happy compro- revitalized with a new energy and 111 ion and imported beauty products, private schools, latest gadgets: nothing is forbidden any more. In front of brand-new high rises scrapping the low skies, the pa- rade started below on the pavement, as broken and stinky as before, home of the beggars, daily la- borers, the insanes and the prostitutes.

A sexual expression of the class struggle

The country boasts of its economic progress, nu- clear power, medical service, computer know-how, the vast potential of its young generation and its intelligent- sia. However, the redistribution of wealth and social ambition to be liberated from its - post-colonial corpse, miserable and occupation for the country’s lead- moribund. Economic neoliberalism ers. Those stagnatingjustice at are the nobottom pre has liberated the social codes. With of the social scale are not a worry to a gargantuan appetite, the middle politicians. Illiteracy, demographic class has started to devour the fruit explosion, unemployment and the so far inaccessible to it: house, car, travel to Europe, appliances, fash- which tie together and are woven child-labor remain major obstacles, 112 is the sexual expression of the class Indian society. In India, the pyrami- dalinto system an iron of chainmail,hierarchy reigns. stifling The the But, this upheaval is also ac- binary opposition strong/weak, ex- conflict!companied by another novelty: the ecutioner/victim imposes itself eve- will to speak up. So far, rape vic- rywhere and always. In India, quasi- feudal scenes are being played. neither institutional or social, be- In this chaotic India, shaken causetims never they daredwere toaccused ask for of justice, being by socio-economic earthquakes, themselves guilty. Today one talks women are on the front line, they are about it, words are voiced, revolts the emancipated ones and the easy - targets. mined. Women and men, male and Rape is as old as the earth. femaleare many students, and unflinching intellectuals, and deter art- In the slums, the construction sites ists, social activists took the street - and organized massive protests, de- erished backgrounds have always paidand a the dear fields, price womenfor their offragile impov ex- condemnation of criminals. On the istence. However their cries were othermanding side justice are the and politicians the exemplary and - the political leaders some of whom cent rapes in India are the typical have publicly declared and warned muffled. What characterize the re young women and students that victims. Poor men, quasi-illiterate, they should not cross the line, that unemployedprofiles of both or homelessthe rapist menand theirwho they need to dress properly so as - to discourage rape! They also pub- hol and cyber-sex, overwhelmed by lished in newspapers the portrait thecan spectacularonly find comfort evolution in cheap of the alco In- of a woman wearing the ideal attire, dian society, are losing their social indicating the exact measurement and moral references. The economic to be respected for shirts, tee-shirts boom has liberated women and has and knee-length garments… Since introduced massive changes in so- the coming to power of the BJP, the cial moral codes and customs. The fanatic and fundamentalist Hindu these impoverished men: they inter- politicians seem to bring India back pretnew codesin their are own rejected way the massively quite vis by- tonationalists, the Vedic era, the toofficial a pre-Muslim discourse and of ible evolution of the Indian woman. pre-colonial India, to an archaic and This is a clash of two worlds, a frac- patriarchal order which condemns ture in the social continuum, which women for being women. To be born characterizes this frenetic and ac- a woman does not mean to be enti- celerated evolution, the somber re- tled to become one. venge of the proletariat. To sum this up, the act of raping women in India 113 dropped from 945 to 927 for 1000 boys since the last census. In deprived India, in developing India, in rural or urban underde- veloped zones, girls used to born and used to be raised neglected and de- spised by their parents who continued to increase the size of the family until a son was born in the vain hope that prosperity would come from the masculine side. Progress achieved through science and technology, accessible to all today, enable the in-laws to force the young wives to go through an echography, and to force them to get an A very unbalanced Man/Woman abortion if the fetus ratio happens to be that of a girl. Talking

If rape remains the most vis- the French author Pierre Bergouni- ible and mediatized form of women about his wonderful novel “Miette” oppression in India, the female in- fanticide is no less threatening. In- Theoux hadtool said:that man“There is usingare things creates and a dian demography is experiencing a thoughtthere are connection thoughts if about not an things.” emo- brutal and disastrous change in the tional connection between the two. male-female ratio, one of the most In our civilization in constant transi- unbalanced in the world: the pro- tion and transformation, the instru- portion of girls aged 0-6 years old ment enables man and his thought 114 to evolve. But when a rupture be- the time, the main motives for these tween man and his instrument has crimes. In this new millennium the taken place, when education has not family-in-law have adapted to the been provided to guide our think- frenzies of economic progress: in the ing process, dramas and disasters advertisements it is now demand- are looming ahead. The thousands of aborted girl fetuses in India are beauty of fair complexion, must be as many voices assassinated even aed working-girl that the fiancé, with besidesa regular being salary. a before they are born. This crime of a Before it was not proper that one’s patriarchal society is conceived and daughter-in-law would be seen in committed both by men and women, the public place, but today it is ac- the father in law, the mother in law, cepted that, to face the numberless even the husband who obviously all solicitations triggered by the con- consider that being born as a wom- sumer society, it is necessary to mul- an is far from a blessing in India. tiply the incomes in the family. Many It is even less so when she is of an inferior caste, if her skin is dark have a bank account in their name so and if she is of poor parents. The four Indian women are still fighting to- pages of the Sunday newspapers cated by their husband and/or their dedicated to matrimonial advertise- in-laws.that their salary is no longer confis The portrait of the Indian - Prime Minister Indira Gandhi repre- ments still reflect the post-colonial - influence, a veneration for the “su tion of the iconic painter Maqbool meaningperior race” girls unashamedlyendowed with askinga dis- F.sented Hussain, as the is Goddessonce more Durga, revelatory a crea tinctlyfor the fair ideal skin. fiancés, In Hindi, truly gori beautiful means of the quasi-monarchical hierarchi- beautiful. It comes etymologically cal system and the ultra-polarized from Gora contradictions of the Indian society, designating the British. Bollywood a society in which women in power songs, which meaning strongly call “White” out to alsoGo- are venerated as divine incarnations ris make people forget for a moment whereas popular class women seem this postcolonial inferiority complex to be of less value than a sacred cow. and this racist bend linked to skin color both rooted in the psyche of The beginning of a massive rebel- many Indians. lion And, even when these beauty Political leaders, local admin- nonetheless safe? Many assassina- istrative women leaders, women tions,traits areoften fulfilled, disguised is the as young accidents bride writers, artists, women intellectu- are proving the opposite. The non- als, women clerks, women students, payment of the dowry is, most of peasant women and blue collar 115 working women, now all women in India are waking up and rebel on a that you have left behind, below, op- massive scale. But the obstacles are pressed,system? Tagorethey will once drag wrote: you “Thosedown, many: the diversity of languages (22 to the bottom of the ladder, to the many dialects), diversity of religions dirtyou and as well.”mud of Who the lower will goworld, down to andofficial their languages many practices not counting according the reach, to listen, to bring light? How to the regions, the caste system, and to convince the poor people that the the socio-cultural frontiers, these are as many factors preventing the a necessary and a complementary Indian feminist movement to be componentfight for the in freedomthe general of existential women is united and to show solidarity. what belongs to her by right: safety, In what ways these revolts health,fight? Woman education, needs equality, to be given respect back and honor, her very right to be a men, women also who, often de- woman. prived,will prove oppressed, efficient illiterate when opposing are per-

petuating the misogynist patriarchal Photo courtesy of Aun of courtesy Ling Photo

116 Saint and Sinner: Women in Christianity

Peter C. Phan

Within the overall theme of dominance of two symbols of femi- women and the feminine in world re- ninity in Christian history: Eve the ligions this essay focuses on the role primordial sinner and Mary the par- of women in Christianity, with paradigmatic saint. Christianity inherits ticular emphasis on Roman Catholi- the Hebrew myth of Eve as one who cism.1 (Gen complexity The and juxtaposition equivocity ofof “saint”Chris- anis “created anthropology second in and which sinned woman first” tianity’sand “sinner” attitude in its titletowards illustrates women. the 2:22; 3:6) and develops it into Like most other religions, Christian- - ity has a longstanding and ingrained is doubly subjected to man, in two ambivalence if not overt hostility respects,2 By by contrast, nature Mary (“created is exalted sec toward women and the feminine. asond”) the andMother by punishmentof God, in whom (“sinned the This ambiguity is enshrined in the twinfirst”). ideals of womanhood—virgin- 117 ity and motherhood---are perfectly Anglicanism to Catholicism, speak- realized. Consequently, one pos- ing of the role of the laity in the sible way to expound the Christian church, famously spoke the above vision of womanhood and the femi- words in reply to his bishop William nine would be to examine the theology of womanhood underlying 3 If Newman’s statement is - rightB. Ullathorne’s about the question: laity as a“Who whole, is theits vantage of this approach, however, truthlaity?” is certainly more evident when isthese that two it boxes iconic itself figures. within The the disad pa- applied to Christian women, as polls triarchal and hierarchical ideology after polls have shown that wom- which, though permeating the Chris- en are far more active than men in tian tradition, would blind us to the everyday church life.4 Already during Jesus’ lifetime women played and-blood women, as individuals as a key role, without whom Jesus’ wellmonumental as collectives, achievements to both of church flesh- ministry would have been much di- and society. A more helpful course is minished if not impossible. Leaving to look at Christian women as they his mother Mary aside for the mo- live, move and have their being in ment, many women, some named history, and despite the enormous and many unnamed, were his dis- odds that would have crippled less ciples, accompanied him during his hardy souls, have shaped the history of Christianity. Thus, I begin with a him and his male followers (Lk 8:1- brief narrative of outstanding Chris- 3).ministry, Women and were financially the last supportedto remain tian women and the arenas in which at the cross despite physical danger they have made lasting contributions. Next I consider some key feminist theologies that have sought to while his male disciples had fled to break the stranglehold of patriarchy thesafety, Resurrection, were the first thus to becoming, come to thees- and androcentrism and to recon- tomb, and were the first to witness ceive the church as a community of Mk Mt 28:8- equal discipleship. Lastly, I examine peciallyLk Mary Magdalene,Jn 20:1-18). “apostle to women’s ordination, still a neuralgic the apostles”The new ( reality 16:9-11; which Jesus issue for some Christian churches, brought10; 24:4-5; to social and religious rela- as an example of where women’s tions between women and men and struggle for equality is still ongoing. which is realized in the new ritual of baptism is eloquently expressed by “The Church would look foolish - without them.” tized into Christ have clothed your- selfPaul: with “As manyChrist. of There you as is wereno longer bap Blessed John Henri Newman, Jew or Greek, there is no longer a nineteenth-century convert from slave or free, there is no longer male 118 is shameful for a women to speak Gal 3:27-28). Given Cor 14:35). This sub- thisand realityfemale; of for discipleship all of you are of equals, one in ordination of women is vigorously womenChrist Jesus”were not ( excluded from minin church” (1 istry in the early church but were Col Eph 5:22, 1 Pet engaged in various forms of leader- 3:7),enjoined where in thewives so-called are told “household to submit ship including itinerant evangelist, tocode” their ( husbands, 3:18-4:1; and in the Pas- apostle, prophet, teacher, co-worker, toral Letters, in which the silencing house-church leader, community ad- and subordination of women reaches its climax. Indeed, it is in one of patron. Throughout Acts and Paul’s these Pastoral Letters that we have lettersministrator, we meet financial women steward, working and in various ecclesial positions such as and Eve, the one who was created Prisca/Priscilla, Mary the mother the first deliberate linking of women- of John Mark, Chloe, Lydia, Nympha, an learn in silence with full submis- Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Persis, Phoe- sion.second I permit and sinned no woman first: “Let to teach a wom or be, and Junia (the latter is said to be to keep silent. For Adam was formed is eventually changed into a male to have authority over a man; she is apostle“prominent with among the name the ofapostles” Junias!). but deceived, but the woman was de- However, not long after the first, then Eve; and Adam was not Christian movement was consoli- (1 Tim 2:11-14). dated into a stable institution, male ceived In and spite became of these a transgressor” biblical in- church leaders attempted to exclude women from positions of power, to male authority, Christian women which they now reserve to them- continuejunctions to on hold female positions subordination of author- eloquently the equality of all Chris- especially as deaconesses, widows, tiansselves. on Paul the basishimself, of baptism, who affirms devotes so andity and virgins. influence However, in the of early these church, three all his energy to annul the Jew-Greek dichotomy but does little to abolish much weakened. The deaconesses’ - sacramental“orders,” the firstand twoadministrative were soon functions were severely curtailed, contrary,slavery (“slave with orregard free”) to and the patriar subor- and the widows’ function was re- dinationchalism (“man of women, and woman”). he sanctions On the it duced to praying for the church. with theological reasons: Just as God is the head of Christ, and Christ the the Order of Widows were abolished head of the man, so is the husband byBoth the the Synod Order of ofEpaon Deaconesses in 517. Only and the head of his wife (1 Cor 11:3). In the third form of life, that is, virgin- the same letter, he forbids the Co- ity and monasticism, proved a viable long-term option for women, rinthian women to prophesy, for “it 119 and it is almost exclusively through hem, Melania the Younger founded virginity (or post-marital celibacy), her own convent after dismissing and not through marriage and fam- her eighty thousand slaves. In Con- ily life, that women made their constantinople, Olympias invited all her tributions to church life down the - vent. Gregory of Nyssa’s older sister Macrina,slaves and who servants was totrained join her in conphi- losophy and Scripture, persuaded Women were not excluded her mother to turn her household, from ministry in the early including servants and slaves, into a church but were engaged in monastic community. It is important to note that various forms of leadership. this early form of female monastic life in virginity was not initiated by male authorities known as bishops centuries until the sixteenth century but by the women themselves. It when the Protestant Reformation was quickly realized by male leaders abolished monasticism and revived that women—by their choice of vir- the common priesthood of all the ginity—overcome their supposedly faithful as the foundation of Chris- tian life. - The founding of hermit and selvesinborn equalinferiority to men (“created by practicing second” communal forms of monasticism and “sinned first”) and make them for men is commonly attributed to egalitarian way of life. Prominent the Egyptian monks Anthony and male“manly church virtues” leaders in their of the newfound fourth Pachomius respectively, but indirect century such as Jerome, Ambrose evidence from Palladius’s Lausiac and Augustine were caught in a ter- History shows that there was also rible dilemma. On the one hand, they female monasticism in both the er- spare no effort in praising virginity emitic and coenobitic forms in the as the perfect state of life and deni- Palestinian, Syrian and Egyptian grating marriage with its sexual ac- deserts. This ascetic movement was tivities as tantamount to lust. On practiced not only in the desert but the other hand, they feel threatened also in urban centers such as Rome by the possibility of female virgins and Milan. In Rome, associated with usurping their authority and privi- the biblical scholar Jerome were leges, especially in the threefold powerful and wealthy women such as Marcella and Paula, who turned governing, as well as by their bodies their homes into convents for wom- whichoffice their of teaching, male gaze sanctifying, looks upon and as en who sought to live the Gospel in a source of temptation (virgins still a new, egalitarian way. In Bethle- are sexual beings!). To counteract 120 this double danger the Fathers of the church devise a two-pronged strate- abbess of the double monastery of gy, which would be faithfully copied Whitby,royal families England. such Abbesses as Hilda, thein Engfirst- by their successors down the centu- land, such as Ebba of Coldingham and Etheldreda of Ely, governed a convent, cut off from all contacts their monasteries quasi-episcopally withries: first,the byworld confining and regulatedthe virgins byin and were called by the episcopal title a new theology of womanhood. For They wore episcopal insignia such thestrict latter rules; task, second, they, especially by developing Am- asof Sacerdosring and Maximusmitre and [high carried priest]. the brose, the bishop of Milan, fabricate episcopal crozier. Other notable aban image of Mary, which has little to besses include Frideswide of Oxford, do with the biblical Mary, the wife Walberga of Heidenheim in Bavaria, of Joseph and the mother of Jesus Leoba of Tauberbischofsheim in Frankonia. Unfortunately, with the suit their goal of inculcating obedi- Carolingian reform, which champi- andence hisand “brotherssubmission. and They sisters,” delight to oned the clericalization of monastic in drawing the Eve/Mary contrast, life, the independence of nuns was each embodying carnality and pu- drastically reduced, their participa- rity, sexuality and virginity, disobe- tion in the ritual of the Liturgy at the dience and obedience, sin and grace altar was forbidden, and their life respectively, and in the process in- was rendered invisible behind the troduce the theological novelty of monastic enclosure. Mary as the ascetic ideal who pre- As Christianity entered its serves her physical virginity before, second millennium, the Gregorian during, and after the birth of her son reform, which was initiated by Pope and whom the virgins must strive to Leo IX by the middle of the elev- imitate. enth century, implemented by Pope Again, ironically, being en- Gregory VII (hence its name), and closed in a separate community, the culminated in the fourth Lateran women virgins from the sixth to the Council of 1215, reduces women - and nuns to total silence, symboli- nity to govern their own monastic cally as well as literally. Ostensibly lives,tenth centuryexcept inenjoyed sacramental the opportu mat- the reform aims at abolishing lay ters, independently from episcopal - supervision. Most of these women came from aristocratic families. clericalcontrol celibacy,over the butchurch its implementa (“lay inves- Some were former married queens tiontiture”) wrought and establishingdevastation on the the law role of such as Clotilde of France, Bertha of of women in church and society. To Kent, Thelburga of Kent, and Rade- reduce the autonomy of quasi-episcopal abbesses, women monasteries gund of France; others belonged to 121 were either closed or placed under new phenomenon of immense im- the control of the local bishop. Nuns portance occurred with the lives were made to live silent and invis- and writings of women mystics ible, under custody, in the cloister. and visionaries such as Christina of To enforce priestly celibacy, existing Markyate, Hildegard of Bingen, and marriages of priests were dissolved, Elizabeth of Schõnau. Of Hildegard, their wives declared concubines and Mary Malone’s succinct description whores, and their children made il- expresses well her extraordinary legitimate. Women are violently - mystic, theologian, author, pharma- oxysm. Pope Leo IX calls women cist,versatility musician, and artist, impact: preacher “visionary, and damnabilesvilified as misogyny feminae, reaches and his its theo par- 6 - tial women’s movement, which took abuse upon them with epithets such abbess.”place in Belgium,Another extremelyFrance, Germany influen logical advisor Peter Damian heaps- and Northern Italy, is the Beguines, son of the minds, death of the souls, who undertook to live religious life bitches,as “castaway sows, fromscreech-owls, paradise, night- poi in poverty, simplicity, and apostolic owls, bloodsuckers, she-wolves, har- work outside of the canonical forms. 5 Whereas Mary - the Ever-Virgin remains the model cuted by the male hierarchy. One lots,of virginity prostitutes.” for nuns, a new model is Beguine,The movement Marguerite was fiercelyPorete, whose perse now invented for married women in book The Mirror of Simple Souls achieved instant popularity, was Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604) has burned at the stake in Paris in 1310 transformedthe figure of intoMary a Magdalen,paradigmatic whom re- for heresy, and by 1400, all Beguines pentant whore and who represents were forced to live in convents. In the best thing Christian married can the thirteenth century, two women aspire to be. convents became important centers In spite of all the canonical restrictions imposed upon them by Germany, with celebrated abbesses the hierarchy and the vulgar vitu- Gertrudeof spirituality. of Hackenborn, The first is Mechtild in Helfta, of peration heaped upon them, some Hackenborn, Gertrude of Helfta, and medieval women distinguished Mechtild of Magdeburg. The second themselves and their names are cel- is in Assisi, Italy, with Saint Clare as ebrated today, some for their learn- foundress of a religious order committed to material poverty as a way tragically intertwined with Abelard, of life. On another level, there is Joan othersing, such for as involvements Héloï�se, whose in public life is of Arc, burned to death in 1431 on affairs, such as Eleanor of Aquit- the charge of wearing male clothes, aine, Queen of France and Queen but later rehabilitated and canon- of England. In the twelfth century a ized. Finally, the late Middle Ages 122 ted to their husbands, thus exchanging one form of female submis- sion for another. There

emerged a new figure,- sponsethat of to the the Reforma “pastor’s- tion,wife.” variously The Catholic called re

culminates“Counter-Reformation” in the Counciland “Catholic of Trent Reform,” (1545- 63). The council set the stage for a permanent transformation of almost all the areas of the Catholic Church, but left no place for the contribution of women. Cloister was re-introduced in 1563 and religious life of women was under strict ec- saw the rise of female recluses, es- clesiastical control. In spite of this pecially in England, the two most fa- total control, in the post-Tridentine church, some women succeeded in Norwich and Margery Kempe. reforming the church on their own mous figures The Renaissance, of whom are and Julian espe of- and in leaving behind extremely in- cially the Protestant Reformation, - resa of Avila, who reforms the Car- from the convent back to the secu- melitefluential Order writings. and Amongwhose thesewritings Te larshift world. the arena Though of women’s this change influence of on spirituality earns her the title of location has been celebrated as an emancipation of women from clerical control, it must be admitted that are“Doctor Catherine of the of Church.” Siena, Hildegard (The other of the Reformers place them almost Bingen,three women and Therese Doctors of of Lisieux.) the Church An- exclusively in the realm of marriage, other brilliant women is the Mexican motherhood, and childrearing. Fol- nun Sor Juan Ines de la Cruz. In the post-Tridentine era as described above, the Reformers stresslowing the the duty biblical of wives “household to be submit code,”- significant changes in the status123 of women did not occur until new serves as a reminder that women, in religious orders were established the midst of the violent misogyny of without the enclosure obligation, the male church leaders, have not whose members can exercise pub- only been victims of their oppres- lic ministry, especially in religious sive measures but have used their instruction and various forms of so- courage, imagination and talents to cial services. Four women are foun- dresses of such religious orders: An- this history it is perhaps necessary gela Merici in Italy (the Ursulines). toshape amend a more Cardinal just church. Newman’s In light bon of Mary Ward in England (the English mot by saying that without women Ladies), Jane de Chantal, in collabo- the church would not only look fool- ration with Francis de Sales in Swit- ish but also is simply impossible. zerland (the Visitation), and Louise de Marillac, together with Vincent Developement of Feminist theologies Charity). Since the nineteenth cen- turyde Paul the innumber France of (the female Daughters religious of From these experiences of orders and congregations without women’s personal agency to over- enclosure exploded beyond all tell- come dehumanizing patriarchy and androcentrism and to achieve equal one thing God does not know is the dignity and access to power in both numbering. A joke of female goes religious around societies that the church and society there grows a and their names! Throughout the movement dubbed Christian femi- world millions of religious women nism which in turn gives rise to vari- are engaged in ministries of evange- ous kinds of feminist theologies. Of lization, education, health care, and course, Christian feminism did not social services. After the Second Vat- develop in a cultural vacuum. On ican Council (1962-65) lay Catholic the contrary, it owes much to the women have assumed positions of feminist movement, or women’s lib- non-sacramental leadership at the eration, which is inspired by the En- parish, diocesan, and Roman levels. lightenment with its promotion of In the Protestant churches, women reason, autonomy, freedom, equal- have been active in mission work, ity, and natural rights. Like the femi- medical care, teaching, and social nist movement, Christian feminism services. With very few exceptions, is originally a Western phenomenon Protestant churches have ordained of the nineteenth and twentieth cen- women to the diaconate, priesthood, and episcopacy---an issue we waves of its secular counterpart. In will consider with some detail be- broadturies strokes,and follows Christian the trajectory feminism oris low. This all-too-brief overview of initiated by white Western women, the history of women in Christianity 124 first Protestant (for example, the Grimké sisters, Sarah and Angelina, feminist theologians is now legion, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and So- voices of women of color, sexual minority (LGBQT), socially and eco- nomically marginalized groups, and Elizabethjourner Truth), Schüssler and then, Fiorenza, much Rosemore- geographical areas outside Europe maryrecently, Radford Catholic Ruether, (chiefly, MaryElizabeth Daly, and North America, have added their Johnson, Kari Elisabeth Borresen, own agenda and resources. As a re- and Catharina Halkes). To reclaim sult, there is now a variety of femi- their rightful positions and respon- sibilities in the church, Christian Asian, Latin American, postcolonial, feminists adopt a three-pronged ecofeminist,nisms (womanist, etc.), mujerista,forming a African, global method of interpretation of both symphony, at times a mindboggling the Scripture and Tradition: the her- cacophony, of theological voices. As a result, as the church without wom- their patriarchal and androcentric en is impossible, theology without meneutics of “suspicion” to unmask- feminism is blind. textsbias; and the events hermeneutics that have of enhanced “retriev An oustanding issue: women’s al” to re-appropriate their “usable” ordination - the full flourishing of women; and thesethe hermeneutics liberative sources of “reconstruc the whole two senses: ‘excellent’ and ‘remain- gamuttion” to of articulate, Christian ondoctrines the basis from of ing to be“Outstanding” dealt with.’ hereWomen’s is used ordi in- the perspective of women’s personal nation to ministry in its threefold of- and communal experience. Of primary concern to femi- an excellent place to discuss the is- nist Christians/Christian feminists suefice ofof womendeacon, in priest, Christianity and bishop and the is is the way in which human language various forms of institutional dis- and images are used to speak about crimination of women. On the other hand, while many churches have ac- (anthropology), ministry in the cepted the ordination of women to churchGod (theology), is organized “woman” (ecclesiology), is defined all the three ministerial ranks, it is moral, in particular sexual issues are still outlawed by some of the largest evaluated (ethics), and the Chris- tian faith is lived (spirituality). The as the Roman Catholic Church, the contributions of early feminists on Orthodoxand most influentialChurch and churches, many Evan such- these themes, while extraordinary, gelical Churches. represent mainly the concerns and Opponents to women’s ordi- experiences of the white, educated, nation, especially to the priesthood and privileged class. As feminism and the episcopacy, generally ad- spreads globally, and the number of vance three arguments. First, Chris- 125 has no authority whatsoever“The Church to confer priestly ordination on women and this

heldjudgment by all is the to Church’sbe definitively faith-

excommunica- tionful.” is Automatic incurred by the woman who is ordained and the bishop who ordains her. The Or- thodox Church also does not ordain women to the priesthood and the episcopacy, though historical arguments have been mar- tian tradition, the truth of which is shalled show- vouchsafed by God, has consistently ing that women have been ordained opposed it. Second, Jesus, whose at- to the diaconate (deaconess) in the titude toward women is one of wel- past and therefore this practice come and inclusion and who could should be re-installed today. have chosen women to be among his Proponents of women’s ordi- twelve apostles, did not do so. Third, - - ments mentioned above. First, even ifnation tradition have rejectedhas been the opposed three argu to whothere represents should be him, a “natural and only resema male women’s ordination — an assertion meetsblance” this between criterion. Jesus This and teaching the priest is that has been challenged by some authoritatively taught by Pope Paul historians — it does not follow that the church cannot change its posi- by Pope John Paul II who declares: VI126 in 1976 and reaffirmed in 1994 tion in this matter since it has made policies of the churches regarding changes in other, no less important women’s ordination, it remains one matters. Second, even if Jesus did not choose women to be among his be-resolved issues, especially in the twelve apostles, this decision does effortof the to“outstanding,” achieve the ecumenical that is, still-to- uni- not necessarily imply a doctrinal ty of all the churches of Christ. A re- prohibition against women’s ordina- lated issue, currently hotly debated, tion. The number 12 has a symbolic concerns the ordination of LGBQT. tribes of Israel, which the new com- Christianity has been tortuous, munitysignificance, of Jesus’s referring disciples, to the thattwelve is, painful,The but journeyat the end of hopeful. women Be in- ginning as equal disciples of Jesus - in the church, women are soon op- church, as a whole, and not just the pressed by a patriarchal, androcen- manytwelve women men who were were his calledmost faithful “apos tric, and misogynistic male leaders. disciplestles.” Also, who during remain Jesus’ with his ministry, under Monasticism, with virginity as a way of life, provides women with an op- to Jesus’ resurrection, and faithful portunity to escape male control, discipleshipthe cross and is arethe themost first important witness and many of them take advantage of - it to exercise leadership in their own community as quasi-bishops or in qualification for representing Je- lay communities beyond the control tweensus, both the officiallypriest and and Jesus unofficially. should of the clergy. Their independence is notThirdly, be restricted “natural resemblance”to maleness, and be soon drastically curtailed by the en- more precisely, male genitalia, since closure system, especially after the it is not evident that maleness and Council of Trent in the sixteenth cen- genitalia are the means by which Je- tury. Mary the prototypical saint in her alleged submissiveness and obe- Creed refers to the Word of God be- dience is proposed as the ideal for sus fulfilled his ministry. In fact, the womanhood. Eve as the prototypical homo, and not vir). ing made Given “human” the plausibility or “flesh” ofand these not “male”counterarguments, (the Latin and above all to precautionarysinner, punished tale for for being women “created who - dosecond not followand sinned the example first,” serves of Mary. as a tice and equality for all, almost all Virginity and clerical celibacy are therespond churches to God’s — exceptcall to theachieve Catholic jus considered as far superior to mar- Church and the Orthodox Church— riage, and married sex is seen as a have accepted the ordination of concession to human weakness and women, not only to the diaconate is tolerated only as a means for pro- but also to the priesthood and epis- creation. For married women Mary copacy. However, given the different Magdalen is held up as the model of 127 a repentant whore. Fortunately, the (Oxford: Oxford University Press, foundation of countless religious 2015). orders and societies with apostolic 2 See 1 Tim 2:11-14. life as their goal since the nineteenth 3 See John Henry Newman, On Consult- century abolishes enclosure and ing the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, unleashes the energy of millions of with an Introduction by John Coulson religious women for the ministry of (London: Sheed and Ward, 1961), 18- education, health care, and social 19. service throughout the globe. The 4 For surveys of women in Christian- feminist movement serves as a cata- ity, see the excellent trilogy of Mary lyst and a model for Christian wom- T. Malone, Women and Christianity: en to develop theologies and under- Volume 1: The First Thousand Years take activities to promote the full - Women and Christianity: Volume II: ings and as Christians for whom or- From(Maryknoll, 1000 to NY: The Orbis Reformation Books, (Mary 2001);- dinationflourishing must of womenbe open. as The human women’s be Women and Christianity: Volume III: From knoll,the Reformation NY: Orbis Books, to the 2001); 21st Century womanhood is not yet completed, butjourney without toward them full the andchurch complete would and Elizabeth A. Clark and Herbert look foolish and is simply and utterly Richardson,(Maryknoll, eds., NY: OrbisWomen Books, and Religion: 2003); impossible. The Original Sourcebook of Women in Christian Thought (New York: Harper- One, 1996). ______5 Quoted in Mary T. Malone, Women and Christianity, Volume II, 49. NOTES 6 Mary Malone, ibid., 68.

1 For surveys of women in religion, see Marianne Ferguson, Women and Re- ligion (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pren-

Encyclopedia of Women and World Re- ligiontice Hall, (New 1995); York: Serinity Macmillan Young, Library ed.,

Women and Religion (Oxford: Oxford Reference, 1998); Majella Franzmann, Fisher, Women in Religion (New York: University Press, 1999); Mary Pat Women and World Religions (Upper Pearson, 2006); Lucinda Joy Peach,

eds.,Saddle Women River: andNJ, 2012); Religious and Traditions Leona M. Anderson and Pamela Dickey Young, 128 129 Sophia, Androgyny and the Feminine in Franz von Baader’s Christian Theosophy

J. Glenn Friesen

hart, and he introduced Schelling Introduction to the theosophical ideas of Jakob Boehme. At least some of his ideas Although he is not well known were used by Goethe, A.W. Schlegel, today, Franz von Baader (1765- Kierkegaard, Nikolai Berdyaev, Cle- mens Brentano, Franz Brentano, and philosophy. He introduced Hegel to Max Scheler. the1841) mystical had a profoundideas of Meister influence Eck on- Baader was keenly interest- 130 ed in ecumenical dialogue among nothing to do with the occult the- Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox osophy popularized by Madame branches of Christianity. Baader Blavatsky in the late 19th century. was a Catholic, but he was critical of some Catholic dogmas, including the idea of papal primacy. Some ‘‘Theosophy’Sophia’). Christian means theosophers“the Wisdom like of twentieth century Catholic theologi- BaaderGod” (the believe Greek that word God for created Wisdom the is ans refer to him, and Pope Benedict world by means of Wisdom. They rely on Biblical texts such as Psalm of Cartesian rationalism.1 In Prot- 137:5, Proverbs 3:19, as well as on estantism,XVI praised Baader Baader forwas his an rejection impor- of Abraham Kuyper and Herman theosophersextra–canonical look literature for the expression such as tant influence on the neo-Calvinism- of“The God’s Book Wisdom of Wisdom.” within Christiancreation. terested in inter-faith dialogue, and They also attempt to see where crea- heDooyeweerd. compared Baaderhis ideas was to those also inof tion has fallen away from that Wis- other religions, including Judaism, dom (which is its ideal), and how its Islam and Hinduism. In the 1920’s, relation to Wisdom can be restored. there was a resurgence of interest in In its aim of restoration of the world Baader’s ideas. Today there is again and of humanity, Christian theoso- a renewed interest, especially in phy differs from those kinds of mys- comparing his Christian theosophy ticism and Gnosticism2 that seek to to mystical traditions. escape from the temporal world and The ideas of Sophia (Wisdom) from our body. and androgyny, as expressed in Baader’s Christian theosophy Baader’s Christian theosophy, were - 3 It stresses cism, and helped to focus attention thehas alsoimportance been called of lovea “Philosophy within the of onimportant the importance influences of the in Romantifeminine Godhead,Love” (Betanzos of love 1998). from God to hu- in Western religious thought. What mans, of love of humans towards is remarkable is that Baader’s ideas each other, and of love from humans did not come from Enlightenment ideas of equality of the sexes, but man is related to God determines rather from within the Christian howtowards he is temporalrelated to himself, reality. “Howto other a religious tradition itself. This is im- men, to his own nature, and to the portant, since it is often incorrectly - assumed that equality of the sexes spect to relations between men and cannot be achieved in religions that women,rest of nature”Baader aims (15,469). at a true With reci re- have not undergone a rationalist cri- procity between the two sexes, with tique similar to the Enlightenment the ultimate goal of restoring the Christian theosophy has original androgyny. 131 Anyone who reads Baader But this ‘begetting’ or ‘gen- will be immediately struck by the eration’ is not to be understood in complexity of his thought and the a sexually differentiated way, for such differentiation occurs only seeks to present his ideas in a sim- within the fallen creaturely world.5 difficulty of his language. This article The Father has both a generating volume and page numbers of Baad- masculine potency and a feminine er’splified Collected way. Page Works referencesWerke are to birth-giving potency. To understand this, we need to look at how Baader Divine Androgyny [ ]. views the Trinity, or what he often refers to as the divine ‘Ternar’ (tri- Androgyny is the idea that ad).6 There are three Persons within masculine and feminine were not initially sepa- For Baader, each Person of the Trin- rate from each other. Instead, these qualities ity has both masculine and feminine were combined in a uni- qualities. ty. There are feminine and masculine principles even with- the Trinity. But this does not mean in the Godhead (10,15). God should that there are three individual gods not be regarded as male, for that is or beings. There is only one divine a term resulting from division of the being. Baader explains this by saying sexes (Faivre 1994, 211).4 that the Trinity is really a Quaterni- God’s creation by Wisdom ty. The fourth element is not itself a does not mean that a male god cre- Person. Nor is it on the same level as ated with the help of a female god- the Trinity, but is rather the common dess. To speak of male gods and fe- source, the center of all three Per- male goddesses merely continues sons. He illustrates this by a triangle the separation of the sexes, instead with a dot in the center (15,190). of viewing them as a unity. Baader uses the term ‘Un- For Baader, each Person of Ungrund the Trinity has both masculine and the Trinity. He obtained this term, feminine qualities. The Father gen- andground’ most [ of his theosophical] for this center ideas, of from Jakob Böhme (1575-1624). It is

Holyerates Spirit or ‘begets’ is the theprocess Son (“the or act only of God (7,303fn). thatbegotten begetting. Son of The the Father”)Father is and divine the the mostBaader “inner” compares way of referring the Ungr to- will or thought (the inner Word), the und to the Kabbalistic idea of origi- Son is the expressed Word, and the nal unity, Ein Soph which he says is Holy Spirit is the activity, the power Dreieinfaches of God. to be distinguished from the subse- also threefold [ ], and 132 quent ten emanated powers or Se- tincture. Baader also uses St. Mar- phirot (3,384). The mystery of Kab- puis- balah turns on the relation between sances génératrices undivided androgynous generation tin’s termThere ‘generative is an eternal powers’ generation [ and the divided generation of the of the Son by the Father.] (12,396). This gen- two sexes. Just as the eye (as femi- eration or production requires an nine receptivity) yearns for the fruc- Äusseres tifying ray of light, so this ray seeks Godhead in which this generation is revealed.eternal outerness This outerness [ in the] in God the- seeks the open arms of his bride (15,169).this yearning, just as the bridegroom With respect to Islam, he says andhead yet is it God’s is distinguished Heaven, Dwelling from God. or that the Ungrund is not a numerical ItPlace; is a itnon-personal is not separated being fromin which God unity (as in the Koran’s emphasis)7, God enters and in which he gener- but it is a unity in the sense that eve- fassend zeugt Sophia or Wis- the one God, and has its being only dom.ates in How an individuating does Sophia, waythis external[ fromrything out that of, existsin and finds through its unityGod, in form of]. ThisGod, isarise? God’s whom it participates.8 The unity of Baader uses what he calls God is not a number, but rather the ‘speculative theology’ to describe invisible Factor or carrier of all num- this generative production. He de- bers (3,384ff). It is an original unity rives the word ‘speculative’ from Ureinheit - ‘specula’ or mirror. Within the Ungr- sity (Betanzos 1993, 59). The Trinity und, the feminine form-giving prin- [ ] at the basis of all diver for all of reality. desire in the masculine principle. and itsThe unified Ungrund center is the model Tociple desire acts isas toa “mirror”imagine. toThis reflect mirror the- active principle (God as a consuming of one principle of the Ungrund has both a fiery in the other is what Böhme called principle (God as merciful and lov- jungfrauliche ing).ing fire) These and are a passivethe original form-giving polar Matrix 10 the original congruence sexual differences.9 But Baader does theof virginity “virginal and Matrix” motherhood, [ which not use the word ‘sexual’ to describe Baader], sees as androgynous (3,385 these principles, since what is sexual fn). The three Persons of the Trinity is only what has become improper- both arise from and return to this ly separated in our temporal fallen image, in an eternal dynamic pro- world. Instead of ‘sexual,’ Baader cess. The Ungrund is the esoteric therefore uses the alchemical word ‘tincture’ to describe these polari- the center in order to then differen- ties (Faivre 1994, 204 fn12). There tiate“One” again that by by evolution involution within becomes and is both a masculine and a feminine from out of itself (2,390; 4,214).133 The being-One of the Trinity must be un- phia is the mirror of God, and in turn, derstood in this twofold direction, of the world is mirror of Sophia. Sophia unfolding itself from out of one be- contains the archetypes and ideals ing but then entering it again. for all of creation, in a potential form Baader relates the word that is to be realized. God’s emanant production in creation is distin- the word ‘imagination.’ There is an guished from the immanent produc- in-maginingmagic [magie] by to the ‘image’ Persons as wellof the as tion within the Godhead (10,7). It Trinity in the image, and a continual seems to me that this matrix of ar- development of the image. The im- chetypes may be compared to the age is of the entire Trinity, and this image is the Wisdom of God, Sophia, as described by Henry Corbin (Cor- binmundus 1969). imaginalis in Sufi thought 3,392fn). 11 Baader sees many similarities also calledBetanzos the Heavenly says Eye (1, 300; between Boehme and Hinduism, or what he calls ‘Brahmanism’ in order …the personal Godhead reveals itself to distinguish it from later Hindu- ism. Original Brahmanism was not and the formative idea in accordance through her. She is the “organ” of God pantheistic but monotheistic (2,301 fn).12 Brahmanism distinguished be- with which he acts (2,288; 9,24. Sophia tween an interior male solar power - is “the mirror and the eye of God or the and an exterior lunar female power, part to Plato’s Idea, the Hebrew Sophia, first idea of God” (15,447, the counter united in one being. There is a mar- Maya riage of the fructifying power of the the Maja [ ] of India, and Jacob Father and the generating power of - Böhme’s Magie (9,182; see also 9,219). the Mother. The interior power is Sophia is called “the matrix of all primi verbum tive patterns” (4, 200) and “heavenly - be confused with Mary, Christ’s mother Virgin” (8,91; 13,18); but she is not to malethe unspoken power is Wordthe spoken, [Latin ‘breathed’; (15,449). God’s power is an instrument French ‘verbe’]vox andparole the external fe of his wisdom (Sophia) (2,247), which Baader refers to the spoken mediates all God’s actions (Betanzos out Word [‘ ’; ‘ ’] (1,299). 1998, 154). Aristophanes interpreted ‘ - this as man and woman glued together māyā callyWord, relates the “breathed the Hindu out” idea Sophia of as (Betanzos 1998, 154) māyā ’ (1,299; 12,483). He specifi Baader’s comparison to Pla- to imagination, our immediate ‘mag- to’s Ideas does not mean that he Anschauung shares Plato’s view that we need to not mean to suggest that divine Wis- ical’ intuition [ ]. He does escape from the temporal world. dom is an illusion. He distinguishes it from a deceiving kind of māyā The Wisdom of God, the matrix of 13 divine Ideas, is the basis for he crea- There may be some comparison with Kashmir Shaivism, tion of the world and humanity. So- (8,277; 14,94). 134 which refers to māyā as the power or phia appears as a man to the woman, shakti of Brahman. The world is illu- and as a woman to the man.16 sion only when it is thought of apart Nor is Sophia the same as from Brahman (Friesen 2015b). Mary, the mother of Jesus. But be- Although Baader says that cause Mary was receptive to Wis- Wisdom is the archetype for crea- dom, she was able to give birth to Je- tion, it is not itself a part of creation. sus without the help of a man. Mary There is no pantheism in Baader’s is the converse of Adam, who was theosophy. For God did not have to created androgynous with the ability create in order to know himself. to reproduce without sexual organs. There was already a dynamic pro- Baader comments that this androgy- cess of knowing, imagining and self- nous begetting is why art depicting manifestation within the Godhead.14 the Madonna does not show Mary in With respect to this immanent a sexual way (3,385). production (within the Godhead), Sophia there is androgyny within each Per- Christ, the creative Word (10, 342- son of the Trinity. The Producer lives 43). Sophia relates is thethe Word “helper” to cre of- within his product. So whoever sees ated nature. Betanzos says, the Son, sees the Father in him. But Sophia can stand above nature, or begin at the same time, this product also to penetrate it, or have actually pen- lives within its producer, so whoever sees him sees him in the mother. moments magical, lively and bodily Pater in Filio, filius in Matre (10,10- etrated it. He [Baader] calls these three 11). The mother is , the place Sophia fn28). of reproduction, neither creator nor (4, 279ff;Baader 9, 24ff)also (Betanzos opposes 1998 154the created.15 Gnostic idea that Sophia is a fallen aeon or emanation from God. Rath- Sophia er, it is humanity that has fallen from Sophia. is therefore the mirror- Sophia ing or image of the entire Ternar. But Human Androgyny Sophia is not a fourth Person within the Trinity. Nor is she a goddess, or 1. Wrong ideas about androgyny Sophia is produced, but a) Hermaphroditism God’s “wife.” contrasted with the Father, who is a Betanzos outlines the early is not a producer (Person); she is producer, but not produced (2,530). history of the idea of androgyny in Sophia is neither male nor fe- the early Christian Church, in patris- male, but contains the perfection of tic sources such as Gregory of Nyssa and John Scotus Eriugena, in Jew- Sophia’s dealings with humanity, So- ish midrashic texts, and then in the both sexes (3,303; 9,211-12). But in 135 Renaissance and later Romanticism garding androgyny is anti-feminine: (Betanzos 1998, 168-9). Baader ob- that the woman is an incomplete tained the idea of androgyny primar- man, and must become male. Some ily through the Kabbalah, although in the early church believed this, as he was also aware of Plato’s myth evidenced by the Gospel of Thomas, (Betanzos 1998, 177). In the Sym- where Jesus is represented as say- posium, Plato speaks of the primeval ing that he will make Mary male so human as androgynous. Others cari- that she might enter the Kingdom of catured this as a being with two sets of sexual organs, or as hermaphro- 217). But this is not Baader’s view. ditism. But that is not what is meant Heaven (DeConick, 78-83, Ruether, by ‘androgyny’. In fact, Baader says it d) “Marriage” with Christ or Sophia Our relation to Sophia is not means b)the Asceticism opposite (9,136; 14, 141). to be viewed in a sexual sense, as Jesus was asked about a wom- some foolish mystics have supposed an who had married again after oth- (3,303). To regain our original an- er husbands had died. Who would drogynous image does not mean a be her husband in heaven? Jesus re- marriage or union with Christ in a plied that in heaven we are like the sexual sense, but rather the suspen- angels, neither marrying nor being sion of our animal masculinity and given in marriage (Luke 20:27-40). animal femininity (10,247 fn). Some members of the early church took these words of Jesus to mean 2. Humans as Image of God that we should attempt to become a) Participation in Sophia

55-7)angels This in this ascetic life; viewpoint chastity becameis anti- as the image of God. This means that marriage.the model to emulate (DeConick, 49, this personThe first was human created was with created the But Baader opposed ascetic presence of Sophia in him, and that practices. He was married (twice), he was created androgynous (Betan- and wrote a considerable amount zos 1998, 98). Humans were created about love and marriage (see be- as God’s image, not in half an image low). He said that any true spiritu- as man or wife (9,210 fn). ality requires our embodiment. A As bearers of God, humans center always requires a nature in were to send this image into the which to express itself, and even God world (Faivre 2000, 147). They were has a nature. intended to be the mediators between God and the world. The pres- c) Female must become male ence of Sophia enables humans to be A third incorrect way of re- creative and fruitful for the whole 136 universe (2,418). There was an ability to procreate without two distinct third, Eros, to whom they have sub- sexes (9,212). But as a result of the people are subjected to a higher fall into sin, humans were divided 413). A Higher Being loves himself into two separate sexes, and given throughjected themselves the lovers (1,232;(1,61). 187, Love161; of9, physical means of procreation. our neighbour is based on our love Humans were intended to of God (5,230). We love each other participate in Sophia, and apply her only in and through a third (Betan- Wisdom to help redeem temporal zos 1998, 163). reality. The incarnate Christ showed Love requires humility, the mutual self-emptying is therefore the mirroring or im- Entselbigung Sophia lovers, in mutual sub- age of the entire Ternar. But Sophia is ordination[ to] the of oth the- not a fourth Person within the Trinity. er (9,269). This is not something they can do by themselves. It is Sophia is neither male nor female, but only when each gives Norcontains is she the a goddess,perfection or of God’s both “wife.” sexes. ... himself entirely to God that God gives the other completely to each us the true, androgynous image of of them. This is related to Baader’s God. Baader interprets Gal. 3:28 in idea of organicism: the relatedness - of each of us to a center. The reason tinctions between Jew and Greek, that we do not dominate another slavethis way, and “And free man,there male are no and more female, dis person is that we are both members of one organism (10,286-7). Love is a task to be per- but all of you are one in Christ Jesus” formed. There are stages of love. (9, 212;b) 10, Love 247 fn). Where there is division, there needs Baader wrote two essays to be reconciliation. He says that sin Sünde - 17 Sonderung Propositionson love: “Propositions taken from takena Religious from [ Baader] comes says from that “putting woman asun is a Philosophy of Love” and “Forty- der” [ ] (4,168). - Philosophy of Love.” In these es musicsuperior sounds to man more in love. exquisitely She is “the in 2000,says, Baader235). He “embraces relates religion the femi and custodian of love” and “heavenly love.nine Love in everydayis not a mere life” emotional (Versluis relation. The essence of love is un- pointthe hearts here seems of women to be thanthat a of woman men” ion and harmonization, where two generally(15,626). reacts Betanzos more says, spontaneous “Baader’s- 137 ly to a man’s personhood as a whole herself from her womanliness (as in- completeness), and woman, in turn, Men tend to see things and others as should help man, so that in both of athan means he reactsto an end. to her A woman personhood.” arous- them the full primal image of man es lust in a man unconsciously, but gives love consciously and knowing- When Adam fell, he lost the female ly (Betanzos 1998, 226). will inwardly emerge again” (3,306). Eve left behind the male part. When c) Marriage rebirthpart of takes the virginal place, the image, same justVirgin as Baader believed in the insti- appears as female to the man and tution of marriage. He had two chil- as male to the woman, although the Virgin is intrinsically neither male he married a second time to Marie Robel,dren by who his wasfirst 50wife. years After younger. she died, So there is in Baader no idea of celibacy nor female”d) Sexual (3,308 desire fn) or ascetic opposition to marriage. Baader is ambivalent with But although he was not opposed respect to sexual desire. On the one to marriage, he reimagined its purpose. He wrote to his young wife on that matter and marriage are them- Sept 16, 1839: selveshand, heevil rejects (7,229). the On Gnostic the other view hand, Baader sometimes seems to …I feel bound to you, not through earth- depreciate the sexual act. He says that sexual love is The aim of marriage is to rein- initially a blessing. Love produces tegrate both husband and wife ecstasy, a being-outside oneself into the original androgynous (14,313). There is a self-emptying integrity of the image of God. of oneself, and an existence in the other (Betanzos 1998, 273). Lov- ersbeloved, ought a to finding consider of oneselfsuch rapture in the ly desire, but rather through authentic or ecstasy as a summons to become love, which truly marries the lover to inwardly what they imagined they the beloved, and which for me is the were in the infatuation of early love, true sacrament (cited Versluis 2000, when they imagined the other as 236). The aim of marriage is to re- better than he or she is in reality. Our integrate both husband and wife into the original androgynous integ- what we may become (androgynous first love shows us the possibility of rity of the image of God (7,234-8). wholeness) (4,168). This is a goal that transcends time. But there are other passages That is why marriage is a sacrament. where Baader does not value sexual desire. He says other kinds of ecsta-

“Man138 should help woman to free sies of the heart can silence sexual desire (7,233). Copulation is the op- Other uses of androgyny in Baad- er the highest manifestation of egoism posite of an act of union or love; it is 238). And an embrace shows more of androgyny (March 1787) was not love(Betanzos than does 1998, the 191; sexual Faivre act, 1994,since in a sexualBaader’s sense, first but use in of reference the idea the embrace seeks to unite with the to the unity of the eternal and the heart of the beloved (Faivre 1994, temporal. Humans are composite 238). beings, both temporal and eternal 139 (in the sense of a created eternity (14,485). Some other similarities to materialism and what he called Romanticism are Baader’s stress on above time). Baader rejected both the uniqueness of the individual, the interest in alchemy, magnetism and “spiritualism.” Materialism reduces other parapsychological phenomena body.everything But there to can the be physical no spirituality body; (belief that spirit and nature are in- withoutspiritualism a body. rejected Even God the is physicalembod- terdependent), and his emphasis on ied (Betanzos 1998, 98). androgyny. (Betanzos 1998, 171). There is also an androgyny But Baader also differed from in nature, since there is a polarity in Romanticism. He did not give the all existing things. Opposite forces - in nature are androgynous, as is the ings. Although one may not elevate character of energy as both action reasonsame importance over feeling, to neither subjective may feel one and reaction (Betanzos 1998, 172- elevate feeling over reason. And in 4). Rationalism is an absolutization of the Baader and Roman- masculine tincture. It lacks femininity ticism in its refusal to be receptive in relation Romantic writ- to God. ers stressed the special contributions that both men place of Romanticism’s emphasis on and women make. Some women like Caroline Schlegel, Bettina von Arnim the givenness of creation that pre- - the subjective, Baader emphasized This givenness is given by God’s law and(Betanzos Dorothea 1998, Schlegel 170, 196). provided ex (cedesGesetz any) by subjective which we areresponse placed to (ge it.- amplesThe of key “the to new the entire female Roman ideal”- setzt) in the world. tic worldview is the organic idea, the belief that reality is a living whole, Baader and the Enlightenment diverse characteristics and func- The Enlightenment also em- all members of which–despite their powered women, in emphasizing common center and through that the equality of men and women. It totions–are each other. immediately (Betanzos related 1998, to32- a differed from Romanticism in its 3). Baader emphasized this organic emphasis on reason. Men and wom- view of reality, which relates a cent- en are equal in that they both poser to a periphery, a head to its limbs. sess the faculty of reason (Betanzos 1998, 196). But Baader opposed the ideas “All things reach out toward the heart140 of God as toward their center” of the Enlightenment. His organi- some instances where, despite his cism opposed the Enlightenment’s emphasis on androgyny and equiva- mechanistic view of nature. He op- lence of the sexes, he seems to sub- - ordinate women. This argument is mainly based on one passage where Kant.posed19 the “autonomy” and “absolu he says that a woman has no name tization” of reason in Descartes and of her own, since she (considered as Descartes is famous for his married to her husband) has no per- rationalistic starting point, “I think, sonality of her own (4,235 fn). And therefore I am.” Baader changes this- he says that a woman is superior to to “I am thought (by God); therefore I man in being the bearer of the image weam.” are Or awarebetter ofyet, being “I am loved loved, by there God, wefore also I am” have (8,339 the power fn). And not because only to only conscious of this image through love God in return, but to love one’s thethat help inflames of the his awakening desire. But power she of is self, others, and the world (8, 230). man and therefore inferior to man Rationalism is an absoluti- (2,256 fn). zation of the masculine tincture. Those passages are indeed It lacks femininity in its refusal to problematic. To some extent, they be receptive in relation to God. For can be accounted for by the social Baader, our knowledge is not based and historical context of his time. on reason alone. Instead, Baader These ideas are inconsistent with regarded reason, feeling, emotions, his general emphasis on the impor- sense perception, and physical bodi- tance of androgyny and equivalence ly characteristics as peripheral func- of the sexes. But although Baader’s tions that are all governed by the orientation is male-dominated, his views on the role of imagination and He makes a parallel between the Un- love, and on actualizing God’s image grundcenter asof centerour existence, of the divine our “heart.”Ternar, and androgynous integrity, revive and the heart as the center of the hu- insights that had been lost in the ra- man Ternar of spirit, soul and body. tionalism of the Enlightenment. Few Our reason, although important, is Christian philosophers have written not autonomous or elevated above as much regarding mutual loving our other functions. relationships within marriage. His ideas on androgyny and spiritual re- Critique of Baader lationships have had a powerful impact on ideas of love, marriage and Are Baader’s views still too friendship both in German Romanti- male-oriented? Faivre says that cism and German Idealism (Betan- there is no indication that a real fe- zos 1998, 205). ideas (Faivre 1994, 273). There are male human being influenced these 141 Summary female aspect or tincture. Humanity, as the image of God, was created an- Unlike some forms of Gnostic drogynous, but split into two sexes thought, Baader does not view di- as a result of falling away from divine vine Wisdom or Sophia as a separate Wisdom. The purpose of marriage is Person in addition to the Trinity. Nor for each partner to help the other is she a goddess.20 The Godhead is to re-attain this original androgyny not to be viewed as a combination and to regain the lost connection to of gods and goddesses. Sophia is the Wisdom or Sophia. Through Sophia, image of the entire Trinity. However, humans also have the responsibility each member of the Trinity is an- of aiding the rest of creation to re- drogynous, having both a male and attain its original integrity. 142 Herman Dooyeweerd (Calgary: Ae- Bibliography vum Books).

Baader, Franz Xavier von (1987): Friesen, J. Glenn (2015b): Abhishik- Werke, ed. Franz Hoffmann (Aalen: tananda (Henri Le Saux): Christian Nondualism and Hindu Advaita (Cal- 1855). gary: Aevum Books) (forthcoming). Scientia Verlag,; originally published Jung, C.G. (1982): Aspects of the Fem- inine (Princeton: Bollingen). DieBetanzos, Philosophie, Ramón Theologie (1993): “Franz und gno von- sisBaaders Franz Philosophievon Baaders: der Spekulatives Liebe,” in Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal (Pope Denken zwischen Aufklärung, Restau- Benedict XVI) (2004): Introduction ration und Romantik, ed. Peter Ko- to Christianity, 2d ed. (San Francis- slowski (Vienna, Passagen Verlag). German, Einführung in das Christen- Betanzos, Ramón (1998): Franz von co:tum Ignatius, Kösel-Verlag, Press, Munich).first published in Baader’s Philosophy of Love (Vienna: Passagen Verlag). Ruether, Rosemary R. (1987): Chris- tianity, in Women in World Religions, Corbin, Henri (1969): Alone with the ed. Arvind Sharma (Albany: State Alone: Creative Imagination in the University of New York Press). Sūfism of Ibn ‘Arabī (Princeton: Bol- lingen). Versluis, Arthur (1994): Theosophia: Hidden Dimensions of Christianity Holy Mi- (Hudson: Lindisfarne Press). sogyny: Why the Sex and Gender Con- flictsDeConick, in the April Early D. Church (2011): Still Matter Versluis, Arthur (2000): Wisdom’s (New York: Continuum). Book: The Sophia Anthology (St. Paul: Paragon House). Faivre, Antoine (1994): Access to ______Western Esotericism (Albany: State University of New York). NOTES

Faivre, Antoine (2000): Theosophy, 1 The Catholic theologians Hans Urs von Imagination, Tradition (Albany: Balthasar, Henri de Lubac and Erich Pr- State University of New York). zywara relied on Baader in overcoming scholastic dualism. And Pope Benedict Friesen, J. Glenn (2015a): Neo-Cal- vinism and Christian Theosophy: consciously and quite rightly, changed specifically praised him: “… Baader, Franz von Baader, Abraham Kuyper, Cogito, ergo sum - the Cartesian “ ” into “Cogitor, ergo sum”: not “I think,143 there 1994, 207, 210). Faivre also refers to L.P. Xella, who says that even within canfore Ihis am, knowledge but “I am thought, and he therefore himself each of the two tinctures, there is beI am.” understood Only from (Ratzinger, man’s being-known 184-85). a feminine and a masculine aspect. There is therefore a ‘quadrapolarity’ 2 Elaine Pagels cautions that the term within the Ungrund (Faivre 1994, 204). ‘Gnosticism’ should be used care- fully. But we need to distinguish 10 Sophia is called ‘Virgin’ because Baader’s Christian theosophy from she does not give birth to any- those historical sources that (1) seek 1998, 159). Or because virgin- seek the origin of evil within God. itything is integrity corporeal (androgyny) (9,26; (12,281). Betanzos to flee from temporal reality and (2) 3 Betanzos 1998 is the best introduction 11 See the discussion of the Sophianic to Baader’s work in English. I have used mirror in Boehme (Faivre 2000, 138). his translations for some of the quotations from Baader. My own translations 12 Baader interprets the Vedic saying can be found on my website: http:// www.members.shaw.ca/jgfriesen/ sense, but rather in the sense that all phenomena“That art thou” of nature not in express a pantheistic some- 4 English has no pronoun for the thing human. Some neo-Hindus and androgynous. Nor would it be Western commentators also see a proper to use the neuter pro- distinction between the oldest Hindu noun ‘it.’ ‘He’ and ‘him’ should not traditions and later over-conceptual- be understood in a male sense. ization of these ideas (Friesen 2015b).

5 Contrast this with the Greek stories 13 As an example of deceptive maya, he of gods and goddesses, or the Hindu worship of lingam and yoni (3,211). Sophia with the Serpent (2,278 fn). refers to the Orphics, who identified 14 We may contrast this with Schelling, within humans (spirit, soul and who had no doctrine of Sophia, and 6 body)Baader and finds within other nature, examples but who held that God’s center was within the Trinity is the original Ternar. the world, and that God had to create of necessity (Betanzos 1998, 43). 7 But see discussion of the idea of ‘mundus imaginalis 15 See discussion in Faivre 1994, 209-11. discussed below. It is possible to give a more than ’merely in Sufi numerical thought, 16 There are similarities to C.G. Jung’s idea meaning to Islam’s idea of one God. of the image of the anima within men and the animus within women. But Teilnahme we know that Jung had read Baader. God does not in any way mean be- 8 This participationTeil [ )] in 17 1,163-200. English translation in Betanzos 1998, 209-288. coming part [ ] of God in any 18 This is similar to neo-Hinduism’s 9 pantheisticIn Boehme, there way is(12,205; no such dualism 2,399). in the Ungrund - idea of tat tvam asi curs only in its manifestation (Faivre Vivekananda introduced the idea to [That art thou]. 144 ; the differentiation oc inneo-Hinduism, Bombay on butFebruary he was 25 influenced 1893 on tatby Paultvam Deussen,asi as the who foundation gave a lectureof eth-

by Boehme, whom he described as ics. Deussen was in turn influenced-

in“a Kiel religious on May and 8, philosophical1897 and wrote ge aboutnius.” him He gaveJakob a Böhme: lecture Über on Boehmesein Le- ben und seine Philosophie (Kiel 1923). 19 He turned Kant’s transcendental critique against Kant’s own ideas (Friesen 2015a).

20 Sophia only takes on characteristics of personality when it acts

(Betanzos 1998 92, citing 7, 34fn). on objects outside the Godhead

145 The Indescribable Sophia and the Semiotics of Gender: A Brief Excursion

Elizabeth Zelensky So- Who or what is the Fiery phia the Wisdom of God has long Faced Angel, sitting crowned and en- The mysterious figure of throned between the Theotokos and lapsing occasionally into hetero- St. John the Precursor, as depicted doxy,been in the the subjectEastern Orthodox of speculation, world. - As late as 1935 Father Sergius Bul- phia fresco located in the Novgorod gakov, one of the leading Russian above in this fifteenth-century So theologians of the twentieth century tell us about the semiotics of power was accused of heresy for his writ- andKremlin? gender? And what can this figure 1 The scriptural foundation the present it remains a source of for the image of Sophia the Wisdom inspirationings on Divine for Wisdom.new ideas Downand im to- of God rests predominantly on two ages, carrying a special attraction for those with an antipathy towards binary ontologies.2 Jewstexts: and St. foolishness Paul’s definition to the ofGreeks… Christ 146 crucified as “a stumbling block to the but …unto them who are called, both established hierarchies. Simultane- Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of ously, Wisdom is portrayed as the Cor- inthians 1:23-24), and, on Proverbs 8 patterning of reality arising outside andGod 9and where the Wisdom isof presented God” (I as man-madejoyous source categories. of creativity, As the eternal of the companion of God, Wisdom accom- implications of God’s Providence. panies him as he decrees the limits an allegorical female figure, carrying of earth, sea and sky. Ambiguities The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. companionof gender – in Christ was is Incarnated of a femi- I was set up from everlasting, from the Proverbs nineand crucified gender inas thea male, Greek while Old God’s Tes- beginning, or ever the earth was…When he prepared the heavens I was there, androgynous persona, blurring out- when he set a compass upon the face of linestament and – categories, shadow Wisdom creating with an im an- the depth…When he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass potency. Emperor Justinian chose his commandment, when he appointed toage embody of great this semiotic concept flexibility, in the main and the foundations of the earth. Then I was church of Byzantium, the by him…and I was daily his delight, re- Hagia So- phia/Holy Wisdom, built in 564 CE. The presence of Wisdom cathedrals joicing always before him, rejoicing in modeled on the Byzantine proto- delight was with the sons of men. (Prov- the habitable part of his earth; and my type in widely-scattered cities of erbs 8:22-13 ). the Eastern Christian world, such as Novgorod, Polotsk, Kiev, Vologda, And in Proverbs 9:1: Nish, and Trebizond, gave concrete form to the link between Wisdom Wisdom hath builded her house, she and political sovereignty. This con- hath hewn out seven pillars. She hath nection between sovereignty and killed her beasts, she hath mingles her androgyny is also foregrounded in wine, she hath furnished her table… among the most well-known of whichseveral is Orthodoxthe canon liturgicalof Cosmos texts;Mai- uma, sung at matins on Holy Thurs- Proverbs 9 further develops the day, which uses the premise of an- The “house” metaphor in theme of oikonomi or orderly house- drogyny as its anchoring metaphor: hold management writ large, on a cosmic scale, in Proverbs 8. The inscrutable Wisdom of God/ Built of the wise and the wisdom of the her house out of a pure and ever-Virgin- foolish Wisdom–in St. Paul’s as theFirst foolishness Epistle to Mother/ For Christ our Lord having as- the Corinthians - is a challenge to 3 sumed a fleshly temple, was glorified.147 She is the strong wall of your defense Below is presented a brief Though she is incapable of leading analysis of how this image was used

Alekseevna of Russia, half-sister to troopsHer mind in theis virile field and victorious, Peterby a I female and regent ruler- from Princess 1682-1689 Sofia4 And through its many gifts truly mirac- - to bolster her claims to political le- ulous. gitimacy. Two texts from her reign will clarify the chief aspects of this arise, praxis of sophic androgyny. Through her generosity marble edifices

shrines. Oh how divine wisdom shines in the With an open hand she has glorified royal visage Thus Semiramis dwelt on the banks of the Euphrates Oh how honor does sparkle in her eyes and lips The works she created remain memora- ble through the ages. It is she, oh Russia, who has been prom- ised to you of old, Elizabeth of Britain also bore the scep- ter. ... Pulcheria was also blessed with a great 148 mind, rulers separately referenced an ac- Oh Russia, revered by many kingdoms, tual accomplishment of the Russian

You stand preserved through this pious among them Moscow's New Maid- one’s prayers. ensregent; Convent her building - thus Semiramis,activities, chief her wish to be crowned in her own right- As a single woman wield- thus Elizabeth I, and her prowess ing the highest power in patriar- in theological debate with the Old Believer schismatics-thus Pulche- unprecedented phenomenon and ria. Together all three embodied the couldchal Russia neither Sofia be Alekseevna represented was nor an paradox of a virile mind in a female acknowledged within the tradition- body. Elizabeth I famously declared, al discourse of Russian monarchic on the eve of the Spanish Armada in- imagery which was centered on the vasion, that though she had the frail analogy of Christ- in- heaven echoed body of a woman, encased in it were by tsar- on- earth. Thus one of the ‘the heart and stomach of a man, and a King of England at that,’ while a representational paradigm within Semiramis was known not only as whichregent's her first rule tasks could was be to expressed. establish a builder of cities, but as a warrior- - queen and the usurper of her son’s came the radical metaphor at the throne. Besides her theological de- And Sophia, or Divine Wisdom be fense of Orthodoxy, Pulcheria was The panegyric inscription the embodiment of the Byzantine quotedheart of this above project. marked a revolu- - tion in Russian court life. Through titude and sovereignty - both male this and other court poems Prin- characteristics.cult of royal virginity An altar – thus in ofHagia rec Sofia was dedicated by Pulcheria to her own virginal status, as a meto- becess publicly Sofia Alekseevna acknowledged became as such. the nymic expression of the security of Thefirst poemfemale was ruler published in Russia as to a becom to- the realm.5 mentary on what was to have been the coronation portrait of the regent, to be distributed as a broad- the discourse Sofia Alekseevnaof absolute monarchy was not evolvedalone in andher semioticmatured difficulties.the necessity As for creating a system of symbols ca- threesheet prototypesamong her subjects.for female After rule theare pable of expressing female rule and presentedinitial invocation - the legendary of Divine architectWisdom, - by metonymic analogy - female of the hanging gardens of Babylon, sovereignty became increasingly apparent. The physical presence on the queen regnant, Elizabeth I of Britain, political stage of sixteenth and sev- Semiramis , a near–contemporary- enteenth-century Europe of Marga- press, Pulcheria. Each of the three and the fifth- century Byzantine em 149 Photo courtesy of Kim Lin Lim ret of Parma, Anne of Austria and the wicz using this citation from James I two Medici queens in France, Mary of Britain : "That which concerns the of Scotland, Christina of Sweden, mysteries of the Kings Power it is Britain's Elizabeth I and Mary II as 7 or, since the king’s power comes from God it a shift in monarchic imagery.6 The isnot unquestionable lawful to be disputed,” because it is inde- wellparadigm as Princess of absolutism Sofia necessitated always had - an essential male at its core, through ers only strengthened the govern- which the female ruler, whether she ment’sfinable, claim and vice to be versa. a sacred Female mystery. rul was a married or unmarried daugh- The dynamic of gender rein- ter, a widowed regent or a consort forced absolutist monarchy's urge had to present herself. Thus she was towards exclusiveness and exem- forced to identify herself with inter- - - traordinaryplarity; the and monarch's excessive claim in beauty, to be thetextual patriarchal and interstitial paradigm. spaces This prag– an- intellect,different fromfairness, his subjects,courage, toand be poex- maticdrogynous necessity, and conveniently undefined- within over- tential reached the ultimate heights lapped with the theoretical heart of heterogeneity and therefore, to- tality, when expressed through the "zone of silence" which contained form of a female body. While the itsof absolutism;sacred essence, the as "mysterium" pointed out by or access of women to the realm of the great medievalist Ernst Kantoro- sovereignty was haphazard and un- 150 systematic within the discourse of of God was honored in Russia from early modern absolutism, the unu- 8 sual nature of their achievement This sermon was never delivered, thehowever, late fifteenth-century because political onwards. events in the early modern monarchic para- Moscow had outpaced Rimskii-Kor- digmonce theyof exceptionalism had gained the verythrone well. fit sakov's imagery. On August 7, 1689, Sovereignty, clothed in all too frail - cow Kremlin to the Trinity Monas- rhetorical paradox, and thus became tery,the young where Peter he raised I fled fromthe banner the Mos of doublyfeminine compelling flesh created as anan irresistible image for revolt. Within a few days the whole- the paradox-prone panegyrics of the sale defection of the gentry militia late Renaissance and the Baroque. and foreign regiments to his side The female ruler intrinsically had to marked his victory over the regent. lay claim to an androgynous identity, - en and a sermon in which the regent, which could bridge the gap between Sofia Alekseevna’s regency had fall herto define uniquely herself individual through capacities symbols - and the traditionally patriarchal dis- tyby which way of legitimized Divine Wisdom the rule imagery, of her course of early modern monarchic twowas co-rulers, identified brothers, with that Peter sovereign I and Ivan V, and was tactless, at best, and such a symbol. consequently shelved by the abbot. legitimacy. Divine Wisdom was one Though never pronounced in public, we may use it to further elucidate Question: "What is the hidden mystery - which represents the kingdom of Rus- dom imagery and the discourse of sia?" earlythe connection modern absolutistbetween Divine monarchy, Wis Answer: "The hidden, sacred mystery both in Russia and in the West. concerning the Russian Muscovite king- Rimsky-Korsakov introduces dom is directly revealed through the im- the sermon by citing I Corinthians age of the holy indescribable Sophia the -

by2:9-15,"But none." These he that words, is spiritual according judg to Divine Wisdom of God's Word.” These lines are taken from a Kanterowicz,es all things, form yet himself the basis is for judged the court sermon cum panegyric writ- concept of sovereignty in the West.9 The sermon then continues: Ignatii Rimsky-Korsakov of Novo- Spasskiiten for Monastery, Princess Sofiain 1689, by to Abbot cel- "The hidden sacred mystery concern- of the Virgin, August 15, the feast ing the Russian kingdom is directly dayebrate which the occasionmarks the of earthly the Dormition demise revealed through the icon of the sign, of the Theotokos which is the holy, indescribable Sophia day upon which Sophia the Wisdom , and the official the Divine Wisdom of God's Word151 - the guardian angel of the great sovereign - ing the doors to the regent's audi- Alekseevna, along with her brothers crownence hall, was painted one of twothere figures at her flank spe- lady, our tsarevna and princess Sofia the great sovereigns tsars and grand dukes, Ioann Alekseevich and Peter - . seevnacific request was ina turning1686. point in the development The regency of Russian of Sofia state Alek im- Alekseevich, the autocrats of all Russia” - agery. It was during these years narchic imagery appears in this that the government sponsored a passage.A majorFirst, shiftthe regent'sin Russian saint’s mo day was not August 15, as stated by sanctioned poetic discourse used to Rimsky-Korsakov- it was Septem- transformation within the officially ber 17, the feast of the martyr Saint legitimate monarchy in Russia. The - express and justify the principle of dezhda and Liubov (Faith, Hope and its position as key trope within the Charity).Sofia and The her abbot daughters, had consciously Vera, Na systemfigure of of Christ monarchic was de-emphasized, imagery sup- elided the difference planted by representations of So- - "The hidden, sacred mystery concern- dom (Sophia) and ing the Russian Muscovite kingdom is thebetween Roman Divine martyr Wis and Christian saint directly revealed through the image of - the holy indescribable Sophia - phasize the regent's uniquenessSofia in order and to thus, em phia the Wisdom of God. The the clue Di vine Wisdomto theof God'sfunction Word.”of Wisdom imagery thissovereignty; time in Russia, while therecertainly were none other of within the changing political dis- themwomen could bearing claim the Wisdom name "Sofia" as their at course of late seventeenth-century patron saint. Secondly, and perhaps Russia lies in the contrast between more importantly, this sermon re- the uncircumscribed and intersti- veals the fact that the mimetic, met- tial quality of Wisdom, which, as onymic dependence of the Russian God's Providence, imbues and per- monarchy on the anthropomorphic image of Christ has been replaced by and limited nature of the anthropo- morphicmeates all Christ creation, as trope,and the anchored defined a sexually androgynous, ambiguous, through corporeality of Incarnation andanother abstract image- metaphor. by Divine We Wisdom can as - "mystery of Muscovy" which Rim- skii-to a specific Korsakov time, praised place andin hissex. pan The- fromsume the that fact Sofia that Alekseevna Purity as a activelymaiden wearingidentified the herself eight-turreted with this Sophic image be a variation on the same "mystery egyric for Sofia Alekseevna seems to 152 Photo courtesy of Guillaume Piolle

of sovereignty" theme, advocated by King James in London. Peter I's abstraction and de-personalization, adoption of his sister's Wisdom im- expressedshift to a higherthrough level the of interstitial figurative agery as an attribute of his Western- paradoxes of androgynous Sophia, izing Enlightener persona, through echoed the ever-expanding powers an elision of the classical Western of the modern state, both in Russia wisdom imagery of Minerva with and in the West. Orthodox Sophia, which in turn was caught up and expanded by Cath- In conclusion, to widen the erine II assured the continuation parameters of my brief excursion of the Wisdom motif as an aspect into the topic of Sophia the Wisdom of Imperial Russian monarchic im- of God from political applications in agery right up to the twentieth-cen- late-seventeenth century Moscow tury.10 Ironically, this foregrounding to its broader implications for reli- of enlightenment and education was gious discourse in general, I should the one aspect of the Imperial Rus- like to turn the reader’s attention sian discourse which the Soviet re- to a mosaic composition located in gime, in its turn, appropriated for its the modern city of Istanbul, in what own version of empire. Thus, the had once been an outer suburb of 153 the old city of Constantinople. The ______Church of Christ Savior -as- Khora (Kariye Djami) contains some of the most beautiful mosaics from NOTES the Paleologue Renaissance of the mid-fourteenth-century.11 Two of these- a Theotokos and a Christ Pan- 1 For a general overview of the Sophic tocrator Khora - topic in Christianity see Leo D. Lefe the eponymy are referred of the church. to as The“ Vir”- The Christian Century, Nos. 10/19 bure, “The Wisdom of God. Pts. 1 and in their mosaic inscriptions – thus - 2,”dieval and Renaissance conceptions ofand Holy 10/26(1994); Wisdom see for Eugene Western Rice, MeThe (ginHe isKhora addressed tou Akhoretou as “The) Container/ and Christ Renaissance Idea of Wisdom, (Praeger Space/Khora of the Uncontainable” - He Khora ton Zonton). sian Orthodox perspective see Paul Likeis named Sophia “The the Land/Wisdom Space/ of God, Khora and Valliere,Press, 1973); Modern for Russian the modern Theology: Rus likeof the the Living”( Platonic Khora (see Footnote Bukharev, Soloviev, Bulgakov(Taylor ii below) the Theotokos is the bridge - between Becoming and Being, while and Firens, 2000); for a feminist cri Christ is the literal space where Be- Sophia, Russian Identity and Western tique see Brenda Meehan,Cross Currents “Wisdom/, No. 46, 2(Summer 1996). Christ- as - Khora be an alternative Feminist Thought”, toing Christ and BecomingLogos 12 and meet. how “Couldwould Khora such a depiction affect the gendered originated in Plato’s Timaeus as a de- 2 The concept of the “ ” which semiotic structures” of our modern scription of the space or interval between being and non-being where the So- original ideas or eidos repose seems phia another aspect of the Khora to emerge from the same metaphoric andtheological could this discourse? suggest Isa way Divine out of plane, semiotically speaking, as Sophia the binary conundrum underlying the Wisdom of God, since both func- all conceptualizations of monothe- tion as bridges of a sort between Being ism in general, based as they are on and Becoming. For a brief summary the fundamental premise that God of the current philosophical debate on is NOT creation and creation is Not Khora Kho- God. Once again, has opened ra Sophia “ ” see John Manoussakis, “ a portal into an alternative way of , Revista Portuguesa de_ Filosofia, T.58 (Jan.-Mar.2002):: The Hermeneutics 93-100. of Hyphenation” thinking, one worth exploring as an - 3 The androgynous aspect of Wisdom imagery is discussed in J. Meyendorff, aspect of the general theme of “Reli "Wisdom-Sophia: Contrasting Ap- gion, Women and the Feminine”. proaches to a Complex Theme," Dum- barton Oaks Papers.41(1987):p.400. For an introduction into the Byzan- 154 tine roots of absolutist androgyny see Russian Monarchy, Vol.1(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), sexuelle". Annalles E.S. C. 26(1971): pp.110-144. 639-52,Dean Miller's as well "Royaute as his "Byzantine et ambiguite Sov- ereignty and Feminine Potencies" in 12 See A. Underwood, The Kariye Djami, 3 Women and Sovereignty ed. Louise O. vols. (N.Y. Bollinger Foundation, 1966) Fradenburg, (Edinburgh University Khora Press, 1992): 250-263 13 Manoussakis, “ ”:100. 4 All bibliographic and archival refer-

Alekseevna and Sophia the Wisdom ofences God, to theunless material otherwise concerning footnoted, Sofia may be found in E. Zelensky, "Sophia the Wisdom of God": The Function of Religious Imagery during the Regency

Women and Sovereignty, ed. Louise O. Fradenburg.of Sofia Alekseevna (Edinburgh of Muscovy", University in Press, 1992): 192-211.

5 Kenneth Hollum's, Theodosian Em- presses, Women and Imperial Domain in Late Antiquity,(University of Califor- nia Press, 1982), p. 93.

6 Fradenburg’s Women and Sovereignty is a collection of essays which addresses the imagery of female rule from various perspectives, and includes information on all of the queens and re- gents listed.

7 E. Kantorowicz, "Mysteries of State: An Absolutist Concept and Its Late Medi- eval Origins,"Harvard Theological Re- view ,48 (1955): 91.

8 A.P. Bogdanov and V.I. Buganov, Pa- miatniki obshchestvenno-politicheskoi mysli v Rossii XVII veka. Literaturnye panegiriki. (Moscow: Akad Nauk. Ins- totut istorii, 1983),p.234.

9 Kanterowicz, "Mysteries of State": 81.

10 See Richard S. Wortman, Scenarios of Power. Myth and Ceremony in the 155 Book Review

Mary Nyangweso Wangila, Female Circumcision: The Interplay of Religion, Culture, and Gender in Kenya (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2007), xv, 206pp.

In the midst of pauperization, persecution, and patriarchy, African women are providing new narratives for challenging normative paradigms in religion, culture, ethics, and health. In the parlance of liberation theology, they have engendered an irruption that seeks to valorize wholeness, abundance, and dignity. They seek to understand the African worldview from the underside of history and also reinterpret tradition. This is an approach that challenges subordination in its various forms and manifestations. African they provide fresh interpretations that shed light on these three categories. Ourwomen global are landscapeconfronted demands with the “triplenew moral bind” discourse of race, class, that and challenges gender. opYet- pressive models and practices. This is a radical hermeneutic that challenges oppressive cultural norms and practices. By utilizing the power of naming, people, especially women to dehumanizing and oppressive conditions. AfricanWangila’s women identify, book examines categorize, the and cogent label arguments cultural practices for and thatagainst subject the contentious practice of female circumcision. This is a practice that Rogaia -

IndependentMustafa Abusharaf Churches, has describedand traditional as “virtuous religion, cuts.” Wangila Based emphasizeson comprehen the importancesive interviews of understanding with fifty Kenyan the women complexity within of Christianity,the gender dynamics, Islam, African cultural practices, and religious norms that undergird this practice. She locates the discussion on circumcision at the very heart of human rights concerns and calls for a new discourse that support for the eradication of the practice through massive education and a nuanced understanding of religious and - male circumcision must acknowledge the sociocultural and religious values cultural beliefs. She maintains that “any terminology adopted to label fe The book opens with a powerful preface by Amba Mercy Oduyoye, athat Ghanaian inform thetheologian practice, who even is whilewidely critiquing regarded it” as (p.viii). the matriarch of African theology. Her book, Hearing and Knowing: Theological Reflections on Chris- tianity in Africa continues to provide the intellectual framework for understanding the fundamentals of African theology. She challenges the circum- 156 cising community to develop a more robust analysis of the issues involved in the practice. She passionately grapples with some of the relevant issues for both insider and outsider participants in the discourse concerning circumcision. She maintains that the religious and cultural justifications for this “cutting”The book’s practice preface are laysostensibly out its shallowmethodological at best. Thus,framework there isand a need modus to operandi.provide a moreWangila nuanced maintains engagement that she with is both the a subject Kenyan matter. and a feminist who is primarily concerned with the need to provide the voice for the voiceless. The purpose is not simply academic or cerebral. Rather, it is a modest way to provide much-needed awareness on the issue of female circumcision and speak out on behalf of marginalized people in the society. She claims that

“my goal is not purely academic; instead, it is to engage in social discourse to transformThe book lives” calls (p. forxi). a critical understanding of the role of religion in the practice of female circumcision in Kenya. For all intents and purposes, sociologist and a Christian theologian, Wangila believes that religion can contributereligion has to been a new used attitude to justify about and female reinforce circumcision. this practice. She However, asserts thatas a - xii).“religion The bookcan play is a alucid role appealin transforming to recover attitudes the transformative regarding female power circum of reli- gioncision in without the midst summarily of violence condemning against African all the women. rituals associated with it”(p. This is an important book. The six chapters are well written and it is Women from the Margins with Orbis Books. Wangila’s voice is both passionate and prophetic. It provides a much-need- eda fitting candid volume analysis in theof theseries religious on and cultural issues surrounding female circumcision. She grapples with tendentious issues with deep commitment and authority. However, I believe that its contents can be enlarged by relevant insights from anthropology, cultural studies, and more ethnographic research.

Akintunde E. Akinade

157 Movie Review

The Frailest Thing in the World; On Faith, Suffering and Cinema in Our Time

Elizabeth Zelensky

Between us and heaven or hell is only life, which is the frailest thing in the Religions as an introduction to the world. Night at Maud’s” with the readers of- Blaise Pascal (B.P.), Pensée # 213 temporary cinema. subject of faith and suffering in con The heart has its reasons, which reason While laid up at home nurs- does not know. ing a painful and infectious eye con- B.P., Pensée # 277

- bothdition old – quarantined, and new. One unable of the to readfor- mer,or write the French – I watched director manyEric Rohm films,- At first glance, a double trian lovegle drives story of the Jean-Louis, plot of “My (Jean- Night Louis at Trintignant)Maud’s”. The who narrative is torn follows between the er’s “My Night at Maud’s/ “Ma nuit- fering,chez Maud” compounded (1969) by affected loneliness me anddeeply; the seeminglythe physical random pain I origins was suf of oftwo his women, friend oneVidal of (Antoine whom –Vitez)- Maud the(Francoise other, aFabian mysterious ) is an blonde old flame girl did I catch it quickly morphed into my disease – the question of where glimpsed by Jean-Louis at a church - (Marie-Christine Barrault), first “why” and what is the role of chance service in the cathedral. The four in life – all these thoughts were re young people meet, and fail to meet, at concerts, bookstores, cafes. The substanceiterated and a meditation amplified in on Rohmer’sPensées / - Thoughtsfilm; a romantic1 of Blaise comedy Pascal. in form,I would in blackfilm was and shotwhite on through location barely-per in Cler- mont-Ferrand, a gray city filmed in like158 to share my impressions of “My ceptible veils of snow. It is the Christmas season. scene after scene on a The blonde flits through an angel or a muse, doesmotor she scooter; hold the is key she to Jean-Louis’ future? Jean-Louis’ attempts to meet her are constantly thwarted as she disappears in a maze of narrow streets, or among the holiday crowds. Meanwhile, also by chance, he comes across an old friend, Vidal, the professor of philosophy unhappily in love with the eccentric and beautiful Maud. Vidal brings Jean-Louis to Maud’s place for a midnight supper on Christ- mas Eve. Snubbed by Maud, Vidal leaves. The must spend the night at Maud’s. history. The final scene is analogous Philosophicalsnowfall intensifies differences, and Jean-Louis however, eternalto his initialsource nightof meaning, at Maud’s; freedom, the trump physical desire. Maud’s ra- transcendence,heart’s reasoning and is confirmed thus elevated as the tionalism and Jean-Louis’ blind faith above mere chance, which is circum- in his unknown blonde, defuse the scribed by space and time. romance. Five years later Maud, Jean-Louis and Francoise (the mysterious blonde-now Jean-Louis’ wife Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing and the mother of their son) meet in nature: but he is a thinking reed. by chance on a sunny beach. After- The entire universe need not arm itself wards, Jean-Louis lies to his wife to crush him. A vapor, a drop of water that he did have an affair with Maud, were to crush him, man would still be thereby freeing Francoise from guilt suffices to kill him. But, if the universe about her own pre-marital romantic more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the 159 advantage which the universe has over - fully disguised by Rohmer, perhaps asof thea nod film, to though modern one sensibilities, which is care by him; the universe knows nothing of this. the conventions of chance.2 All our dignity consists then in thought. Shot in black and white, in By it we must elevate ourselves, and not speaks to the starkness of the root by space and time which we cannot fill. metaphorwinter, the behind film’s visualthe Pensées ambience is the principle of morality. Let us endeavor then to think well; this the link between faith and chance. B.P., Pensée # 347 . Rohmer himself underscored this – connection when he admitted that - budget constraints forced him to erful hold over the viewer’s imagi- trust that the snow storm which nation Thecomes film from is complex; the contrast its pow be- forces Jean-Louis to spend the night tween its romantic comedy format at Maud’s-the pivotal point in the and the dizzying metaphysical vis- tas glimpsed between and betwixt - Rohmer’s scenes of French provin- ule.plot3 – And would it did. occur sometime during cial life. Is the world organized ac- their three week long filming sched cording to chance, what is the role A coin is tossed at the end of the uni- of faith in bringing about seemingly verse- and you must wager. random events, can one choose to believe, and is such a choice valid, ei- B.P., Pensée # 233. ther spiritually or ethically, and how can a world which contains so much suffering serve as an argument for Louis, is an engineer interested in God’s existence? Such questions statisticsThe and film’s probability protagonist, and also Jean- a arise out of the lovelorn banter of the couples on the screen, pulling uniting the two passions of Pascal. A the audience along into the intellec- mathematicianlapsed Catholic of seeking genius, faith; the origi thus- tual and moral universe of Rohmer’s nator of modern probability theory key referent - the seventeenth-cen- and calculus, and the inventor of a tury French philosopher and scien- prototype computer, Pascal was one tist, Blaise Pascal. Invisible yet ever- present, Pascal is directly invoked by seventeenth-century Europe whose - worksof the formed scientific the luminaries basis for the in latesci- rand, the philosopher’s birthplace, andthe film’sthrough location numerous in Clermont-Fer allusions to secular worldview. Today, however, his famous book, Pensées. Indirectly, heentific is probably method and best thus known the modern, for his Pascal’s meditations on faith’s role attempt to draw his contemporar- in life remain the overarching theme ies back to faith as expressed in the posthumous collection of his apho- 160 risms and philosophical insights known as Pensees, the most well- that Being, infinite and without parts… known of which, Pensée #233 has - come down to us under the rubric of being apprehended.Reason is finite and Pascal God wallsis in offfinite his and call yet,for faith somehow, from the capable tempta of- “Pascal’s Wager: God is, or He is not. But to which side same time opens up passage unto shall we incline? Reason can decide thetions uncharted of scientific waters proofs of andindividual at the

us. At the far end of the universe a coin will to believe lies at the heart of all nothing here… Infinite chaos separates is being tossed which will come down experience,subjectivity includingand, thus, faith. freedom. The heads or tails. What will you wager? Reason cannot make you choose either, …The will is one of the chief factors in reason cannot prove either wrong… but belief, not that it creates belief, but be- your happiness? Let us weigh the gain cause things are true or false according and loss in wagering that God is…If you to the aspect in which we look at them.

nothing. B.P., Pensée #99. gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose

- While the argument for belief tive nature of humans’ apprehension of the worldThis recognition explains Pascal’s of the subjec appeal cheek defense of rational self-inter- to modern thinkers such Nietzsche seems to be framed in a tongue- in – were with the question of freedom aphorismest and calculated paradoxically exchange notes – “what the amidstand Dostoevsky, the overriding obsessed determinism as they impossibilityhave you got of to applying lose?” – rationality this same of late nineteenth-century thought. to the problem of God’s existence: But what is the role of chance in all of this, why does the coin continue to Our soul is cast into a body where it be tossed at the end of the universe? - upon it reasons, and calls this nature Jean-Louis leaves a bookstore, finds number, time, dimension. There necessity, and can believe nothing else… Pensées in hand, and walks across - the street into a random café, where prehensible, since having neither parts he bumps into Vidal, who in turn If there is a God He is infinitely incom will lead him to Maud’s apartment, are then incapable of knowing either which encounter will crystallize his nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We what He is or if He is…if this discourse bond with Francoise, Jean-Louis’ fu- pleases you and seems impressive then know that it is made by a man who has knelt, both before and after, in prayer to circumstanceture wife. Chance becomes has the hijacked apparent the narrative of “My Night at Maud’s”,161 as driving force behind all subsequent only meet here, outside our ordinary action. This propensity for coinci- paths…. dence might be perceived as a weakness in plotting. In my opinion, how- Next, the conversation turns to probability, and, inevitably, to Pas- Rohmer uses chance to create space cal. forever, freedom this is the in film’s a rationally main strength. deter- mined world, and with freedom, J-L: I have been reading Pascal and I am inevitably, for suffering and then, disappointed. Too abstract…It all seems perhaps … for faith. Chance is the so empty. medium through which faith is test- ed and honed, while faith provides V: Pascal is quite modern-both as a that inner vision which transforms mathematician and a philosopher. Pas- the chaos of coincidence into the cal’s triangle is connected to his wager. golden thread of individual destiny. Which is how Jean-Louis’ love story comes to be writ large through Pas- Wager is mentioned, and its connection toThis Pascal’s is the Triangle first time might Pascal’s be and Vidal at a café and the midnight viewed as a double entendre, refer- suppercal. Two at fateful Maud’s, meetings; clarify Jean-Louisthis strategy of Rohmer’s. and the emotional complications to comeencing between both a Jean-Louis, mathematical Vidal figure and Maud, and Maud, Francoise and Jean It is the heart which experiences God, Louis. and not the reason. This then is faith:

God felt by the heart, not by reason. J-L: And are you still a Marxist? B.P., Pensée# 278. V: Absolutely, and for a Marxist Pascal is very relevant right now. One evening Jean-Louis literally bumps into Vidal, a friend whom Vidal as a left-leaning philosopher in 1968-the year of the student he is leaving a café, which neither riots and workers strikes in France ofhe themhas not usually seen frequents.for fifteen years,The two as which will lead to the fall of Charles friends decide to catch up on old times and go back in for a drink. hoping that the forces of the histori- calDe Gaulle’sdialectic government will triumph in 1969over –the is V: I never come here… and yet our paths capitalist system… crossed. How strange. J- L: No, not strange at all. In normal life we would have never met. So we could an 80%“I chance doubt that that it has history no mean has- 162 meaning “ he continues. “There is ing, and a 10% chance that there is a 10% chance of survival. The fact meaning, and yet I need to believe that Vidal leaves 10% unaccounted that it has meaning in order to go for in his formula- 80% meaningless and 10% meaningful - creates space this voluntaristic theory of faith with for mystery, and thus freedom, in his anon living.”example Vidal from goes the onRussian to illustrate Revo- equation. lution of 1917: Rohmer underscores the importance of this mysterious space by labeling the scene where it becomes It was Gorky, or Lenin, or Mayakovsky obvious to Jean-Louis and Francoise who said that the situation in 1917 that they are going to spend the rest forced them to take one chance in 1,000 scene begins when Jean-Louis sees if they took that chance. because hope became infinitely greater Francoiseof their lives on together the street - “10%”. with Thisher Whether Lenin ever actually scooter late at night. It is snowing said words to this effect is not clear, and she has missed the last bus to but they touch upon a deep strain of her dormitory, which is out in the mountains above the town. Jean- substance of things hoped for, the Louis offers to drive her there, the car gets stuck in the snow, and once Christian thought: “Now faithHebrews is the again, chastely, he spends the night evidence of things unseen.” with a beautiful girl. By morning, professor11:1. Or in of Pascal’s philosophy words, Vidal “This is thenfully though they slept in separate rooms, conversantis faith. God with felt bythe the tragedy heart”. of As the a they know that they are a couple. human condition, depicted by Pascal And, again, it is chance in the guise of weather which created the initial in Pensée # 434: conditions for this new reality.

Imagine a number of men in chains, all When I consider the short duration of under sentence of death, some of whom my life, swallowed up in the eternity are each day butchered in the sight of before and after, the little space which own condition in that of their fellows, the others; those remaining see their immensity of spaces of which I am ig- and looking at each other with grief and I fill, and even can see, engulfed in the norant and which know me not, I am despair await their turn. This is an im- frightened, and astonished at being here age of the human condition. rather than there, for there is no reason And yet he commits himself why here rather than there, why now to taking a conscious leap of faith rather than then. Who put me here? By into that abyss of past human cruel- whose order and direction have this ties, suffering and vanities which we place and time been allotted to me? B.P., Pensée # 205 163 have labeled “history”, counting on thus of suffering creates the possi- The supper at Maud’s reveals the trials of a life without faith. Maud but Christianity’s inherent contra- is a physician and the descendent of bility for growth. “I am an atheist- a long line of secularist intelligent- tions, in turn, create space for am- sia in Clermont, thus automatically biguitydictions and are therefore fascinating”. freedom Contradic from anti-religious. She is divorced, her modeling and a chance for tran- one great love has died in a car acci- scendence. dent, she is in the process of moving away from Clermont and she is tired Maude puts an end to this of Vidal. Jean-Louis piques her in- train of thought. terest because he directly acknowl- edges his need for faith despite his mentions a blonde whom he saw in M: DialecticThe only does two nothing passages for me. from moral lapses and because he briefly the cathedral at midnight mass, thus Pascal which she claims to remem- stirring up Maud’s sense of feminine rivalry. - ber are “ the thinking reed” and “the M: I’m not lapsed anything. I am faith- passagetwo infinities”. is particularly Both reflect poignanther exis ful…and I have no problems… sincetential the situation; drop of “the water thinking which reed” can crush a man did crush her one great V: It is easy to be faithful to nothing. love, in the form of the icy road which Here, Vidal is speaking not only as a disappointed lover, but also brought his life to an end. “Why am I as a philosopher. While he originally her lack of purpose and anomie, her here and not there” resonates with talks Jean-Louis into accompanying desire to move anywhere, meet with anyone - perhaps Jean-Louis - rath- you don’t come we will probably end er than stay in Clermont-Ferrand, him to Maud’s by venturing that “If surrounded by the same old faces. masking his own pain in a façade of Vidal’s commitment to an open end- indifferenceup making love since just it tois Maudpass the who time”, has ed belief in the possibility of mean- already moved on emotionally, he is ing in history and thus to hope, and genuinely perturbed at Maud’s sim- Jean-Louis conscious desire for faith plistic dismissal of faith. is contrasted with Maud’s sterile reliance on reason. Five years later when she meets Jean-Louis and his V: I don’t like people without problems. family at the beach, she has re-married and she is still beautiful, but, He understands that the ac- once again, suffering and unhappy. knowledgement of problems, and 164 - At the beginning of the twen- selves to false. true objects, they must attach them tieth century a new muse was born - B.P., Pensée# 81. the muse of cinema.4 Film as an art form and a technology became the ______chora or living space5 at the heart of our civilization, akin to the cathe- 6 Proceed- NOTES ing from this premise, the fact that in dral in the Medieval West.” Best Foreign Film category of the 1 Blaise Pascal’s thoughts and apho- 2015 out of five nominations in the- risms on faith were published posthu- mously in 1665 under the title, Pen- sées de M.Pascal sur la Religion, et sur Academy Awards four films- “Tan quelques autres sujets/The Thoughts sufferinggerines”, and “Timbuktu”, faith seems “Leviathon”, to indicate of Monsieur Pascal on Religion and on aand shift “Ida”- in our dealt zeitgeist with .the The theme winner of Certain Other Subjects and is known - today under the abbreviated title of rected by Pawel Pawlowski which Pensées. All Pascal citation are taken exploredfor 2015 wasa young “Ida” woman’s a Polish filmturn dito from Blaise Pascal, Pensées. The Pro- faith as the only answer to an un- vincial Letters, The First Modern Li- fathomable tragedy - her discovery brary Edition, Random House :New York, 1941. of the murder of her Jewish birth family and her subsequent adoption 2 For Eric Rohmer’s religious beliefs see by Catholic nuns. Thus the human Keith Testor, 2008, Eric Rohmer: Film need for faith which Rohmer could as Theology, London: Palgrave Macmil- lan. only address obliquely as a theme in - was nominated but failed to win an ily could have had a season without 3 “We ran a big risk because we eas Oscar,1969, haswhen now “My become Night a at recognized Maud’s “ - terview by Jacob Leigh, 2012, The Cin- emasnow”, of Eric RohmerRohmer. quotedIrony, Imagination from an in gives us hope, and thus time and and the Social World, New York,NY: innersubject space in the within world ofwhich cinema. to workFaith Continuum Int’l Publishing Group, p.269, Footnote 45. into self-understanding. Watching 4 Andrey Tarkovsky, through and transfigure suffering Sculpting in Time. Reflections on the Cinema, Austin: Uni- this space- as Rohmer so presci- versity of Texas Press, trans. Kitty a film can re-focus our attention on Hunter Blair, p.82. - ently demonstrated in “My Night at Revista Portu- Maud’s”. It is natural for the mind to believe and 5 guesaJohn Manoussakis de Filosofia, T.“Khora: 58(Jan-Mar2002), The Herme pp.neutics 93-100. of Hyphenation”,

for the will to love; so that, for want of 165 - 6 “The cinema is the cathedral of the twentieth century” accordNew ingBlackfriars to Rohmer..74.872(June Guy Bedouelle, 1993):301- “Eric Rohmer306 as cited on Nature by Marina and Grace,”Ludwigs in

www. anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap1702/1702.“Adventures in Sainthood: Pascal’s AccessedWager in on“My August Night 20, at 20015.Maud’s”

166 Biography

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser plays a key

far-reaching agenda to transform Qatar into a thriving, knowledge-basedrole in supporting society the country’s by 2030. National For more Vision than –15 a years, Sheikha Moza has been a driving force behind education and social reforms in her country. Sheikha Moza is also active on the international stage, spearheading projects to promote peace and human development throughout the world.- tionDomestically, founded inshe 1995. serves Sheikha as Chairperson Moza plays of Qatar an active Foundation role with for theEducation, United NationsScience and(UN) Community to support Developmentglobal education. (QF), In a 2003,private she non-profit was appointed organisa as appointed by the Secretary General of the UN as Alliance of Civilizations UNESCO’s Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education; in 2008 she was-

(AOC) Ambassador; and in 2010 she became a member of the UN Millen Committeenium Development Member Goals of the Advocacy UN Secretary-General’s Group with a specialGlobal Edemphasis- on Goal ucation2 – universal First Initiative.primary education. In 2012 she was appointed as a Steering

Akintunde E. Akinade is professor of Theology at George- town University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar. He is the author of Christian Responses to Islam in Nigeria: A Contex- tual Study of Ambivalent Encounters (2014).

Francis X. Clooney, S.J.

Professor of Comparative, joined Theology the Divinityand, since 2010, direc- torSchool of the in Center2005. Hefor isthe Parkman Study of ProfessorWorld Religions. of Divinity Clooney and is the author of numerous articles and books, including Thinking Ritually: Retrieving the Purva Mimamsa of Jaimini (Vienna, 1990), Theology after Vedanta: An Experiment in Comparative Theology (State University of New York Press, 1993), Beyond Compare: St. Francis de Sales and Sri Vedanta Deshika on Loving Surrender to God (Georgetown University Press, 2008), The Truth, the Way, the Life: Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the Shrivaisnava Hindus 167 (Peeters Publishing, 2008), and Comparative Theology: Deep Learning across Religious Borders (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). He edited The New Comparative Theology: Voices from the Next Generation (Continuum, 2010) and co-edited European Perspectives on the New Comparative Theology most recent monograph, His Hiding Place Is Darkness: A Hindu-Catholic The- opoetics of Divine Absence (Stanford University Press, 2013), (MDPI, is an 2014). exercise His in dramatic theology, exploring the absence of God as dramatized in the biblical Song of Songs and the Hindu Holy Word of Mouth (Tiruvaymoli).

Renaud Fabbri is the Managing Editor of Adyan/Religions

Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelinesat the Doha International Center for (France)Interfaith and Dialogue. is special He- izedreceived in the a Philosophy Ph.D. in Political of Religion Science and fromin Political the University Philosophy. of His book Eric Voegelin et l’Orient : Millénarisme et Religions Politiques de l’Antiquité à Daech (Paris: l’Harmattan, 2016) analyzes the spiritual and ideological roots of Islamism, Ji- hadism and Hindu Nationalism in the light of Eric Voegelin’s “philosophy of Dr.consciousness.” J. Glenn Friesen lives in Calgary, Canada. He has an andMA (philosophy),has lectured at LLB the (law) C.G. Jung and aInstitute DLitt et inPhil Switzerland. (Religious HeStudies). has published Dr. Friesen numerous has taught articles comparative and the mysticism, following books: Abhishiktānanda (Henri Le Saux): Christian Non- dualism and Hindu Advaita ; Ramana Maharshi: Interpre- tations of his Enlightenment ; Neo-Calvinism and Chris- tian Theosophy: Franz von Baader, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Dooyeweerd.

Eric Geoffroy is an Expert in Islam and Professor in Islam-

at the University of Strasbourg (France). He also teaches at anotheric Studies institutions in the Department such as the of ArabicOpen University and Islamic of studiesCatalo-

works as well on intercultural and interreligious relations andnia (Barcelona). spirituality challengesSpecialist inin thethe studycontemporary of Sufism world in Islam, (spir he- - lished more than ten books and directed collective works as well. He is the author of numerousituality articles and globalization; in magazines spirituality specialized and in Islamologyecology…). Heand pub has written more than twenty articles in the Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd and 3rd 168 ed. (Brill, Leiden). Some of his publications have been translated into different languages.

Jerusha T. Lamptey is Assistant Professor of Islam and Ministry and Advisor for the Islam, Social Justice and In- terreligious Engagement Program at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Her research focuses on theologies of religious pluralism, comparative theology, and Muslima in Theological and Religious Studies with a focus on Religious Pluralism theology. at Georgetown Dr. Lamptey University. earned She a Ph.D. also received an M.A. in Islamic Sciences at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, and an M.A. in Theological and Religious Studies at George- Never Wholly Other: A Muslima Theology of Religious Pluralism (Oxford University Press, 2014) re-interprets the townQur’anic University. discourse Her on firstreligious book, ‘otherness’, by drawing upon feminist theol- feminist theologies, she argues that comparative theological engagement is essentialogy and semantic to the development methodology. of Ina Muslima her current theology book projectthat moves on comparative beyond exegetical and legal reformulation and toward constructive theology.

Patrick Laude has been teaching at Georgetown since 1991. His scholarly interests lie in comparative spirituality, poetry, and Western interpretations of Islam and Asian contempla- tive and wisdom traditions. He has authored over ten books including: Pathways to an Inner Islam (SUNY, 2010), Pray Without Ceasing (World Wisdom, 2006), and Divine Play, Sa- cred Laughter and Spiritual Understanding (Palgrave, 2005).

Franklin Merrell-Wolff philosopher. After formal education in philosophy and mathematics at Stanford (1887–1985)and Harvard, he was dedicated an American himself to the path of Advaita Vedanta and to the writings of the Hindu metaphysician Adi Shankara.

Mohammad Naciri is UN Women’s Re-

beinggional appointedDirector for director, the Arab he States served Region, as UN Women´sbeing confirmed deputy regional in August director 2015. for Before the 169 Arab States. Mohammad has extensive experience in the region and in gender and de- formulationvelopment issues. of its PriorGender to joiningStrategy UN and Women, the Gender Mohammad Responsive was the Budgeting Deputy process.Country DirectorHe has worked of UNDP in Kuwait,in Yemen, Iraq, where Syria, he Lebanon supported and the Cambodia, country in deal the-

- ing with issues from human trafficking to ethnic cleansing. A national of Morocco, Mohammad holds a Master’s Degree in Public Ad Oxford.ministration He also and has International a Master’s degree Development in Business from Administration the Harvard University, from the Arabas well Academy as a Master’s for Science Degree and in Technology Social Anthropology in Alexandria-Egypt from the University of

Peter C. Phan is the inaugural holder of the Ignacio Ellacu- ria, SJ Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown Uni- versity. He has earned three doctorates and holds two honor- ary doctorates. He has authored a dozen books, edited some 30 books, and written over 300 essays on various aspects of Christian theology.

Florence Quentin, coordinator and editing director of The Book of Many Egypts (2015, Robert Laffont), is a writer, renowned expert in Egyptology, and postgraduate of the Uni- versity of Montpellier III and Paris IV Sorbonne. Author of Isis the Eternal: a biography of feminine myth (2012, Albin Michel), of Alive Egypt as well as of several published essays on Ancient Egypt, in which she addresses the(october fascination 2015, Descléethat this de civilization Brouwer), still exerts on the western imagination, Quentin has also contributed to numerous collective works, including: Mystic Women: Story and Dictionary (2013, Robert Laffont), Dictionary of Death (2010, Larousse) and Encyclopedia of Death and Immortality (2004, Bayard). As a specialized - zine Le Monde des Religions, and has also had articles appear in Le Nouvel Observateurjournalist, Quentin and Le hasPoint regularly national contributed news magazines. to the AFrench sought-after national speaker, maga Quentin taught religious history at Montpellier Business School and gives conferences across France on Egyptology and the history of religion. Cur- rently, Florence Quentin is Editor-in-Chief of the cultural review Ultreïa ! For more information: www.florence-quentin.fr and http://revue-ultreia.com/

170 Shaireen Rasheed is a professor of Philosophy

University. She was a visiting scholar for the 2014-2015and Diversity academic at the Post year Campus at the Centerof Long for Island The

School completing her manuscript titled, Sexual- ity, Islam and the War on TerrorStudy. Herof World current Religions research at is the on Harvardcounter radicaliDivinity- zation initiatives and related policies in Europe and the United States.

Shumona Sinha was born in Kolkata in 1973. She is a French author of Indian origin. In 1990 she received the prize for the best young poet from Bengal before set- tling to Paris in 2001. She has done M.Phil in French literature and linguistics from the Sorbonne University. She is a novel writer and author of several poetry antholo- gies. Her last novel, Calcutta, was awarded, by the French Academy, the award for a brilliant contribution to the French language and literature, and the grand prize for novel from the Soci- ety of Literary people. It was published in 2014 by the Editions de L’Olivier.

Nayla Tabbara is Vice Chairperson of Adyan Foundation, a Lebanese foundation for Interreligious Studies and Spiritual Solidarity (www.adyanvillage.net

Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne)) and Director and Saintof the JosephAdyan University)Institute. She and holds is a a universityPhD in Science professor of Religions in Islamic (from Studies Ecole

of Islamic theology of other religions, Education on interre- and Comparative Religions. She has publications in the fields on curricula development (formal and non-formal) on multifaith education ligious and intercultural diversity, Qur’anic exegesis and Sufism, and works- bara, Nayla: L’hospitalité divine: l’autre dans le dialogue des théologies chréti- enneand intercultural et musulmane citizenship.. LIT Verlag, Among collection her publications:« Colloquium Daou,Salutis Fadi », 2013, and Tab183 What about the other: a question for intercultural education in the 21st century p.2012, ; Tabbara, 271 p. Nayla (Editor): , Adyan and NDU publications, September

171 Jean-Jacques Thibon is Senior Lecturer in Arabic and Islam- ic Studies at Blaise Pascal University in Clermont-Ferrand (France) where he teaches Arabic Language and Civilisation.

- His field is medieval Sufism and in particular the work of Abū- ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī � (325–412/937–1021) and primi tive Sufism. He is also working on a number of research pro jects in the areaEric of current Vinson religious trends related to Sufism. is specialized in religious, spiritual and political issues. He teaches religiology,, Ph. D Buddhism in Political and Science religious (Sciences pedagogy Po Paris)in the Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP), and religious and secular

newspapers such as Le Point and Le Monde des Religions. As theculture president in Sciences of Enquete Po. As a and journalist, Growing he Together worked ,for two French non- knowledge and education, dialogue and mutual understanding in secular societies. Co-writtenprofit with NGOs, his he wife is Sophie devoted Viguier-Vinson, to the promotion his latest of religious book is entitled Jaurès le prophète, mystique et politique d’un combattant républicain (Albin-Michel, Paris, 2014).

Elizabeth Zelensky area universities, including Georgetown University and George Mason Universityteaches and at has several worked Washington as a histori D.C.- thecal consultantdiscourse of for Westernization the U.S. Department and spirituality of State andin pre- the revolutionaryDepartment of Russia Justice. and Her she scholarly has written interests Windows focus onto Heaven(Brazos, 2005).

172