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Part 1: Early Islamic to Pre-Colonial Era

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Part 1: Early Islamic to Pre-Colonial Era Part 1: Early Islamic to Pre-colonial era Week 2: Islam and the Harem Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Islam ‘born’ early 7th century, Mecca – Medina (Arabian Peninsula) • Followed Judaic, Christian traditions: ‘Jesus’ recognized as prophet • Brought to people by another, the ‘last’ Prophet, Mohammed • Believed to have heard ‘the recitation’ (Qur’an) delivered from Allah via angel Gabriel Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Debate about nature of society: generally argued to be Bedouin but increasingly ‘urban’ and commercial because of role Mecca in international trade • Traditional interpretation: Islam was religion addressing society in transition – decline of values, social inequity, rise of materialism • More recently: issue of ‘decline, transition’, Mecca’s importance exaggerated – argument in favour of Mohammed’s strategic and military achievements Rise and Spread of Early Islam Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Initial battle for Mecca and surrounding tribes, rapidly spread influence throughout region to year of Prophet’s death 632 Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Significance for us: ‘social’ tenets of new religion, those relative to family, gender and class relations • To what degree intended to ‘change’ or ‘correct’ prevailing practices or… • To what degree intended to root within prevailing practices, codify, stabilize values… • Debatable Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Truly ‘revolutionary’ aspect of religion was its assertion that there was but ONE god and his name was Allah – this in society where MANY gods were believed in and worshipped [note ‘pagan temples destroyed’ on previous map’] • This was root of resistance, reason ‘conquest by the sword’ necessary • Was also about political power of competing clans Rise and Spread of Early Islam • What is clear is that pre-Islamic practices and values were embraced to large extent even as we begin to see change • Most important for us, those related to: • Family • Women (seclusion, segregation from men) • Veiling, hijab (related to above) • Marriage • Slaves and slavery Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Also important: speed with which Islam spread, areas into which it spread – initially ‘Arab’ Middle East Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Soon: into non-Arab cultures (e.g. Byzantine, Berber, Persian) Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Into non-Arab cultures (e.g. Central Asian, European) Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Initial internal conflict regarding succession to leadership of Islam ultimately gave rise to successive dynastic Caliphates: mid-7th century ‘Umayyad’ * * * Damascus New Political Capital * Mecca ‘Spiritual’ Capital Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Mid-8th through mid-13th century: ‘Abbasids’ * * * Baghdad New Political Capital * Mecca ‘Spiritual’ Capital Rise and Spread of Early Islam • During same years (essentially 7th –11th centuries): • ‘words’ of (oral) Qur’an written down • Stories recounted by the Prophet recalled, written down -- ‘hadith’; controversial • ‘law’ or sharia debated, formulated (4 major schools emerged) Occurred simultaneously with ‘rooting’ of Islam in many new cultures, need to ‘negotiate’ power, day- to-day living: shaped by circumstances at once ‘pre-Islamic’ AND ‘non-Arab’ Rise and Spread of Early Islam • Explains some differences of interpretation, seeming ‘contradictions’ when we seek to answer question: ‘what does Islam say about…?’ • Process by which Islam became codified major world religion from ‘the recitation’ assures it is dynamic factor in historical change and also reflects that historical change • No less true with respect to ‘history of the harem’ than any other historical issue • ‘ Early Islam and the Harem • Sources: McDougall, Bray – both emphasizing difficulty of ‘seeing’ beyond ‘Islamic gloss’ or ‘self- interested’ presentation (in case of Muslim clerical elite) • Emphasis on ‘male’, ‘elite’, total triumph of Islam in creating peaceful, equitable societies, erasure of ‘difference’ (especially between Muslims and non- Muslims, Arabs and non-Arabs) • How to find the tensions that generate change, especially regarding non-males, non-elite? Early Islam and the Harem • [McDougall]: articles on ‘Women (Africa 1400-1700)’ and ‘Royal Slavery’ intersect around concubines, Islam and the harem • Speak to aspects of key ‘issues’ here: family, marriage, seclusion, veiling, slavery • Also raise question as to what is ‘Islamic’ about these observations and how this changes over time Early Islam and the Harem • [Bray] article interrogating important moment of transition: Abbasid Caliphate, Baghdad • Interested in changing nature of ‘family’, role of slaves, social construction of women and men (in contradistinction to each other and the ‘new family’) [similar approach to Schick with respect to constructed gender, role of ‘harem’] • Notes ‘legal theory developing’… sees situating of position free men, free women, slaves (men and women) as central, also ambiguous and ‘fuzzy’ Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion • [from Schick – week 1]: harem as gendered space • “h-r-m” (root of ‘harem’) not once used in Qur’an to refer to ‘women’ or ‘women’s (living) quarters’ • ‘Verse of the Veil’ source of most arguments that Qur’an commands ‘veiling’ and ‘seclusion’: “And when ye ask of them [the wives of the Prophet] anything, ask it of them from behind a curtain [hijab].[sura 33:53]” Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion • Schick argues: meant to refer ONLY to wives of Prophet but after prophet’s death, interpreted as meaning ALL women • [but] ‘leaders increasingly moved towards sexual segregation’ [over time…] • This question not developed: why? [see below] Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion • Schick takes point in different direction: ‘sexual segregation MISREPRESENTS what we see – ‘segregation’ is also based on kinship relations • Men and women can share physical space if they are ‘kin’, defined as being prohibited from marrying each other because of specific blood relationships • He goes on to note that such ‘kin’ are actually few in number and therefore the de facto impact of this segregation is primarily ‘sexual’ [will also come back to this point] Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion But misses important point: verse is widely understood to have been directed at the men who would speak with the Prophet’s wives and daughters – that is that it is THEIR responsibility to ‘put the hijab in place NOT that of women Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion • Significant shift in meaning: in this case, women are not being secluded -- onus and action has to do with men ‘segregating themselves’ from women • [Leila Ahmed] has argued that the Prophet ‘integrated’ his private and public affairs by building the mosque adjacent to the house (with access to women) and carrying on his ‘political activities’ in his home – ‘strange men’ were always close by, such protocol was necessary to protect the ‘intimate’, inviolate (family’) from the ‘public’. Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion • Alongside Schick, suggests ‘change’ not only in degree to which sexual is source of segregation BUT in understanding of protocol: segregation somehow became ‘seclusion’ • This becomes an historical ‘change’ to explain, not a religious one Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion • ‘Hijab’: in original verse meaning ‘curtain’, also came to mean ‘veil’ (worn by women in public) • Reflection of this significant change: linked to responsibility of women to ‘hide themselves’ rather than to men but still linked to idea of ‘public’ or ‘outside’ – hence something worn when in the presence of those not considered ‘kin’ • Point: never meant seclusion; opposite – has relevance only in public sphere Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion • Also to be understood in larger context of ‘modesty’: this applied to both men and women • "Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest" (sura 24:30) • “And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty… “ (sura 24:31) Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion • Clear that initial (Qur’anic) sura verses on this topic very localized, some argue specific to Prophet’s family, others extend it to all followers. • For example: “Those who harass believing men and believing women undeservedly, bear (on themselves) a calumny and a grievous sin. O Prophet! Enjoin your wives, your daughters, and the wives of true believers that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): That is most convenient, that they may be distinguished and not be harassed. [...]” (sura 33:58-59) Early Islam and the Harem: women & seclusion • The point frequently made: nothing in these early sura specify covering the head or face – hijab was not used in this context [see also ‘Hijab’ in ‘Resources’] • Moreover: nothing prohibited moving about in ‘public’ – women were advised to cover themselves in order to avoid harassment [by non-believers, at the time the majority] and believing men were advised to ‘lower their gaze’ and also ‘be modest [in dress and behaviour]’ • We cannot locate ‘seclusion’ or ‘hare’ meaning seclusion’ in the earliest of Islamic texts Early Islam and the Harem: women & slavery • The society into which Islam was born was a ‘slave society’: slaves taken in war, bought and sold in markets, born in households were common everywhere in middle-to-well off families, in rural and (especially) urban environments • In towns, slaves were often little different from the very poor: women often fell into prostitution • Polygamy was
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