By Tara Baloch
Edited by Inaya Zaman and Mark Potter
Within medieval Islamic societies, women’s familial, social and economic positions were
strongly affected by legal norms. Legal norms as Wael Hallaq defines are ‘one of five legal
values that a mujtahid applies to a case or a particular set of facts; the five norms/values are:
forbidden, permissible, obligatory, disapproved and recommended’.[1] Legal norms were firmly established by the ‘Abbasid period, but the consensus before this was that the Qur’an and the Sunna were the foundations of Islamic law. It was these legal norms that guided medieval Islamic societies, and in turn, affected women in three key aspects of their lives. Furthermore, when analysing women, it is key to note that there were differences between them ‘such as their social or economic situation as well as their ethnic origins and their personal status (this could be free or slaves, single or married). Not only this, what kind of environment they lived in; urban, peasant or nomadic too makes a difference when analysing medieval Islamic women’.[2] Therefore, when assessing the effect of Islamic legal norms on women’s lives, we cannot make generalisations about all women. With this said, medieval Islamic legal norms did affect the familial, social and economic positions of women but by how much is strongly dependant on the time period and which specific society women were in. The familial aspect of a woman’s life inclusive of marriage and divorce as well as slave-master relations were undoubtedly impacted by Islamic legal norm. As to societal positions of women, Ibn al-Hajj argues that Islamic legal norms were not as great in their effect on Cairenes women in particular, though this will be debated later in this essay. When analysing how legal norms affected the economic positions of women, it is here we see the greatest impact on free-born Muslim women.
Familial positions of women across all medieval Islamic societies were affected by legal norms established. Specifically, it was the concept of marriage and divorce where legal norms deeply affected the status of women. Marriage within medieval Islam was seen as a contract between male and female and it was different to how marriage is seen today in Western societies. To continue, Yossef Rapoport argues that ‘the most distinctive feature of marriages in medieval urban Islam was the ubiquity of divorce’.[3] Marriage like with many other societies changed the position of women; however, it was the Islamic legal norms of divorce that were understood upon marriage that specifically affected a woman’s position. The legal concept that property and wealth were explicitly the woman’s – not the husband’s and would not be divided between the couple upon divorce was something that established a woman’s position. It would not be too bold to argue that this legal concept upon marriage gave women a degree of autonomy. Not only this, but the fact also that Islamic marriages established a woman’s own status meant she had flexibility if she came from a wealthy background. When looking at biographies of women (written by men) in the fifteenth century CE of Cairo, we see that wealthy women, in particular, could initiate a divorce. The biography of Sa’ādāt, taken from ‘The Shining Light on the People of the Ninth Century’, shows the autonomy that women had because of how Islamic divorces worked. ‘...And she [Sa’ādāt] asked him [al-Biqā’ī] to divorce her after she has borne a son from him. She agreed to take upon herself not to see the child, or look after him, on penalty of 500 gold dinars’.[4] Though the biography of Sa’ādāt is disheartening, her seeking a divorce and being able to negotiate her divorce because of Islamic legal norms shows her independence from a humiliating marriage as a result. Therefore, through the Islamic legality of marriage and divorce, women in urban societies specifically could expect to have a degree of autonomy, hence affecting their position.
Furthermore, Islamic law permitted male masters to have sexual relations with female slaves
n his book ‘Marriage and Sexuality in Islam’ quoted the words of the Prophet, ‘... he should women in medieval Islamic societies. Firstly, a female slaves’ status was defined by the laws of Islam as well as the culture in which they lived in.[5] To add to this, Islamic legal norms on slave-master relations would come from the Hadith’s of the Prophet. Al-Ghazali (d. 1111 CE) in his book ‘Marriage and Sexuality in Islam’ quoted the words of the Prophet, ‘... he should approach his concubine or wife and have sexual contact with her before exchanging tender words and caresses, consequently, he sleeps with her and fulfils his needs before she fulfils hers’.[6] This Hadith spoken about in Al-Ghazali’s publication shows that despite a slave girls’ position, she still had to be treated during sex the same way a man’s wife would- with some sense of affection. This treating of affection undoubtedly caused tensions within a polygamous upper-class family, where free and slave women vied for the attention of the head of the household. Not only this, the legitimacy of a slave’s child according to Islamic law was a strain on tensions and affected both women’s familial positions. Li Goa in his study of Al-Biqa’i’s autobiographical chronicle argues ‘that childbirth had always been a source of tension among the jealous and competitive wives and the concubines in the Harem'.[7] Furthermore, both slave women and free-born women had their familial positions affected by this legal norm as a slave woman upon her master’s death would be freed if she bore the master a child. Yossef Rapoport continues this argument by looking at Al-Sahāwī’s biography of Ibn Hagar (a scholar from 15th century CE Cairo); ‘we see an example of how legal norms deeply affected the familial lives of free-born Muslim women’.[8] Al-Sahāwī, a student of Ibn Hagar gives us ‘one of the most dramatic glimpses we have of the interactions of free wives and female slaves in medieval Islam’.[9] In brief, he states that Ibn Hagar had one wife who had only bore him daughters, desperate for a son, he sent ‘Šams al-Dīn ibn al-Diyā’ al-Hanbali to buy the slave-girl (one who had previously been the wife’s slave but was sold on Ibn Hagar’s instruction), on his behalf. Ibn Hagar put her up somewhere... and then had intercourse with her. She gave birth to his son, the qādī Badr al-Dīn Abū al-Ma’ālī Muhammad on 18TH of Safar 815 (29th May 1412)’.[10]From this source, we see that a slave-woman’s position because of Islamic legal norms permitting concubines could be altered. This slave woman would be freed upon Ibn Hagar’s death- but Ibn Hagar instead freed her through marriage to ‘Zayn [al-Din] ‘Abd al-Samad’.[11] By Ibn Hagar freeing the slave woman through marrying her off, we see that Islamic legal norms encouraged individuals such as Ibn Hagar to free the slave woman earlier than his own death. In this familial context, the slave woman was not the only woman who had her position affected, so did Uns, Ibn Hagar’s wife. Al-Sahāwī reports that Uns ‘prayed to God that his son will not grow up to be a scholar. He [Ibn Hagar] was hurt by her words and feared her invocation of God. He said to her “You have broken my heart”’.[12] Most evidently, we see the implication of a woman’s position because of the Islamic legal norm of a male having a concubine whose child would be deemed legitimate. The implications of a free-born Muslim woman’s position because of her husband’s desire to have a son, and could legally do so, meant that her familial relationship had been fractured. Though Ibn Hagar was from Cairo, this polygyny was a common theme among Ottoman biographies and memoirs too when barrenness became an issue.[13] Therefore, we can assume that in the late Medieval Islamic period, the Islamic legal norms surrounding this familial matter affected both slave women and free-born women alike.
Legal norms affected women in certain medieval Islamic societies more than others. When
looking at urban Cairene women in particular, we see that despite women being involved in
society, it was viewed as something which went against Islamic legal norms. ‘During the famine and plague of A.D. 1438, the Mamluk sultan Barsbay conferred with the religious
scholars about the causes behind these catastrophes, and they agreed that the primary cause
was the appearance of women in the streets. A decree was immediately issued ordering women to stay home’.[14] This legal norm that women should not mix at all with men was not forbidden but disliked according to Islamic law. Not only this but women were also viewed as perpetuators of anarchy, whose power (over men) needed to be broke by the Shari’a.[15] By the sultan banning women from leaving their homes and using Islamic law to justify his views we see how a woman’s position within society was affected. During this period, she would not be able to go to the market, for example, this therefore affected a woman’s position in terms of independence as she would have to rely on the male’s in her household. However, from this ban imposed by the Sultan, we can infer that to some degree Islamic legal norms were not necessarily being followed in the strictest sense. The historian, Ibn al-Hajj is important when understanding how much Islamic legal norms were followed and how this in turn meant that they did not have as great of an impact on women’s position in society. ‘Look how these norms have been neglected in our days... She goes out in the streets as if she were a shining bride, walking in the middle of the road and jostling men’.[16] Ibn al-Hajj explicitly talks against the Cairenes women and how they don’t follow legal norms in society. Furthermore, we see that the legality of space in medieval Islamic societies could affect a woman’s position and how she was viewed by men. The words Ibn al-Hajj uses specifically, ‘shining bride’ and ‘jostling men’ show that in this Cairenes society legal norms were most likely not being followed strictly and therefore were not heavily impacting women’s position. Despite women here being described as frivolous and a temptation to men, we cannot say that all women in this urban society were not affected by legal norms because they were not practiced. Ibn al-Hajj focuses more on upper-class women in the fourteenth century, women in lower classes were known to be spinners, peddlers, midwife’s, hairdressers, matchmakers and more. Therefore, we can infer that legal norms affecting women’s position in society was dependant on class-status.
Through looking at literature, we can continue to see that Islamic legal norms did not greatly
affect women’s position in medieval Islamic societies in comparison to their familial and
economic aspects of their lives. We can see the truth in Ibn al-Hajj’s view that legal norms
were being neglected through the voices of love poetry among Arab women. An unknown
Bedouin woman when asked about the meaning of love professed, ‘... it starts with a glance
that is thrown or a jesting remark that is sparkled in the heart like a flame’.[17] Clearly, in other medieval Islamic societies there was a mixing of men and women in public spaces which is disliked in Islamic law. Therefore, it can be understood that when it came to both gender’s mixing in society, women were not greatly affected by Islamic legal norms because they were not followed as vigorously in comparison to other areas of their lives. Whilst on the topic of poetry, renowned poet Abu Nuwas from the ‘Abbasid period gives us insight into how women were seen as frivolous and dangerous to society. Despite Islamic legal norms, prostitution within the later ‘Abbasid period existed, suggesting women’s position – slave girl’s positions especially were not affected. ‘She would wiggle her bottom to give me a thrill, (Quite voluptuous, covered in lace); Every part of her body had power to seduce, and beauty stood still on her face’.[18] Through the literary perspective of an elite male, we see that Islamic legal norms were not practiced as prostitution was prominent in the urban society of Baghdad. Therefore, even when looking at slave-women in medieval Islamic societies, we see that laws surrounding slavery were not heavily practiced in society, hence not affecting women’s position. So, in some aspects of urban societies, Islamic legal norms were not being followed and therefore could not affect a woman’s position significantly.
Economic Islamic legal norms were a factor in medieval Islamic women’s lives which greatly
affected their positions. It was more specifically legality surrounding property rights which
saw a breakthrough with their autonomy. Upon entering a marriage, any property or wealth
that had been gifted/inherited by the woman was solely hers according to Islamic law. If we
compare rural to urban areas, it was the latter which gave Muslim women more power in their respective societies. Across the medieval Islamic world, ‘the absolute separation of property between husbands and wives meant that husbands had no formal right over their wives’ dowries’.[19] Though Islamic legal norms were applicable to all, no matter class status, it was again the elite, upper-class women who saw the greatest impact to their position. Doweries were a common form of how women’s positions were affected upon marriage and within Islamic medieval societies, it was known that this would affect a woman greatly. Ibn Battūta reported ‘that some of Damascus’ endowments were dedicated to providing dowries to the daughters of the poor’[20], stressing how among urban societies, the importance of wealth for a woman was.
Legality surrounding divorce and the distribution of property between spouses again signifies that Islamic legal norms deeply affected the positions of women. Hallaq explains that ‘the husband’s unilateral divorce in effect also amounted to a one-way transfer of property from the husband to the wife, beyond and above all that he was – for the duration of the marriage –obliged to provide his wife by default’.[21] This legal norm meant that there was a form of protection for women in society and gave them the ability to have autonomy through wealth post-marriage. Though this did not necessarily mean women would have ‘access to markets that would allow them to freely trade their property’[22], it above all meant financial security. Thus, it was the Islamic laws, again more strictly followed in urban societies which made a difference to a woman’s position, giving her greater autonomy.
Overall, a woman’s position in medieval Islamic societies were imperatively affected by the
legal norms in place. However, there were evidently certain aspects of a woman’s life which
were affected on a much larger scale than others, most notably within the familial and economic sphere. Islamic legal norms from the primary sources show the impacts of legal norms to women mainly in urban societies ranging from Cairo to Baghdad and mostly gave more autonomy to women then they would have had if they were living among a different society. Furthermore, throughout this essay, the impact of legal norms has been determined by the amount of autonomy given to a woman, however, legal norms affected women in ways which did not give them more autonomy. When looking at the social effects of legal norms, women were kept inside the home when natural disaster struck as it was disliked for them to integrate with the male population. Not only this but women’s positions could also not be affected if Islamic legal norms were not practiced in society, for example with prostitution. On the other hand, the legality surrounding property rights, particularly in marriage and divorce is the greatest evidence that Islamic legal norms affected the positions of wealthy, free women mostly. As for slave-women living in medieval Islamic societies, there entire freedom, and therefore position, rested on Islamic legal norms surrounding the legitimacy of their child. With examples such as Ibn Hagar, his female slave was freed through marriage before he (the master) died, suggesting that Islamic legal norms encouraged men to go further and increase the positions of women within their societies. When practiced, Islamic legal norms, though specific to familial, social or economic life, inexplicitly connected the three together; if a woman’s position was bettered in an economical way (such as having her own property), she would have more autonomy within her familial life (being able to initiate a divorce). Thus, Islamic legal norms affected women’s life in familial, social and economic areas but mainly gave women more autonomy within the familial and economic sphere when laws were practiced in their societies.
Notes
[1] Wael B. Hallaq, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 174.
[2] Manuela Marín, ‘Women, gender and sexuality’, in Robert Irwin (ed.), The New Cambridge History of Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 355-6.
[3] Yossef Rapoport, Marriage, Money and Divorce in Medieval Islamic Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 111.
[4] Al-Sakhawi, ‘Biographies of Muslim Women from Cairo’, The Shining Light on the People of the Ninth Century [i.e., 15th century CE], translated for Muhammad to the Ottomans.
[5] Fuad Matthew Caswell, The Slave Girls of Baghdad: The Qiyān in the Early Abbasid Era, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2011), p. 1.
[6] Al-Ghazali, Marriage and Sexuality in Islam, trans. Madelain Farah (University of Utah, 1984), p. 125.
[7] Li Guo, ‘Al-Biqa’i’s Autobiographical Chronicle’, Mamlūk Studies Review, 9:1 (2005), p. 112.
[8] Yossef Rapoport, ‘Ibn Hagar al-‘Asqalānī, His Wife, Her Slave-Girl: Romantic Triangles and Polygamy in 15th Century Cairo’, Annales islamologiques, 47 (2013), p. 329.
[9] Rapoport, ‘Ibn Hagar al- ‘Asqalānī, His Wife, Her Slave-Girl, p. 332.
[10] Muhammad Al-Sahāwī, ‘Abd al-Rahmān, al Gawahir wa-l-durar fī targamat sayh al-islām Ibn Hagar’, reproduced by Ibrāhīm Bāgis (ed.), Abd al-Magīd, Dār Ibn Hazm, (Beirut, 1999).
[11] Muhammad Al-Sahāwī, ‘Abd al-Rahmān, al Gawahir wa-l-durar fī targamat sayh al-islām Ibn Hagar’.
[12] Muhammad Al-Sahāwī, ‘Abd al-Rahmān, al Gawahir wa-l-durar fī targamat sayh al-islām Ibn Hagar’.
[13] Yossef Rapoport, ‘Ibn Hagar al-‘Asqalānī, His Wife, Her Slave-Girl: Romantic Triangles and Polygamy in 15th Century Cairo’, Annales islamologiques, 47 (2013), p. 334.
[14] A. S. Sa’d, Social and Economic History of Egypt, trans. Huda Lufti (Beirut, 1979), p. 489.
[15] Ibn al-Hajj, Al-Madkhal ila tanmiyat al-a’mal bi tahsin al-niyyat, trans. Huda Lufti (Cairo: Al-Mataba’a al-Misriyya, 1929), vol. 1, pp. 244-5.
[16] Huda Lufti, ‘Manners and Customs of Fourteenth-Century Cairene Women: Female Anarchy versus Male Shar’I Order in Muslim Prescriptive Treatises’, in Nikki R. Keddie and Beth Baron (ed.), Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender (New Haven; Yale University Press, 1991), p. 103.
[17] Ibn Qayyim, Ahbār al-Nisā, in Gert Borg, ‘Love Poetry by Arab Women, A Survey’, Arabica 54:4 (2007), p. 431.
[18] Abu Nuwas, Dīwan 3.12, trans. Jim Colville (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), p. 9.
[19] Yossef Rapoport, Marriage, Money and Divorce in Medieval Islamic Society (Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 14.
[20] Ibn Battūta, The Travels of Ibn Battūta, A.D. 1325-1354, trans. H. A. R. Gibb (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 149.
[21] Wael B. Hallaq, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 67.
[22] Yossef Rapoport, Marriage, Money and Divorce in Medieval Islamic Society (Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 14.
Bibliography
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