Women, Islam, and Abbasid Identity

by Nadia Maria El Cheikh

Overview

When the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad dynasty in 750 CE, an important element in legitimizing their newly won authority involved defining themselves in the eyes of their Islamic subjects. Nadia Maria El Cheikh shows that ideas about women were central to the process by which the Abbasid caliphate, which ushered in Islam’s Golden Age, achieved self-definition.

In most medieval Islamic cultures, Arab Islam stood in opposition to jahl, or the state of impurity and corruption that existed prior to Islam’s founding. Over time, the concept of jahl evolved into a more general term describing a condition of ignorance and barbarism—as well as a condition specifically associated in Abbasid discourse with women. Concepts of womanhood and gender became a major organizing principle for articulating Muslim identity. Groups whose beliefs and behaviors were perceived by the Abbasids as a threat—not only the jahilis who lived before the prophet Muhammad but peoples living beyond the borders of their empire, such as the Byzantines, and heretics who defied the strictures of their rule, such as the Qaramita—were represented in Abbasid texts through gendered metaphors and concepts of sexual difference. These in turn influenced how women were viewed, and thus contributed to the historical construction of Muslim women’s identity.

Through its investigation of how gender and sexuality were used to articulate cultural differences and formulate identities in Abbasid systems of power and thought, Women, Islam, and Abbasid Identity demonstrates the importance of women to the writing of early Islamic history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674736368
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/06/2015
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Nadia Maria El Cheikh is Professor of History at the American University of Beirut.

Editorial Reviews

El Cheikh demonstrates convincingly and elegantly that ideas about women and gender are key to marking temporal, religious, sectarian, and ideological boundaries. There is a real need for this accessible work for those who want to learn more about Islamic history.

Kecia Ali

In Women, Islam, and Abbasid Identity, El Cheikh offers a well-crafted and distinctly fresh approach to the formation of Islamic identity. This is a work of high scholarly caliber that will make a significant contribution to the study of early Islam.

Nancy Khalek