Discussing Women's Empowerment - Sida

SAADALLAH • GENDER AND POWER IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES 119
basic Text. Male-dominated interpretation and jurisprudence 10 have contributed
in part to this. I will now move on to discuss other factors contributing
to the distinct institutionalization of patriarchy and gender inequality
encountered in Muslim society.
Shaping the Status of Women: Islamic Historical Memory
The effect of Islamic and historical memory on shaping the status of
women is an important aspect for understanding the present social realities
present in most Muslim countries today. Mernissi states that the
Koran, in similarity with the other holy texts of the scripture religions,
Christianity and Judaism, “proffers a model of hierarchical relationships
and sexual inequality” (Mernissi, 1996, p. 14). This is reinforced by the historical
legacy of Islam whereby the “concept of Jawari 11 (or highly accomplished,
learned, exquisite female pleasure slaves) came into being … these
sacred and secular models 12 of woman had enormous influence on the creation
and maintenance of sex roles in Muslim civilization” (ibid., p. 14).
Thus, counter to the developments in other scripture religions, Islamic
historical memory has contributed to the reinforcement of the patriarchal
foundations already existent in the Arab society where Islam first appeared.
It has also integrated other exogenous cultural aspects, and influences
that came to be assimilated during the spread of the Islamic Empire
allowing for “sexual inequality to reassert itself” (ibid., p. 69). Thus
the Golden Age of Islam 13 is directly associated with an extreme form of
patriarchal social and ruling order. As Mernissi (1996) elaborates, this has
been depicted in works of fiction produced throughout Islamic History,
centuries after the passage of the Golden Age, such as Arabian Nights,
and also in non-fictional accounts by historians such as Al-Asfahani, Al-
Massoudi and others (ibid., pp. 70-71). Mernissi proceeds to confirm that
those directly contesting and resisting women’s entitlements to their rights,
and an ameliorated form of gender inequality (let alone complete gender
equality), have selected the most absolutist period of Islamic memory as
embodied in and symbolized by the figure of ‘the Jariya’ or female slave
(ibid., p. 89).
10. Body of Islamic Law and regulations.
11. Described by Mernissi as a fabricated archetype.
12. Mernissi denotes the sacred Model as ’the Houri’ mentioned in the Koran, and the secular as
the concept of Jariya assimilated during the Abbasid Empire. For a more detailed account,
refer to Mernissi (1996), chapter VII.
13. The age of the spread of the Islamic Empire and its consolidation.