sempozyum_bildiri_kitabi

mercantile ethos (liberal and rational) in the interpretation of Islam, a clash that has had tremendous
consequences for Muslim society in general and for its women in particular.
By the middle of the ninth century, Baghdad has become bigger than Paris in the nineteenth
century. This urban metropolis included Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians among its
population, some of whom apparently lived side by side in houses indistinguishable from one
another and their children attended the same kuttab. This urban population included craftsmen and
artisans of all sorts and shopkeepers of all kinds. There was also a steady stream of migrants from
the country side who eked out a living on a daily basis. 13 There were many new relationships in this
mercantile artisanal economy that were not adequately addressed and have no precedent either in
the Qur’an or the Sunna. This fueled the intellectual debates regarding law, the state and the power
of the Caliph, especially his ability to impose new taxes. The landlords and the merchants/artisanal
alliance fought out their differences on the ideological plane, especially around the controversial
position of whether the Qur’an is created or uncreated. It was a difficult struggle and the state came
down hard, through the Mihna, on the conservatives and literalist, but during the second half of the
9 th century the scale tipped in favor of the landed aristocracy and the conservatives. The political
triumph of the landed aristocracy along with the establishment of the doctrine of the eternal,
uncreated Qur’an, which can only be interpreted literally, begins a period in which Islam pivots
towards a more conservative and rigid literal interpretation, and, as far as women were concerned,
they suffered additionally the re‐emergence of the values of traditional landed patriarchy.
Henceforward, veiling begins to be required of all Muslim women, not just the elite. 14 Landed
patriarchy triumphed over Islam. Commentators on the role played by women in earlier periods of
Islamic history began to cast such a role in a negative light, and favored instead the ideals of the
landed patriarchy, such as seclusion, domesticity and veiling. The defeat of rational thinking closed
many doors in the face of speculative theology, among other issues that remained unresolved.
It is difficult to imagine how Islamic society would have turned out had reason won over literal
interpretation. But what is clear, however, is that the very sources leave no doubt that in real life
women did not abide by all these “idealist” regulations placed upon them by the jurists. Women,
whether in the cities or in the rural areas had to work in workshop or agricultural fields. Perhaps it
was recognition of this reality or may be because of his use of reason that Ibn Rushd (d. 1198 C.E.)
criticized societies that limit women. Ibn Rushd says “In these states, however, the ability of women
is not known, because they are taken for procreation there… Because women in those states are not
being fitted for any of the human virtues it often happens that they resemble plants. That they are a
burden on the men in these states is one of the reasons for the poverty of these states”. 15 Instead,
Ibn Rushd advocated that with proper training, women could be rulers, warriors, guardians,
philosophers, religious leaders, and engaged in all sorts of crafts and professions, some of which will
be more expertly performed by women. 16
While Ibn Rushd flourished and wrote in the Muslim west, the status and role of women in the
Muslim east, especially during the Mamluk period, were far from the images of the 9 th and 10 th
century formulations. In her analysis of a treatises written by Ibn al‐Hajj (d. 1336), Huda Lutfi finds a
pious and conservative text lamenting the “un‐Islamic” behavior of Egyptian women. By reading
against the grain, Huda Lutfi shows how this very text demonstrates the existing discrepancies
between the ideal and the real when it comes to women’s role in medieval Egyptian society. 17 They
were active on many fronts, and their role in education has been appreciated and discussed by
Jonathan Berkey in several places. 18
While these studies concentrate on Mamluk Egypt, I argue that the same situation can be
documented in Damascus. 19 The obituaries provided by al‐Jazari, for example, show women
participating in various walks of life that endowed Madrasahs and served in one capacity or another
in the various and relevant religious and educational institutions, such as ribats and zawiyas. They