Part 1: Early Islamic to Pre-colonial era. Week 2: Islam and the Harem

Transcription

1 Part 1: Early Islamic to Pre-colonial era Week 2: Islam and the Harem

2 Rise and Spread of Early Islam Islam born early 7 th 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

3 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

4 Rise and Spread of Early Islam

5 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

6 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

7 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

8 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

9 Rise and Spread of Early Islam Also important: speed with which Islam spread, areas into which it spread initially Arab Middle East

10 Rise and Spread of Early Islam Soon: into non-arab cultures (e.g. Byzantine, Berber, Persian)

11 Rise and Spread of Early Islam Into non-arab cultures (e.g. Central Asian, European)

12 Rise and Spread of Early Islam Initial internal conflict regarding succession to leadership of Islam ultimately gave rise to successive dynastic Caliphates: mid-7 th century Umayyad * * * Damascus New Political Capital * Mecca Spiritual Capital

13 Rise and Spread of Early Islam Mid-8 th through mid-13 th century: Abbasids * * * Baghdad New Political Capital * Mecca Spiritual Capital

14 Rise and Spread of Early Islam During same years (essentially 7 th 11 th 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, dayto-day living: shaped by circumstances at once pre-islamic AND non-arab

15 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

16 Early Islam and the Harem Sources: McDougall, Bray both emphasizing difficulty of seeing beyond Islamic gloss or selfinterested 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?

17 Early Islam and the Harem [McDougall]: articles on Women (Africa ) 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

18 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

19 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]

20 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]

21 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]

22 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

23 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.

24 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

25 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

26 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)

27 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)

28 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

29 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 the norm ; concubinage common discarded wives an increasing problem in society with growing numbers itinerant merchants

30 women & slavery To what ever extent we accept or challenge the idea that Islam was meant to respond to social welfare needs, with respect to women, marriage and slavery it clearly did Acknowledged polygamy BUT addressed problem of inequitable treatment by limiting the number to four and insisting that each be treated equally Reality (wealth, access to sufficient property to provide each with own house/quarters) meant even that limit only reached by upper-most elite

31 women & slavery Other side of marriage limitation was concubinage: man could take as many concubines as he wished Important distinction: wives had to be free women, concubines had to be slaves as long as there were slaves accessible, concubinage flourished Concubinage pre-islamic, children often left uncared for: Islam brought formal valuing of manumission to slave woman and formal recognition of children as free

32 women & slavery Woman who became pregnant by master known as umm al-walad mother of the child Received special status in household, would be freed at some time latest being on death of master Child born free: to be brought up in master s household Wife related to man as husband, concubine as master both relationships defined by Islamic law; both relationships produced legitimate children

33 women & slavery Much controversy over intent of various laws regarding slavery: to end slavery? To limit it? To support it? Point here is: like question of seclusion and veiling, evolved during early years of Islam Important subject of legal debate, not all four schools ultimately agreed on every aspect of slavery much discussion around details of umm al-walad

34 women & slavery Why is this important to discussion of Harem? [Bray] article addresses Abassid era (Baghdad) some three centuries after death of prophet, when Islamic law still being debated and codified Her focus on the evolution of the family, including its harem (from pre-islamic to Islamic AND from being Arab to incorporating non-arabs) is primarily a focus on how slavery under Islamic law was central to that evolution most especially female slavery

35 women & slavery Asks questions about male roles: how much legacy of Roman/Byzantine culture? In turn related to changes in women s roles (slaves, converts) Wants to see transition: how did earlier cultural practices penetrate religious change? Blocked to large extent by nature of sources

36 women & slavery Abbasids not keen to acknowledge any sort of learning process [from those they had conquered]. By the time we get the [production of our] major sources, all such negotiation has been erased: instead we see an Islamized, conquerors perspective [that encompasses gender roles] Notes problem conversion posed: as more people converted to Islam ( natural over time, especially in urban areas), need arose to define, retain Arab identity in other than religious terms

37 women & slavery Looked to culture and class to protect role as Arab Elite ( conquerors) Returns us to Schick s observation: that although segregation was primarily about kinship, leaders increasingly moved towards sexual segregation This move was part of the growing distinction between the Arab elite and others : in short, its initial role was to define class and culture, rather than sex

38 women & slavery As the issue of defining Arabism declined over time, the issue of distinguishing status increased To be able to seclude wives and daughters meant you could afford slaves to do their work Wives and daughters removed themselves from public places more or less in conjunction with the growing wealth and status of their families This was a process: cultural, religious but above all economic

39 women & slavery Culture and Class : also central to Bray s analysis She exploits biographical sources to underscore heterogeneity of society in spite of Islamization century after conquest Reveals tensions in society but also ways in which families converted and attempted to assimilate into new society [and hence the problem of protecting or redefining Arab identity developed]

40 women & slavery Focuses on central issue : gender and freedom Notes: free male status only invariable one in Islamic society Women, slaves (men and women) varied according to circumstances Free Women: main variable marriage situation

41 women & slavery Slave Men: could purchase freedom, as freed operate much as free men in pre-islamic society Slave Women: could aspire to be concubine go from bottom of social scale (vulnerable to exploitation, no legal rights) to equivalent of free married woman by becoming umm al-walad

42 women & slavery Bray: the fact that there is some fuzziness in the disagreements of the early schools of law over the details of the status of slave mothers of children may indicate that here the jurists were tackling a fluid social reality rather than constructing an ideal Here making important suggestion: even this legislation often seen as quintessentially Islamic may have been in (large) part accommodation with pre-islamic reality an effort to codify social fluidity during a period of religious transition

43 women & slavery Importance for us: how this relates to evolution of family (and domestic elite harems) these families often develop into dynasties and seem to owe at least some part of their long-term stability to their ability to make slaves part of the family a dimension not reflected in legal theory..in some ways absorption of slaves into family parallels way in which non-arab converts integrated into Islamic society by becoming clients of Arab patron but new process intimate, cohesive.

44 women & slavery Points out that normally such slave women lacked family baggage, that is they integrated to the most intimate roles without fear that relations would prey upon family in any way [this would be vast majority] But then goes on to outline how one concubine family (involving a sister, brother, nieces, nephews) heavily influenced the Abbasid Caliphal family:

45 women & slavery [ al-kyayzuran, concubine to al-mahdi, with sister Salsal, concubine to al-mahdi s half-brother] virtually colonized the caliphal family during the last decades of the 8 th century. Al Mahdi passed over sons by his [free] wife in favour of his concubine s children, future caliphs Musa al-hadi and Harun al- Rashid; his concubine also bore his favourite daughter. Salsals s daughter married al-rashid and bore his heir; two daughters of the brother [of concubines] married al-hadi and al- Rashid (respectively). Bray comments she is not sure how common this pattern was. But it nevertheless indicates significant change at least at royal level

46 women & slavery Abbasid slaves emblems of change and assimilation: all but three Abbasid caliphs born of foreign slave mothers. Lower down social scale: slave domestics -- Muslim from birth or infancy, lacked any pedigree or identity but that of Islam and host family; swelled Muslim community at all levels Presence of slaves began to visibly alter structure of family, personal relations: slaves contributed to family wealth could in no way make claims on it

47 women & slavery While describing nature of mixed family and its significance (both in terms of Arab identity, and socio-economic growth), Bray notes that we know little about how it came about or gained acceptance Importance: she notes its existence at a time we are trying to see and understand how the harem operated at both the imperial and the household ( middling to wealthy ) level and what linkages there may have been between them; also probes rather than assumes role of Islam in process

48 women & slavery Issue not raised by any of our authors but important to intersection between women and slavery and women and seclusion (Schick): milk-kinship Schick argued that few women-men could claim kin relations necessary to permit sharing of space therefore, kin segregation was equivalent of sexual segregation

49 women & slavery Female slaves in all households served as wetnurses : they breast-fed babies belonging to their mistresses/masters Their milk (according to Islamic law) provided the kin relation equivalent of blood: babies fed by the same milk-mother were non-marriageable While this limited marriageable partners, at ALL levels of society, it increased the number of men who could share space with women considerably and significantly

50 women & slavery While invisible in the sources, this aspect of Islamic society has been (historically) important Needs to be factored into analyses like Schick s and Bray s both in terms of discussion seclusion and Islamic families in centuries of Early Islam

51 women, seclusion & slavery We asked the question: how did the evolution of early Islam intersect with the evolution of the early Harem thereby challenging assumptions underlying much of the literature that the harem was a creation (whether imperial or household) of Islam

52 women, seclusion & slavery Responses: Islam itself embodied pre-islamic custom and tradition and non-arab culture The harem (family relations, women s seclusion, slavery), evolved as part of same dynamic Islamic law (sharia) codified during maturation process of Muslim political power: harem in various meanings, realities integral to process acquired social, religious and political significance

53 men & slavery the eunuch [McDougall] draws attention to the role of the eunuch in the context of Imperial Slavery and Islam Unlike concubines who functioned in households ranging from wealthy middle class through to imperial elites, eunuchs only seem to appear at the wealthiest and imperial level Their role as intimates in the familial situation is hinted at through the sura (quoted in part above):

54 men & slavery the eunuch [women should be modest ] they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their khimār [outer garments] over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husband, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs (sura 24:31)

55 men & slavery the eunuch slaves whom their right hand possesses is veiled reference to female slaves male servants free of physical needs is clear reference to eunuchs who have been relieved of physical needs through the operation of castration Various degrees of physical removal of genitals possible [see Hogendorn, Manufacture of Eunuchs in Resources ]

56 men & slavery the eunuch [Hogendorn] although word has etymological roots in Greek (meaning guardian of the bedchamber) and acknowledges presence of eunuchs across Roman/Byzantine empires, Persia, India, China, sub-saharan Africa, traces importance of eunuch per se to Islamic era specifically 9 th through 19 th centuries, with emphasis on the Ottoman experience Focus on how and where male slaves castrated to supply the Muslim Mediterranean market

57 men & slavery the eunuch Why? maintenance of large harems by the upper classes greatly stimulated the demand for males who could be trusted with large numbers of nubile women Enslaved in foreign lands Were castrated before entering dar al-islam (in principle Islam accepted use of already mutilated bodies but did not condone mutilation) but not at source

58 men & slavery the eunuch Hogendorn: uses economic arguments to show the making of eunuchs was about economic gain not religious regulation per se Significance: neither use of nor production of eunuchs, whose need was defined by the harem, was specifically Islamic

59 Case Study the Abbasid Caliphate Friday Discussion: Group Assigned readings specifically related to the Abbasid Imperial harem In-class discussion will address points raised in the general in Mon-Wed lectures, using specific case study of Abbasids This Class is considered to be integral to Week 2: an extension of lectures, an opportunity to push arguments in the required readings, an opportunity to raise questions about them. It is the first of regular such discussion classes.