Mernissi, pp. 1-48
who is Fatima Mernissi? see her web site
what does the title and subtitle of her book mean?
original French title: Harem Politique
question: why did she write his book, and what is her objective?
-- look at her preface

Introduction
"can a woman be a leader of Muslims?"
a debate in the grocery
silenced by a hadith and misogyny
venturing into the texts of mullahs and imams
major texts on hadith
the problem of recovering the history of women in early Islam
A'isha and the Battle of the Camel (656 CE), and her authority in hadith
are modern scholars right to banish women from politics?
Reinterpreting Tabari and the issue of false hadith
not a work of history but "a narrative of recollection" (10)

Part One: Sacred Text As Political Weapon
1. The Muslim and Time
a critique of the sense of decline among Arabs and their infatuation with the past
praise for Western civilization's notion of time, yet it is a new imperialism
defining Muslims as "belonging to a theocratic state"
vocabulary check: theocracy
this defines being Muslim as "national identity", not personal belief
relating problem of gender to democracy
feminization and the colonial experience of domination
Muslim woman, from veiled marginalized object to constitutional subject
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Versus 1957 Moroccan Code of Personal Status
return to the past for an analysis that is necessary today

--> who is this chapter aimed at?

2.  The Prophet and Hadith
the character of Muhammad, and a brief biography
the problem of hadith (31): political succession in Islamic law as the key to Islamic history (Khomeini in Iranian revolution of 1979)
Death of the prophet
  • `Ali and Abu Bakr as possible successors, and the eventual civil war
  • Hadith as an attempt to bring the prophet's authority to solve the question of politics
    oral transmission
  • dissension and the creation of false hadith
Political Dissensions
Birth of the Hadith

-->What is Mernissi's agenda in this chapter?  Who is she trying to argue with?


Final question: are you a feminist?  Do you support equal rights for men and women?  What's the difference between the 2 questions?