Events this week:
New time:
September 20, 2007: Karim Douglas Crow,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, “The Curious Fate
of a Prophetic Hadith on the Intellect.” 4 p.m., Room 3009, FedEx Global Education Center,
UNC-CH.
September 20, 2007: Film and discussion:
Maryam Moghaddas (Iranian television serial on the life of
the Virgin Mary, part 1 of 8, 60 minutes). 5:30-7:30 p.m., 1015
Auditorium, FedEx Global Education
Center, UNC-CH.
Mernissi, chapter 6: The Prophet and Space
- Muhammad's close relation to his wife Khadija
- multiple marriages after her death, some for
political reasons
- his love for Zaynab
- "a chief of state who publicly acknowledged the
importance of affection and sex in life"
- attacks on the Prophet's wives by the
"Hypocrites" of Medina
- seeking new lodgings, and the construction of
the mosque and apartments
- Fatima seeks to live close to her father
- the importance of a leader living in a space
close to the people
- divisions within Medina, Jewish tribes who did
not accept Muhammad
- "hypocrites" were members of Arab tribes who
also did not accept Muhammad
- destruction of the women's apartments during the
enlargement of the mosque of Medina after 705 -- a modest contrast with
the luxury of royal palaces
- rituals of accommodation between the Meccan
emigrants (Muhajirun) and "Helpers" (Ansar) of Medina
- changes taking place during the final illness
and death of the Prophet: "the Prophet's architecture created a space
in which the distance between private life and public life was
nullified" (113)
Chapter 7, The Prophet and Women
The
Wives of the Prophet: the Happy Years
- relations among the prophet's wives
- Arab women in politics: the case of Hind, opponent
of Muhammad
- Umm Salama's question about gender inclusive
language in the Qur'an
- Sura 4, "The Women", including new laws of
inheritance favoring women's rights
- male resistance to the new order, and complaints
by women and orphans whose inheritance or rights were threatened
Women and al-Sufaha
(The Foolish)
- a verse is revealed barring inheritance by the
foolish = women?
- Tabari's commentary, summarizing all previous
accounts, concludes that the verse addresses those who are not
competent, not just women
- a complaint about "contemporary Muslims' amnesia,
which sees the equality of the sexes as an alien phenomenon"
Women and Loot
- women's claim to the spoils of war and economic
equality weakened by their exclusion from battle
- raiding and the basis of tribal wealth: the
problem of enslaving prisoners who convert to Islam (pre-Islamic custom
of enslaving captives)
- the Muslim victory over Ta'if and the conversion
of the defeated fighters: debate among the victors about the fate of
the captives
- sidebar: rival prophets and prophetesses
Chapter 8: `Umar and the men of the Medina
- the harsh character of `Umar
- A'isha's sister refused to marry him
- male reluctance to change pre-Islamic customs of
their superiority
- Umm Salama rejects his interference and his
preaching of female submission
Debate on Sexual Practices
women of Medina reject
man's right to sodomy
Slavery
- the existence of slavery, modified by the merit of
freeing slaves
- the child of a free man and a slave woman is born
free
- persistence of slavery as a tool of military
expansion
- Muslim states could have found a justification for
rejecting slavery in figures from early Islam, instead of under
colonial pressure