Als Fatima ihr Recht forderte

Autor(en)

Liselotte Abid

Abstrakt

1
ABSTRACT
Original Title: “Als Fatima ihr Recht forderte – Weibliche Symbolik im schiitischen Islam”
English Title: „When Fatima Demanded her Rights – Female Symbolism in Shiite Islam”
The particular symbolism that developed around female personalities in Shi’ite Islam is to a certain extent a mirror of the image of women in Shi’a Muslim communities, even in Europe, where Shi’ites constitute a minority within the Muslim minorities. This symbolism may be part of a popular and regional culture, it can assume a political meaning, or in a modern transformation it can also become an indicator of social change, affecting the lives of women in different ways.
The research interest in this topic was to find
- out how this symbolism is perceived by recipients, and
- if and how religious symbolism with a feminine connotation may influence the image and/or status of women in Shi’ite communities.
It is quite striking that Shiite Islam uses a rich imagery in religious contexts. While Islam is generally perceived as being prohibitive with regard to pictures of humans and animals, contemporary Shiite theology tends to interpret this ruling in a way as to allow pictures, as long as they are not intended or used for worship.
Shiite narrations often refer to female personalities, and a particular symbolism has developed around them:
• Khadija, the wealthy entrepreneur of her time who employed Muhammad as a young man for the caravan trade and offered to marry him when noticing his success and honesty in business. She became the first person to accept Islam out of her own conviction.
• Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad and Khadija, who ascended to a role-model for Shiite women and men and is greatly venerated also in Sunni Islam. Her refusal to marry wealthy and elderly noble-men and her consent to the proposal of the young Ali provide examples that Muslim girls and women should themselves choose their husband. Another important implication for women’s rights is that when she felt she was being treated unjustly after the Prophet‘s death, she did not give in but claimed her rights in public through speeches and lectures.
• Zaynab was the daughter of Fatima and Ali. She was present at the event of Ashura in Karbala in 680 A.D. Till today, she is admired for her courage as she held critical speeches in front of the inhabitants of Kufa and later at the ruler’s court in Damascus. Even more important, she is the one who spread the news of the tragedy of Karbala. Without her activity, hardly any knowledge of this event so decisive for Islam and the Shia would have been passed on to supporters and later generations.
• More women and girls play an important role in the narrative history of Shiism. Through their acquiring and spreading of knowledge and becoming experts in exegesis of the Qur’an, the free access of women to theological competence is being underlined.
All these aspects contribute to the self-image of today‘s Shiite women, whether perceived in a positive or even in a critically distanced or negative way.
Also in Shiite communities in Europe, the history of the Shi‘a is being revived every year in lively processions and stage plays – not only during Ashura mourning ceremonies, but also at the commemoration of birthdays and/or martyrdom of those women and men who serve as role-models for the opposite sex as well. There are distinctive moral characteristics and personal merits that are valid for women and men alike and thus serve to bridge the gender gap in religious matters.
The different functions and experiences of female characters in the history of Shi’ism produce equally diverse interpretations of woman’s role in today’s society. This work aims at a deeper analysis of the religious symbolism around female role-models, because the symbols’ focus and messages change in the course of time, under changing circumstances, cultural and artistic taste, ideological aims and socio-political implications. For this purpose, contemporary pictorial, calligraphic and literary expressions are investigated in their widest meaning, and a glance is thrown also at women’s magazines, movies and TV series. Their underlying meaning and message have been discussed with experts in various fields. In thirty questionnaires, answers were provided to the perception of Shiite religious symbolism by recipients from different social strata, mainly in Iran, with examples from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Lebanon.
Results show that female symbolism used in Shiite Islam unfolds a variety of effects on the public and individual perception. Although mostly in an indirect way, this symbolism influences the image of women in the respective society. It can perpetuate traditional gender roles or can help to open up restrictions and thus contribute to raising the social status of women.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Orientalistik

Anzahl der Seiten

321

Publikationsdatum

2013

ÖFOS 2012

504 Soziologie, 602019 Iranistik, 603905 Islam

Schlagwörter

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/bcd8ec98-3b4e-45cd-912b-9d173c31d418