Role of woman in Arabic Literature Reading Assignment

Reading:The Role of Women in Arabic Literature
Mona Mikhai
(Reprint of an original piece published by Arab Perspectives in its October, 1980 issue, Vol. 1, No. 7)
Mona Mikhailis ,Associate Professor, of Arabic and lslamic Studies at New York University. She has written numerous articles and made many translations of contemporary Arabic literature. Dr. Mikhail won the P.E.N. Prize for her translations of the short stories of Yusuf ldris.
Portrayals of women in Arabic literature serve as a barometer by which we can measure that status and role of Arab women in society. Some may argue that literature and real life are two different matters, that Arabic letters tell us something about literature and not necessarily about conditions in Arab societies. Nevertheless the value of literature in understanding, indeed in bringing about change, regeneration, and transformation within the very fabrics of these societies is not to be underestimated.
The literature of the Arabs is so vast that sifting through the numerous works ftom the seventh century to this day to obtain a “definitive” view of women in Arabic literature is a monumental task. Poets and writers, both men and women, speak to us unveiling their innermost selves. A sampling of this infinitely rich body of literature gives only a glimpse at the changing roles, values and desires the Arab world has witnessed. In both theory and practice women have been and will continue to be an inspiration, as well as part of and instrumentat in bringing about a revitalizing change.
Tumadir bint Amru al-Harith-bint al-Sharid, better known as ‘al-Khansa’, the dauntless poetess of the seventh century, reknowned for her eloquence and outspoken courage, remains to this day a legend in Arabic literary annals. Her famous “lament for a brother” rings with timelessness and poignant immediacy:
What have we done to you death
that you treat us so, with always another catch
one day a warrior
the next a head of state
charmed by the loyal
you choose the best
iniquitous, unequalling death
I would not complain
if you were just
but you take the worthy
leaving fools for us.
Nazik al-Mal’aika, the poet, critic and innovator of poetic techniques, attracts attention to the endemic plight of her sisters and the unlegislated inequities imposed upon them in our contemporary societies. Her most moving poem, Insignificant Woman, speaks not only of women but of the alienated human race estranged in an indifferent world to its fate:
No eyes followed her coffin
to the end of the road
Only a memory of a lifeless form
passing in some lane”¦
A moon mourned in silence.
Walladah hint al-Mustakfi, famed beauty and daughter of the ruler of Cordova, held literary gatherings that attracted the best known poets of the day, composed as well as inspired some of the greatest eleventh century Andalusian verses. Her liberated ways, advanced even by today’s standards, serve as paradigms for the status of women in her times.
I am fit for high positions, by
God
And am going my way with pride
were words embroidered, we are told, on one of her garments.
Forsooth, I allow my lover to
touch my cheek,
And bestow my kiss on him who
craves it.
Since the early 1900’s Arab women have forcefully reflected in their writings the multiplicity of social, intellectual, and political beliefs of their societies. Voicing some of the “ills that flesh is heir to”, Therese Awwad pinpoints one of the more devastating diseases of our modern age, loneliness and alienation:
My loneliness
ages like wine
I arrest it
between parentheses
bridle it
together with the tumult
paste doubt to it
Fadwa Touqan rejects the constrictions that outside forces impose on her freedom as a woman and as an Arab:
Freedom
My freedom
I shall carve the words in the
earth
chisel their sounds
over every door in the Levant”¦
below the slope at every street
corner inside the prison
within the torture chamber.
In more recent times men have made a substantial contribution to literature in this vein. Jamil Sidqi a]-Zahawi, Ma’ruf al-Rusafi, Ahmad Shawqui and Hafiz Ibrahim were ardent pioneers for the emancipation of women at the turn of this century. Their words, vitriolic at times, unquestionably accelerated the movement towards the shedding of archaic beliefs and restrictive mores. Half a century later, Hamid al-iryani attacking the last vestiges of shackling traditions that seem to linger stubbornly, writes:
Tear it
This veil
Discard it
Tatter it
And Leave death parade
To join the wedding procession
and sing
Destroy
Destroy fears with violence”¦
Striking an equally forceful note Nizzar Qabbani focuses on his urbanized, superficially Westernized companions. He has idolized women in the traditional style, but has also succeeded, perhaps more than any other contemporary poet, in exposing rauses which perpetrate the victimization of women. Speaking for all women, he cries out:
My dear sir
lfear lo sa