Health, the Body, and Female Authority in Ibn al-Ḥājj’s <i>al-Madkhal</i>

Abstract During the Mamlūk Sultanate (1250–1517), treatises on innovation, which detail new and corrupting religious practices, became popular. Ibn al-Ḥājj’s (d. 1336) al-Madkhal intertwines the legal concept of intention with innovation in a guidebook that enumerates problems in society ranging from religious rituals to holidays to medicine. This article approaches Ibn al-Ḥājj’s text by considering its genre, context, and themes of health and gender. Then it discusses his use of the category of intention as it relates to examples dealing with the female body and two case studies of female authority, which complicate our understanding of his views on masculinity and femininity, piety, and physical and spiritual health. The moments when Ibn al-Ḥājj considers women in positions of power reveal the variety of techniques he employs to enforce a proper gender hierarchy in which men have power over women. The text illustrates a tension between his ideal society and one that sometimes necessitates female authority, leading to differing methods of argumentation to reconcile the society in which he lives with the one he envisions.