Rewriting Women's History in Islam

This paper is an attempt to reflect on the story of Hagar/Hajar, the Egyptian housemaid/slave of Sarah/Sarai, wife/concubine of Abraham/Ibrahim, the father of prophets, who became the mother of a nation and faith. It aims also at understanding what is beyond the narrative given by the Jewish and Islamic accounts of her life. Then the paper will re-read the significance of her representation and symbolism. The questions that this paper raises are: Where do we get Hajar’s voice from? What does she mean to women and Islamic culture at large? How did she participate in building Islam’s theology and practice as we know it today? How did she affect the way we imagine women’s power or submissiveness in Islam? Strengths and weaknesses, leadership, and obedience? The answer may vary from one person to another, or one generation to the next, but here, the paper will try to give Hajar the voice she has been denied. It will explore the different aspects of the significance of her personality, life, heritage, and Herstory from as many angles as possible: the imagined, the symbolic, and the historical. The rest will be left to the readers to add what they find most touching to their hearts and souls.