Images of Women’s Social Agency in Islamic Literature from the Ninth to the Fifteenth Centuries

Abstract In this article, I explore the changing representations of female protagonists in classical Islamic narratives in order to study Islamic ideas of female agency in the public sphere. The research is based on a close analysis of Islamic narrative sources, including the Prophet’s biography and raids ( Sīra and Mag̲hāzī ), Islamic biographical dictionaries ( ṭabaqāt ), Islamic traditions ( ḥadīth ) and Islamic historiography ( tārīkh ). The sources studied here are from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. Narratives and anecdotes about three female Companions of the Prophet – Umm Sulaym bt. Milḥān, Hind bt. ʿUtba and Umm ʿUmāra – are analyzed in an effort to trace and identify variations in their representations. The findings indicate that Muslim authors throughout the centuries and across genres did not oppose or downplay, in any way, women’s social agency. They did, however, aspire to determine or to frame the ‘appropriate’ form of women’s agency and, for that purpose, they tended to emphasize some aspects of agency while downplaying other aspects. All in all, the study concludes that Muslim authors throughout the centuries saw fit to present exemplary feminine characters who shaped the imagination and perceptions of generations of Muslims of both sexes.