Abstract
The incorporation of Western feminism in African writing and activism presents a challenge for theology and literary scholars. In Women in Arabic Literature in Nigeria, Katibi staunchly agrees that women have been marginalised and largely misrepresented in literary scholarship across cultures and religions over the past centuries. He also establishes that this marginalisation stemmed from the patriarchal structure of the world. This trajectory of male domination of the female gender he construes as a man’s design, not God’s. Contrary to the belief by some uninformed people about the stance of Islam on women’s rights, the author affirms that Islam favours “gender equity” over “gender equality” (p. 22). Admitting that Nigerian male literary writers in Arabic are “[…] not enthusiastic about women issues in their works […]” (p. 60), Katibi offers moderate Islamic feminism, the principles of which are sourced from the Qur’an and Hadith to women writers in Arabic literature in Nigeria. He proposes this “moderate Islamic feminism” (p. 26) as an alternative to all alien feminisms unwarily rehashed by African women to reverse the status quo or project women’s megalomaniac stance. Embracing this moderate Islamic feminism he believes will obviate the preponderance of a wide and widening gulf between the male and female creative contributions to Arabic literature in Nigeria (and Africa generally).
The six-chapter book assesses the place of women in Arabic literature in Nigeria. The first chapter is an introduction to the gender-based discourse of the book. Besides discussing distinctive natural traits of women, the chapter serves as an exposé of how different religions and cultures – from the Ancient Chinese, Old Egyptian, Indian, to Ife – have positioned women at different times. In short, cultural as well as religious clout in the marginalisation of women takes up a larger bulk of the discussion in the chapter, but Katibi considers certain factors such as globalisation as drivers of women’s awareness of, and agitation for, their rights in the modern time. One finds captivating the author’s perception of literature as an avenue for restoring “[…] the right of woman,” especially “In Asia and Africa, where a woman is considered an ordinary tool […]” (p. 25). Also noteworthy is his pithy critique of a proliferation of discursive feminist writings in the present time with his argument patently tilted towards a bias for “[…] moderate Islamic feminism,” which he says is the “[…] most acceptable by Muslim and Arab scholars […]” (p. 26).
Chapter two traces the importance attached to Arabic language in Nigeria today to its status as the official language of the pre-colonial North before the amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Protectorates. However, Katibi identifies socio-religious norms as being responsible for the exclusion of the majority of women from learning Arabic during the period. Chapter three dwells on the extent of women’s literary contribution or freedom to participate in Arabic literature of four major Islamic eras – Islamic, Umayyah, Abbasid, and pre-colonial. He reveals that while the Arabic literary landscape generally has not been favourable to female writers in terms of the volumes of literary works accredited to them in the eras, Arabic oral literature of the pre-Islamic period was particularly hostile to women artistes “[…] because Arab traditions did not allow women to make open and long speeches in the midst of men […]” (p. 30). Of significance here are the three weighty points objectively raised by Katibi in this chapter: (1) across the Islamic eras, women writers were not active (or purposely made so by cultural norms constructed by men, or through deliberate twisting of Qur’anic injunctions on women’s rights) in Arabic literature; (2) women’s rights were largely upheld as dictated by the Qur’an and Hadith; (3) the relatively low literary engagement of women in Arabic literature in Nigeria during the colonial period is attributable to psycho-social and family constraints.
Through brief but catchy analyses of selected works by Nigerian male writers, which praise the administrative prowess, beauty, and virtues of women, Katibi shows that some male writers in Arabic literature in Nigeria have always tried to portray women in good light. Chapter five is dedicated to women writing in Arabic literature in Nigeria with their works categorised into Poetry, Article, and Notion. Unfortunately, as the author eventually discovered, there is a paucity of women writers in Arabic literature in Nigeria: “It is disheartening that the Nigerian female writers could not match their male counterparts in Arabic literary creativity […]” (p. 40). The author airs his discontentment with the writing of substandard poems (p. 41) by Nigerian women writers in Arabic. The author vehemently declares that only few women excel in oral poetry such as eulogy, but “As far as Arabic prose writing is concerned among Nigerian women, it has not gathered momentum” (p. 49). Except for Nana Asmau (1793–1864), who wrote substantial works in Arabic, “[…] no book in Arabic story, drama, novel or biography (is) credited to a Nigerian woman” (p. 50). Katibi hints that women can change this lopsided narrative by being active in (Arabic) literary production – that is, writing passionately about issues affecting them. The last chapter, chapter six, besides containing findings of the book and recommendations, sums up all the issues raised by the author in the preceding chapters.
In this book, the author successfully highlights the historical, cultural, and religious indices that have sustained male domination of Arabic literature in Nigeria. Through both descriptive and analytical approaches, as evident in chapters two, three, four, and five, Katibi not only specifies why male writers in Arabic fail to focus “[…] full concentration on feminine issues, despite enormous challenges confronting women of different periods, places and status” (p. 60), but he also offers women an option of moderate Islamic feminism as the right tool for upping their career in the Nigerian literary landscape. The author may not have extensively explored a workable framework through which to harness the basic postulates of this proposed moderate Islamic feminism, but the book opens up a new dimension of “reshaping” the feminist approach of Nigerian (and, by extension, African) female writers in the contemporary time. A scholarly tide of discussion on this high-minded feminism that Katibi regards as far more favourable to both genders than any other strand of feminism is encouraged in this book. In fact, the book will certainly guide any keen reader to understanding the extent of women’s participation or representation in Arabic literature in Nigeria (and Africa generally).