Abstract
This article aims to analyze nineteenth and twentieth-century travel writing by a Muslim woman writer, Nur Begum, who embarked on a 3-month journey to perform Hajj (pilgrimage). We aim to unravel her deliberate choice of poetic form as travel writing, which we argue consciously manifests her resistance against the prevailing patriarchal norms set by the Muslim culture. The study draws on Bakhtin’s dialogic framework of the human “self” as an agent engaged in constant negotiation of meanings as he emphasizes the link between human struggle for voice and their activity and growth. Within this theoretical framework, we decipher how Nur Begum authors her “feminist self” in a struggle to articulate her voice against patriarchy that denies her individuality. Moreover, we use insights from Muslim feminist scholarship (e.g. post-patriarchal reading of Islam and feminist theology) to explain how selected verses from Nur Begum’s travel writing deconstruct the myths emerging from the patriarchal interpretation of Islam and social practices in Muslim societies.
Introduction
I can’t believe that I am facing a Muslim and Iranian woman. Now tell me, with whom have you come all the way here? I mean, who has brought you? . . . A Muslim Iranian woman has traveled alone from Tehran to France! How did your government permit you to leave? Where did you get this passport? Sediqeh Dowlataba (quoted in Three Centuries of Muslim Women Writers, Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022: 1) It is still the case that women must overcome their “natural” limitations as women and become “extraordinary” in order to be manly enough to travel and write books about it. Debbie Lisle (quoted in Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022: 8).
Introduction
Travel writing has deep historical origins and is far more complex as compared with many restricted approaches. Nonetheless, the objectives of travel writing have shifted and developed over time depending on the context and culture that the travelers experience. Today travel writing may include even rarely acknowledged forms, such as women travelers’ anonymous writing or those with pseudonyms. In addition, travel writing may also include unconventional kinds of travel writing, such as letters, poetry, couplets, diaries or journal entries, personal family narratives, public lectures, political treatises, correspondence, and devotional acts (e.g. recording the pilgrimage journey), the writer’s perspective or positioning on certain political or social matters, responses toward calamities, and women’s anthropological accounts. Several scholars have investigated women travel writing in different geopolitical settings focusing on how women’s gendered subjectivities are constructed and articulated through travel narrations (e.g. Bassnett, 2002; Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022; Saunders, 2014; Siegel, 2004).
Siegel’s (2004) exploration of the intersections between Women’s travel and theory points to women’s gendered journeys and identities through fictional and non-fictional travel narratives. It primarily focused on the politics of travel through cultural encounters within the colonial discourses, the orientalist stances, and European narratives of the East (see also Mills, 1991). Moreover, it identifies women’s socially privileged positions while also identifying the gaps through those narratives that have never been explored (e.g. women facing exile, expatriation, homelessness, or even those who have been unable to publish their journeys). Similarly, Saunders (2014) discussed the historical context, religion, class, age, and geographical and historical context-based positioning of women as travel writers. The major purpose of the edited collection was to explore the “social and commercial pressures and expectations that women persistently resist as compared to their male counterparts.” Susan Bassnett has also explored women’s travel writing through a gendered perspective (see Bassnett, 2002). She critiques how the heroic figure of male travelers and warriors in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century narratives commodified women as objects of desire. She asserts how travel writing as ethnography eclipses the concerns about gendered travel writing. Bassnett (2002) further writes that women travel writers’ works have been disregarded as below the standards and therefore lacked agency until the feminist critics raised theoretical concerns about them. These earlier explorations on women’s travel writings are comprehensive studies on the subject but rarely focus on the analysis of the choice of genres adopted by women travel writers.
Lambert-Hurley et al. (2022) have recently explored three centuries of travel writing by Muslim women who engage in their struggles to resist the dominant social structures that de-privilege them and their writings. European imperialism contributed significantly to the works produced by Muslim women travelers. Some factors included technological development, steamships, railroads, subways in London, and subways in NY (1850s–1930s) and opportunities (e.g. colonial passport, employment, migration, indentured labor system, diplomacy, commerce, labor). These women traveled for the purposes of employment (ayahs, labor, staff, etc.). However, elite women traveled on official tours or paid their individual independent visits to the foreign lands. Notably, there were problems for veiled (veil regarded as a symbol of safety) women. While being engaged with family, motherhood, or in some cases professions, the majority of these women experienced accidents or pandemics resulting in medical quarantine.
Taking inspiration from these narratives of Muslim women, who are often marginalized in travel writing history, our study aims to analyze the poetry as a travel literary genre composed by a Muslim woman traveler—Nur Begum—in the twentieth century in South Asia to provide insights into how Muslim women travelers construct their feminist identities as they strive to advocate against patriarchy in a society that denies their individuality. We do so by drawing on Bakhtin’s (1984) dialogic approach in conjunction with post-patriarchal readings of Islam (e.g. Ayubi, 2019; Barazangi, 2016; Hassan, 1985; Wadud, 1999). Bakhtin’s framework of the human “self” emphasizes the link between the human struggle for voice and his or her activity and growth (Bakhtin, 1984). Furthermore, the religious ethos, in its present form, is regarded as reflecting biases against women as a result of the male-centric interpretation that assigns primacy to male over females (Barazangi, 2016; Barlas, 2019). Muslim feminist scholars reinterpret religious texts and religious epistemology from a feminist perspective in order to counter patriarchy in Muslim societies. Our analysis of the poetry in this study is informed by these theoretical insights. In what follows, we first discuss travel writing as a literary genre followed by context, data, analysis, and the findings. We conclude our study with recommendations for use of Muslim feminist theological thought and writings in the academic and public spheres.
Travel writing as a literary genre
A travel writer may adopt a diverse role of being a narrator, observer, and reporter, amalgamating skills and living experience. At the same time, she or he is a storyteller and informer. They may also assimilate information as a reporter, novelist, and researcher. A travel writer may also be a person who lives in the past as well as in the present with visual imagination and creativity, with a capacity to communicate a picture of a place. They have to be open-minded, well-informed, and free of subjectivity and prejudice. They should be sensitive enough to record the minute details and facts. They must also know a place, its history, its geography, its politics, and its culture. This is done by showing interest in the natural and historical landscape of a place, its architectural styles, the racial types, its aborigine tradition, and demography and gather this knowledge through pamphlets, brochures, tourism booklets, and travel magazines. They should be able to substantiate this information using sufficient illustrations, photographs, graphs, and statistics to give it a more serene, picturesque, and statistical touch. In some cases, they may also have an acquaintance with the developments and terminologies of trade and commerce (see Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022).
Elsner and Rubies (1999) have identified three main motivations behind travel writing, which include idealism, imperialism, and empiricism. They have discussed a traveler’s experience of space and time and the experience of their corporeality. During the 1200–1800 centuries, the conventions of travel writing are as records of pilgrims, warriors and missionaries, merchants over itineraries and adventurers, naturalist and ethnographer notes, and tourist guides. Broadly speaking, travel writing has been observed as a spiritual journey, as a means of elevating the experience of virtual existence, and a traveler’s relationship to the outer world. This involves reaching a final destination by developing figurative meanings and allegorical values (Elsner and Rubies, 1999). Experience of space, time, and corporeality may reduce the spiritual experience (Polouektova, 2009: 36). It may even have limitations, such as the stages and cost of the journey, which may reduce the depth of the natural and urban environments that they experience. Nonetheless, travel writing is also observed as a process of maturation. For instance, pilgrims and crusaders share the salvation of the soul and may have religious, mystical, and romantic motives. There may be writings of traders, diplomats, pirates, and scholars that should be treated as empirical due to the dominant influence of religious traditions on their narrative structure, despite the secular motives for traveling. Some religious influences on travel writing were impacted by geographic expansions and colonial conquest, conversations with other religions, and preaching objectives (Elsner and Rubies, 1999).
These writings may also have ethnographic dimensions (e.g. Marco Polo) such as an open-ended narrative structure, objectives of entertaining and educating readers, or sharing the lived experience, giving the travelogue an ethnographic dimension. The educational objectives may include faith in their transformation effects on human moral qualities. The other objective may be mastering knowledge about the world. For instance, the aristocratic circles at the end of the sixteenth century were created due to the intellectual curiosity of the new science that observed natural and artificial phenomena, while also showing an interest in the art of antiquity. Since the Renaissance, travel has become a very structured and elaborate method for mastering knowledge about the world. Such writings may have even developed an acquaintance with and broken through the complex systems of economic, cultural, social, and political orders, while engaging with foreign countries. The lack of university programs in the eighteenth century made travel writing a means of acquiring knowledge in political science, economics, modern history, and foreign languages (Penrose, 1952).
The study
Context, data, and the analysis
The study takes inspiration from Lambert-Hurley et al.’s (2022), Three Centuries of Muslim Women Writers. The book raises a pertinent question: Does travel involve going from point A to B only? The question is addressed by suggesting that not all mobilities constitute travel because it involves the ways travelers are deeply embedded in the cultural contexts that employ them. The travel experience is both culturally and historically determined. The problems of travel writing are complex when observed as a gendered genre. For instance, V. S. Naipaul’s An Area of Darkness (1964) can be critiqued for presenting a misogynist treatment of women in travel writing (particularly, Muslim women). It is also a stratified genre that is closely linked with the European history of exploration and as an upper-class recreation or an elitist practice promoted during colonial expansion.
These colonial interactions resulted in a lack of focus on women’s travel narratives, neglect of narratives beyond Europe, a disconnect with cultural nuances and challenges from non-European Union (EU) cultures, insufficient translated literature available on Muslim women writers, stigmatization of Muslim women (e.g. lack of companions while traveling or religious/cultural restrictions), limited understanding of Islam, or even the cultures of mobility. Such approaches marginalized women (less privileged women in particular) and minoritized or impoverished communities. This failure to give weightage to and preserve Muslim Women travelers’ works is a key gap that the book identifies through manifold slippages in the field of travel writing. This gap is that Muslim women travelers’ works need to be explored by analyzing their narrative style, enriching experiences, autobiographical approaches, sociality, diverse approaches toward Islam or Pan-Islamic sentiments, and their efforts toward resisting/breaking stereotypes. Our study also contributes to this scholarly gap in the academic work on Muslim women’s travel writing.
In this study, we focus on presenting a close textual analysis of Nur Begum’s two poems: A Prayer in Mecca and a Defense of Poetry and Returning Home by Train from Bombay written during her pilgrimage in 1931. From this collection (Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022), this article explores poems of Nur Begum written during her holy journey to Makkah. She traveled for Haj pilgrimage in 1931. She originated from a Punjabi village (Sahiwal) and her means of travel—train to Karachi and steamship to Jeddah—spread across a period of 3 months. Based on her travels, she wrote, Mazahir-i Nur: safarnamah-yi Nur bara’e hajj-o- ziyarat-i Huzur (Manifestations of Celestial Light: Nur’s Travel Account of the Hajj and Pilgrimage to the Exalted One) in 1933, which is an excellent collection of Punjabi poetry. Her work received opposition from the male circles. She countered this opposition in her book. This is a rare sample of work by a woman at a time when the majority were illiterate. The significance of writing in Punjabi as opposed to Urdu poetry (written by male counterparts) is also an important aspect of her work as an effort to prevent it from extinction and preserve vernacular literature. The overarching observations that can be made about her work are her efforts to use the poetic genre as a way of breaking the conventional approach toward travel writing or regarding pilgrimage as the only means of travel for women, exploring female emancipation, exploring travel literature by women beyond gender representation, exploring pan-Islamic sentiments versus other experiences/factors, overcoming prejudices (gender, class, identity), and projecting female emancipation.
We analyzed these poems using an abductive approach to thematic analysis. Unlike data, hypothesis, or theory-driven research, abductive research engages with empirical data as well as existing theoretical understanding simultaneously (Thompson, 2022). Accordingly, our analysis takes into consideration the poetry as data and theoretical triangulation (Denzin, 2017) using Bakhtin’s dialogic framework combined with the post-patriarchal reading of Islam by the Muslim feminist scholars as discussed in the following section. We came up with three overarching themes in our analysis that include (a) proclaiming equality and constructing the self, (b) countering patriarchy, and (c) articulating a post-patriarchal stance on women in Islam.
Theoretical framework
Bakhtin views language as double-voiced or dialogic (Bakhtin, 1984). As Vitanova (2010: 8) states, Voloshinov’s (1973) claim that linguistic signs are concrete and materialistic, and they not only represent reality but also distort or change reality provided the basis for Bakhtin’s fundamental assumption that language and the creation of meaning can exist only between people. Language, for Bakhtin, is not merely a way to comprehend the self and the social world, but also a prerequisite for consciousness. Thus, he locates the possibility of being in a language. Vitanova elsewhere notes Bakhtin’s preoccupation with the theme of the “self” as authoring its signifying spaces and voices within discourse (Vitanova, 2005: 149), which Bakhtin considers inherently dialogic (Bakhtin, 1981: 279). Bakhtin believes that human subjective experience is incomplete and unfinalized, as meaning is constantly undergoing interaction. He says, “I feel I am never completely contained in any representation of myself. I always have a loophole in that sense that my meaning is always yet to be completed” (Bakhtin, 1984: 232).
The concept of “utterance” is crucial to his analysis of linguistic forms. As Morris (1994) pointed out, all texts insist that language should not be considered as words in dictionaries that have only potential meanings, but as actualized meanings in the context of specific utterances. As a result, any grammatically correct sentence in a specific context implies the intended meaning. Whenever we utter something, we provoke a response in others (Vitanova, 2010). This generation of responses in the Other is what Bakhtinian “agency” means in a wider sense, given his emphasis on the inherently dialogic nature of discourse and consciousness. This dialogic framework views the human “self” as an agent engaged in constant meaning negotiation. In Bakhtin’s words, “to be means to communicate” (Bakhtin, 1984: 287). In addition, he emphasizes the link between human beings’ struggle for voice and their creativity and growth. Identifying the connection between one’s existence and the ability to author their words is crucial to understanding the Bakhtinian subject. In this sense, human agency is realized, and hope for the future is created through the continuous dialogic practice of responding to and addressing others (Hicks, 2000; Vitanova, 2010). It is important to note that dialogue is understood in a Bakhtinian sense as a socially embedded, meaning-making process. This means that language and linguistic forms have already been used in a variety of settings, and language users have to make them their own. Agency involves taking the words of others and accentuating them in one’s own way (Hicks, 2000: 240).
From this perspective, the poems by Nur Begum are analyzed in this study to argue that they seem to interact with patriarchal monoglossic realities that she confronts through poetry. Her poetry is examined to identify how language and utterances challenge the privileged patriarchy of that period and engages in the authorship of her own symbolic spaces via post-patriarchal Islam and feminist theology (Barazangi, 2016; Barlas, 2019; Hassan, 1985; Wadud, 1999)—another theoretical perspective used in this study. Muslim feminist scholars deconstruct three myths prevalent in Muslim societies. These include (a) that Adam is a male person, God’s primary creation, and that God created Eve from Adam’s rib, so she’s secondary, derivative, and not equal to him; (b) that even though women are secondary in creation, they’re primary in guilt, since they get Adam kicked out of paradise; and finally (c) that women weren’t just created by man, but created for him, so they’re not fundamental. According to them, such an interpretation of gender is the result of patriarchal structures in Muslim societies. The word “Adam” is used in the Quran in three senses: as the capacity for being a vicegerent on earth, as a prophet, and as a generic noun for human beings (Hassan, 1985: 75; Barlas, 2019). In other words, when God says, “let us create Adam,” it means “let us create humans” (Hassan, 1985; Wadud, 1999). According to such a view, there is no problem if we substitute a human being for Adam in the text. As such, our analysis focuses on how Noor Begum challenges patriarchal norms in subcontinent Islam influenced by male dominance. In the following section, we present the analysis of the poems in the light of three themes identified in the poems under scrutiny.
Proclaiming equality and constructing the “Muslim Self”
Nur Begum uses poetry as a travel writing genre to demonstrate how equality for both males and females is rooted in religion. In Excerpt 1, she refers to a specific religious event, that is, pilgrimage—an important pillar in the Islamic faith, to point symbolically to social inequalities based on gender. For example, she discusses the common issues of Muslim society, such as purdah —a cultural practice often associated with the religion to make women cover their bodies and faces in public spaces. Muslim feminists have also critiqued religious discourses that regard veil/hijab as an Islamic practice (see Barlas, 2019; Shirazi, 2001). For example, Shirazi has traced the genealogy of hijab in pre-Islamic times where it was used for different purposes, such as status symbols. However, in Muslim societies hijab is often associated with Islam. Nur Begum deconstructs such discourse as shown in Excerpt 1.
Excerpt 1 In the court of God, no one is concerned with keeping purdah; The prophet himself said that women should not cover their faces during hajj; They should tie the ihram and walk slowly around the Kaaba, never running. The women here do not walk behind the men; Their shoulders rub together as they walk around the Kaaba. Crazy Nuri! Take hold of the door of the Kaaba and pray! Inshallah all your prayers will be granted by He who hears the poor! . . . (Source: A Prayer in Mecca and a Defense of Poetry, Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022: 144)
Besides challenging this practice, she also challenges the idea that women should follow men. Through this articulation, Nur Begum questions patriarchal structures and argues that at the pilgrimage, which is the most important event at which Muslims feel connected to God, both genders are treated equally. Thus, Nur Begum creates spaces to counter the monoglossic realities of Muslim society in Excerpt 1 by engaging herself in a dialogue with the male-centric theology. In a metaphorical sense, dialogue refers to the human world, where one can analyze cultural relations, history, and social interactions. Considering the given openness of the world as a dialogue and the cultural and ideological forces that seek to gain control and monologic authority, Bakhtin (1981: 130) describes two forces—centripetal and centrifugal forces—as deeply embedded in social interactions. Taking this perspective, we can argue that Nur Begum actively engages with socio-ideological discourses relating to the imbalance of power relations between men and women in Muslim society and views the world as a dialogical space underpinned by centrifugal forces. Thus, she refers to the prophet and religious practices, as in Excerpt 1, to reclaim liberty for women. This aligns with Mahmood’s (2012) argument about how Muslim women in Cairo, Egypt exercise agency through spirituality and religious ethos. As such, agency does not entail questioning the norms and reclaiming autonomy in the neoliberal Western sense. In Muslim feminist discourse, agency is exerted using religion as can also be seen in the poetry by Nur Begum (cf. Excerpt 1). Similarly, to deconstruct myths about women, Hassan (1991: 52) claims that the Quran does not discriminate against women or men. As she points out, there are numerous chapters in the Quran in which God addresses both males and females and discusses righteousness as an important factor in determining the good of the person. Some Quranic verses she points out are as follows:
And their Lord . . . answered them “Never will I suffer to be lost The work of any of you, Be he male or female: You are members, one of another. ” (Surah 3: Al-Imran: 195, The Holy Quran) If any do deeds of righteousness – be they male or female – And have faith, They will enter Heaven, And not the least injustice Will be done to them. (Surah 4, An-Nisa:124, The Holy Quran)
By highlighting these Quranic verses that are inclusive, Hassan (1991) points out that men and women are equal in the sight of God, with righteousness determining one’s status. Likewise, with her expertise in Islamic sciences, Nur Begum also challenges the cultural norms that are often formed and disseminated theologically. She uses religion as a means of challenging cultural assumptions and establishing her own identity as a religious scholar. In Excerpt 2, she identifies herself as a scholar—a poet who faces severe difficulties due to misogynistic religious interpretations that discredit the capabilities of women to be writers.
Excerpt 2 I will keep writing books and poetry as far as I live, No matter how much they gossip and reproach me, I will never regret it. I have no offspring in this world, but I do have this divine calling. People are remembered by their children, but my legacy shall be this! (Source: Returning Home by Train from Bombay, Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022: 146)
It is with pride that she regards poetry as an intellectual heritage and links it with the divine calling, disregarding such disdain emanating from male-influenced social discourses. As Bakhtin (1984: 59) notes, human beings struggle for voice, and the capacity for growth and creativity is intrinsically linked. Human existence also embodies the capacity to author one’s own “self” in a dialogic process, and this is vital to establishing human agency and establishing hope for the future. In that regard, we argue that Nur Begum’s counter to the ideological world is an attempt to author her own identity—the Muslim feminine “self” that does not conform to male-influenced social values but rather aims for individuality and equality.
Countering patriarchy
Nur Begum’s poetry contains some explicit references to patriarchy that she seems to be countering. For example, in Excerpt 3, she points to a society where female identity as a writer is at stake. She challenges it while engaging herself in a dialogic relationship with God and society through poetry. In this sense, her poetry appears to be an active expression of her resistance to patriarchy.
Excerpt 3 O God! For as long as breath passes my lips, I shall speak the truth, even if the whole world turns against me. O God! Why are they so incensed when a woman writes poetry? When they hear my cries [poetry], people make a hundred thousand objections. O God! why do they erupt when they hear a woman’s name? Their own mothers are not donkeys either, after all! O God! They stop at nothing to point their fingers at me. Who else but You, Lord, will hear my unending plaints? (Source: A Prayer in Mecca and a Defense of Poetry, Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022: 145)
Arguably, a text should not be interpreted in terms of linguistic expressions as if they have mere dictionary meanings, but rather how they are actualized in the context of a particular utterance, as suggested by Morris (1994: 4). In this vein, Vitanova (2010) writes that when we utter something, we evoke a response in others. Accordingly, Excerpt 3 reflects a tendency in Nur Begum’s poetry to enable other women to rethink their own positions in specific contexts characterized by the oppression and imbalances. Bakhtin sees the human self as an agent constantly negotiating meanings. In his words, “to be means to communicate” (1984: 287), Nur Begum appears to be actively and continuously engaged in a dialogue to negotiate her own subject position as a free woman. In doing so, she draws attention to existing practices that discourage women and considers their writing to be a disgrace. She leads her male counterparts to think about their own women at home and how they perceive them if they criticize women in the outside world. In Excerpt 4, she calls them [those who criticize her] liars and frauds for suppressing her voice and capabilities.
Excerpt 4 Those who look at me derisively are all liars and frauds. O God! The water of the well of Zamzam is only famous because of a woman. And then they look at Nur’s books and mock them. [. . .] O God! People benefit so much from the actions of women, But when they read my plaints [poetry], the envious protest. (Source: A Prayer in Mecca and a Defense of Poetry, Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022: 145)
According to Nur Begum as shown in Excerpt 4, women have a significant position within the society and that people benefit from their actions. Also, those who criticize women should think about how she is the source of “the water of Zamzam”—the sacred water in Islamic history. Her complaints emanate from deep-rooted patriarchy guided by male-dominated theology in Islam that considers woman as secondary creature—rather a byproduct of man as being created from his rib (Barazangi, 2016; Barlas, 2019). Her resistance to patriarchy is based on religion that points to how woman has been revered in Quran and Islamic discourse. According to Bakhtin, dialogue is a socially embedded, meaning-making process in which language and utterances have already been used in a number of settings, and language users have to make their own use of them (Vitanova, 2010: 154). Hicks (2000) points out that in utterances, adopting discourses and making them one’s own is an important aspect of human agency. Excerpt 4 can thus be interpreted as Nur Begum’s agentive voice engaging with dominant ideologies using religion as a counter-discourse. She appropriates religious discourses to challenge the social hegemonies in terms of gender. As in the case of Excerpt 5, she questions man as a source of consciousness and enlightenment for a woman.
Excerpt 5 O crazed Nuri! People say that the race of women is weak and incomplete, But everything that Nuri asked for, you gave freely! People have forgotten the vastness of Your mercy. They find no value in placing their trust in You. People look at me and object; they say a man must have taught her poetry! But they have forgotten the name of God—it is He who taught me! [. . .] Undoubtedly, I have been taught the meaning of Quran, [. . .] I composed these lines myself and gave them to others to be printed. (Source: Returning Home by Train from Bombay, Hurley et al., 2022: 146)
As opposed to locating the axis of consciousness in a man, she views God and the Quran as the primary sources of her enlightenment. In writing and composing poetry, she emphasizes her individuality rather than relying on men for inspiration or guidance. She defends the case for women who are taken to be weak socially. She points to God as a gender-neutral entity that cares for people regardless of gender or other social identities. In this way, she demonstrates how social inequality is constructed and how it contributes to social imbalances. Bakhtin’s concept of “authoring” emphasizes active engagement with one’s situation. According to Bakhtin, “authoring” refers to the dialogue between two individuals who act to answer the actions of others (Vitanova, 2010). Clark and Holquist (1984) state that the self is responsible for authoring its own responses; the self is answerable to the social environment. In this respect, Nur Begum’s poetry can be seen as an authorship of her response to the social environment characterized by monoglossic ideological forces, together with heteroglossic realities and dialogical practices that are found to be at odds with one another. However, it is important to note that Nur Begum’s responses to patriarchal forces are rooted in her understanding of religion as a liberating force (see Barlas, 2019; Wadud, 1999). Accordingly, we can see in the following section how she interprets the status of women in Islam and, based on these arguments, critiques and challenges the socio-ideological discourse on patriarchy.
Articulating a post-patriarchal stance on women in Islam
Muslim societies have some dominant myths about females that originate from men’s interpretations of the Quran and other Islamic sources (Barlas, 2019; Hassan, 1985; Wadud, 1999). Due to this, most people consider women a byproduct of men, created from their “ribs” for their pleasure. As a result of such an onto-epistemic stance, Muslim societies deprive women of opportunities in social, political, and economic spheres. According to Hassan (1991: 41), Islamic tradition has been interpreted by Muslim men for centuries, as they have assumed responsibility for defining the ontological, theological, and sociological status of women (see also Ayubi, 2019). Due to this, the Islamic tradition has remained patriarchal throughout history, inhibiting the growth of scholarship among women, particularly in the realm of religion. As such, Nur Begum can be considered a woman scholar who has a critical awareness of her society and its culture, and religion. As a well-versed scholar in Islamic sciences, Nur Begum offers an alternative interpretation of how gender, specifically women, can be viewed from an Islamic perspective. Excerpts 6–8 illustrate this stance.
Excerpt 6 O God! The Quran bears witness that those who, like Hajira, run the sa’i seven times, they will have all their sins washed away. O God! It was she who came to pray, with trust and patience in God To this uninhabited land, where there was not yet the House of God. O God! This land was settled by that woman herself. (Source: A Prayer in Mecca and a Defense of Poetry, Hurley et al., 2022: 145) Excerpt 7 O God! You have given women so many blessings! [Consider] the stories You relate in the Quran: O God! Maryam, whose Surat [chapter] is contained in the Quran. And who has been given such reverence—she too is a pure woman! O God! And then there is the beautiful Surat Nur, Which you sent down to defend those who are unjustly accused. O God! Beloved Aisha, who was the intimate of the Messenger of God, Is highly regarded; she is a woman of the highest esteem. O God! And Hajira, who is close to you. By Your grace and kindness, she too was made a woman! (Source: A Prayer in Mecca and a Defense of Poetry, Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022: 145)
Several female characters in the Quran and Islamic literature are mentioned as important historical figures in the history of Islam in Excerpts 6 and 7. These women include Hajra—the wife of the prophet Ibrahim, Maryam—the mother of Jesus Christ, and Aisha—the wife of Muhammad, the last prophet of God. Furthermore, she shows how Quranic chapters named after women, Nur and Maryam, give women grace. Therefore, these women characters are discussed in order to illustrate the significant role women play in religious discourse. Thus, it appears as a conflicting view to the dominant Islam socially circulated to strengthen and reinforce the male position. Bakhtin (1984: 185) identifies three types of discourse: (a) unmediated, direct discourse; (b) objectified discourse, and (c) double-voiced discourse. The first type of discourse is oriented toward the referential object, while the other two are oriented toward someone else’s speech or discourse. As a result, Nur Begum’s poetry reflects the discourse of the other—those words of God in the Quran that emphasize how women are misinterpreted by patriarchal narratives. Both poetry Excerpts 6 and 7 are double-voiced. First, they are direct references to what is said about women in the Quran. Second, such descriptions empower women by depicting them as being very close to God and receiving countless blessings from Him. According to Hassan (1985), many Muslims view the emancipated woman negatively. As a result, women remain exploited and subjugated in Muslim societies. In line with these two excerpts, Excerpt 8 also emphasizes a woman character, such as Asiya Bibi, the wife of the Pharaoh in the old Egyptian empire, who is described as a very pious woman and close to God.
Excerpt 8 O God! Next comes Asiya Bibi, who belonged to the Pharaoh; You show in the Quran that she is close to you. O God! You have bestowed on women so many honors. I ought to count out each one, so that the whole world may know. (Source: A Prayer in Mecca and a Defense of Poetry, Lambert-Hurley et al., 2022: 145)
In light of the Quran, this excerpt also emphasizes the status of women. In her poetry, Nur Begum constantly praises God for bestowing so many honors on women and on her. This view de-naturalizes the cultural assumptions about men in her poetry and deconstructs the myths about the male-centric world created by men for men, where women are secondary. According to Muslim feminists, until the negative ideas and attitudes regarding women that prevail in Muslim societies are rooted in theory and until the theological foundations of misogynistic and androcentric tendencies in Islamic tradition are destroyed, Muslim women will continue to face brutality and discrimination despite improvements in statistics related to women’s education, employment, and political and social rights (Barazangi, 2016; Barlas, 2019; Hassan, 1991). In line with this thinking, Nur Begum also locates the source of consciousness in theology and argues to rethink the status of women by considering women’s scholarship and overcoming misogynistic tendencies in the Islamic tradition.
Conclusion
The purpose of this article was to analyze poetry as a form of travel writing authored by Nur Begum, a Muslim female travel writer from the subcontinent who composed poetry during her 3-month journey to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. We considered reading her poetry through the lens of Bakhtin’s writings and Muslim feminists’ writings on post-patriarchal Islam and feminist theology. As a woman scholar in Islamic sciences, Nur Begum discusses various topics in her poetry that pertain to the equality of men and women in Islam as well as constructing a feminine Muslim “self” that receives enlightenment not from man but from God through the Quran. As a result, her poetry expresses resistance to dominant socio-ideological discourses on patriarchy by explicitly referring to the status of women in the Quran. Nur Begum, in a Bakhtinian sense, authors her identity as an intellectual woman who can think, write, and engage in intellectual activities. The words from her poetry are in line with Muslim feminists’ call for giving women more power in the theological interpretation of man and woman, in that the inequalities in Muslim societies that are theologically influenced can be eliminated.
Our study looked at female travel writing as a genre, and how it can be read through ideological and counter-ideological meanings to understand social conflicts and tensions. The status of women is still defined theologically by men in twenty-first-century Pakistan. Consequently, women are subjected to discourses that enslave them and constrain their way of being, doing, and thinking. In light of this, we have twofold suggestions: first, we should use poetry and other genres written by Muslim female writers about Islam in academic and public spaces, such as schools, madrassa, religious sermons, and speeches to challenge the dominant discourses of religion, which deprive women at large of opportunities in the social, political, academic, and economic spheres. Second, such interpretations require greater academic engagement and activism if we are to achieve a just and equal society. In this case, a religious discourse can serve as a liberating tool to counter monoglossic gendered Islam. There is a growing scholarship on the reinterpretation of religions. However, there is a need to bring such debates to real-world situations where such discourses are prevalent and can be altered through alternative interpretations. Schools, colleges, and university curricula in Pakistan can consider integrating such discourses in their debates, in addition to the media that plays an active role in mass education. Furthermore, Islamic theology that is dominated by males should consider how women’s epistemic struggles can inform theology and enrich understanding of Islam as a religion. This will help overcome the impression in the West as well as Muslim societies by the progressive secularists that considers religion as a driving force behind the violence against women.
Lanser (1992) has discussed female narratives as Fictions of Authority to assert how the otherization and marginalization of female narratives turn their works into the efforts of speaking out, being heard, and through Luce Irigaray’s approach, that is, “to find a voice is to find a way” (Irigaray, 1985: 209). In her terms, the narrative voice has a trope of identity and power as writing transforms their works into public discourse and gives them agency and authority. In a way, it is “a quest to be heard, respected, and believed, a hope of influence, and a means of self-assertion. In this context, she regards their narrative technique as an ideology that challenges the conventions and intersectional power dynamics (class, gender, sexuality, marital status, social set up, etc.). The female narratives, therefore, also turn into ‘site(s) of ideological tension’” reflecting through diverse textual practices and strategies. Lanser’s crucial stance is the female narratives transforming into a dialogic, and as a dialogue between male and female narratives. In this respect, we find the samples taken from Nur Begum’s verses not only as an expression of resistance but also as personal and communal narratives that need to be a crucial part of the public discourse.
Footnotes
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.