The Status of Women in Leo Africanus

            When reading Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali, I was surprised to see the ways in which Muslim women were empowered during the medieval time period in which it was set. When envisioning the East through a Western lens, Islamic society is often viewed as oppressive and cruel towards their female population. Today through the media and other resources, the West is guilty of being more familiar with the Islamic fundamentalist presence in the Middle East rather than the modern and bustling society that also exists therein. However, Islamic fundamentalism was not thoroughly mentioned in Ali’s novel, where is becomes a major topic of discussion in Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf, especially as it is voiced by the character Shaikh Astaghfirullah. Throughout the first book of the novel, there is continuous mention of the status of women in Granada, where many are viewed as heretics in their superstitions, and temptations in their beauty. It seems that what Ali failed to mention in his novel was how the Inquisition’s threat to destroy Islamic society and the city of Granada was also coupled with an Islamic extremist movement that affected the status of women.

            We first learn the concept of ‘free’ versus ‘enslaved’ women when Hasan’s mother describes the early stages of her marriage. As a married woman she was considered free, yet her husband becomes seduced by their servant Warda who was considered a slave. Her servant had “all the wiles of seduction at her disposal” (6), while Salma was unable to abandon her conservative demeanor.  Warda could, “go out unveiled, sing, dance, pour wine, wink her eyes, and take off her clothes”, which led Salma to feel as though freedom were “a deceitful form of bondage, and slavery a subtle form of freedom” (6).

            The superstitions that women commonly held during this time period were also viewed as a kind of herecy. In explaining her prediction for bearing a son to her husband Muhammad, Salma was immediately accused of being a “witch” and a “she-devil” and ran the risk of being beaten (8). Later the reader learns that the manufacture of amulets and charms made by mothers to protect their children was also a practice that defied religion, and women were seen as irrational and inferior by ascribing to these superstitions.

            When Shaikh Astaghfirullah gives his sermon, he comments on his extremist view of women in Islamic society. He remarks on how women are often seen “unveiled” on the streets, “offering their faces and their hair to the lustful gaze of hundreds of men” (33), a view that closely corresponds with the Western view of Islamic fundamentalism or in some cases even Middle Eastern society as a whole. Shaikh sees a religious defiance in how “men cannot be distinguished from women, neither in their dress nor in their gait” (34) within Islamic society.

            This novel, written similarly to Shades of the Pomegranate Tree allows the reader more insight into medieval Islam in Granada before the fall of the city. I am interested to see how the status of women changes in Hasan’s future travels.