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Hierarchy and Duality in the Gendered Language of the Qur’an Summer Satushek May 11, 2015 The Qur’an is written in the Arabic language. While this statement is in a sense obvious,

it is a critical supposition for any cogent attempt to understand the logic of this highly

literary text. This article deals with linguistic constructions of gender in the Qur’an. The

profusion of gendered conjugations and gendered suffixes in the Arabic language creates

a diversity and flexibility of language that is rarely accurately reflected in translation. Out

of necessity, each translator adapts the interpretation with equivalents that he or she

deems appropriate from context in order to best represent the meaning. Yet no translation

is ever able to fully convey the nuances of the original.

What follows below is an inquiry into the three forms of feminine gendered

nouns: anuṯa, nisā’, and mara’a. Assuming that the text is not arbitrary with language, I

submit that the multiple words used to refer to human females1 must be examined

contextually in order to understand and justify the use of more than one term. Through

such an analysis, one can see that the Qur’an addresses women in specific contexts and

categories through the usage of these three grammatical roots; two of which are parts of a

pair and one of which is not. The two pairs represent two aspects of a constructed gender

dichotomy, which I will argue are asymmetrical in a way that produces horizontal balance

rather than a vertical hierarchy.

The logic of the Arabic language necessitates approaching it on its own terms.

Thus, when approaching the gendered terms— in a way that goes beyond the layers of

patriarchal culture and tradition—it is imperative that one explicates the intricacies of

                                                                                                               1  There  are  two  Arabic  trilateral  roots  that  refer  only  to  females  and  one  that,  when  the  root  is  modified,  can  refer  to  females,  males,  or  humans  generally.    

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meaning in the original Arabic and ask this question: what purpose does the Qur’an’s use

of three different noun roots for feminine persons serve? In order to elaborate on this

question, the body of this essay explicates examples of each of the multiple contexts in

which feminine persons are described or referenced. The relationship between each of the

three roots within the thematic environment and in relationship to other social agents is at

the heart of the matter.2

The Gendered Terms

Section 1: Anuṯa أأ – نن – ثث.

And indeed He created the pair, the male (ḏakar) and the female (anuṯa). Q 53:45

As the examples in this section will show, in most cases anuṯa is understood to mean

ontological femaleness in binary relationship to ontological maleness, the created state of

human beings as in the passage above. Of all the gendered terms, this description appears

to be the most straightforward and simple. Of the twenty-four passages in which anuṯa

appears, fifteen of them include the word ḏakar (ذذ – كك – رر ) in close proximity3. Q 53:45,

above, shows the pairing explicitly in the description of God’s creation of male and

female. While it might be tempting to read into this pairing a description of the socially                                                                                                                2  Throughout  this  essay,  I  have  utilized  translations  from  the  Saheeh  International™  Qur’an  Translation  as  a  starting  point  and  guide.  However,  in  most  cases  I  have  modified  the  translation  of  the  gendered  terms  to  more  accurately  reflect  the  specific  trilateral  root.    3  Ḏakar,  the  root  connotes  both  maleness  and  memory  

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constructed alliance of married partners, a less presumptive reading interprets this passage

as describing the two parts of one of the many ontological pairs that make up God’s

creations. The dyadic pairs are created in a state of dependence, upon each other and upon

their creator. They cannot be viewed in complete autonomy. The one is implicit in the

other, even when it is unspoken.

Within the thirty occurrences of anuṯa in the Qur’an, are a number of instances

where it appears along side others of the gendered terms. Anuṯa, again paired with ḏakar,

appears with the second of the feminine gendered term, nisā’, which appears 59 times, in

Q 4:11. One of the verses in the Quran that establishes guidelines for inheritance, Q 4:11

instructs on the fractional amounts that should be given to children, wives, parents,

brothers and sisters under circumstances that depend upon the existence and absence of

each of the categories.

God instructs you concerning your children: for the male (ḏakar), what is equal

to the share of two females (anuṯa). But if there are women (nisā’), two or more,

for them is two thirds of one's estate. And if there is only one, for her is half. And

for one's parents, to each one of them is a sixth of his estate if he left children.

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But if he had no children and the parents [alone] inherit from him, then for his

mother is one third. And if he had brothers [or sisters], for his mother is a sixth,

after any bequest he [may have] made or debt. Your parents or your children -

you know not which of them are nearest to you in benefit. [These shares are] an

obligation [imposed] by Allah . Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise. Q 4:11

This example of two of the feminine gendered terms appearing in parallel provides a

point of entry into the question of distinction between the two. Anuṯa; paired with dkhr, is

clearly defined in the verse; these are the two parts of the children mentioned, and allotted

to the male is twice the amount of the female. A different amount is allotted to the nisā’.

For her, if there are two or more, is two-thirds of the total estate, and if there is only one,

for her is one half.4 Following the precept that Qur’anic language, though poetic, is not

arbitrary, we must interpret anuṯa and nisā’, while both referring to feminine persons, to

be referring to different categories of feminine persons; to each is due different

percentages of inheritance.

Continuing to explore this distinction, Q 4:176 also includes nisā’ and anuṯa

together again in a second verse about inheritance. In this case the recipients being

addressed are different and the categorical difference between nisā’ and anuṯa is more

obtuse. It is not a simple matter to determine what, if any, difference should be inferred

from the two terms.

                                                                                                               4  Another  gendered  term,  one  that  I  have  chosen  not  to  address  in  this  essay  as  I  assume  that  its  meaning  is  quite  clear,  is  that  of  the  mother,  and  for  her  is  established  a  portion  of  inheritance  as  well.      

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They request from you a [legal] ruling. Say, " Allah gives you a ruling

concerning one having neither descendants nor ascendants [as heirs]." If an

individual (mara’a) dies, leaving no child but [only] a sister, she will have

half of what he left. And he inherits from her if she [dies and] has no child.

But if there are two [sisters], they will have two-thirds of what he left. If there

were siblings, men (rajul) and women (nisā’), then the male (ḏakar) will have

the share of two females (anuṯa). Allah makes clear to you [His law], lest you

go astray. And Allah is Knowing of all things. Q 4:176

Q 4:11 stipulates fractions of inheritance that are to go to children, wives, and parents; Q

4:176 stipulates the amount that is due to another category, should the categories of Q

4:11 be exhausted. If an individual has neither children nor parents, then the inheritance

portion that would have been assigned to them goes to his or her sibling(s). Interestingly,

the amounts allotted to the female siblings is equivalent to the amounts that were to be

given to wives, one half for a solitary sister and two-thirds for two or more sisters. Also,

the fractional calculation between male and female siblings parallels the fractional

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relationship allotted to male and female children; to the male is twice the amount as to the

female. For the purposes of our investigation, however, this verse provides a stumbling

block and, hopefully, an opportunity.

“If there were siblings, men (rajul) and women (nisā’), then the male (ḏakar) will

have the share of two females (anuṯa).” This phrase clearly establishes one thing, a

connection between the binary rajul/nisā’ pair and the ḏakar/anuṯa pair. In this context,

they are in reference to the same human individuals, the masculine and feminine siblings

of a deceased individual. The use of the ḏakar/anuṯa pair to refer to siblings, created from

the same human source and growing together from infant stage to adulthood together,

supports the proposal put forth earlier that the characteristic quality of the anuṯa/ḏakar

pair is that of its primal createdness. These two form the proto-humans in the beginning

of creation, and in the beginning of life. As the pair progress from childhood to

adulthood, their descriptors change. I submit that the character of nisā’/rajul represents

the human in adulthood and in society. This proposal will be explored more thoroughly in

the next section as I provide examples and analysis of nisā’ in various contexts.

Section 2: Nisā’ نن – سس – وو

Nisā’ is found in three specific contexts within the Qur’an: women alongside men and

children i.e. familial units, women in biblical narratives, and women as wives of

Muhammad. The trilateral root nun-sīn-waw, نن – سس – وو, forms the word nisā’, which is

only and always plural. It is an unusual construction in Arabic, where the plural noun

usually derives from the same root as the singular noun. In this case, nisaa’ is the

functional plural of imraa’ from the root mīm-ra-hamza, مم – رر – أأ. Mara’a is a very

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important part of our investigation of gendered terms since derivations of this single root

form both masculine and feminine nouns, and, at other times, appears to be as close to

gender neutral as Arabic gets in both the singular and plural. The third section of this

essay will elaborate on the gendered/ungendered individual, mara’a.

It is worth noting here a certain avenue of thinking that has developed over time to

ascribe meaning to the term nisā’. The conjugation of nun-sīn-waw into its most used

form, nisā’, bears a strong resemblance in sound to two other trilateral roots in

conjugation: nasiya نن – سس – يي and naas نن – وو – سس. Nasiya means ‘to forget’ and Naas

‘people.’ These two word/concepts are often tied together in the imagination of exegetes

and Islamic thinkers, to form a theological theory that describes the source of humanity’s

sinfulness as forgetfulness5. If one were to subscribe to this theory, it could be taken a

step further to identify forgetfulness as a quality of women in society. It is after all this

quality of women that the Qur’an identifies when it specifies replacing one male witness

with two female witnesses.6 In fact, these three terms are a good example to keep in mind

when thinking about Qur’anic vocabulary. Despite similarity in sound, there is in fact no

functional connection between the three.

The noun anuṯa, was often found paired with its dyadic partner, ḏakar. Nisā’

likewise has a complement in rajul, but we also find nisā’, as intimated by its appearance

in Q 4:176, in close association with other familial words such as siblings and children.

Thus, it can be surmised that the person described as anuṯa takes on the title of nisā’

when she enters the social relationship of family. This examples below show nisā’

                                                                                                               5  Fazlur  Rahman  and  Ebrahim  Moosa,  Major  Themes  of  the  Qur’an  (Chicago:  The  University  of  Chicago  Press,  2009),  124.  Forgetfulness  as  the  other  of  taqwa.    6  Q  2:282  

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describing the role of the feminine person in relationship to social order and sexual

relations.

The following verses represent a typical example of nisā’ in the Qur’an. Speaking

to the community of believers, the verses castigate those who turn a blind eye to the

suffering of others. The sufferers are described as a group containing men, women and

children; that is as a social group.

And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and

[for] the oppressed among men (rajul), women (nisā’), and children who say,

"Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from

Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?" Q 4:75

Except for the oppressed among men (rajul), women (nisā’) and children who

cannot devise a plan nor are they directed to a way. Q 4:98

This familially structured social order is further supported by the appearance of nisā’ in

verses connected to pre-Qur’anic scriptural narratives. Nisā’ appears ten times in the

Qur’an in verses that reference narratives from the Hebrew Bible. These verses are

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similarly familially associated. Six of the ten are verses are related to the narrative of

Exodus, each of the verses repeating nearly the same text, and they describe the men,

women and children of the Tribe of Israel. These verses, Q 2:49, 7:127, 7:141, 14:6, 28:4,

and 40:25, utilize the same phrasing to remind the Children of Israel of the time when

God saved them from Pharaoh who was oppressing them, by killing their sons and letting

live their women. The difference in phrasing of the six verses is found in the two trilateral

roots used for killing, ذذ – بب– حح and قق – تت – لل (there are three instances of each), and in the

verb tenses in which the conjugations fall. Below are two examples, rather than all six, for

the sake of brevity.

And [recall] when We saved your forefathers from the people of Pharaoh, who

afflicted you with the worst torment, slaughtering your [newborn] sons and

keeping your women alive. And in that was a great trial from your Lord. Q 2:49

And the eminent among the people of Pharaoh said," Will you leave Moses and

his people to cause corruption in the land and abandon you and your gods?"

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[Pharaoh] said, "We will kill their sons and keep their women alive; and indeed,

we are subjugators over them." Q 7:127

The successful existence of human beings in society is necessarily predicated on their

ability to follow the law of the society. The society to which the above-mentioned verses

refer, is that of the Tribe of Israel, the first society in the Qur’anic etiological narrative to

have been chosen by God to received revelation and to have recorded it in some

transmittable form. As the work of scholars such as F. M. Donner and G. R. Hawting7

shows, the rabbinic community of Jews in the Hijaz profoundly influenced the early

Muslim community. The Qur’an warns the followers of Muhammad of the unchangeable

nature of God’s law throughout time, when it mentions ‘bygone peoples’ (Q33:38) or

those who were sent before to educate their people (Q17:77). Thus, when the Qur’an is

speaking of the nisā’ in the context of the Israelite society within Egypt, it is speaking of

the same social order that it expects of nisā’ in the proto-Islamic age.

Fazlur Rahman furthers this argument by using these verses to support his idea of

the “norms…called ‘God’s Sunna,’ [and this is a] practice or law for mankind which is

unalterable.”8 I submit that one part of this unalterable law, which was given to the Tribe

of Israel and which is illustrated in the familial relations of the verses about Pharaoh, is

the practice of a social contract between individual men and women; a practice which,

once established, transforms members of the anuṯa/ḏakar pair into the relationship of a

                                                                                                               7  Fred  McGraw  Donner,  Muhammad  and  the  Believers:  At  the  Origins  of  Islam  (Cambridge,  Mass.:  The  Belknap  Press  of  Harvard  University  Press,  2010);  G.  R  Hawting,  The  Idea  of  Idolatry  and  the  Emergence  of  Islam:  From  Polemic  to  History  (Cambridge,  UK;  New  York,  NY,  USA:  Cambridge  University  Press,  1999).  8  Rahman  and  Moosa,  Major  Themes  of  the  Qur’an,  52.  

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nisā’/rajul pair. The social relationship between nisā’ and rajul is the prerequisite within

God’s law for the creation of children, signified in these passages by sons.

Nisā’ appears in other verses that reference the Genesis narratives of the Hebrew

Bible. These verses are instructive about the importance of purity in the social order as it

was conceived in the Israelite context, as viewed through the lens of the Qur’an. Verses in

Q:12, the Chapter of Joseph, refer to the wife of a king who tried to seduce Joseph, so

entranced was she by his beauty. God—and the nisā’ of the city— interrupt the actions of

this individual, which would subvert the proper order, or purity, of the social order9. The

narrative is of an individual, a mara’a, who finds her slave irresistibly seductive. She

approaches him, and he is almost swayed, but a remembrance of God brings him back to

himself, and he flees from her. As he is running from the room, she grabs for him and

tears his shirt. At the door, they are met with the figure of her husband. Evidence is

produced and accepted that she is the one who was active in the attempted seduction, yet

her husband eventually decides to imprison Joseph.

Before Joseph’s incarceration and despite the wife’s reprieve from her husband,

the women, nisā’, of the city are talking about her terrible act, and so she invites them to

dine with her, giving them each sharp knives to cut their food. When Joseph enters the

room, each of the women is so distracted that she cuts her hand. After a time of

imprisonment, Joseph is called before the king. There, Joseph reminds him of this event.

The king inquires with the women, nisā’, who offer corroborative evidence of the purity

of Joseph. Pursuant to this evidence, Joseph is returned to a position of trust in the court.

In this narrative, God’s power to preserve the proper order of things is shown to be on one

level, while the relational balance between nisā’ and its complement is on another.                                                                                                                9  Mary  Douglas,  Purity  and  Danger;  an  Analysis  of  Concepts  of  Pollution  and  Taboo  (New  York:  Praeger,  1966).  

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Joseph’s exceptional ability as a prophet to call upon and receive intercession from God

preserves the purity of all parties involved.

The second occurrence of nisā’ in connection with a Genesis narrative, like the

story of Joseph, is also in relationship to purity laws and social order. Lot’s prophethood

is mentioned in series with the prophecy of Sāliḥ and Šu’ayb, reminding the reader in

brief of the warnings of these prophets before the subsequent destruction of their

unheeding peoples.

Indeed, you approach men with desire, instead of women. Indeed, you are an

extravagant people. Q 7:81

The warning of Lot to his people before their destruction was to put an end to their

‘extravagance’ of desire in choosing rajul over nisā’. The reader is reminded of the

pairing principle that binds nisā’ and rajul in the Abrahamic worldview.

Do you indeed approach men with desire instead of women? Indeed, you are a

people behaving ignorantly. Q 27:55

In the second instance where the Qur’an reminds its listeners of the fate of the

people of Lot, the language is altered slightly. Rather than describing the wrongdoer’s

actions as ‘extravagant’, something that transgresses boundaries, here their actions are

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described as ‘ignorant’. Ignorance, jahal, is a recurrent trope in the Qur’an that implies,

not so much the state of not knowing, but a more willful refusal to accept divine

knowledge and divine order. In light of the fundamental Qur’anic concept of fitrah—each

creation being born in a state of goodness and knowledge of God—jahili ignorance must

be ignorance re-imagined as a state that comes upon a person by choice. These verses,

taken in combination with the verses about Joseph, and those about the condition of the

Children of Israel in Egypt before the Exodus, shape a foundation for the term nisā’ that

grounds it in Biblical mores. These mores contain the social roles of both men and

women to a specific order, with Abrahamic roots.

Another place in the Qur’an that the word nisā’ appears is in conjunction with the

wives of the prophet Muhammad. The thirty-third chapter of the Qur’an addresses a

variety of familial concerns, in particular those relating to the close family of Muhammad.

Verse twenty-eight speaks directly to Muhammad:

O Prophet, say to your spouses, "If you should desire the worldly life and its

adornment, then come, I will provide for you and give you a gracious release. Q

33:28

The Qur’an instructs Muhammad to speak to his wives about their position as partners of

a prophet10. Following upon this, verse 33:30 addresses his spouses directly.

                                                                                                               10  The  word  used  to  refer  to  them  is  azwaaj,  spouses,  plural  and  masculine.  

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O women of the Prophet, whoever of you should commit a clear immorality - for

her the punishment would be doubled two fold, and ever is that, for Allah, easy.

Q 33:30

The language differs when these women are addressed directly. Clearly there is a close

relationship between the words ‘spouses’, in the first verse, and ‘women’ in the second;

the choice to address them, not only by their status as married, but also with this word

nisā’, denotes their status within the social order as a whole. Nisā’ are women who are

expected to behave in a certain manner, appropriate to the social mores.

O women of the Prophet, you are not like anyone among the women. If you fear

Allah, then do not be soft in speech, lest he should be moved with desire, he who

in whose heart is a disease. But speak with appropriate speech. Q 33:32

Verse 33:32 further emphasizes the importance of social mores among women in society.

It also brings to attention an important point that not all women are the same. The women

who are married to the Prophet Muhammad are designated as unique amongst women,

and with this particular status comes particular obligations.

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A third section in Chapter 33, Q 33:50-52, speaks again to the particular position and

character of the spouses of Muhammad. The Qur’an describes the types of women who

are lawful for Muhammad to take, as wives or as partners, and the treatment of his wives.

The language is opaque and, since these rules apply only to Muhammad, not necessarily

an area of great interest even for later scholars of jurisprudence. What is worth noting for

the purposes of this study, is verse fifty-two.

Not lawful to you, [Muhammad], are women after [the aforementioned types],

nor that you exchange them [these types] for wives, even if their beauty were to

please you, except what your right hand possesses. And ever is Allah, over all

things, an Observer. Q33:52

There are two types of women mentioned in this verse: ‘women after [the aforementioned

types]’ i.e. women other than the aforementioned types that are permitted, and female

captives, who are not forbidden sexually. From this verse, we can see that the female

captives have a sexual role in this social order, and yet they are not members of the social

category nisā’. This division further drives home the point that nisā’ denotes a certain

social/sexual purity, the category of females within the social order.

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Section 3: Mara’a

The last of the trilateral roots that I will explore in this essay is the root 11.مم – رر – أأ. This

root appears in five derived noun forms in the Qur’an, translatable as either “man”,

“woman”, “individual”, or “person” at various times. Mara’a also has a verb form with

the meaning “to be wholesome, healthful, or palatable” (in the case of food). It is

connected as well with an air of manliness, or virility. Within the Arabic syntax, the

masculine/neutral form of the noun takes the place where in English linguistics ‘one’

might be used—for example, ‘one would think.’12 The feminine noun is formed by the

standard addition of the ta marbuta ( ةة ) feminine suffix to make the word imra’a.

Bringing these meanings together conceptually, a picture of the human individual in

health and wholesomeness begins to take shape that is in keeping with the needs of order

and purity associated with the plural of imra’a, which is nisā’.

Mara’a is unlike the previous two trilateral roots discussed, in that the same root

forms both the masculine and the feminine noun. It is also unlike the previous two roots,

in that it is not part of an obvious pair. This one root maraa,’ meaning ‘one,’ a ‘female

individual’ or a ‘male/neutral individual,’ is inclusive of the gendered state of any human

individual. Autonomy is evoked through this root that transcends duality. Unlike anuṯa

and nisā’, the binary partner of mara’a is not found outside of itself. Mara’a then, at first

glance appears to be out of order according to the Qur’anic worldview of dyadic pairs.

The duality of the human mara’a, however, is to be found within its two roles on earth:

God’s creation is both a vice-regent over all other creations and a servant just like all

those other creations. This internal pairing obscures the dichotomy that focuses on gender

                                                                                                               11  The  root  is  derived  from  an  even  older  Semitic  root.    12  Hans  Wehr,  J.  Milton  Cowan,  and  Thomas  Leiper  Kane  Collection  (Library  of  Congress.  Hebraic  Section),  A  dictionary  of  modern  written  Arabic:  (Arabic  -­-­  English)  (Wiesbaden:  Harrassowitz,  1979).  

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and allows the Qur’an to speak more directly to the individual, who contains within itself

attributes of both authority and service.

One of the ways that mara’a is used in the Qur’an is to represent a female

individual. When it comes to a breakdown of the occurrences of mara’a in the Quran we

find that, as it is with nisā’, a large number of them are connected to Biblical narratives;

these mara’a are the wives of Lot, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. These occurrences are

also quite straightforward with regard to gender; each woman is referred to as “the female

individual of X.” The construction in the passage below is a typical example.

Allah presents an example of those who disbelieved: the wife of Noah and the wife

of Lot. They were under two of Our righteous servants but betrayed them, so those

prophets did not avail them from Allah at all, and it was said, "Enter the Fire with

those who enter.” Q 66:10

The female individual, imra’a, is transformed into a ‘wife’ by the grammatical

construction of possessiveness. Female figures from the New Testament are similarly

named in the Chapters of Imran and Maryam. Mary’s mother and Elizabeth are both

described with the same possessive naming structure: “the female individual of X.” While

I am proposing a theoretical stance that suggests that the use of the word mara’a signifies

a certain autonomy of the individual, male or female, I duly note that this cannot erase the

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patriarchal structure of the environment that names women by their position in

relationship to their spouses.

There is another female individual described by this possessive structure who is

unique to the Qur’anic narrative. The chapter “The Palm Fiber” verbally scourges Abu

Lahab and his complicit wife, and prophesizes their punishment in the blazing flames.

And his wife [as well] - the carrier of firewood. Q 111:4

In this case, the possessive structure is formed with an attached pronoun, but the

grammatical effect is the same.

As mentioned before, the trilateral root مم – رر – أأ can be unmarked, to signal a

masculine/neutral, or made feminine with the addition of a ta marbuta (ةة). Interestingly,

in almost every occurrence where mara’a is unmarked, thereby rendering the word

masculine/neutral, the verse is a verse of warning about the individual’s fate in the

hereafter. The one exception to the pattern of masculine/neutral is the above-mentioned

verse in which the wife of Abu Lahab appears as mara’a marked with the feminine suffix.

And those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith - We will

join with them their descendants, and We will not deprive them of anything of

their deeds. Every individual, for what he earned, is retained. Q 52:21

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These verses, like Q52:21 above, emphasize the individual nature of salvation. In the

verse preceding this one, a description of heaven is found that includes new spouses. The

merits of the individual earthly spouses determine their fates, for better or for worse. The

lesson implicit in this passage is to follow the law, not the practitioner. Every individual,

for what he earned, is retained.

Another example of the importance of individual action in faith is found in chapter

eighty: verses thirty-four and thirty-seven tell of the Last Day and how each individual

will be concerned with only his own fate.

On the Day a man will flee from his brother Q 80:34

For every individual, that Day, will have an affair that will occupy him. Q 80:37

In the examples above, we have seen the female individual mara’a in relationship

to a possessing spouse and as a solely responsible masculine/neutral agent when facing

the final judgment of God. A third aspect of mara’a exists. There are two instances in the

Qur’an that show the individual in relationship to his/herself. The first of these utilizes the

masculine/neutral mara’a followed by the masculine/neutral term zawj, meaning spouse.

An attached masculine pronoun makes the construction possessive. Considering the

norms of the Qur’anic environment it is safe to assume that this pairing does not imply a

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male/male partnership, but a neutral/neutral partnership in which either party may be the

masculine or feminine character.13

And [yet] they learn from them that by which they cause separation between an

individual and his spouse. Q 2:102, excerpt

The second instance of mara’a in relationship to itself is in the eighth chapter, “The

Spoils of War.”

O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls

you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah intervenes between an

individual and his heart and that to Him you will be gathered. Q 8:24

As before, the masculine suffix on the word ‘heart’ forms the grammatical structure of

possession. This passage is speaking to the believers following a series of wars in which

God has made them the victors. The situation of the losers it describes is of ones who are

ignorant, in the jahili sense, of God’s message. They refuse to hear, to speak, or to use

their faculties of reason with regard to the messages of the prophets. The believers, the                                                                                                                13  In  a  language  system  such  as  this,  the  masculine  term  also  functions  as  the  default  “neutral”  term.  Accepting  this  dual  quality  of  the  masculine  term  is  a  critical  point  of  departure  for  any  feminist  reading  of  the  Qur’an;  God,  who  is  without  gender,  is  referred  to  by  the  masculine  pronoun,  and  the  names  of  God  are  variously  gendered  male  and  female.  And  yet,  God  is  not  male.  So,  while  stark  gender  dichotomy  characterizes  the  language,  in  fact,  the  non-­‐genderedness  of  God  is  a  crucial  theological  point,  part  and  parcel  of  the  essential  unity  of  God  in  the  qur’anic  worldview,  and  this  point  lends  insight  into  the  gender  neutral  possibility  available  within  the  standard  masculine  nouns  and  pronouns.  God,  though  grammatically  masculine,  is  fundamentally  indivisible,  transcending  the  dualistic  qualities  that  so  characterize  earthly  life,  and  so  the  limits  of  language  are  exposed.    

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Qur’an admonishes, should respond to the message. If they have the intention to do so,

then God will ‘intervene’ between them and their hearts. This passage describes the

relationship of an individual to himself, but, in keeping with the Qur’anic worldview, this

relationship is indeed, mediated by God.

In the Qur’anic worldview, mara’a is the dynamic pairing of ruler and servant,

authority and service, in the human being as mediated by God. God created the earth and

the heavens. God created the angels and the jinn, and then God created humanity. In the

Qur’anic etiological narrative, humanity—the whole of humanity—is the primary player

on Earth after God with two complementary roles: to be vice-regent on Earth and to be

the servant of God. There is an inherent tension within these roles; one is a position of

authority while the other is one of service. The vice-regent rules over all of God’s

creations on earth and even the angels are commanded to bow to him. This power,

however, is tempered by the concurrent position of servant of a higher power, the creative

force of the universe. This dichotomous pairing of roles mirrors the qur’anic pattern of

presenting states of being along with their other, and is reflected particularly clearly in the

condition of mara’a.

Conclusions

Anuṯa/dkhr, the ontological pair

In the creation of humanity, the pair anuṯa/ḏakar defines the ontological human pair

(Q75:39). The creations of God within the earthly realm are consistently divided into

pairs, as opposed to the indivisible and solitary unity of God within all realms, earthy as

well as ethereal. The dyadic nature of these pairs necessitates the movement of agency

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from the autonomous realm into the relational sphere.14 The consequence is that the

existence and propagation of the pairs is mutually dependent, which subverts the

normative view of power dichotomies as hierarchical constructions in subtle but serious

ways. The only true hierarchy in the Qur’anic view is the supremacy of God over all of

his creations. Between the pairs, there exists a mutual dependence that demands a

horizontal balance.

Nisā’/rajul, meeting social mores

Nisā’ and rajul occupy the space of socially constructed gender identity. Within the

temporal space of the seventh century Hijazi milieu, this construction relied heavily on

the Abrahamic tradition as narrated in the Biblical scriptures. It is for this reason, that

nisā’ is associated with women in relationship to their family and to their spouses in

particular, whereas rajul has the additional dimension of a man with independent agency.

The needs of social order were met, in part, by purity laws that define, and confine, the

sexual agency of both partners, but in particularly of the nisā’.

Mara’a, interdependence of authority and service

The pairing of authority and service that is the imperative position of humanity within

God’s creation is expressed in the term mara’a. Mara’a, the individual in health and

wholesomeness, encompasses the ontological state of anuṯa/ḏakar, as well as representing

a human striving for purity within the eschatological framework. The whole human,

gendered/non-gendered and both a ruler and a servant, is contained within this one term.

                                                                                                               14  Sachiko  Murata,  The  Tao  of  Islam:  A  Sourcebook  on  Gender  Relationships  in  Islamic  Thought  (Albany:  State  University  of  New  York  Press,  1992),  18.  

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Throughout this explication of the language of the categories of feminine persons in the

Qur’an, the dyadic structure that defines qur’anic worldview is apparent. A traditional

perspective has been to view the polarity of these dyads as a precursor to a

positive/negative value judgment. Viewed in this way, the obvious inequality between the

pairs of anuṯa/ḏakar and nisā’/rajul, with respect to marriage and inheritance in

particular, has often been implemented in a pervasive system of socially instituted gender

asymmetry, and interpreted as a justification for a hierarchical system of patriarchal

dominance. However, in keeping within the Qur’anic worldview, institutional power

exists at a higher level. Nisā’/rajul, it may be argued, is socially constructed upon the

divinely created anuṯa/ḏakar pair. Therefore, at the absolute level, asymmetry, if it is does

exist, must be attributed to divine will. This begs the question, are the pairs, in fact,

asymmetrical? In fact, the pervasive duality of all of creation in the Qur’anic worldview

can be viewed as a subtle subversion of the asymmetry. Rather than an imbalanced world

of power dichotomies that yields vertical hierarchy, equity in otherness yields horizontal

balance.

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