Is Sadeem Legally Married to Waleed? Islamic Feminism and the Intersection of Culture, Religion, and Gender in Banāt al-Riyāḍ

O Tijani

doi:10.3390/soc9010004

Abstract

Rajāʾ al-Ṣāniʿ’s Banāt al-Riyāḍ (2005, Girls of Riyadh) is unique not just for depicting globalization and local culture vis-à-vis the woman issue in Saudi Arabia, but for heralding a new trend of ‘e-epistolary narratives’ in the Saudi Arabian novel. The novel explores issues related to Islamic religious precepts versus Saudi socio-cultural practices and ideologies, especially those related to love and marital relationships as well as the concepts of femininity and masculinity. Most of the reviews and scholarly studies in English have focused more on the novel’s innovative narrative style or medium and its portrayal of the taboos of Saudi Arabia rather than on—and oftentimes, ignoring—its Islamic content and persuasion. This article reads Banāt al-Riyāḍ as an ‘Islamic feminist’ text that represents the extent to which al-Ṣāniʿ has internalized the other—modern western culture and civilization—while at the same time seeking to externalize and highlight the authentic Islamic teachings on women’s rights and gender relations, which have always been both misinterpreted locally and misrepresented globally.

Highlights

Societies 2019, 9, 4; doi:10.339d0/escoacd90e10a0g04o, the novel heralded a new trend in twwewnwty.m-fdiprsi.tc-ocme/njtouurrnyalS/asoucdieitiAesrabian novels, wi KKeeyywwoorrddss::IIsslalammicicffeemmininisismm;e;gvgeeennndtdseeurr;n;cfcuoulltldutuirnrege;;tahannrdodurregelhilgigaionion‘ne;;-GeGipririlsslstoooflfaRRriyyiy’aamddhho;;dSSeaa,uuvddiiaiAaArsraeabrbiieaias of confessional email letters sent we after the Friday prayer, to many people in Saudi Arabia who are subscribed to a yahoo mail gr
Gender in Banāt al-Riyāḍ highlight the autthhoeungtihctsIsalanmd iecxpteraecshsionngs oorninwtohme eanu’tshorirgiahlt/snaanrrdatgoern’sdceormremlaetniotanrsy, .wThiacththheavneovel is religious in always been bothtomnei,sianstietripsrceotendtelxotcuaallllyy,acnadn mbeisfruerpthresrebnuttetdregssloebdabllyy.its use, on several occasions, of the usual Islamic sermonic method
True to form, Alsanea leads each girl to her own version One of the most intriguinga—haalpbpeiyt penitdifiunlg, .coSntislli,dienriintsgotwhenmwaanyn,eGr iorlfsitosf eRniydaidnhg—is aasfpeemctisnoisftBbaonoakt, as it reveals wom and Gender in Banāt al-RainydāḍGender in Banāt al-Riyāḍ al-Riyad. that situate it within tmheakIsilnagmcihcofiecmesinainsdt fdraemalienwgowrkithistthheeosfttoernysoevf ethree cloonvsee(qaunednmceas.rital?) encounter between Sadeem and Waleed

Summary

Introduction

Received: 2 October 2018; Accepted: 8 January 2019; Published: 12 January 2019 and Gender in Banāt al-Riyāḍ AAbbssttrraacctt:: Rajāaal-SṢ. In its own way, Girls of Riyadh is a feminist book, as it reveals women : Gender, Religion, and Culture in Saudi Arabia Keywords: Islamic feminism; gender; culture; Since its publication in 2005 and upon its translation in 2007 by Marilyn Booth—in collaboration, willy-nilly, with the author—the novel, Girls of Riyadh [27], has won more accolades in the West comparAerdtitcolein the Arab world itself.

Results

Conclusion