Pagan or Muslim? “Structures of feeling” and religious ambiguity in al-Khansāʾ

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe seventh-century poet al-Khansāʾ is perhaps the most renowned elegist in the Arabic poetic tradition. As a woman at the heart of the canon, she stands as a feminist icon. But her poetry and life story have yielded divergent interpretations: many have characterized her verse as “wholly pagan,” whilst others have pointed to anecdotes about her later life in order to paint a picture of the ideal Muslim woman, selflessly sacrificing her sons for the cause of Islam. Here, in this essay, I tease out these contradictory strands of her literary and cultural identities and consider religious themes and imagery in her poetry, asking whether or not her verses reflect an emergent Islamic ethos. Drawing on Raymond Williams’ notion of “structures of feeling,” I demonstrate that her verses are informed by competing ideologies of fatalism and monotheism. These overlapping, seemingly contradictory discourses create space for multiple readings.