Subversive Maryam or a Qur'anic View on Women's Empowerment

Abstract

Subversive Maryam or a Qur'anic View on Women's Empowerment Johanna Marie Buisson Introduction When considering the history of the religions of the Book, Maryam is at the center; in that respect, her position is pivotal and around her revolves most controversies between Jews, Christians, and Muslims. As a Jewish woman of the 1st century BC, she was born to bring forth radical change within the Jewish community of Jerusalem, and at the same time, she enabled cultural and religious transition into Christianity. She was brought up in the Temple of Jerusalem among Jewish priests, she was therefore dedicated to God's service, knowledgeable, and particularly well educated within Judaism, and still, she broke the Jewish rule of gender segregation and she later became the mother of the Prophet of Christianity, recurrently called Ibnu Maryama in the Qur'an, to emphasize their kinship. In early Muslim history, Maryam was also set forth as a powerful figure of unity between Christian and Muslim faiths, as the episode of the migration to the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia shows, when Muslims were persecuted in Mecca and sought the Negus’ protection. Verses on Maryam were recited, and Muslim migrants were eventually granted asylum. Maryam therefore epitomizes both the bridge and the u‐turn. Maryam's body was the living locus of the manifestation of the power of the Word of God, but Maryam is obviously much more than a body and a womb; religious tradition turned her into the epitome of both virginity and motherhood, two extremely patriarchal key‐representations of woman; the Sufi tradition turned her into the symbol of the “silent soul” (Annemarie Schimmel ) and the paragon of virtue, purity, and devotion. However, another reading of the Qur'an, far from such a patriarchal perspective, may reveal, rather, that the Qur'an highlights not only her purity of soul, but also her stamina, willpower, and strength, and portrays her as an autonomous subject, an independent woman, who grew from being an orphaned child to a single mother. The Qur'an, particularly in Surah Al‐Imran and in Surah Maryam, conveys a fuller picture of her life, especially focusing on her childhood, youth, and education, as is evident in Shawkat Toorawa's study (Toorawa ). This, in itself, is an indication of her symbolical weight as a full character, as a woman elected by God, but also as a young girl and woman who went through a demanding learning process and personal development. As such, her formative years may be interpreted as a model of education for both men and women, yet, with regard to her social and religious environment, especially toward women's assertiveness and empowerment. Loneliness and independence Loneliness, among messengers and prophets, is a common feature, since it is viewed as an experience of hardship and, as such, as a test of faith and a way to build a stronger relationship to God. Maryam too had to face loneliness from an early age as she is believed to have been the only child to Hanna (“the wife of Imran”) and Imran, while her father died before her birth. It is also understood that she was sent away from her mother while still young, as her mother had devoted her to God's service in the Temple (Q.3:35), and that her mother died soon afterward. Though Zakariya acted as her guardian, as a girl and teenager, she lived alone, away from other children and away from any home and family atmosphere. It is understood that she grew up in the Temple, fulfilling all kinds of chores, and experienced the loneliness of being the only girl child and teenager and not allowed to mix with boys and other teenagers. The only people she was in contact with were her priest‐teachers and occasionally her guardian and “uncle,” the Prophet Zakariya (pbuh). She therefore grew up and was educated within a male‐dominated environment and with a fair amount of loneliness. This may be understood as the learning process of independence, that is, of emotional, intellectual, and spiritual independence altogether. If her education in the Temple had isolated her, Maryam was also later subject to multiple isolations. Indeed, before receiving the...