Iqbal Centre Distinguished Lecture 2021

Re-Writing Women’s History in Islam: Hajar/Hagar as an Example

Speaker:

Professor Hatoon Al Fassi, Associate Professor in History, Honorary Fellow of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Manchester

Abstract:

Re-writing the history of women in Islam is as important as rewriting women’s history in general. It attempts to redefine the subjectivity of women, to read and tell the story of humanity through women’s perspectives, experiences, and languages alongside men’s.

Islamic history was full of many female role models and important figures that were omitted or silenced. The aim of this talk is to give women a voice and the deserved position in building Islamic history. Stories of Eve, Hajar, Virgin Mary, Sayyidah Khadijah, Aishah, Hafsah, Umm Salamah, Umm Amara, Umm Ammar, Sukainah bint al-Hussein, Rabia al Adawiyya and women of science and hadith are yet to be told. This lecture will try to address one of these main Islamic female figures of early Islam, in both the Muslim imagination and historical reality.

This lecture will focus on Sayyida Hajar/Hagar as a historical/legendary figure in Islamic and Jewish history. The matriarch of Prophets Isma`il and Muhammad, the founder of Makkah and the carrier of the monolithic faith. Professor Al Fassi will question the perceived concepts of motherhood and family, and interrogate the role of women and women's leadership in Islam. Sayyida Hajar/Hagar's story challenges our modern understanding of women’s position and role to a great extent.

Details: