Noble Betrayers of their Faith, Families and Folk: Some Non-Muslim Women in Mediaeval Arabic Popular Literature

Abstract

This article examines a number of non-Muslim female characters from the Arabian Nights and other works from mediaeval Arabic folk literature. It explores why they are perceived as being heroic figures, worthy of the audience's admiration, despite acting in ways that seem opposed to Muslim legal teachings and cultural norms.

Notes

 [1] The author would like to express his deep gratitude to Jessica Hemming, Ulrich Marzolph, and Remke Kruk for their valuable advice and suggestions during the preparation of this article.

 [2] On the Arabian Nights, see Marzolph, van Leeuwen and Wassouf (2004), Irwin (1994), Sallis (1999), Ross (2009), and Lundell (2010). For an indicator of the immense range of scholarship conducted on the Arabian Nights, see for example Marzolph (2010).

 [3] The most important work on the sira material is Lyons (1995). Other recent works include, for example, Herzog (2006), Kruk (1993; 2002), Marzolph (1990), and Leder (2009).

 [4] On the links between the Nights and the sira material, see Kruk (2004).

 [5] As will by now have become apparent, Maryam (Mary) and variants thereon are the most commonly chosen names for Christian women in the Nights.

 [6] For a full discussion of the Sirat al-Zahir Baybars, see Herzog (2006). Although Herzog gives brief consideration to elements shared between the Nights and the Sirat al-Zahir Baybars (2006, 186–92), he does not discuss the question of the relationship between Weil's version of the tale and the original sira at all.

 [7] See also Lyons (1995, vol. 1, 109–18) and Kruk (1993, esp. 218–26).

 [8] On this topic see, for example, Kennedy (2004, esp. 15–49) and Mitchell (2007, 63–77).

 [9] Nura is not the only case in this epic of a female figure who becomes the loving Muslim partner of the one who takes her virginity; see also Lyons (1995, vol. 3, 383 [sec. 76]). Conversion (thought not explicit love) also follows rape (Lyons 1995, vol. 3, 504 [sec. 171]). On Nura see especially Kruk (1998, 99–116). An Arabian Nights parallel is Prince Bahram's deflowering of the Princess al-Datma, which is also followed by her becoming his wife (see Lyons 2008, vol. 2, 592). The question of the link between lost virginity and the subordination of strong female figures requires considerably more treatment than the endnote of an article can provide and hence will not be addressed here.

[10] For a detailed discussion of the at times strikingly similar treatment of “Saracen” female characters in mediaeval European literature from the crusading period, see Jacqueline de Weever (1998) and Matar (2008, 143–51).