I've been reading a lot of articles and posts about Nawal ElSaadawi nowadays. Aside from news about her fleeing Egypt, which she herself denied in El Hayah, Elmasry Elyoum, BBC Arabic and Al-Arabiya, many found this as an opportunity to attack the woman and all that she stands for. Many make fun of her statements, implying that she is lying. Well, even if, I believe in her old age she has the right to save herself from the humiliation she's subjected to by fanatics and those fame-seekers. This is not the first time for her to face law suits concerning her writings. As a matter of fact, she was imprisoned in September 1981 and she wrote about her experience in prison in several of her books and articles. This woman is in fact proud of being put into jail because she spoke her mind freely.It is sad when I see that many of those who attack her have never bothered to read a single word she wrote. They simply read what is written about her and are ready to pass judgement, in complete absence of integrity. Hence I pose the question: "Have you ever read a book by Nawal ElSaadawi?" It is easy now to find her books. I remember 10 years ago when I had to search for her works in English in order to be able to read them. I then read them all again in Arabic and I admired them even more.
El Saadawi, a novelist and feminist critic, has written her autobiography "A Daughter of Isis," in which she frankly tells all about her early years and upbringing. This woman dared to say it all, she would tread where no other Egyptian woman would dare to go. She exposed her personal life, with all the painful experiences and her deepest inner thoughts. She exposed our double-faced society and its cruelty towards young girls and women. She even wrote about her own infibulation at a young age.
I hereby provide a list of her works for those who care to check them out:
FICTION:
NOVELS
Memoirs of a Woman Doctor (Cairo, 1958)
The Absent One (Cairo, 1969)
Two Women in One (Cairo, 1971)
Woman at Point Zero (Beirut, 1973)
The Death of the Only Man on Earth (Beirut, 1975)
The Children's Circling Song (Beirut, 1976)
The Fall of the Imam (Cairo, 1987)
Ganat and the Devil (Beirut, 1991)
Love in the Kingdom of Oil (Cairo, 1993)
THE NOVEL (Cairo, 2004 )
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
I Learnt Love (Cairo, 1957)
A Moment of Truth (Cairo, 1959)
Little Tenderness (Cairo, 1960)
The Thread and the Wall (Cairo, 1972)
Ain El Hayat (Beirut, 1976)
She was the Weaker (Beirut, 1977)
Death of an Ex-minister (Beirut, 1978)
Adab Am Kellat Adab collection (Cairo, 2000)
PLAYS (in Arabic)
Twelve Women in a Cell (Cairo, 1984)
Isis (Cairo, 1985)
God Resigns in The Summit Meeting (1996)
NON-FICTION
MEMOIRS
Memoirs in a Women's Prison (Cairo, 1983)
My Travels Around the World (Cairo, 1986)
Memoirs of a Child Called Soad (Cairo, 1990)
My Life, Part I, Autobiography (Cairo, 1996)
My Life, Part II, Autobiography (Cairo, 1998)
My Life, Part III (2001)
BOOKS
Women and Sex (Cairo, 1969)
Woman is the Origin (Cairo, 1971)
Men and Sex (Cairo, 1973)
The Naked Face of Arab Women (Cairo, 1974)
Women and Neurosis (Cairo, 1975)
On Women (Cairo, 1986)
A New Battle in Arab Women Liberation (Cairo, 1992)
Essays: El Ma`ara Wa lguorba (Cairo, 1997)
Essays: Taw`am el Sulta Wa l guins (Cairo, 2001)
Essays: Kadaya el Ma`ara wa l Fikr (Cairo, 2002)
Essays: Kasr El Hedoud (Cairo, 2004)
Fiction and Non-Fiction (Cairo, 2004)
It is because of her fearless honesty, that many people can not tolerate her. Even now, when she is 76, she is still fighting her battle, and they won't leave her alone.
17 comments:
She sounds like a very interesting woman. And you have provided a long list of writings, I would like to at least get to read a few.
Yes, Alina, she's a great feminist writer. I personally recommend that you start by reading her autobio (Daughter of Isis)and "The Hidden Face of Eve". As to her novels, I like "Woman at Point Zero" and "Searching". But all her books are worthy of reading.
لو عرف معظم من يهاجمون نوال السعداوي حقيقة أفكارها وجوهر آرائها لدافعوا عنها .. بل وأحبوها! .. فالسيدة نوال فضلت أن تسير في طريق الألغام والمفرقعات بدلا من مواءمة التيار السائد والاستفادة منه .. وفي ذلك فهي مدفوعة - في المقام الأول - بحب أصيل للعدل وكره عميق للظلم ..
وإن كنت أعيب عليها دائما طريقة الصدمات الكهربية التي تتبعها .. حيث أؤمن أنها لا تتفق أبدا وطبيعة الشعب المصري والعربي المحافظة .. فالمصريون - بطيبتهم وغيرتهم على قيمهم ودينهم - لا يستطيعون تحمل أفكار السعداوي عندما تقذفها في وجوههم .. ولكنهم قد يستوعبوها ويقتنعوا بها إذا عبرت عنها بطريقة غير حادة وأظهرت التقدير المناسب للمؤسسات الدينية والتقليدية التي يجلها المصريون (كالأزهر مثلا) .
Thanks ya Salama for this comment. Yeah, I believe people are shocked by ElSaadawi's way more than her ideas. She expresses herself beautifully in writing, but when she speaks she couldn't control her rebellious nature and she might be misunderstood as extreme. The problem is she is not interested in doing compromises in order to reach the public. She cares more to be herself, even with her drawbacks.
Electric shocks can be too painful that your mind rejects therapy, but only those who can see beyond the pain can respond and change. These are very few in real life, and therefore the majority of people don't allow themselves a chance to analyze what ElSaadawi is actually saying.
Thanks for the advice. I will try to take it :)
yoooohooo... i'm back...lol
I'm sure your thinking..."here come the arguments"...lol
"a true feminist"...depends how you difine it and what is a moderate feminist is!
I personally haven't read anything of her books. I will read that ISIS ISA some day.
I too beleive we shouldn't judge till we actually know what she is saying.
My problem was when i saw her on TV saying stuff that is so "lets throw direct sentences in Quran against the wall" attitude.
Dy makanaetsh me7taga reading besara7a.
Listening to what she says, a lot is right (i.e el 7'etaan, women not being treated right...etc). I'm with her on all that.
The issue is when she slams against religion just becuase it doesn't align with her feminist thoughts (some of them i mean).
3omooman Allah yehdena kolena
i hate it when i don't check what i wrote... some serious spelling mistakes...lol
Welcome back fadfadation. The comments section really missed your words. And fankly I was surprised that you were so objective about this one. Wallahi Dr. ElSaadawi is a very moderate woman ya fadfadation. Ya3ni, if you listen to her without any preconceptions, you won't find anything against religion. On the contrary, she invites people to think beyond the words and see God's wisdom in them.
kalam gameel wee kalam ma32ool ma2darsh 2a2ool 7aga 3ano...ila...
she said no for the islamic (very clear law) of werasa.
Maa yenfa3sh ne3ared something so clear just becuase we don't like it or it doesn't fit our criteria.
"I was surprised that you were so objective about this one"
yaaah danty shayfany ashkeeef ba2a..lol
i guess you imagine that i'm a man with a short white toob and a long beard...don't you?
YA MOFTAREYA :)
LOL.. What made you think that? No, wallahi, I don't see you like that. But I'm used to you objecting to me all the time :)
Well, concerning this issue of weratha, it is a part of a bigger ongoing debate that ElSaadawi has nothing to do with. It is the division between a school of thought which says that all rules stated in verses of the quran are valid for eternity vs. the school which sees that some of them, especially those which deal with social issues, are related to the time in which the quran was introduced, like those talking about slaves and so on. The 2nd school sees that in such a case we should stick to the philosophy behind the rule rather than its literal content. When it comes to inheritance, for example, it was unthought of at the time of Prophet Mohammed that women will be the sole providers of their families. Although women worked back then, there was a tribal system which always guranteed financial support for women by male members of the family. Now, according to recent statistics, women are the providers of more than 1/4 of Egyptian families. Society is much more bigger and complicated, there are single mothers who chose not to get married again to raise their children, there are widows, there are wives of handicapped husbands, there are girls who work in cities to support their families in the countryside... etc. ElSaadawi focused on this example (having to do with women rights) but the argument is bigger than that. There is a whole school of religious thought behind it.
Now, the followers of the 1st school who can't fight openly with other religious figures and scholars, found in her a perfect target to make people reject this trend of thinking. And because this issue combine the male privilege with the financial one, people were quick to oppose it, without really caring to see what's behind it.
I do understand where you are coming from. Here are some thoughts...
I haven't heard of a renowned scholar who said that social matters (werasa to be specific) are something we can change (per our view of things). Please enlight me...
If you mention salvery (as a comparison) then you have to put in mind that Islam was trying to get rid of it (check all the sin purifying rules, one has to free slaves for all the kafara). So, it is not the same, becuase Islam DID try to change that.
As for werasa, Islam (like any system) has a way of life and a family stucture.
In this structure men are responsible for carrying and providing for the families (can call it their primary job). Also, a man is responsible for not only his wife and children but also his mother and sisters if their father or husbands pass away.
Becuase of such a structure came the wisdom behind having such werasa system (men have more to spend on, they need more money to do it).
Yes, people abuse it. Yes, some women provide for the family.
But the islamic legistlation is\was not for the "some" it is always for the majority (like any other system).
So as you said "women are the providers of more than 1/4 of Egyptian families", Islam is about the majority (the 3\4 whic are the rest).
Besides that, not becuase some people abuse the system or special cases we just come and say...hey lets charid of that system...la2 it doesn't go like this. Especially when it is a direct order in Quran.
In all cases we don't want it to sound that Islam has said NO for women to inheret, of course we both know that women do get inheretance (ratio women to men inheretance 1:2).
In my opinion her (Nawal) problem is in how she says her opinion.
If she really is behind the second way of thinking which you mentioned, she sure is not saying that at all. She just goes full blast undermining everyone else.
Never expect people to treat her any different than how she treats them.
Bas...
Before i forget, there is of course the option for the father or mother to say in their will (after approval of others involved) for the woman to get a 1:1 ratio.
So even that option is within our system.
Kedda begad welcome back, rasmy.
I was not arguing about who is right, as you might have noticed. I was just telling you that the argument is bigger than ElSaadawi. She has a point anyway. And as society is changing, the 1/4 is expected to increase by time. So, the idea that society is ever changable, is an unchangable rule. The thing about inheritance is only one example. I don't think that it will upset God in anyway if women and men had the same share. On the contrary, I believe he will judge us if we don't use our minds in comprehending the philosophy behind his rules, instead of blindly sticking to the words. It used to be just in a different society to give men twice as much as women (when what you said was not only the ideal situation, but how real life was) but to give a woman that provides for a family only half what her brother gets, I think this is something that will really upset God.
Ya3ni in old times women kept their money only to themselves, and their husband were not allowed under any circumstances to ask for it. Does this happen now? What will you call a woman who has a fortune, but doesn't share it with her poor husband and children? No way you will say she is only doing what God said. You will say she is a selfish woman who doesn't deserve to have a family.
Ya3ni even prayer, God made an exception in it. If a person is drunk, he can't pray. Cause prayer is not only a mechanical act, but a spiritual experience which demands that you be completely aware of what you're doing. God will not be pleased if you just stand there saying verses of Quran while your mind is absent. You must feel them and understand every word. Otherwise, God tells you not to do it at all. Mesh aho a7san mn mafeesh. And we are talking about prayer, which is one of the 5 basics of Islam.
Concerning religious thinkers who call for flexibility in social matters, history if full of them. From Mohamed Abdou to Gamal ElBanna. I can't believe you have never come across even one of them. But may be because their controversial views don't receive much attention.
alalol... hady nafsek ya Om Luji.
Although there is more than one thing i can say here, bas wade7 inek 7aterminy bee korsi...faa i'll just say a couple of things...
"Ya3ni in old times women kept their money only to themselves, and their husband were not allowed under any circumstances to ask for it. Does this happen now? What will you call a woman who has a fortune, but doesn't share it with her poor husband and children?"
If we want to go by what God said. La2 we shouldn't judge women and say they are selfish. But since she helps out, that's her CHOICE...not obligation.
"Ya3ni even prayer, God made an exception in it. If a person is drunk, he can't pray. Cause prayer is not only a mechanical act, but a spiritual experience which demands that you be completely aware of what you're doing. God will not be pleased if you just stand there saying verses of Quran while your mind is absent. You must feel them and understand every word. Otherwise, God tells you not to do it at all. Mesh aho a7san mn mafeesh. And we are talking about prayer, which is one of the 5 basics of Islam.
"
Bad example used. Becuase this verse is MANSOUKH by another one which says:" fahal antom montahoon" (check the ta7reem al 7'amr fikh).
In other words, this law was in a 2 step 7ormanaya rule.
It first started by: "don't pray when you are drunk".
Then: "don't even get close to liquor"
bee ma3na...
Becuase it was so into society (drinking liquor back then) God did the 7ormaneya 3ala mara7el.
So, yes God only at the first stage did an exemption for prayer, but only till the society was ready for the next and final stage (full 7ormaneya).
And from then on, all the following generations did the same. You can not come now and say, well muslims are drinking so lets use the first verse hoping that people will at least pray, then we'll go to the second stage when we think people are ready for it.
So, GOd is the one who decided when to exepmt and when not to in the case of Liquor. Not people.
If you mean, but in cases of emergency or idteraar we can change the laws...then yes i agree with you. "WHEN" it is a must, we can change the law "TILL" things change back to how they should be.
As for when you said:
"instead of blindly sticking to the words."
That is a way of fikh by the way. Not to be taken lightly (not saying that you are ...3alashan mish 3awez afsh...lol).
There is no need to be shocked by me not knowing people...lol
You mentioned Mohammed Abdo (3ala 3eny wee rasy) and you mentioedn Gamal El Bana (no comment, howa 7or fy ra2yo).
But let me tell you this...
Abu Hanifa (being who he was) said this:
"kolon yo7'az waa yorado 3alayh ila sa7eb hazehi al rawda" (meaning the prophet).
Not everything Mohammed Abdo said is right. This is what we all need to remember well.
So, these 2 examples (and any others you might know of) you mentioned out of a history of 1400 years 7oreen fy ra2yohom.
But, at the end of the day...there is no way that you can use those "opinions" to legistlate for all muslims (talking from a governements point of view). Especially, that there is a very clear command opposing what they are saying.
Think of this werasa thing in another way, men who are poor (as you said), will have even less money to spend on the families they support.
So, the solution you think is right, we'll not solve the problem. Becuase you just moved the problem from one group of people to another.
3omooman, i'll close the subject. Mafysh da3y ab2a "Welcome back begad" aktar min keda...lol
I really hate it when people criticize someone without knowing anything about them. I had a cousin once try to convince me that everything Saadawi wrote was bullshit. I asked him what he books he read and he said he hadn't read any, he just knows. It's annoying as hell.
Carmen:
The majority of those who criticise ElSaadawi are those who have never read a word she wrote. I believe if they read her books they will find nothing to criticise. And it is very disappointing to find relatives or friends following this stream. It has become a trend that people don't bother to search for truth on their own, but just go with the flow.
i disagree wz her opinion about the hijab that is why i did not try to read for her but u encourage me to try
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