Ibn ʿArabī and Mystical Disruptions of Gender
Theoretical Explorations in Islamic Feminism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2228563 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sa’diyya Shaikh, Saʿdiyya Shaikh (0000-0001-9014-9906, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 475-497 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0097-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-6943 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/716648 |
| OpenAlex | W4200518951 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 21 |
Drawing on the work of thirteenth-century Andalusian Sufi Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240), this article explores the ways in which mystical ideas present a radically destabilizing view of human nature. Bringing Ibn ʿArabī’s ideas into a contemporary feminist conversation on gender, I theorize gender, arguing that his mystical method pushes the reader to the limits of a binary and patriarchal rationality, resulting in a productive entanglement of normative gender categories. Paradox, ambivalence, and contradiction—organic elements of Ibn ʿArabī’s Sufi epistemology—facilitate generative spaces of tension that creatively interrupt fixed conceptions of gender. I argue that within this Sufi cosmology, apophatic modes of being demand an existential mode of receptivity, fluidity, and constant movement—all of which can be applied to critiquing gender hierarchies and heteronormativities within Muslim traditions while reimagining more capacious alternatives. The article contributes to a larger Islamic feminist project of retrieving a creative, expansive, and inclusive Muslim archive while making connections to broader feminist theories in contemporary scholarship, including the ideas of Judith Butler, Luce Irigaray, and Catherine Keller
Conversation · Epistemology · Feminism · Islam · Mysticism · Scholarship · Sociology · Theology · Gender Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Marriage and Sexual Relationships · Philosophy · Turkey's Politics and Society
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Mystical languages of unsaying
Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures
Gender and Self in Islam
Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition
Islam, Feminism, and Islamic Feminism
Secular and Islamic Feminist Critiques in the Work of Fatima Mernissi
Feminist Edges of the Qur’an
The Female Voice in Sufi Ritual
Buddhism after Patriarchy
Gender Trouble
Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition
The Tao of Islam
When I slam and Feminism Converge
Teaching The Words Of The Prophet
The Apophasis of Gender
What is Islam? The importance of being Islamic
Muslim Women's Quest for Equality
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2024 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |