Hagar and Mariya

The chapter discusses representations of Hajar and Mariya, two prominent female figures from the early Islamic tradition, widely treated in Arabic-Islamic biographical dictionaries, Quranic exegeses, and Tales of the Prophets literature. It treats the varied images of both women, with a focus on two elements: Both women were slaves and both bore children to prophets. Islamic sources, penned almost exclusively by men, expunge nearly all other aspects of these women’s stories. But, slave women had an impact not just on family structures and notions of marriage and sexuality that people often associate with “women’s history,” but also on official, predominantly male-oriented ideologies. The two images informed the loftiest notions about who deserved to rule and who counted as a noble Arab.