Sa’diyya Shaikh, University of Cape Town
Drawing on the ideas of pre-modern Sufi thinker Muhyi al-Din Ibn Arabi (d. 1240), this paper focusses on ways that mystical language and
method enable a dynamic model to engage human nature and genderedness. Mystical language is characteristically defined by fluidity and paradox in
order to facilitate receptivity and experiential openness. I examine how these linguistic and existential modes facilitate spaces ripe for feminist
reflections. Ibn Arabi’s use of paradox, ambivalence, and contradiction – organic elements of his Sufi epistemology – results in generative spaces of tension that creatively interrupt fixed conceptions of gender.
method enable a dynamic model to engage human nature and genderedness. Mystical language is characteristically defined by fluidity and paradox in
order to facilitate receptivity and experiential openness. I examine how these linguistic and existential modes facilitate spaces ripe for feminist
reflections. Ibn Arabi’s use of paradox, ambivalence, and contradiction – organic elements of his Sufi epistemology – results in generative spaces of tension that creatively interrupt fixed conceptions of gender.
Sa’diyya Shaikh is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her areas of research include gender-sensitive readings of hadith and Quran; theoretical debates on Islam and feminism; religion and gender-based violence; and an empirical project entitled “South African Muslim Women, Marriage, Gender and Sexuality.”
The Harshbarger Lecture in Religious Studies is an annual lectureship made possible by a generous donation in honor of Luther H. Harshbarger, former professor and head of the Religious Studies Department at Penn State.
Please see the attached file for a sample of Dr. Shaikh’s work: Shaykh.art-1