Journal of Women of the Middle East

and the Islamic World 10 (2012) 179–199 brill.com/hawwa

Feminism in Islam:
A Critique of Polygamy in Mariama Ba’s Epistolary
Novel So Long A Letter*

Souad T. Ali
Arizona State University
[email protected]

Abstract
This paper calls for an understanding of feminism in Islam as a unique approach to femi-
nism with potential contributions to world feminism. The paper analyzes Mariama Ba’s
epistolary novel So Long A Letter within the context of a feminist approach in Islam. This
paper’s primary focus is Ba’s critique of polygamy and her celebration of female bonding in
the face of male oppression. Ba explores her themes through an epistolary exchange between
two intimate friends who both suffered the abuse of their polygamous husbands and high-
lights the contrasting reactions of the two women in regard to the mistreatment by their
husbands. Within a distorted misinterpretation of religion, the analysis reflects on how
Islamic teachings are exploited by some Muslim men in order to gratify and justify their
base desires under the guise of a transcendent sanction.

Keywords
Feminism in Islam, African Feminism, Senegalese Women, African Women, Muslim
Women

Introduction
Issues related to modernity and cultural authenticity have been the subject
of much debate in the Middle East and Muslim regions of Africa since
the nineteenth century. The place and role of women in these emerging
societies have been a particularly significant part of these debates. The con-
tinuing Muslim discourse on such issues as Westernization, modernity

* Ba, Mariama, So Long A Letter, trans. Moudupe Bopde-Thomas (London – Nairobi:

Heinemann, 1989).
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 DOI: 10.1163/15692086-12341236
180 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

(hadathah or mu‘asarah), secularism (‘ilmaniah), and authenticity (asalah)

is a clear indication of a shared set of concerns among the transnational,
multi-ethnic parties participating in these ongoing debates. On the one
hand, what scholars know of the history of early Islam suggests a tradition
that significantly improved the status of women in seventh-century-Arab-
society and elevated their position to an unprecedented level given the
pervasive misogyny of the pre-Islamic period, in which such practices as
female infanticide1 (wa’d al-banat) were commonplace. On the other hand,
however, Muslim women in subsequent centuries have struggled against
much of the same misogynistic behavior and attitudes that Islam had
denounced and sought to abolish in the seventh century as stipulated by
the Qur’an with its powerful new legislation in favor of women.2 As Eliza-
beth Fernea has previously noted, contemporary Muslim feminists have
contended that the notion of gender equality need not be introduced to
Islam (as some have argued) because the idea already exists within the
Qur’an itself, if it were only properly understood by its exegetes. The fun-
damental problem then is what they regard as pervasive Muslim malprac-
tice and misinterpretation of the sacred texts wrongly codified by
androcentric traditions and scholarship over the course of Islamic history.
For Muslim feminists, the first objective of a feminist movement within
Islam is for women to re-evaluate the traditional interpretation of the
Qur’an itself, a task that historically has been limited to men.3
In the West, feminism has been a considerable force in helping to set the
stage and agenda for women’s advancement in society. Its foundation has
mostly been grounded in secular, socialist, or Marxist roots. A feminist
ideology within Islam, however, differs in two basic aspects: first, historically,

1
The Qur’an has clearly criticized and banned female infanticide in many Ayahs (verses)
such as the following: “when the female infant, buried alive, is questioned for what crimes
she was killed,” Chapter 81. In this Surat (al-Takwir), female infanticide is singled out as
the most brutal, unjust, culpable sin. As the Qur’an details, in the pre-Islamic society the
crime was committed in the guise of social plausibility in secret collusion and no questions
were asked. But in the Day of Judgment full questions will be asked and the victim herself
will be able to testify and to give evidence, for she had committed no crime.
2
Numerous Qur’anic Ayahs spell out women’s rights to education, marriage, divorce,
inheritance, economic independence, etc.: examples can be found in Chapters 4, 2, 5,
among others. In addition, such themes of equality between men and women are reflected
in such Ayahs as 35 of Chapter 33 of Surat al-Ahzab, and Ayah 124 of Chapter 4 Surat
al-Nisa, among other examples.
3
Fernea, Elizabeth W., In Search of Islamic Feminism: One Woman’s Global Journey (New
York: Doubleday, 1998), 414–422.
 Feminism in Islam 181

it preceded Western feminist movements; and secondly, it is grounded in

Islam and nationalism with the understanding that feminism and religion
are not necessarily antithetical. As Leila Ahmed (1992) has elaborately
documented, a number of early Egyptian feminists including Huda
Sha’rawi, Doria Shafiq, and Malak Hifni Nassef illustrate this impressively.
Margot Badran (1993) has further noted, in Egypt—for example—there
is more than a century-long tradition of feminism, “from the colonial era
to the present day, women across the spectrum from right to left have con-
tinued to ground their feminism in Islam and nationalism, as they have
persisted in challenging a patriarchy transcending, in different ways, polit-
ical and class formations.”4 The debate on women’s rights within Islam has
developed into what I have classified in three different schools of feminism.
The first, “Islamic Feminism,”5 is committed to pursuing feminism within
Islamic terms. This group emphasizes the considerable social and economic
advances which Islamic sources, when properly understood, early on
granted to women. This school further attributes pervasive social ills, gen-
der inequality, and the unfavorable conditions of many contemporary
Muslim women to androcentric and rudimentary readings of the Qur’an,
and what they consider to be the historical corruption of Islam from for-
eign influences. The second category is Secular Feminism, which includes
under its aegis Muslims, Christians, traditionalists, and Marxists alike.
This school has campaigned for women’s rights under the rhetoric of secu-
larism and Western-style democracy. These women argue that using the
term ‘Islamic’ feminism excludes them from non-Muslim women and
believe that a wider movement including women of all religions and creeds
is integral to the movement’s success. It is important to mention that while
these two categories of feminism do have considerable differences, they do
cooperate with each other. The third category is quite different and exclu-
sive. The third category is what some have described as ‘Islamist’ Femi-
nism, which calls for total distancing from the Western discourse. This
school rejects Western women as a model or advisor for Muslim women
and argues that the pursuit of female affirmation for Muslim women

4
Badran, Margot, “Independent Women: More Than a Century of Feminism in Egypt,”
in Arab Women: Old Boundaries, New Frontiers, ed. Judith Tucker (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1993), 129.
5
I use “Islamic feminism” with caution given the confusion this might insinuate. Alter-
nately, feminism in Islam might best suit this group.
182 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

should be brought about exclusively through a return to the “true funda-

mentals” of Islam, not through emulating Western women.
This paper will analyze Mariama Ba’s popular epistolary novel, So Long
A Letter within the context of the first Islamic Feminist School. The paper’s
primary focus is Ba’s critique of polygamy and her celebration of female
bonding in the face of male oppression. Yet, before delving into Ba’s novel,
a brief discussion on the history of polygamy is due. Today polygamy6 is
one of the most frequently criticized “Muslim” practices, being slandered
by Westerners, “liberals,” and Muslim feminists alike. In light of this,
perhaps the first clarification that needs to be addressed is the fact that
polygamy is hardly an “Islamic” phenomenon as has popularly been mis-
construed. Polygamy has been practiced by innumerable cultures and soci-
eties throughout the world for thousands of years, and thus ta‘addud
al-zawjat (the concept of plural wives) is a very ancient practice found in
many religions and cultures, most of which originate prior to the advent of
Islam. In a religious context, all three monotheistic religions: Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam deal with polygamy in their respective sacred texts.
It’s noted in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) that many of
the ancient prophets such as the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob, practiced
polygamy and subsequent rabbinic writings frequently attest to the legality
of the practice. King Solomon, the Bible tells us, is said to have had 700
wives and 300 concubines (Kings 11:3). His father too, the great King
David, is said to have had many wives and concubines (Samuel 5:13). The
Hebrew Bible also provides legal guidelines on how to distribute the prop-
erty of a man among his sons born to his different wives (Deut. 22:7). The
only restriction on polygamy in the text is an apparent ban on taking a
wife’s sister as a rival wife (Lev. 18:18). Later rabbinical commentaries
enshrined in the Talmud advise that a Jewish man should be restricted to a

6
It is interesting to notice that the English term ‘polygamy’ does not have a one-term
equivalent in the Arabic language. Alternately, Ta‘addud al-Zawjat is the phrase used to
refer to more than one wife in Arabic. Interestingly, ‘zawjat’ is only an idafa to the mubtada’
ta‘addud that can be preceded by numerous mudaf signifying numerous things, not only
wives. It is thus quite intriguing to notice that no specific word signifies polygamy, uniquely,
in the Arabic language in general or in the Qur’an in particular (despite the fact that the
practice was extensively prevalent in Arabia until the advent of Islam when it was
restricted).
 Feminism in Islam 183

maximum of four wives.7 In the Islamic tradition,8 the Qur’an also addresses
polygamy but restricts the number of wives a man can marry to a maxi-
mum of four, thus restricting the pre-Islamic Arab practice of unrestricted
polygamy, with strict conditions that each wife must be treated with jus-
tice, in addition to other restrictions.9
This paper will discuss the issue of polygamy within the Islamic tradi-
tion through analyzing Ba’s novel, a literary text eloquently employed as a
cultural critique. Mariama Ba10 was strongly dedicated to promoting the
important role which African women can play in the development of their
emerging nations. As the preface of So Long A Letter indicates, Ba per-
ceived her role as a “sacred mission” that would enable her to strike out “at
the archaic practices, traditions and customs that are not a real part of our
precious cultural heritage.” Well versed in Qur’anic scriptures, Ba used her
knowledge of women’s rights decreed in the Qur’an to write a fine cultural
critique of the exploitation of women through what she believes is a dis-
torted interpretation of a sacred text that actually intends equality for both
sexes. It is this stance that places Mariama Ba within the Islamic feminist
movement.

7
“Polygamy.” Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts: http://masjidma.com/2011/02/28/
polygamy/ accessed 9/5/2010 and 5/25/2012.
8
According to Prophetic tradition, after living a monogamous marriage for twenty-five
years with his first wife Khadija, and only after her death, the Prophet Muhammad had a
total of 9 (other sources indicated them as twelve) wives all were widows and orphans with
one exception.
9
The Mormon (LDS) Church also sanctioned polygamy until it was first legally banned
in 1890. However, it is still practiced illegally at a smaller scale by fundamentalist Mormons
especially in Utah.
10
Mariama Ba is one of Africa’s finest female writers. She was born in Dakar, Senegal in
1929 and was educated and brought up as a Muslim by her maternal grandparents. Due to
the fact that Senegal was colonized by the French, Ba studied the Holy Qur’an during
school holidays. She began writing in French, and her early essays reflect an unmistakable
criticism of the different aspects of society around her. As a schoolteacher and pioneer of
women’s rights, she was involved in several Senegalese women’s organizations. The preface
of her book informs us that her commitment to eradicating inequalities between men and
women and eliminating many sexist aspects of African life led to the emergence of her first
novel So Long A Letter (1980). Originally written in French, the novel was translated into
sixteen languages and won the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. Ba died in 1981
just before the appearance of her second novel Le Chante Ecarlate. (So Long A Letter, Lon-
don: Nairobi, 1989).
184 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

One of the main themes of So Long A Letter is the emotional struggle for
survival of the heroine, Ramatoulaye, after her husband decides to take a
second wife after thirty years of marriage and twelve children. The action
is perceived by Ramatoulaye as an ultimate betrayal of her trust and a bru-
tal rejection of their long life together. The novel, as the introduction of the
1989 Heinemann’s African Writers Series edition indicates: “is a perceptive
testimony to the plight of those articulate women who live in a social
milieux dominated by attitudes and values that deny them their proper
place.” Mariama Ba explores her themes in this novel through an epistolary
exchange between the heroine, Ramatoulaye, and her best friend Aissatou.
Although Ba adopts the letter-genre as the broad platform on which she
builds her novel, she masterfully combines both the letter and diary genres
in her novel. Ramatoulaye’s long letter, as professor Katherine Frank
explains, “seems to be addressed to herself as well as to Aissatou; a kind of
internal monologue charting the painful process of her liberation. For Ais-
satou embodies the self that Ramatoulaye is struggling to become.”11
So Long A Letter clearly falls under the category of an Islamic feminist
novel, demonstrating the creation of a new, particularly female, literary
genre, and shows how this emerging female discourse allows for the devel-
opment of both women but, in particular, the one engaged in a difficult
struggle against oppression. The novel further documents not only dis-
turbing instances of men victimizing women, but of other women per-
petuating that abuse. Although the female perpetrators are engaged in
behavior that seems in large part a misinterpretation of Islamic teachings,
the problem of women victimizing other women extends well beyond the
central concerns of Islamic feminism.
Ba’s critique of polygamy is reflected not only in the protagonist Rama-
toulaye’s experiences, but also in the case of her best friend, Aissatou. The
paper will attempt to highlight the other important theme of Ba’s novel,
namely the remarkable manner in which the friendship between the
two endures as their marriages fail. Throughout this analysis, I will apply
Patrizia Violi’s12 theory of the letter as a specific genre—identified by the
way its communicative function is inscribed within the text—to focus on

11
Frank, Katherine, “Women Without Men: The Feminist Novel in Africa,” in Women
in African Literature Today, vol. 15 (London: James Currey, 1987), 18.
12
Violi, Patrizia, “Letters,” in Discourse and Literature: New Approaches to the Analysis of
Literary Genres, ed. Teun A. Van Dijk (Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing Company,
1985).
 Feminism in Islam 185

the enormous role played by gender in the type of writing, the content,
and the impact on both the specific audience, the narratee, and her audi-
ence, the reader.
In her article “Letters,” Patrizia Violi discusses five elements that charac-
terize the letter as a genre: the structure of deixis in letters (narrator/
narratee, space and time); the construction of the Ideal Reader within the
genre; the illocutionary force of letters; the relation between letter and
conversation; and elements of a typology of letters.13 The main determin-
ing features of the letter-genre, i.e., the exchange of a written dialogue and
the way its communicative function is inscribed within the text, define Ba’s
letter. In the context of narrator/narratee, the presence of Ramatoulaye,
the narrator, is marked by her “Dear Aissatou” as well as the pronominal
structure of the letter, as in “I have received your letter. By way of reply,
I am beginning this diary, my prop in my distress.”14 This also shows that
the narrator in the letter is always in reality presented as complementary to
the narratee. Patrizia Violi further discusses the letter as a literary genre.
She argues that in some genres “the narratee performs a central role in the
textual strategy, as in the case of a diary.”15 Ba’s letter becomes more
interesting as it combines both genres, but in the final analysis it falls
within the broader category of the letter-genre.
Ba’s whole novel consists of one long letter. It is, as Katherine Frank has
put it, “a long lament and meditation on the pain, anger, and despair the
heroine, Ramatoulaye, suffers as a result of her husband’s desertion.”16 And
it is addressed to Aissatou, Ramatoulaye’s best friend, who not long before
had divorced her own husband when he also married a second wife. It is
within this context that Ba’s novel, although primarily a critique of polyg-
amy, is simultaneously a celebration of female bonding in the face of male
oppression; for it is through their enduring friendship that Ramatoulaye
and Aissatou are able to provide the needful support for each other after
having been unfairly deprived of their husbands’ emotional and financial
support. The unique story of these two women will gradually unfold.
Through poetic qualities that give distinction to Ba’s novel, Ramatoulaye
expresses the importance of their friendship as she addresses Aissatou:

13
Ibid., 149.
14
Ba, 1.
15
Violi, 152.
16
Frank, 18.
186 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

The essential thing is the content of our hearts, which animates us; the essential thing
is the quality of the sap that flows through us. You have often proved to me the supe-
riority of friendship over love. Time, distance, as well as mutual memories have
consolidated our ties and made our children brothers and sisters. Reunited, will we
draw up a detailed account of our faded bloom, or will we sow new seeds for new
harvests.17

An understanding of Ramatoulaye and Aissatou’s differing reactions to

their husbands’ desertion is significant to the context of this discussion.
While Ramatoulaye internalizes her pain and submits to her husband’s
second desire that she must accept the role of the silent obedient wife and
stay with their children, Aissatou, conversely, reacts in an unyielding and
resolute manner. Aissatou’s decision is uncompromising: she walks out on
her husband, immediately leaves with her children for the United States,
and leads an independent and successful life as a senior embassy executive
in Washington DC. The powerful letter Aissatou writes to her husband
before she leaves epitomizes her reaction:

Mawdo,
Princes master their feelings to fulfill their duties. ‘Others’ bend their heads and, in
silence, accept a destiny that oppresses them. That, briefly put, is the internal ordering
of our society, with its absurd divisions. I will not yield to it. I cannot accept what you
are offering me today in place of the happiness we once had. You want to draw a line
between heart love and physical love. I say that there can be no union of bodies with-
out the heart’s acceptance, however little that may be. If you can procreate without
loving, . . . then I find you despicable. At that moment you tumbled from the highest
rung of respect on which I have always placed you. Your reasoning, which makes a
distinction, is unacceptable to me: on one side, me, “your life, your love, your choice,”
on the other, “young Nabou [the new wife], to be tolerated for reasons of duty.”
Mawdo, man is one: greatness and animal fused together. None of his acts is pure
charity. None is pure bestiality. I am stripping myself of your love, your name. Clothed
in my dignity, the only worthy garment, I go my way. Goodbye.18

Within the broad epistolary form, Mariama Ba also uses the technique of
a letter within the broad concept of the letter-genre to illuminate the dif-
ferent aspects of her theme. In her discussion of the letter-genre, Patrizia
Violi elucidates that each letter is unique in terms of the specific differ-
ences exhibited through its structure. Accordingly, different sub-genres

17
Ba, 72.
18
Quoted in Ba, 31–32.
 Feminism in Islam 187

emerge within the broad concept of the letter-genre.19 Aissatou’s letter is a

sub-genre within the broad form of Ba’s long letter. Ba’s masterful use of
this technique not only illuminates Ramatoulaye’s contrasting reaction to
her husband’s abandonment, but provides a brilliant exposition of some
Muslim men’s deliberately distorted interpretation of the Qur’an in order
to give, as Fatima Mernissi argues, “their egotistic, highly subjective, and
mediocre [interests] a sacred basis.”20 Although the second marriage of
Ramatoulaye’s and Aissatou’s husbands is, broadly speaking, sanctioned by
Islam, it does not adhere to the strict meaning intended by the Qur’an.
According to the Qur’anic teachings, polygamy, as the Egyptian modernist
Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905) has stated, “was a response to existing social
conditions and was given with the greatest possible reluctance.” The practi-
cal impossibility of impartiality and justice in treating more than one wife,
Abduh further maintained, shows that “the Divine Law, in its intent, con-
templated monogamy as the original and ideal state of marriage.”21
To understand the context in which the verses about polygamy were
revealed, it is important to look at the pertinent Qur’anic verses them-
selves. To begin with, it is important to address the premise of the argu-
ment that the primary text, the Qur’an, has provided concerning this issue.
The subject matter of Surat al-Nisa (“Women”), the fourth chapter of the
Qur’an, deals with the social problems that the Medina Muslim commu-
nity had to face immediately after the Battle of Uhud in the early seventh
century. The Qur’anic verses on polygamy are included among the 176
verses that comprise this surah that distinctly addresses the subject of
women, orphans, inheritance, marriage, and family rights. The sudden
presence of a large number of widows and captives after the aforemen-
tioned battle made the necessity of addressing the number of wives a man
could marry an urgent22 one, with the principles laid down at this moment
having since permanently governed Muslim law and social practice.23 It is

19
Violi, 149.
20
Mernissi, Fatima, The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s
Rights in Islam, trans. Mary Jo Lakeland (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Com-
pany, 1991), ix.
21
Quoted in Abdel Kader, Soha, Egyptian Women in a Changing Society: 1899–1987
(Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publisher, 1987), 53–54.
22
It is important to mention that the prevalent practice of the day in the misogynous
pre-Islamic Arabia, until the revelation of the verses on polygamy, was that a man could
marry an unlimited number of wives as he wished.
23
al-Qur’an as reproduced and translated by Abullah Yusuf ‘Ali in The Holy Qur’an:
188 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

also significantly important to address the logical progression and general

theological environment that these verses have established as the core of
gender relations between the sexes. The first verse of Surat al-Nisa begins as
follows:

O mankind Reverence your Lord, who created you from a single soul [min nafsin
wahidah], created (out of it) its mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds)
countless men and women. Reverence Allah, through whom ye demand your mutual
(rights), and be Heedful of the Wombs (that bore you): for Allah ever watches
over you.24

It is interesting and equally important to notice that the verse on polygamy

comes third in Surat al-Nisa. Another interesting point that has been
largely overlooked by almost all translators of the Qur’an is the grammati-
cal use of waw al-‘atf (the connective article “and”) that links the second
and third verses of Surat al-Nisa to the first. In Arabic grammar, waw al-‘tf
(“and”) always signifies that what follows it must be ma‘tuf back to what
precedes it. Before polygamy was introduced, many options were laid
down to protect the orphans and only if these were impossible to meet or
achieve was the alternative of conditional polygamy ever mentioned. This
becomes quite clear when we read the second and third verses that continue
discussing the issue of the orphans that was introduced in the first verse:

[And] To the orphans restore their property ([until] they reach their age). And substi-
tute [not] (your) worthless things for (their) good ones; and devour not their sub-
stance (by mixing it up) with your own. For this is indeed a great sin . . .25

Only then, the third option of polygamy was introduced:

[And] if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women
of your choice, two, or three, or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal
justly (with them), then only one . . . that will be more suitable to prevent you from
doing injustice. . . . [However,] Ye are never able to do justice between wives even if it
is your ardent desire.26

English Translation of the Meaning and Commentary (Al-Madina al-Munawarah: King Fahad
Holy Qur’an Printing Press Complex, 1410 A.H. [1990]), 204.
24
Qur’an 4:1 (Yusuf ‘Ali’s translation); all subsequent verses from the Qur’an are from
the same source.
25
Qur’an: 4:2.
26
Qur’an: 4:3, 129.
 Feminism in Islam 189

The immediate occasion for the promulgation of this verse was the after-
math of the Battle of Uhud when the Medina Muslim community was left
with many orphans, widows, and a number of captives of war. The treat-
ment of those orphans, as the Qur’anic commentator, Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali,
mentions in his The Holy Qu’ran: English Translation of the Meanings: “was
to be governed by principles of the greatest humanity and equity . . . Marry
the orphans if you are quite sure that you will in that way protect their
interests and their property, with perfect justice to them and to your own
dependents if you have any. If not, make other arrangements for the
orphans.”27 But it is important to note that this was when the unrestricted
number of wives of what the Qur’an labels as the Jahillia (“the Age of
Ignorance”) in the pre-Islamic era was stringently limited, through this
verse, to a maximum of four with the firm condition that they must be
treated equally. Notwithstanding that polygamy was apparently made per-
missible with the greatest reluctance, a clear statement intended to dis-
courage the practice was also revealed. This verse claims that in a polygamous
family situation, it is absolutely impossible to be fair and just to all, even if
one earnestly desires to be so.
What Ba intends to expose in her novel is the fact that the two men,
Ramatoulaye’s husband Modou and Aissatou’s husband Mawdo, twist the
meaning of the text merely to gratify their sexual impulses. The fact that
Modou took for his second wife his daughter’s friend Binetou, and that
Mawdo’s new wife Nabou was of a similar younger age, establishes Ba’s
claim. Mawdo’s justification for having a lusty desire for the young Nabou
substantiates Ramatoulaye’s allegation even further:

You can’t resist the imperious laws that demand food and clothing for man. These
same laws compel the “male” in other respects. I say “male” to emphasize the bestiality
of instincts. . . . You understand. . . . A wife must understand, once and for all, and must
forgive; she must not worry herself about “betrayals of the flesh.” The important thing
is what there is in the heart; that’s what unites two beings inside. (He struck his chest,
at the point where the heart lies).28

This episode makes clear that, in the course of Mawdo’s flawed argument,
both food and his new wife, young Nabou, stimulate the same kind of
desire and demand that the same bestial instinct for sex and nourishment
be gratified. But Mawdo is neither apologetic for reducing men to irratio-
27
Yusuf ‘Ali, 206.
28
Ba, 34.
190 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

nal beasts nor for using a logical fallacy—a false analogy—to support his
faulty reasoning. Ramatoulaye’s letter to Aissatou demonstrates and invali-
dates this false analogy her husband uses and reveals her controlled rage in
response to it:

Thus, to justify himself, he reduced young Nabou to a “plate of food.” Thus, for the
sake of “variety” men are unfaithful to their wives. I was irritated. He was asking me
to understand. But to understand what? The supremacy of instinct? The right to
betray? The justification of the desire for variety? I could not be an ally to polygamic
instincts. What, then, was I to understand?29

Some men exploit Islamic teachings in order to gratify and justify their
base desires under the guise of a transcendent sanction. Some Muslim men
exploit, abuse, and degrade women by using the very verses that were
revealed to safeguard the orphans and widows in the most benevolent and
humane sense, to protect them from being victimized by a harsh world and
a deeply misogynistic society. While the text clearly seems to have intended
a dignified, improved situation for widows and orphans, Mawdo, the
modern, French-educated Muslim, exploits the Divine Law to justify his
own “bestiality of instinct.”
The significance of Ba’s incandescent exposition of polygamy hinges on
the fact that it discloses the evil hidden agenda of its contemporary practi-
tioners and reveals the faulty logic behind it. It is flawed dialectic created
by men and is further, as Molara Ogundipe-Leslie argues: “assented to by
women untrained in the rigours of logical thought or conscious of the
advantages to be gained from compliance with masculine fantasies.”30 Ba’s
portrayal of this victimization of women as symbolized by young Nabou
and Binetou, the two second wives, further exposes the sinister interests of
their recourse to polygamy; and is masterfully knitted in the fabric of the
novel to agitate the awareness of such heedless victims.
In her essay “The Female Writer and Her Commitment,” Molara
Ogundipe-Leslie, a former professor of African literature at Ogun State
University, Nigeria, comments on the importance of the role played by the
African woman writer to advance a genuine female point of view in an
effort to deconstruct and correct misconceptions about women’s lives. She
maintains:
29
Ibid.
30
Ogundipe-Leslie, Molara, “The Female Writer and Her Commitment,” in Women in
African Literature Today 15 (London: James Currey, 1987): 5.
 Feminism in Islam 191

The female writer should be committed in three ways: as a writer, as a woman and as
a Third World person; and her biological womanhood is implicated in all three. As a
writer, she has to be committed to her art, seeking to do justice to it at the highest
levels of expertise. . . . Being committed to one’s womanhood . . . would mean delineat-
ing the experience of women as women . . . destroying male stereotypes of
women. . . . Being aware of oneself as a Third World person implies being politically
conscious, offering readers perspectives on and perceptions of colonialism, imperial-
ism and neo-colonialism as they affect and shape our lives and historical destinies.31

By exposing the victimization of Nabou and Binetou, Mariama Ba as a

female writer is committed to her womanhood; she is concerned with
making these two oblivious women, indeed all victimized women, become
aware of the deplorable condition they have been placed in by men. These
two young victims have been allured by the illusion that through these
marriages, they would be offered security and safety; but they are unaware
that they have also been enticed into a state of passivity, silence, and
acceptance. Sadly, they have been led to believe that these characteristics
are part of women’s nature.
Mbye B. Cham of Howard University points out that Ba is “more inter-
ested in probing the disturbing phenomenon of victims victimizing
victims.”32 Ironically, in So Long A Letter, it is the mothers of Nabou and
Binetou who encourage and convince their daughters to accept the situa-
tion of a second wife. Sadly, Islam is not only misinterpreted by men, but
by some greedy women as well—women who use their own daughters as a
means to exit their state of poverty and to gain access to materialism. Even
in her troubled and stressful situation, Ramatoulaye is able to see clearly
that Binetou, her rival and her daughter’s friend, is a “lamb sacrificed, like
many others, on the altar of materialism.”33 Binetou’s mother, or Lady
Mother-in-Law as Ramatoulaye prefers to call her, and Nabou’s mother—
victims themselves as they were of their own circumstances—become the
new victimizers who, for material gain, use their own offspring to victimize
other women and devastate their lives. However, the actual tragedy lies
with Binetou and Nabou, who have been doubly victimized, first by their
own mothers, and then by their husbands. Cham makes a brilliant analysis
of this complex interaction of victimization:
31
Ibid., 10–11.
32
Cham, Mybe B., “Contemporary Society and the Female Imagination: A Study of the
Novels of Mariama Ba.” In Women in African Literature Today 15 (London: James Currey,
1987): 96.
33
Ba, 39.
192 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

For Modou Binetou is seen less than a partner with whom to build a life committed
to a social, political, philosophical or moral ideal than a mechanism for “rejuvenating”
himself. . . . For Binetou’s mother, . . . Binetou is seen less than a daughter to be steered
and encouraged to fulfill herself in all areas of life than a bait to land a big catch,
Modou, who will deliver her and her kin from poverty. [Lady Mother-in-Law] finds
in Modou a milch cow that will instantly catapult her to the social category of “women
with heavy bracelets whose praises are sung by griots.”34

Through Ba’s effective use of the epistolary form, we as readers are able to
know the details about the community of women Ramatoulaye has created
in her intimate written dialogue with Aissatou. In her attempt to find
analogies between the letter’s sequential structure and face-to-face conver-
sational interaction, Patrizia Violi points out that: “Although the space-
time distance between the narrator and the narratee and the shifting out
which it produces profoundly differentiates the two discourses,” the fact
that the letter obliges the recipient to reply is analogous, in a sense, to the
kind of obligation set up at the beginning of a conversation.35 Ramatou-
laye’s long letter, as will be illustrated, not only takes the form of a dialogue
with Aissatou, but prompts the latter’s obligation to respond pragmatically
to her friend’s agony over the emotional and material injustices inflicted on
her and her twelve children by her polygamous husband, their own
father.
Before illustrating Violi’s analogy between the written dialogue and the
face-to-face conversation, it is important to stress at this point that Modou’s
total negligence of his responsibilities towards Ramatoulaye, his first wife,
and his children is illegitimate from an Islamic perspective and is consid-
ered a clear deviation from the meaning of the scriptures: “If ye fear that ye
shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then [marry] only one . . . that
will be more suitable to prevent you from doing injustice.”36 But if you
must marry a second wife, “turn not away [from your first woman] alto-
gether, so as to leave her (as it were) hanging (in the air).”37 Ramatoulaye’s
torment stems from the un-Islamic inequity demonstrated by Modou’s
behavior in depriving her and her children of legitimate emotional and
financial support. But she is more outraged at the unjust legislation that is

34
Cham, 95.
35
Violi, 162.
36
Qur’an, 4:3.
37
Ibid., 4:129.
 Feminism in Islam 193

based on a clear misinterpretation of the Divine Law, which intends equal-

ity as the basis of social systems.
Ironically, support comes from Ramatoulaye’s dear friend Aissatou, even
though she herself is deprived of her husband’s support. But it is the obli-
gation Violi referred to earlier in her comparison between the letter’s com-
municative functions and conversation that prompts Aissatou to provide
considerable support in the gift of a car that would eventually help to alle-
viate a significant part of Ramatoulaye’s anguish. Ramatoulaye’s intimate
language in the following episode illustrates this most beautifully:

I shed tears of joy and sadness; joy in being loved by my children, the sadness of a
mother who does not have the means to change the course of events. . . . I told you
then, without any ulterior motive, of this painful aspect of our life, while Modou’s car
drove Lady Mother-in-Law to the four corners of town and while Binetou streaked
along the roads in an Alfa Romeo, sometimes white, sometimes red. . . . I shall never
forget your response, you, my sister, nor my joy and my surprise when I was called to
the Fiat agency and was told to choose a car which you had paid for, in full. My chil-
dren gave cries of joy when they learned the approaching end of their tribulations.38

This episode perfectly illustrates the other theme of Ba’s epistolary novel—
the celebration of female bonding in the face of male oppression. In her
article, “Women Without Men: The Feminist Novel in Africa,” Katherine
Frank argues that:

What is crucial about the sort of friendship Ramatoulaye and Aissatou share—this
world they [are forced to] celebrate apart from men—is that it entirely lacks those
qualities of male-female relationships which cause women so much grief: power,
restraint, and subordination. Even when one woman is stronger or more powerful
than another as in the case with Aissatou and Ramatoulaye, she does not wield her
power over her weaker sister. In fact the exact opposite occurs: power is used by the
stronger to support and strengthen the weaker.39

Although Frank’s generalization of male-female relationships is somewhat

problematic here, the essence of her statement is an accurate characteriza-
tion of the kind of oppression many women presumably face in their lives
and that the characters of Ramatoulaye and Aissatou certainly face in
theirs. Yet, Frank is quite accurate in pointing out that, through this female

38
Ba, 53.
39
Frank, 20.
194 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

bonding, Aissatou is able “to lift Ramatoulaye out of her despair and
dependence, to make her autonomous and whole again.”40
Ba unfolds the theme of Ramatoulaye’s liberation from feminist bond-
age in systematic stages. At the beginning of the liberating process, Rama-
toulaye had no choice but to deal with the humiliation inflicted on her by
her husband. However, some episodes in her letter reveal the full weight of
her pain, deep sense of her husband’s betrayal, and inner feelings, as she
confesses to Aissatou:

I ask myself questions. The truth is that, despite everything, I remain faithful to the
love of my youth. Aissatou, I cry for Modou and I can do nothing about it.41

Gradually, through her highly personalized relationship with Aissatou and

through Aissatou’s continued support, Ramatoulaye comes to terms with
her single status. With the support of her community of women, her
daughters and friends, she even begins to enjoy her un-chosen freedom. At
another stage she tells Aissatou that “I was abandoned [but] I faced up the
situation bravely. I carried out my duties.”42 Ramatoulaye learns how to
handle and meet the demands of her children and family life: she goes
shopping by herself, replaces locks, pays electricity and water bills, deals
with the plumber, and has a job as a teacher. Then an intellectual awareness
starts growing within her, she begins to read extensively. She also finds
comfort in going alone to the movies: “What a great distraction from dis-
tress is the cinema! Intellectual films . . . sentimental films, detective films,
comedies, thrillers, all these were very companions. I learned from them
lessons of greatness, courage, and perseverance. They deepened and wid-
ened my vision of the world.”43 Listening to music also fortifies her: “the
message of old and new songs which awakened hope [and] my sadness
dissolved.”44 Along with all these activities, Ramatoulaye turns to creative
writing, writing her long letter through which all these details are vividly
revealed. Then comes Aissatou’s gift of a car:

. . . A highly symbolic gift. The Fiat brings Ramatoulaye mobility and freedom; it
enables her to transport herself and the children. When she learns how to drive

40
Ibid.
41
Ba, 52.
42
Ibid.
43
Ibid., 52.
44
Ibid., 53.
 Feminism in Islam 195

Ramatoulaye assumes control of her new life and the direction in which she wishes
to travel.45

Throughout the above discussion, the causes of female bonding and the
means to new freedoms and liberation have been explored through the
enduring friendship between Ramatoulaye and Aissatou. The contrasting
reaction of Ramatoulaye and Aissatou to abandonment by their husbands
is the beginning of this process of liberation to freedom. Ramatoulaye’s
submission and dependence is set against the background of Aissatou’s
resistance and autonomy. The intolerable prospect of polygamy and deser-
tion prods Aissatou to action: she packs up her things and leaves the tradi-
tional world of Senegal for the United States, where she soon becomes a
distinguished embassy official. For Aissatou, the route to liberation is inde-
pendence, wholeness, and economic power symbolized by financial auton-
omy. Ba, who views “female solidarity as a crucial factor underlying
women’s self-determination,”46 believes that helpless women such as Ram-
atoulaye should not be left alone, because they can also be liberated through
their strong bonding with other autonomous women.
For Mariama Ba, female bonding is thus a crucial component to the
process of women’s liberation, wholeness, and eventual freedom. At the
end of the novel, Aissatou intends to visit Senegal on vacation. As Rama-
toulaye gets ready to meet the friend who has supported her since her
husband devastated her, she writes her concluding remarks on the eve of
their reunion, telling her friend how much she has changed her life:

My new turn of mind is hardly surprising to you. I cannot help unburdening myself
to you. I might as well sum up now.47

In the final pages of the book, in which Ba elegantly combines both the
letter and diary genres, Ramatoulaye demonstrates her own commitment
to the current movements for women’s liberation. Her hard-earned auton-
omy is accomplished through the unfailing support provided by her closest
friend, Aissatou. Ba’s linguistic intimacy portrays Ramatoulaye’s exit from
bondage, writing:

45
Frank, 19.
46
Ibid., 21.
47
Ba, 88.
196 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

I am not indifferent to the irreversible currents of women’s liberation that are lashing
the world. This commotion that is shaking up every aspect of our lives reveals and
illustrates our abilities. My heart rejoices each time a woman emerges from the shad-
ows. I know that the field of our gains is unstable . . . all women have almost the same
fate, which religions or unjust legislation have sealed. . . . I remain persuaded of the
inevitable and necessary complementarity of man and woman. Love, imperfect as it
may be in its content and expression, remains the natural link between these two
beings. To love one another! If only each partner could move sincerely towards the
other!48

This further illustrates Violi’s comparison between the communicative

functions of the letter and conversation, when “the letter ceases to be an
isolated text [but] can be considered as an element of an interactional
sequence generated by the epistolary exchange between two communicating
subjects.”49 Within the context of Ba’s skillful portrayal of this “epistolary
exchange,” every detail of the written dialogue is revealed to the generic
audience, the reader. Most significantly, it is through this written dialogue
between Ramatoulaye and Aissatou, and the role played by gender that So
Long A Letter has succeeded gloriously in its mission as an intimate female
discourse employed as a cultural critique.

Conclusion
This analysis has called for an understanding of feminism in Islam as a
distinct and unique approach to feminism with potential contributions to
world feminism. There is much to be learned from the observation that
“Muslim women held considerable rights compared to women of most
cultures—Eastern or Western—until the feminist movements of the twen-
tieth century forced reforms.”50 It is my contention that greater under-
standing can and should exist between women within the universal feminist
movement, but only if feminists are willing to acknowledge and appreciate
the fact that women come from diverse historical and cultural backgrounds.
If feminism can indeed be defined as “all those forms of theory and prac-
tice that seek, no matter on what grounds and by what means, to end the

48
Ibid.
49
Violi, 162.
50
Bowen, Donna Lee, “Islamic Law and the Position of Women,” an article written for
the World Bank, Draft 1 (March 14, 1992).
 Feminism in Islam 197

subordination of women,”51 then this is the concept that all brands of

feminism share worldwide.
Ramatoulaye’s allusion to women’s liberation movements, “that are lash-
ing the world,” is part of many references in So Long A Letter that invite a
contemplation of Mariama Ba’s celebration of female bonding at a higher
transnational level. Her choice of Washington D.C. for Aissatou to pursue
her career, the unwavering support that Aissatou continued to provide for
her friend in Senegal, the gift of a Western car to help Ramatoulaye and
her children are but a few examples that illustrate Ba’s belief in the need for
communication and cooperation between feminists throughout the world
despite their historical and cultural differences. Despite the fact that there
are many forms of feminism across the world, all share the belief that
women have been subordinated in societal institutions that create and per-
petuate ideologies of gender. Feminist movements in the Middle East and
within the Islamic tradition represent a form of evolution relative to the
profound growth and social change experienced by different Muslim
societies since the nineteenth century. Over the course of this evolution,
Muslim feminists have challenged the oppression of women within the
framework of religion, arguing, for instance, that from its very inception
Islam “was a religion that concerned itself heavily with women’s rights in a
surprisingly contemporary manner.”52 As Margot Badran has elucidated in
her insightful article, “Feminism and the Qur’an”: “In developing their
feminist discourses, women have looked to the Qur’an as Islam’s central
and most sacred text, calling attention to its fundamental message of social
justice and human equality and to the rights therein granted to women.”53
It is important to note that this disparity between the Qur’anic message of
social justice and human equality and the malpractice evident in several
Muslim societies has been an area of further research by several Muslim
and Muslim-American women scholars including Amina Wadud, Asma
Barlas, and Nimat Hafez Barazangi among others.

51
Felski, Rita, Beyond Feminist Aesthetics: Feminist Literature and Social Change (Cam-
bridge, Harvard UP, 1989), 13.
52
Minai, Naila, Women in Islam: Tradition and Transition in the Middle East (N.Y.:
Seaview Books, 1981), 4.
53
Badran, Margot, “Feminism and the Qur’an,” in The Encyclopedia of the Qur’an 2,
ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Leiden, the Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill N.V., 2002):
199–203.
198 S. T. Ali / HAWWA 10 (2012) 179–199

About the Author:

Dr. Souad T. Ali is Head of Classics and Middle East Studies, and is Associate Professor
of Arabic Literature and Middle East/Islamic Studies in the School of International Letters
and Cultures (SILC) at Arizona State University. She is simultaneously an Affiliate Faculty
in the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Women and Gender Studies, African
and African-American Studies, and the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance
Studies. A Fulbright Scholar (http://asunews.asu.edu/20100319_souadali), Professor Ali
is the author of A Religion, Not A State: Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq’s Islamic Justification of Political
Secularism (University of Utah Press 2009, http://content.lib.utah.edu//cdm4/item_viewer
.php?CISOROOT=/upcat&CISOPTR=1533&CISOBOX=1&REC=1) that reached the
top of Amazon’s List for “Bestselling New and Future Releases in Turkey” when it was
released. Her scholarly articles have been published internationally and translated into dif-
ferent languages.
Professor Ali’s research interests cover a wide area including Arabic Literature, women
and gender in Islam, Classical Islamic Texts, Islam and Secularism, Islamic Law; Sufism,
Islam and Democracy, Islam and modernity, Qur’anic and Hadith Studies, feminist move-
ments in Islam and the Middle East, Arab, African & Arab-American women, the emer-
gent scholarship of Muslim-American women scholars, Sudanese women; Sudanese politics.
Dr. Ali is the President of the American Academy of Religion/Western Region (AAR/WR)
and Board member. Executive Committee Member: International Association of Intercul-
tural Studies (IAIS), Cairo, Egypt and Bremen Germany; and Board member: Sudan Stud-
ies Association of North America (SSA). She was recently awarded a U.S. Speaker and
Specialist Grant to participate in a Sufism and Democracy project in Senegal (2012).
Professor Ali received a B.A. with distinction from the University of Khartoum and the
Polytechnic of North London, a Masters with distinction from Brigham Young University,
and a Ph.D. with honors from the University of Utah (2004, http://www.ugapress.org/
index.php/books/spirit_of_islamic_law/), where she studied under Dr. Bernard G. Weiss.

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