Book Review: Women in Arabic Literature in Nigeria: Issues, Expressions, Analysis (Being Synopsis of the Arabic Version)

Abstract

The incorporation of Western feminism in African writing and activism presents a challenge for theology and literary scholars. In Women in Arabic Literature in Nigeria, Katibi staunchly agrees that women have been marginalised and largely misrepresented in literary scholarship across cultures and religions over the past centuries. He also establishes that this marginalisation stemmed from the patriarchal structure of the world. This trajectory of male domination of the female gender he construes as a man's design, not God's. Contrary to the belief by some uninformed people about the stance of Islam on women's rights, the author affirms that Islam favours "gender equity" over "gender equality" (p. 22). Admitting that Nigerian male literary writers in Arabic are "[…] not enthusiastic about women issues in their works […]" (p. 60), Katibi offers moderate Islamic feminism, the principles of which are sourced from the Qur'an and Hadith to women writers in Arabic literature in Nigeria. He proposes this "moderate Islamic feminism" (p. 26) as an alternative to all alien feminisms unwarily rehashed by African women to reverse the status quo or project women's megalomaniac stance. Embracing this moderate Islamic feminism he believes will obviate the preponderance of a wide and widening gulf between the male and female creative contributions to Arabic literature in Nigeria (and Africa generally).