Saba Mahmood on "Politics of Piety"; Agency, Gender and Embodiment

In Chapter 5 of Saba Mahmood’s “Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject”, the author hones in on the troublingly common plights of Egyptian women and how culture and religion bear on their social, professional and personal lives. Moreover, she examines pieces of the current theory and academia surrounding the veil and its meanings both historically and in the present day, and how the principles behind it have been misappropriated and spread to other aspects within human interactions, bringing in personal interactions with women she spoke to.

While the reading was extremely challenging in the early sections of Chapter 5, there were numerous aspects of theory Mahmood discussed that I found fascinating. Firstly, her interactions with Amal and Nama gave real world context to common social interactions between men and women within Egyptian society, highlighting the pressures of marriage and the stigma attached to an unmarried woman in her late teens/early twenties. These societal pressures were further accented by the problematic notions of married men seeking additional wives, though this is not stigmatized as heavily as long as the man is able to emotionally and financially support said wives. The imbalance in what is expected of women vs. men was repeatedly striking to me.

The concept of the hijab was another crucial element to Mahmood’s breakdown of expectations for Egyptian women. Nama’s description of her internal struggle with exterior pressures frame the dauntingly shallow choice that forces a branding regardless of choice. Based on her description, not wearing it is viewed societally as contrary to the values of Islam for women to be modest, humble and meek, as well as the subtext of being labeled as a liberalist Muslim of western influence. Wearing it would be the more suitable option given this distinction, despite Nama citing repeated comments that wearing it made her “look older and unattractive, [and] that you won’t get married, and will never find a husband” (157). This unwinnable scenario is given additional complexity, as Nama cites that after years of wearing a hijab, taking it off causes “your entire being [to] feel uncomfortable…” (157). What I found particularly appalling was an excerpt from Muhammad Said Ashmawi, who states that the “real meaning of the veil lies in thwarting the self from straying toward lust of illicit sexual desires, and keeping away from sinful behavior” (Ashmawi 160). Though this may come from my comparatively small understanding of the material, but this seems like a clearly patriarchal distinction, as the hijab is normally associated with women and is not something required for men to wear as well. These ideas further imbalance the gender relationship as the quote speaks almost as if from the perspective of a woman, but without acknowledging its strange undertone that segregates women into a category of assisting men with preventing their own temptations for sinful behavior.