Islam and Masculinity in the Arab-Muslim World

21/04/23

Written by Zineb Khelif

Translated by Lou Szabo 

Thinking about the link between masculinity and the Arab-Muslim world seems relevant and necessary at a time when studies on masculinity are becoming increasingly democratic and attest to a causal link between patriarchy and violence, while the Arab-Muslim world is marked by devastating conflicts. This area seems condemned to incessant turmoil, marked by youth unemployment, a political wait-and-see attitude inherited from decades of autocratic rule, and a complex relationship with Islam between political recuperation and the desire for modernity. The realist paradigm seems to have failed to elucidate or resolve the region’s troubles, so its analysis through a gender lens could offer new tools to understand its context. However, a large part of the world is still affected by war and political unrest, so we must be careful not to fall into an essentialism that would draw a simple causal link between the Arab world, violence and the religion most practised there, Islam.

The concept of masculinity is defined, according to researcher Raewyn Connell, as “a place within gender relations, a set of practices by which men and women engage in this place, and the effects of these practices on bodily experience, personality and culture^[1]« un lieu au sein des rapports de genre, un ensemble de pratiques par lesquelles des hommes et des femmes s’engagent en ce lieu, et les effets de ces pratiques sur l’expérience corporelle, la … Continue reading [Free translation]”. This concept derives from gender, as “a product of history and a producer of history^[2]« produit de l’histoire et producteur d’histoire ». Connell, R. W. (2010). Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity [Free translation]”. Thus, masculinity is part of the mechanisms that maintain patriarchy, paradoxically in the same way as religions have been and still are.

Islam claims an Abrahamic heritage, like Judaism and Christianity, and bases its precepts on the revelation of the sacred text of the Quran to the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. After his death, Islam experienced a schism between Shiites and Sunnis, a division that came about at the dawn of the last of the three monotheistic religions and has led to its multiple interpretations to this day. The structure and history of Islam have given rise to different practices and conceptions of the latter throughout the world, whether in Asia, the West or the Arab world^[3]Testot, L. (2018). L’islam : quelques repères. Dans : Laurent Testot éd., La Grande Histoire de l’islam (pp. 15-19). Auxerre: Éditions Sciences Humaines.. It is in the Maghreb and Middle East that the study of Islam is peculiar, as it is intertwined with the history of this geographical area, both socially and politically, this will be selected for this study. This part of the world has experienced the tumult of colonisation like so many others, but its study will focus here on the processes of decolonisation in the 1950s, in order to understand how the cultures specific to each country (all things considered, since they will retain the marks of this influence) have articulated Islam on a political and societal level, while creating norms of masculinity. Thus, are the definitions and expressions of masculinity in the Arab world attributable to Islam, or the context in which they are expressed?

The Quran and its masculinist interpretations

If religious texts are in essence considered sacred, and therefore of divine origin, their interpretations and applications are fundamentally human and, as structuralist and feminist movements presume, human representations are constructed in a gendered way. It is therefore essential to consider the distance between the text of the Quran and its exegesis, i.e., the difference between the Prophet Muhammad’s precepts that are supposed to guide the lives of Muslims, and the different interpretations made over the centuries. The first interpretations of the Quran were carried out after the Prophet’s death in 632, in a patriarchal context marked by political struggles, in contrast to the society in which the Prophet lived in Medina, where gender inequalities were less marked. Similarly, in the Middle Ages, Muslim exegetes, formerly Jews and Christians, integrated reflections specific to their religion into the interpretation of Islam, notably through the figure of Eve, who was said to have been created from Adam’s rib and to be responsible for Original Sin^[4]Stowasser, B.F. (1994) Women in the Quran: Traditions and Interprétations. New York: Oxford University Press.. This discourse is not to be found in the Quran, and legitimises the patriarchal view that women exist only through men, and that men should supervise them because they are temptresses and sinners^[5]Ahmed, L. (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven Conn. Yale University Press..

Some passages of the Qur’an are more open to interpretation, such as the fourth Sura of the 34th Verse, which specifies that the man must take on the role of financial support, of qawwamun, in the couple. An imprecise reading, still dominant today, considers that this passage indicates that the man has a leadership role in the couple, whereas the word qawwamun refers rather to support^[6]Wadud, A. (1999) Quran and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Through this reading and the patriarchal framework still omnipresent in the region today, a masculinist interpretation of the Quran has been forged, while it calls into question a cardinal principle of the Quran which is the equality between man and woman. It thus fosters a vision that obliges men, in order to realise their full potential, to be the provider and authority of a household.

However, a modern reading of the Quran through a more meticulous exegesis, and one that is not governed by a principle of legitimising male domination, could offer a new reflection on masculinity in Islam. The practice of Muslim believers is largely based on the life of the Prophet, as a model for virtuous living. Yet, over the centuries, political dissent and biased interpretations have highlighted certain aspects of Muhammad’s life at the expense of others which are just as significant. His many marriages to women often younger than himself have been emphasised in favour of a vision of marriage imbued with a logic of domination. Firstly, these marriages should be seen in the context of the times, when the development of Islam was linked to the importance of socio-political alliances. Similarly, the Prophet was also married for 25 years to a woman named Khadija, a marriage that would provide a more accurate example of the Prophet’s life and the very definition of masculinity in Islam. Khadija was a woman older than the Prophet and had been married twice before, marriages from which she had three children. A wealthy merchant, she had managed to make her father’s inheritance bear fruit, and also enjoyed a wealth of social capital, a position that enabled the Prophet to enjoy the financial and social stability he had previously lacked. Khadija is said to have asked Muhammad to marry her, and after accepting he asked her father (or uncle, sources differ) for her hand in marriage and then moved in with her^[7]Razwy, S.A.A. (1990) Khadija-tul-Kubra (l’épouse du prophète Mahomet) : Une brève histoire de sa vie. Elmhurst, NY : Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an.. This marriage illustrates a type of masculinity that differs greatly from the model advocated by male exegetes and imams to date. In this case, Khadija was the provider for the household and played an active role in the couple, contrary to the patriarchal vision that advocates for both the passive and active separation of woman and man^[8]Rahemtulla, S. et Ababneh, S. (2021). Reclaiming Khadija’s and Muhammad’s Marriage as an Islamic Paradigm : Toward a New History of the Muslim Present (Récupérer le mariage de Khadija … Continue reading.

Yet, the most widespread interpretation of the Quran is masculinist. It focuses on the primacy of the male in the relationship between the two genders, thus legitimising a violent and toxic form of masculinity. A construction in opposition to the Western model has accentuated this pre-existing form of masculinity, in relation to the hegemonic relationship that colonialism has maintained in various forms in the Arab world, such as the mandate (Lebanon), the colony (Morocco) or even as an extension and integral part of the territory with French Algeria. The pre-existing masculinist culture of the colonial period and the decolonisation movements created a kind of wound, like a blow to their virility, which Arab and Muslim peoples would bear because of the humiliation of having been dominated by another people. In the second half of the 20^th century, and still today, the desire to emancipate themselves from this domination and, by correlation, from this shame, pushed politicians and society to mark their difference, notably through social and identity markers such as the veil, which has been compulsory in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. However, according to the Quran, the veil is the result of a personal, considered choice based on one’s convictions, and its imposition on all women, regardless of their spiritual path, stems from a rigid reading of the Quran. Although the veil has always existed in Arab and Muslim cultures, this opposition to the West has led these societies to establish the obligation to wear it, through law or social pressure, as a symbol of Muslim honour, an honour that must be saved from the shame of the ancient domination that men’s masculinity still bears^[9]Ali, Z. (2020). Féminismes islamiques. La Fabrique Éditions. This opposition is all the more singular today through the media and social networks, whose reflection of the West calls into question principles of cardinal morality in Muslim societies, such as family structure and sexuality^[10]Lamrabet, A. (2020). Entre refus de l’essentialisme et réforme radicale de la pensée musulmane. Dans : Zahra Ali éd., Féminismes islamiques (pp. 69-84). Paris: La Fabrique Éditions.

Hegemonic masculinity in politics

If masculinity represents what it means to be a man, hegemonic masculinity symbolizes the highest form of embodiment of masculinity. It is a marriage between Antonio Gramsci’s^[11]Hoare, G. & Sperber, N. (2019). Introduction à Antonio Gramsci. La Découverte. reflection on hegemony as a system based on coercion and consent, and the concept of masculinity. In fact, it is a matter of homogenisation around one type of masculinity^[12]Connel, R. (2021). Penser les masculinités dans une perspective globale : hégémonie, contestation et structures de pouvoir en évolution. Sciences sociales et sport, 17, 11-35.. Hegemonic masculinity is the most respected and envied form, since the men who embody it – often through patterns of violence against so-called subordinate masculinities – absorb most of the benefits from the patriarchal system, as they are seen as “real men”. This is achieved through the abnegation of anything that might touch on what is considered feminine, such as showing feelings or demonstrating gentleness. Although this higher form of masculinity differs in time and space^[13]Nandy, A. (1983). The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self under Colonialism, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, it is directly linked to the global political model. This is modelled on the theory of the realists, a paradigm of international relations that is still predominantly applied today, and which was built on the presumed selfish nature of humans as a self-interested being who uses violence to defend their interests. Current security rhetoric therefore legitimises the use of force, particularly for peacekeeping. Yet this militaristic thinking maintains the normality and validity of a hegemonic masculinity within society and states through its common denominator, violence. This masculinity thus carries with it a power relationship rooted in the social reality of gender, which establishes a hierarchy between women and men.

At state level, hegemonic masculinity is embodied by politicians, particularly autocrats and despots. The latter exercise their power in an authoritarian manner over the public and private spheres, in the image of the etymological source of the despot as “master of the house^[14]Dictionnaire de l’académie française. Définition du mot despote. https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9D1974”. Their power is founded on a virile grip on the society they govern, like a reciprocal relationship between the father of the fatherland and the father of the family, a dynamic that is maintained because the existence of one enables the existence of the other, according to philosopher Nadia Tazi^[15]Regard de Nadia Tazi sur la virilité des hommes musulmans. (20 février 2022). Areion24news. https://www.areion24.news/2022/02/20/regard-de-nadia-tazi-sur-la-virilite-des-hommes-musulmans/. Thus, during the decolonisation processes of the second half of the 20th century, the countries of the region were renewed around a strong sense of nationalism, framed by the centralization of the State. A homogenisation of the model of hegemonic masculinity also took place in countries such as Egypt under the aegis of President Nasser, who had helped overthrow the monarchy and establish the new republic of which he would be president from 1954 to 1970, by erasing the masculinities of the many tribal societies in favour of a state masculinity, notably through the ban on wearing tribal clothing. This model of masculinity was woven through the role of a patriarch, a strong man, protector and provider of the nation’s needs^[16]Kimmel, M.S., Hearn, J., Connell, R.W. (2005) Handbook of studies on men and masculinities. SAGE Publications..

The legacy of these autocrats of modernisation lives on in the Arab world, notably in Tunisia through the presidency of Habib Ben Ali Bourguiba, which lasted from 1957 to 1987. As a key player in the country’s independence, he managed to combine modernity and virility during a 30-year term of office, which included a ban on opposition parties. He created a cult around himself and established his position as Tunisia’s patriarch. Since then, Tunisian men have been caught between this patriarchal policy and the march towards modernity, desired by the former president, in particular through greater equality between men and women in legal terms, but ambivalent in practice^[17]Kahf, K. (2020) Colonial to Postcolonial Masculinities in the Middle East and North Africa. The American University in Cairo Press.. An autocratic regime founded on the cult of its patriarch maintains the logic of patriarchal domination at both state and private levels, yet the limitation of political freedoms also restricts men despite their gender privileges, creating in the Tunisian imaginary, notably through the study of films produced in the country from 1978 to 2009, a “melancholy narrative of masculinity^[18]Gana, N. (2010) Bourguiba’s Sons: Melancholy Manhood in Modern Tunisian Cinema. The Journal of North African Studies”.

The Arab Springs of 2011 saw citizens rise up against the autocratic excesses of their leaders, heirs to the paternalistic policies of their predecessors. Until then, those in authority in the region took advantage of their position to promote what can be seen as a drift away from patrilineality. In the past, matrilineal marriage existed alongside patrilineal marriage, enabling women to remain in their clans, with their husbands joining them and their children’s socialisation taking place through them. However, since the 12^th century, the primacy of the father’s lineage stems from the context in which Islam developed, namely a time when Mecca became a major trading centre, leading to the enrichment of these tribes and the desire of men to bequeath their wealth to their sons, thus leading to the domination of the patrilineal model^[19]Kian, A. 2020. Les femmes : Enjeux et en quête de pouvoir en Islam. In Voguet, É., & Troadec, A. (Eds.),  Pouvoirs et autorités en Islam. Marseille, Paris : Diacritiques Éditions.. Today, the primacy of the father and his lineage is anchored in Islam and the culture of the Arab-Muslim world, religion is transmitted to children through the father, and the father’s status is realised and legitimised through the symbolic legacy of his position in society, his values and his assets^[20]Tauzin, A. (1995). Masculin et féminin au Maghreb, diversités et convergences. Dans : EPHESIA éd., La place des femmes: Les enjeux de l’identité et de l’égalité au regard des sciences … Continue reading. Thus, the dynastic drifts that have taken place in Syria, where Bashar Al Assad succeeded his father, and in Tunisia with the clan-based corruption of former president Zine el-Abidine Ben-Ali^[21]Khader, B. (2011). « Printemps arabe » : entre autoritarisme et démocratie. Politique étrangère, , 825-838. https://doi.org/10.3917/pe.114.0825, are eloquent testimony to the drift of patriarchal lineage at the political level.

The revolutions of 2011 succeeded in removing some of these autocrats, such as the former Tunisian president, but the consequences of patriarchal and masculinist excesses of power still have an impact today. This is illustrated in particular by an assumed political authoritarianism, as in Tunisia with the current president Kaïs Saïed, depicted by the salami theory, used by his predecessors through the slow and gradual limitation of political freedoms^[22]Fargue, P.M. (07/04/2023). La dérive Saïed. Le Grand Continent. https://legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2023/03/07/la-derive-saied/. This reality illustrates a practice of power through domination rooted in hegemonic masculinity.

Practical articulations of masculinity in Arab-Muslim societies

Like most societies today, societies in the Middle East and North Africa are still centred around the notion of the heteronormative family. The privileges deriving from a man’s position within the patriarchal system are linked to this notion of the family: a man must be fit to become the patriarch of a family. This is not only a foundation of traditional societies, but also of Islam’s emphasis on paternal filiation. As a result, a man’s fertility is societally linked to his masculinity, even his virility. In the case of Egypt, a 2003 study by researcher Marcia C. Inhorn illustrated the impact of men’s infertility on their diminished perception of masculinity, whether personal or emanating from the society around them^[23]Inhorn, M. C. (2003). The Worms Are Weak: Male Infertility and Patriarchal Paradoxes in Egypt. Men and masculinities.. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X02238525.

This masculinity is also fulfilled through the function of provider for the household, as a continuation of the function of the patriarch. Yet this embodiment of masculinity is complicated by the economic and political turmoil of many countries in the Arab-Muslim world. Autocratic political regimes paradoxically undermine the embodiment of the hegemonic masculinity model through the hierarchy they induce among men by repressing and limiting political freedoms despite their privileged position as men. Economic difficulties lead to high levels of unemployment: in Tunisia in 2022, the unemployment rate was 15.2%^[24]Statistiques Tunisie. Indicateurs de l’emploi et du chômage, troisième trimestre 2022. http://www.ins.tn/publication/indicateurs-de-lemploi-et-du-chomage-troisieme-trimestre-2022, which prevents men from reproducing the position of dominant male, whose ability to provide for the household would legitimise their power within it. A study carried out in Jordan in 2002 among men in a region where household incomes are relatively low, questioned the relationship between their masculinity and the role of provider. According to these men, if they were unable to find a job and their wives did, some would ask them to quit or divorce, while others felt that society would influence the husband to ask his wife to resign^[25]Miles, R. (2002). Employment and Unemployment in Jordan: The Importance of the Gender System. World Development.. The problematic aspect of the discourse of these individuals lies in the protection of the dignity of man, a dignity that is directly linked to a precise model of masculinity that they must attain. While this study illustrates a particular position in just one country in the study area, it nevertheless bears witness to a reality that will be more or less strong depending on the countries in the region.

The patriarchal model of masculinity also establishes violence as a prerequisite for virility, through its logic of domination. This is emphasised in the home by the man’s position, which legitimises the use of force against women. In Yemen, 55% of married women were victims of domestic violence in 2021^[26]Holt, M.C. 2020. The worst place on earth to be a woman: violence against Yemeni women in peace and war. Gender and Women’s Studies. … Continue reading. According to the authors of the survey, this can be explained by four factors: the woman’s financial dependence, the normalisation of the use of violence as a solution to conflict, male domination and the fact that divorce applications can only be made by men^[27]Holt, M.C. 2020. The worst place on earth to be a woman: violence against Yemeni women in peace and war. Gender and Women’s Studies. … Continue reading.

This violence enables the household to exercise the necessary control over women whose honour must be protected, a notion linked to control of the woman and her body to protect the patrilineal model^[28]EPHESIA, . (1995). La place des femmes: Les enjeux de l’identité et de l’égalité au regard des sciences sociales. La Découverte.. Through various socialisation processes, this notion of masculinity is created in men, as depicted in a survey conducted by Oxfam and Kafa in 2011 in the Baalbek region of Lebanon. Men aged between 18 and 75 from different socio-economic backgrounds were asked about their definition of masculinity, which for 78% was achieved through domination and strength, and for 70% through control and responsibility over their wives^[29]Eddé, R. (2018). Les violences conjugales au Liban : du problème privé à la cause publique. Autrepart.. Despite advances in legislative terms on the issue of violence against women, notably through law no. 293, which has criminalised it since 2014^[30]Le Borgne, V. (27/01/2017). Au Liban, une loi décriée sur le viol bientôt abrogée: une véritable avancée ? Middle East Eye. … Continue reading, the relationship to violence and its legitimisation in the construction of masculinity remains a social reality. Between 2020 and 2021, complaints of domestic violence are said to have doubled, notably due to the economic crisis and curfews linked to Covid-19^[31]Houssari, N. (11 février 2021). Les cas de violences conjugales doublent au Liban. Arab News.  https://www.arabnews.fr/node/60456/monde-arabe.

On the other hand, this violence is made legal in countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Iran in the extreme case of honour killings, where men kill a female member of their family to save their honour^[32]Penda, M. (2023) La lutte féministe pour la criminalisation des crimes d’honneur au Moyen-Orient. Institut du Genre en Géopolitique. https://igg-geo.org/?p=12051, for example in the case of suspected infidelity or conduct considered immoral^[33]Amnesty International. (2021). Afrique du Nord et Moyen-Orient: Les violences fondées sur le genre continuent de dévaster la vie des femmes dans la région. … Continue reading. The community’s definition of honour as relying on the woman, and the definition of masculinity as synonymous with strength and domination, lead to disastrous processes of violence within society.

Yet, the importance of embracing other forms of masculinity is illustrated in complex political contexts, such as in Palestine and Syria. In both countries, the notion of masculinity is built around classic patriarchal definitions of the man as manager of the household and provider of its needs. He must also support his community in terms of human and material care. However, for Syrian refugees, particularly in Lebanon, this role of provider is impossible to embody due to their economic situation. Similarly, imperatives such as not showing emotions considered as evidence of weakness, such as sadness, are complex for some who suffer from depression linked to the distance from their families and their situation in a country where they are often considered second-class citizens, a position generally imposed on women^[34]Arlandis, F. (04/10/2016). L’impossibilité d’être père. Slate. https://www.slate.fr/story/124391/refugies-syriens-impossible-etre-pere.

Similarly, the lives of Palestinians today are characterised by a “matrix of control^[35]Farsakh, L. (2003). Israel: An apartheid state? Le Monde Diplomatique. http://mondediplo.com/2003/11/04apartheid” by the Israeli state, through checkpoints, Israeli-only access roads and settlements that effectively reduce the habitable territory for Palestinians^[36]Peteet, J. (2009). Beyond compare. Middle East Report.. This reality makes it impossible for Palestinian men to provide for their households and undermines the embodiment of their idea of masculinity. Nevertheless, daily contact with violence and their experiences of it, many of them having been arbitrarily imprisoned or tortured, change their perception of masculinity, particularly through the education of their children. Several testimonials illustrate how fathers espouse masculinities more inclined towards patience, calm and gentleness in response to the anger and violence they perceive in their sons^[37]Gokani, R., Bogossian, A., Akesson, B. (2015) Occupying masculinities: fathering in the Palestinian territories, NORMA.. The articulation of this form of masculinity, though considered subaltern in the patriarchal model, acts as a catalyst for the younger generation^[38]Gokani, R., Bogossian, A., Akesson, B. (2015) Occupying masculinities: fathering in the Palestinian territories, NORMA., as a form of positive masculinity. However, it represents only a small part of the articulations of masculinity in times of conflict, since these tend to be turned towards increased violence in a context that by its very nature fuels it.

Hegemonic masculinity: a common foe

Interpretations of Islam, most of which have been carried out by men throughout history, have perpetuated a logic of male domination. This logic is made possible by a vision of masculinity which is embodied as a dominant position in marriage at the private level, and just as oppressive in its public articulation, as illustrated by the paternalistic policies of the region’s autocrats. However, the reciprocity of paternalistic rule between the private and public spheres creates a contradiction, since the men of the region are themselves dominated in the public sphere, which then prevents them from embodying the model of dominant, all-powerful masculinity they have internalized as an ideal through the various processes of socialization throughout their lives.

A “crisis” in this model of masculinity can be seen in the failure of its incarnation in Arab-Muslim countries. This failure often results in increased violence in society as a whole, attributable neither to the religion of Islam nor to the context, but to a persistent global patriarchal paradigm. This model is now showing its limitations, and points to the need and possibility of embodying new forms of masculinity, which would break out of the framework of violence that confines women and men.

To quote this article: Zineb Khelif (2023). Islam and Masculinity in the Arab-Muslim World. Gender in Geopolitics Institute. igg-geo.org/?p=14030&lang=en

The statements in this article are the sole responsibility of the author.