Nazira Zain al-Din

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Nazira Zain al-Din (Zain al-Din also translated to Zeineddine, Zain also written Zayn) (1908–1976) was a

Muslim women at the time and the seclusion of these women.[3][4]

Early life and education

Nazira Zain al-Din was the daughter of Shaykh Saeed Zainal Din, a judge in

French Catholic school in Lebanon.[3] Nazira and her sister Munira were the first Druze girls to gain admission into St Joseph de l'Apparition and the Sisters of Nazareth Convent school, the French Catholic schools they attended for their primary education.[2] In addition to this French Catholic education, al-Din's father made sure she was also well educated in Islam. She was well versed in the Quran, Hadith, and Sharia (Islamic law), all of which played an incredibly important role in her writing.[5] She was also able to study and converse with various Islamic scholars (Ulama) during her lifetime. Many of these scholars were good friends of her father and spent a great deal of time in their home.[1] By the time she was a young woman Nadira Zain al-Din was considered an extremely cultured individual, especially on the subject of Islamism
.

After graduation from the Sisters of Nazareth Convent school, al-Din wished to pursue a medical education at St. Joseph's, an all-male jesuit school in Beirut. Unfortunately she was denied entrance because she was a woman. She decided to attend Lycée Français Laique, a coed French institution where she graduated at the top of her class, even above all of the French male pupils.[2] After her graduation from Lycée Français Laique, she decided not to pursue any other higher education and from there al-Din was able to begin her writing career.[2]

Literary career

She wrote her second book, The Young Woman and the Shaikhs later that year. This book is seen as a collection of direct responses to the criticism that she received from the Arab community regarding Unveiling and Veiling.

God Almighty" has willed, despite being Druze, an ethnoreligious group whose practices are not considered to be Islamic by most Muslims.[1]

Works

Impact and legacy

Despite her use of evidence from various holy texts, al-Din's books caused a great deal of uproar among the clerical

Muslim women's rights and published parts of her first book in many languages.[7]

Al-Din's works were considered a necessary response to the

Muslim community to use individual reason and judgement to distinguish between what is regarded as moral, and what is not.[3]

Later life

She was eventually overcome by the opposition of most

Muslims and her fellow Druze to her Western-influenced criticisms of Arab culture. A member of the upper class, she stopped writing after about five years and settled down with her husband and three sons at their mansion in Baaqline, Lebanon.[2] She died in 1976 at the age of 68.[2]
Very little is known about al-Din's life in the decades after her writing and diatribes against Arab culture.

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Badran, Margot (2004). Opening the Gates, Second Edition: An Anthology of Arab Feminist Writing (2 ed.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Cooke, Miriam (2010). Nazira Zeineddine: A Pioneer of Islamic Feminism. London, UK: Oneworld Publications.
  3. ^ a b c d Kassab, Elizabeth (2013). Contemporary Arab Thought: Cultural Critique in Comparative Perspective. New York: Columbia University Press.
  4. ^ Khan, Arif (25 July 2010). "Nazira was a feminist who questioned tradition" (Newspaper article). www.sunday-guardian.com. The Sunday Guardian. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  5. S2CID 141943470. Pdf.
  6. ^ a b c d Wayne, Tiffany (2011). Feminist Writings from Ancient Times to the Modern World: A Global Sourcebook and History. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group.
  7. ^ Keddie, Nikki (2012). Women in the Middle East: Past and Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
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