ABSTRACT
It is difficult to generalize about the position of widows in Islam. Not only may actual positions vary greatly depending on the nationality, class, ethnic group, or the age and number of children of the widow, but Islamic notions about widows have also changed over time. Interpretations of Quranic norms concerning widows in Islamic jurisprudence and common beliefs have changed with time and context. Widows on the Arabian peninsula in the early days of Islam might have little in common with present-day widows in North Africa. Yet in this chapter we will make an effort of comparison, firstly to show the contextuality and thus the diversity of widowhood as well as the divergence of the interests of widows from those of other women. Secondly, to show the similarities between widows in different times and places, which are not so much due to historically persistent religious rules, but more to the ambiguities inherent in widowhood. The socially ambiguous status of widows potentially enables them to gain a considerable influence over their private and public life, but can also cause them to be reduced to poverty; it potentially allows them to command respect, but may just as easily lead to disrespect. I will illustrate this with two cases: the widows surrounding Muhammed the Prophet in early Islam, notably Khadîja, the widow he married, and ‘Aisha, the young wife he left as a widow; and the widows in present-day Algeria, notably Amina, the widow of a fighter for Algeria’s independence. The material for the first case is derived from written sources, that for the second from fieldwork in a west Algerian town in the early eighties.1
