ABSTRACT
Muslim feminist discourses about early Islam often call into question, try to disrupt, or seek to share in the authority granted by the power of mythic construction. They generally do this in several ways: by questioning or rejecting prevalent conservative interpretations of certain well-known proof texts; by claiming the right and ability to make their own, more woman-friendly selection of proof texts from within the reservoir; by seeking to expand the boundaries of the reservoir to include aspects of the past that tend to be overlooked, but which they regard as having liberatory potential. This chapter discusses several depictions of early Muslim female figures in classical texts, and examines the roles that they have been made to play in some Muslim feminist discourses. These examples illustrate the possibilities that some contemporary mythic constructions of early Islamic pasts present, as well as the constraints they involve.
