Islamic Women -- Ottoman Empire Islamic Women

Islamic Women -- Ottoman Empire

Islamic women who lived in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries are the focus of this inquiry. What was their social life like in terms fun, vice, pleasure, and other activities that involved sensuality or illegal interactions? What do various authors report regarding the activities women engaged in during this era the Ottoman Empire? This paper reviews and critiques the literature relating to the subject of women and their activities in this period of Islamic history.

Mary Ann Fay -- "Women and WAQF" (background)

In her essay, Mary Ann Fay discusses Mamluk politics and society in 18th century Ottoman Egypt, pointing to the fact that women of Mamluk households enjoyed "considerable economic autonomy" because they were owners and managers of property (Fay, 1997, 31). That gave them a certain degree of social power but as Fay explains, Mamluk women also derived power from "the importance of marital and non-marital sexual unions" -- which gave them "independent sources of information and influence" (31). The interpretation of Islamic law -- the Shari'ah -- in that era clearly gave women not only the right to own property, but also the "political power they could exercise inside the household itself," Fay continues (32). Women thus had avenues and strategies they could utilize to build on their credibility, their independence, their "influence, and power" (Fay, 32). Having mentioned the rights women had under the law Fay is quick to admit that historians are not certain as to "the extend to which women were able to exercise these rights" (32).

Fatma Muge Gocek / Mark David Baer -- Women's Social Boundaries (background)

Gocek and Baer argue that much of the historic literature on the experiences women had in the 18th Century Ottoman Empire -- at least the literature that has survived -- "is highly selective" and tends to be a "disadvantage to women" (Gocek, et al., 1997, p. 49). The authors do point out -- as Fay did in the previous page -- that women "…could and did obtain great levels of fiscal capital"; in fact Fatma Hatun owned "substantial numbers of diamonds and pearls and freehold property" that amounted to 138,300 akces (Gocek, 50). That having been pointed out, the authors add that having wealth did not "necessarily translate into power"; what did translate into power was the "location of women within the Ottoman social structure," Gocek explains on page 50.

The authors review court cases and report that women had rights of inheritance, of guardianship and they were respected in courtrooms. The missing link in completing the details about women in legal matters is that there are few records of inheritance for those women who chose not to use the courts to obtain their rights and possessions. Moreover, some goods that women rightfully should have been bequeathed "were hidden from the judge" and hence, the "inventoried goods women possessed at the end of their lives" will not generally reflect their actual material wealth, "or their downward and upward mobility" (Gocek, 54). Additional research needs to be done to more fully understand the "social boundaries of the women's experience" based on registers such as inheritance registers, Gocek continues (54).

Dina Rizk Khoury -- Moral and Spatial Boundaries -- Including Prostitution

Khoury explains that the lower class and middle class women in 19th Century Ottoman society had more flexibility to leave the house; she could have her "slippers ready at the door" and use "public spaces" to go to the market, the quarter, and elsewhere (Khoury, 1997, 114). Elite women were for the most part bound to the household; they were "…first and foremost wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters" and they remained in the household a good share of the time, Khoury explains on page 115.

Interestingly one of the places that lower and middle class women frequented was the mausolea (mausoleum) where they would participate in the "rituals and celebrations that were at times openly political in nature," Khoury continues (121). Being at the mausolea gave women the chance to "gender these spaces by attributing meanings" that were relevant to women regarding "the intercessionary powers of their saints" (121). In one case women "actually created the sainthood of a man who broke social barriers and taboos by eloping with a married woman," Khoury explains. That man was caught and killed for his deeds. But meantime the women who visited his mausoleum believed that if they could pluck one single hair from his beard they would have the power "to raise the dead" (121).

Khoury gets down to the truth about some of the "lower class" (AKA, "marginal") women on pages 118-119. They were "drawn" from certain "social groups," the author writes, including "prostitutes and rural migrant women, who were beyond the strictures of what was considered good behavior" among the urban "literati" and the middle classes (118). One particular religious scholar (whose name Khoury gives as Mullah Jirjis) tended to boast about his "exploits" with lower class women "with a degree of relish that makes one suspect envy," Khoury continues on page 119. He encountered one particular prostitute on the street and asked her how she got into her profession (or so the story goes). Her response was that "…she was an orphan and had no protectors" (119).

The story continues as the Mullah goes to her house and the two "…engaged in a sexual encounter" after which the Mullah wrote a rhyming vernacular poem regarding the "banter" that took place during the sexual encounter with the prostitute "…about the sexual prowess and libidinal drive of each" (Khoury, 119). The truly interesting part of this story that Khoury relates is that the Mullah poem -- meant to "shock" and "entertain" its readers -- was inserted into a manuscript that the Mullah wrote, a commentary on the "political and social order" in the community (119). Khoury believes the sexually explicit poem -- planted in the middle of an otherwise non-controversial narrative that read like a chamber of commerce piece -- may have been put there to represent "a world that has its own logic and moral code which separated it from that of women" (119).

There's more to the story of the wealthy, hedonistic Mullah Jirjis; he had a household with several wives and "some forty slave women," which makes a reader wonder why he would solicit sex on the street from a prostitute. In a way he was "flaunting" his wealth and he apparently symbolized the "new moral and political order of the city," Khoury writes (120). The higher class religious leaders in the city gave recognition to holy men who were "protectors of marginal women" -- which sounds like the clergy was using the guise of "protection" in order to enjoy the benefits of sexual encounters with those marginal women, in which case one could say the women were used but perhaps not abused by holy men. Another holy man, Majdub Ahmad, "was always wandering the city" and living with prostitutes, the author explains on page 120. In fact Majdub Ahmad raised money for the prostitutes and in the process defied social convention but apparently led to a lessening of social mores.

Fanny Davis -- Polygamy & the Ottoman Lady in the Harem

Author Fanny Davis reports from first and secondary sources that polygamy among the Ottoman Turks in the period of Abdulhamit II was "generally known" albeit there is no evidence that it was widespread (Davis, 1986, 87). The men who had multiple wives as a rule were "…usually those who owned large mansions where there was room for each wife to have a separate establishment," Davis writes (87). There were "legitimate reasons" for polygamy to be practiced during this period of the Ottoman Empire, Davis contends -- albeit from the perspective of the 21st Century they seem vague and even flaky. For example" a) polygamy "…prevented men with wives who were ill from patronizing prostitutes"; b) polygamy "increased the population"; and c) polygamy saved "unmarried women and widows from a state of manlessness and a lack of protection" (87-88).

The practice of polygamy was given momentum through the legal practice of concubinage, Davis continues; the law during that period (middle to late 19th Century) permitted a man "as many female slaves as he could maintain" in his concubine (88). The explanation for why this practice was justified and accepted seems far-fetched from the point-of-view of modern society, but Davis has done the research and her narrative has to be taken as realistic in that context. For example, having a concubine was a "recourse often preferred by both the men and their wives" because it gave the man freedom "…from the trouble of dickering with inlaws over a marriage settlement," Davis explains (88).

Moreover, if the marriage was not pleasing or acceptable to the wife -- in particular if she was an "independent-spirited Turkish woman" -- the man with beautiful, always available, sexy slaves needn't contend with that wife who could threaten to take her things (along with her feminine charms) and return to her family when married life didn't go the way she wanted it to go. As for the wife's feelings, she felt "less of a threat to her position as mistress of the household from the slaves than from any additional legal wives," Davis explains; the slaves were required to obey the wife, so there was some leverage there (88). The author notes that polygamy was practiced at the time of Muhammad and while "there is no real evidence that he tried to abolish it," he did try to "contain it" (88).

Meantime, the practice of having a harem -- especially for the wealthy and powerful in the society -- was not unusual in the 18th and 19th centuries. Davis references scholar Charles White on the matter of how women got into harems and what that life was like for them; White in turn took his information from an authentic source (Ottoman historian Ahmet Vefik). The living quarters for a member of the sultan's harem -- known as a "kadin" -- was called a "kadin"; each one had a "small kitchen" and the sultan didn't just go into a kadin's apartment willy-nilly or spur of the moment, according to Davis. He was "bound" by "etiquette to "give the favor of his amorous attentions to each concubine in a given order" (2).

The kadins were rigidly secluded from the public "to prevent the demands and intrigues of needy relatives" from interfering with their devotion to the sultan (3). The kadins were attended to by "the merchant women of the minorities" who "supplied the palace women with articles of feminine adornment" (3). When it became boring for the harem while waiting for their turn for sensual attention in the pecking order, they were treated to "day-long outings to a garden kiosk," arranged with "special permission" of the sultan, and with specific orders to the "bostancrs" (gardeners) to "absent themselves" (Davis, 4). How did the sultan choose a new member of his harem? On page 6 Davis describes the ritual, and it goes without saying that the new candidates hoping to become members of the harem were stunningly beautiful. The new candidate was accompanied to her bath by "the other girls" who washed and "perfumed her"; they then dressed her and "decked her with jewels" prior to leading her to the sultan's bedroom "with music and song."

The gorgeous candidate was then given permission to enter the sultan's bedroom, and after kissing his feet she and the sultan (one assumes) engaged in their own private lovemaking. The following morning she was "again ceremoniously taken to the bath," and if she had "pleased" the sultan the night before, she was then assigned "an apartment" and hence became another participant in the harem (Davis, 6).

How did the Sultan Dispose of "Unwanted Wives"? James O. Drife, et al.

The book Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology -- that delves into the history of the treatment of women -- seems to at times specialize in understating historical issues: for example, on page 1, the authors argue that "…at times in the past, women have been viewed as second class citizens" Drife, et al., 2004, 1). Meantime, they argue that "…a number of practices reflect an underlying attitude" against women in the past. For example, "The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire…disposed of unwanted wives by sewing them into weighted sacks and throwing them into the Bosporus" (Drife, 1).

While there is no reference note or footnote to verify where the authors found that information, it departs quite radically from the sultan's harem descriptions in the previous reference in this paper. The Bosporus is the strait that separates the European portion of Turkey from the Asian portion; the huge city of Istanbul spreads out on both sides of the strait. And given the hard line that Islamic authorities reportedly took against prostitution in Istanbul -- juxtaposed with far less severe crackdowns in Egypt -- it is not inconceivable that harsh measure could have been taken against prostitutes in Istanbul.

European Reaction to Harems and Concubines in Ottoman Empire

Noted Islamic historian Dror Ze'evi has critiqued the writings of European travelers to the Ottoman Empire in the 18th Century, and Ze'evi explains that "Stories of harems, odalisques, eunuchs, and sodomy seemed bizarre and intriguing" to those visitors (Ze'evi, 2009, 522). Ze'evi's essay on sex and sexuality in the Ottoman Empire reports that the main source of information for Europeans and the West in the 18th Century -- vis-a-vis the Empire -- was the writings of those travelers. The Europeans' journals and articles "were often preoccupied with issues of sexual morality and what they saw as debauchery" (Ze'evi, 522).

From these tales of harems and prostitution -- quite the opposite from a Europe that was experiencing a Renaissance-themed approach to sex and sexuality -- was born "a European literature of desire in which the Ottomans became the imagined practitioners of a sexuality seen as different and corrupt" (Ze'evi, 522). These published stories had "several dire consequences for the image of Ottoman and Middle Eastern sexuality in early modern Europe," Ze'evi explains. Certainly it wasn't objective or fair of the narratives to focus on the Ottoman elite, mainly the imperial court's sexual practices, because Ottoman society in that era was not -- as was assumed in Europe -- modeled on the court "…or subservient to its norms" (Ze'evi, 522).

Moreover the accounts of various travels into the Ottoman society "…tended to exaggerate the depravity of Ottoman society in general," and the stories sought to link "immorality" with "political impotence" in the Empire, which was false (Ze'evi, 522). Some of the stories that made their way back to Europe took on hugely false sexual themes that debased the real Ottoman society, Ze'evi writes (523). In some of the tales -- based on hearsay that originated in the 14th and 15th Centuries -- women were portrayed as "an imperfect version of men"; that is, the vagina, clitoris and uterus "were assumed to be an undeveloped version of the male penis and scrotum," Ze'evi continues (523). And yet there was no hearsay when it came to European tourists / travelers who witnessed the carnal activities in the "Shadow" theaters. Ze'evi explains that men and women "had sex on stage" and the story lines were "habitually about the pursuit of sex in its myriad forms" (523).

It is not surprising then that nineteenth century travelers to the Ottoman Empire who witnessed the raw sexual practices on the stages of Shadow theaters were "dumbfounded" by the "pornographic and immoral nature" of this entertainment, Ze'evi asserts. When these published stories were translated into the Arabic language, the Ottoman elite were "irritated" and felt they were being made to look like savages by the Europeans (Ze'evi, 523). From one point-of-view in this particular aspect of the story women in 18th Century Ottoman society were misunderstood and misrepresented, albeit there are ample secondary sources that will be referenced in this paper that show women were indeed engaged in vice and pleasure to a significant extent.

van Nieuwkerk -- Women of Enchantment & Women Smokers & Drinkers

Essayist Karin van Nieuwkerk writes that eighteenth century Egyptian female performers ("savantes") were required to have a "beautiful voice, a good possession of the language, a knowledge of the rules of poetry" (van Nieuwkerk, 1998, 21). Also, they needed an ability to "spontaneously compose and sing couplets" that were to be adapted to any circumstances in Ottoman society, van Nieuwkerk explains (21). There were two levels of female performers, van Nieuwkerk explains; the highest level, the "awalim," wrote poetry, wrote music, sang, danced and improvised during their performances (van Nieuwkerk, 22). These women also played instruments and were seen as talented, classy performers, sometimes giving shows for women in the harem; and when they did perform for the harem their presentations were screened off from the public so their music and poetry could be heard but the players could not be seen (van Nieuwkerk, 22). These were educated woman and "highly appreciated for their art"; but they only performed for women, so the level of respect was higher than if they were known to perform in front of a male audiences as well (van Nieuwkerk, 22).

The second level of female performers in the 18th Century Ottoman society were called "ghawazi"; they performed "unveiled in the streets in front of coffee houses" and were "the most accessible to foreigners since they performed publicly, van Nieuwkerk explains (22). It should be noted that coffeehouses flourished during the 18th and 19th Centuries in some parts of the Ottoman Empire, and the coffeehouse scene was generally a place for men to gather and talk about politics and society -- with a bit of sexually explicit conversation thrown in for good measure, according to the literature.

The reports from European travelers (alluded to earlier in this paper) pointed out that the ghawazi were known to "…smoke the water pipe and drank considerable amounts of brandy" the author reports (22). The contents of the "water pipe" are not specified in van Nieuwkerk's narrative, but it can be assumed it was at least tobacco, and possibly substances (like opium) that had a mind-altering effect. This is one of the few mentions of women smoking and drinking that can be found in the available literature, albeit there are indications that women did engage in these vices even though reports from traveling Europeans cannot always be accepted as valid. Suffice it to say that women who danced in front of coffeehouse (supposed dens of inequity) with faces unveiled were not considered "decent women" (van Nieuwkerk, 22)

A third group of entertaining women in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th Century were known as "common awalim" that performed for the poor in "working-class quarters," van Nieuwkerk continues (22). On page 23 the essayist explains that there were public dancers who "combined dancing and prostitution"; and as the 18th Century faded and the 19th Century unfolded, the number of "dancer-prostitutes" increased in Egypt, van Nieuwkerk goes on (23). The reasons for the increase in this type of sexually themed entertainment had to do with the political events during the early 19th Century. Many public dancers had previously been punished and "deported" to the south of Egypt when they were found in violation of the law against female dancers and prostitutes working in the capital. That law, according to van Nieuwkerk, was due to the Islamic leaders not wanting foreigners to be drawn to Cairo to see sexy unveiled women cavorting in the streets (because it produced a bad image for the Ottoman Empire).

But by the 1850s, when it was obvious that European tourists (the main source of income for these dancer troupes, hence a good thing for the economy) were following the dancers to the south (where they had been sent packing), the ban on this kind of sexy female entertainment in Cairo was lifted around 1850. Lifting the ban was about the money, van Nieuwkerk asserts, and not so much due the government's fear of negative image that foreigners would take home of these presentations in the streets. Given the available money in the pockets of the visiting foreigners, "a number of entertainers turned to prostitution" -- not so much strictly due to the requests of foreigners, but due to the "poverty and insecurity experienced in Upper Egypt" (van Nieuwkerk, 23).

Gradually the street dancing evolved into strip shows, but eventually these events faded from view and the dancers who were prostitutes moved into "music halls"; gradually "these developed into the nightclub circuit" ("cafe-chantants") van Nieuwkerk explained (24).

18th Century Istanbul Punishment for Prostitutes -- Fariba Zarinebaf

Author Fariba Zarinebaf narrative points to the fact that unlike in Cairo, prostitution and public dancing without veils was not tolerated in Istanbul in the 18th Century. When it came to prostitution, police officers frequently made "arbitrary arrests and convictions without trials" in Istanbul, Zarinebaf writes (Zarinebaf, 2011, 107). On page 108 Zarinebaf gives some examples of the way Islamic women were arrested, and many of those arrests -- because there were no trials to speak of -- are not to be found in court records, but were in fact kept separate from court records (possibly due to the sensitivity of Islamic law vs. reality on the streets).

In July, 1778, Istanbul police arrested eight prostitutes (named Um Kolsum, Tayibe, Emine, Fatma, Ayse, Zuleyha, Hadice, and another Kolsum) and "banished them to Bursa" (Zarinebaf, 108). Three of those eight had been "caught with four sailors in an orchard in the village of Kuzguncuk" on the Asiatic shore of the Bosporus. The police locked them into the boathouse near where they were arrested. Another seven prostitutes were arrested "for operating brothels in Kum Kapi in January 1791, Zarinebaf reports (108). One of the seven was blind, and the rest were believed to be "young girls."

From what Zarinebaf explains, arresting prostitutes in the Istanbul area in the 18th Century became something of a popular sport for law enforcement and activist citizens as well. To wit, "Two janissary officers arrested [a shoemaker] while he was making love to a prostitute in a shop & #8230;in December, 1799," Zarinebaf continues. The officers had been tipped off by residents, who snatched the offending couple "from the hands of the police and beat them." Clearly there were moral schisms between those who held that the Koran was to be obeyed and those who went with there base instincts vis-a-vis sex, or simply needed the money as a way to survive. The shoemaker in this case was "subsequently banished to Iznikmid," and there was no trial, just punishment.

Zarinebaf explains that prostitutes were banished (imprisoned) and forced to conduct physical labor "in the galleys for men" (108). Arrested prostitutes were placed in the hands of naval officers who took them to islands like Bursa; as to the length of the incarceration, it depended upon their cooperation and conduct, which could suggest that their sexual skills were considered part of their key to freedom albeit Zarinebaf doesn't present that as fact.

Semerdjian - Euphemisms and Criminal Conduct in the Ottoman Empire

Author Elyse Semerdjian presents interesting aspects of the laws and values in the Ottoman Empire, specifically at the ancient city of Aleppo in what is now Syria. Aleppo has been ruled by a number of civilizations, including "the Hittites, Assyrians, Akkadians, Greeks, Romans, Umayyads, Ayyubids, Mameluks," and of course the Ottomans (UNESCO). The city represents "medieval Arab architectural styles that are rare and authentic, in traditional human habitats," the UNESCO article explains. Author Semerdjian begins chapter four ("Prostitutes, Soldiers, and the People") by explaining that "Private dwellings sometimes functioned as sites of sexual and moral vice" (Semerdjian, 2008, 94). And when neighbors objected to the apparent carnal activities going on next door or down the street, the petitioned the local court in Aleppo "to remove corrupt individuals from their neighborhoods" Semerdjian explains (94).