Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 9605
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Shatzmiller , Maya.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Marriage, Family, and the Faith: Women's Conversion to Islam [legal aspects of women's conversion as well as the cultural and emotional factors].
  • Source: Journal of Family History 21, 3 (July 1996): Pages 235 - 266.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Conversion, Religious Islam Jews Law Marriage Marriage- Annulment Notaries
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Iberia
  • Century: General
  • Primary Evidence: Notarial Document; Conversion certificates for women compiled by Ibn al- 'Attar in tenth century Cordoba. See Appendix A, page 258, for an English translation of one certificate.
  • Illustrations:
  • Table: One table (Appendix B, pages 259-260) shows the validity of an already existing marriage when either the husband or wife converts.
  • Abstract: This article studies what conversion to Islam meant in legal terms for women and how it affected their marriage, conjugal rights, children, and property rights in two circumstances: one, when conversion was of their own volition, and the other, when it was not their own decision, but that of their husbands or fathers. A cluster of five conversion documents- three for Christian, Jewish, and pagan males, and two for Christian and pagan females- from a notarial manual composed in tenth century Cordoba is used here to place the results of the investigation within the analytical framework of the study of Muslim women's legal status, and beyond, into the emotional and psychological environment of women's conversion and its significance as a life event. [Reproduced by permission of Sage Publications.]
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of Western Ontario
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1996.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 03631990