The Image of Women in Rumi's Mathnawi

Women are considered the second half of mankind’s existence. According to the Koran mankind is God's caliph on the earth and mankind regardless of their sex and race are equal. This caliphate is not explicitly and solely allocated to men. Moreover, there has been no exclusive relationship between God and the male creatures which the female ones might have been deprived of; there is no religious ritual and rite specified to men only and women have been exempted from. Religiously speaking there has been always emphasis on the equality of men and women. Besides, in Persian mystic and Sufi texts, men have never been considered superior to women and there have even been Sufi women who along side male Sufis attained to the highest spiritual position in the tradition among whom Rabia_al-Adawiya was the most famous. Nevertheless, we often come across disapproving images of the character of women in Persian and Sufi literature. This might have been rooted in restrictions caused not by the religious instructions but mainly in the social beliefs and opinions of the time. The reflection of these social beliefs and notions in the works of Persian poets caused some misunderstandings and misjudgments about the poets themselves. This becomes worse when these reflections are pictured in various allegorical forms. In the allegories of Rumi’s Mathnawi women are depicted in such a way that might result in some misunderstanding in the mind of the reader about the poet himself. In some of his allergies, which were influenced by the his contemporary beliefs and opinions regarding women, apparently men were often considered superior to women; in these allegories women are pictured as less intelligent than men and almost in level of children in this regard. Women are also pictured as an icon of greed, gluttony, animality, and other vile characteristics while men are regarded as the symbol of wisdom and spirituality. However, Rumi’s own conception of women is different from what we see in his allegorical poems. In his allegories, Rumi has presented a realistic picture of women of his time which does not necessarily reflect the poet’s own opinions himself. For him women as wives and mothers have an important position in the society. In this essay the poet’s true conception of women will be examined.