A Review of the Cultural Role of Andalusian Woman and it Reflection in the Maqamat: A Case Study of the Maqamat of Sarakosti, Wahrani, and Azodi

Maqama has been introduced to the Islamic East by Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadani and Hariri. This type of prose gain popularity among Andalusian writers, and some of them, such as Sarakosti, al-Wahrani, and al-Azodi, created Maqamat. Literature is a mirror that reflects the economic and social characteristics of an era. However, the above-mentioned Maqamat did not reflect the real role and of women and their fields of activities. Rather, they gave women negative and marginal roles. This is while the Andalusian women were educated and had a great role in the literature and culture of Andalusia. The results of this paper, which used a descriptive-analytic method, suggested that women have a prominent presence in the Maqama of Sarakosti while they have no estimable status in the Maqama of Azodi. It is only in Wahrani’s Maqama Shams al-Khulafa that the Andalusian women can be seen in their real role. Among the reasons for the negative views towards women are: 1) ideological issues; because the writers of Maqamat depicted popular views not the real ones; 2) prejudiced of men; because the discourse of men were dominant in literature; 3) social reasons, such as urbanization and plenitude of slave girls; 4) cultural reasons, such as the communication between the Arab Andalusians with foreigners, and the awareness of stories that depicted deceptive women.