Feminist Approach to The Position of Women in Christian and Islamic Mysticism

The aim of this study was to investigate the position of women in the mysticism of Christianity and Islam. The studied population was the famous mystical women who had special influence on the mysticism of these religions. The sample subsummed Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena in Christianity and Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya and Imaneh Khatoon in Islam. The research was designed as analytical descriptive. To collect data library approach and taking index cards based on the views of sacred and written texts that had dealt with the history of mystics. The data was analysed by using qualitative method. The findings indicated that not only the women were capable of intuition from the point of view of the founders and the holy books, but also the field of activity of these mystical women in the two mentioned religions had similarities. These similarities were examined in three areas: celibacy, which provides women's independence, the dynamic role they played in the executive affairs of mystical centers, and the position they gained in deciphering and intuition. Hence, these mystical women in these contexts were able to be active alongside with the men in the religious community.