Reading other People’s Holy Works: Islamic Hagar and Her Family

I found the stories of Hagar, Sarah and Their Children in the Islamic texts fascinating and somewhat strange. While I take the stories of Sarah and Hagar from the Jewish and Christian scriptures as stories which contain truth but not historical fact. I found myself not sure how to read the stories of Hagar in the Muslim scriptures.

Muslims and I do not share a common scripture. While the old testament texts are a shared body of work, Muslim holy writings of the Qur’an and hadith are not part of my sacred tradition. How does one read someone else’s sacred mail with sensitivity and respect? In this chapter Riffat Hassan mentions this concern. She warns us that other people do not take the holy writings of Islam with the same authority afforded the texts of Jewish and Christian scriptures.

When I read scripture with most Jews or Christians from other traditions I assume that we are all coming from a modern hermeneutic. Whether that might be a feminist, liberation or simply historical-critical method, most modern Jews and Christians do not read scriptures quite as literally as this author reads her holy writings. The lack of critique of the way the stories are told or the interpretation of the stories within the Islamic tradition gave me pause. Can I profess with Riffat that Sarah’s virtue and faithfulness to God is affirmed by her ethical choices and obedience to Abraham while she was in Egypt? Can I claim that Hagar’s obedience and submission to Abraham in her desert exile showed how much she trusted Abraham and therefore, trusted God?

This is the sort of hermeneutic that leads to men’s dominance in religion, education, and the home. And in the extreme, this sort of exegesis can lead to violence against women done in the name of God for her own ‘good’.

This is exactly what we were hoping to avoid in the study of this book. We were given the expectation that the dialogue in this book would lead us to the place where we would not allow our traditions to be used against ourselves or other women.

So I have no answers here. I’m not sure how to honor the Islamic stories without a different sort of hermeneutic. And I am not sure that I am allowed to do that exegesis without dishonoring my sisters in the Muslim community.

Who Is My Mother?

Adult women are often brought up short when they realize, through something they have said or done, "I sound just like my mother." At times this can be a moment of joy and pride; most often, however, it is a moment of consternation. Always it should be moments of self-awareness--we, as women, are not as autonomous as we would like to think we are. As Coki Roberts proclaims, in the title of her book, "We Are Our Mother's Daughters." In the context of this blog we are exploring what it means to be daughters of our mothers Hagar and Sarah.
As a Christian woman I have been taught that I should claim my lineage through Sarah.
In the introduction to the book, Letty and Phyllis succinctly, yet powerfully, explain how this mistaken notion was handed down to me through generations of Christian mothers. The fable I was taught was—‘Sarah was the chosen of God, we (Christians) are the chosen of God, and therefore Sarah is our mother.’
Like many fables that perpetuate the myths of power and privilege, this fable is much too simplistic. It does not reflect the complexity of the story and the, scant, but telling history of Hagar and Sarah.

What would change in your perspective and experience if you claimed both Hagar and Sarah as your mothers?
• If you claimed both Hagar and Sarah as God's chosen ones?
• If you claimed a dis-unified family as your family of origin? ("By the command of God, a single family has become two families, one living with the father and the other, apart from him. pp. 3)

Hagar, Sarah, and Their Children

I am inviting the community to read and comment on the book Hagar, Sarah and Their Children in preparation for a set of discussions and presentations taking place this October. The book is edited by Phyllis Tribble and Letty Russell. Phyllis will be speaking in the Twin Cities on Thursday, October 18, 2007, 7:30 p.m. On Friday October 19th 9am-noon she will be part of a panel discussion which will include scholars from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions:Rabbi Amy Eilberg, Dr. Corrine Carvalho, Dr. Ingrid Mattson.

The book is a compilation of thoughts, essays and studies written by Phyllis and Letty and scholars from the three Abrahamic traditions. The first chapter orients the reader to the three traditions which claim the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. A piece that intrigued me in this overview was thinking about what it would be like to be identified with Hagar instead of Sarah. How would that play out in my own faith journey? What attitudes would I develop as the outcast one's daughter?

Reading the accounts of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar (or lack of accounts of Sarah and Hagar) in the writings of the three faiths was fascinating. Is it just a matter of patriarchy that makes the writings all but silent on the full stories of Sarah and Hagar?

Reading the non-canonical sources of the families reminds me again that history is not made up of cold hard facts but of our perception of facts which usually support our own agenda. This sort of 'historical record' can be very damaging to the human family. How do we guard against such historical writing and thinking?