Equality and Inequality in Islam

Author(s): Talal Asad

Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Jun., 1973), pp. 305-306
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2800854 .
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 CORRESPONDENCE 305

nancy,everytimean unpregnantwoman had pological emphasisis almost always brought

sexual intercourseshe would become preg- to bear upon the supposedly egalitarian
nant. And everyone knows this does not featuresof such societies' when the work of
happen. Trobriand teenagers, who have Salim, Peters (on Lebanon), Femea, Barclay,
rather frequent random sexual liaisons, Cunnison, Bujra, Aswad, Barth, etc. are all
simply do not become pregnantvery often. concernedin one way or anotherwith social
During the year and a half I spent in Kadu- inequalityin parts of the Islamic world. The
waga no teenagerbecame pregnant,and they fact that the starkeconomic inequalitiesdes-
insisted they were using no precautions. cribed for the agro-pastoral Lurs are not
However, Kaduwagans note that when a reportedfor the pastoral Somali or Kababish
woman sleepsnightafternightwith a man or or Berbers is explained not by any 'anthro-
men shebecomes pregnantunlesssheisbarren. pological mystique' about Islamic equality
It is thus the frequencyof the act of inter- but by the very different politico-economic
course which must be the causal factor,and circumstancesin which the latterlive.
the pounding theoryfitswith this. Without I thinkthatpart of the troubleis thatBlack
knowing about ovulation (hence my com- has not decided clearlywhetherhe is focus-
mentsabout microscopeswhich Spiro findsso ing on 'social differentiation'or 'stratifi-
'quaint') it is impossibleto refutetheirlogic. cation' or 'political dominance' or 'ranking'
I thus cannot subscribeto Spiro's view that or 'class opposition', or,ifon all of these,then
thereis a gap in knowledge to be explained. how he thinksthese conceptsare analytically
The Trobriand position is more consistent connected.One resultof thisindecisionis that
with the observed conditions of pregnancy he punctuateshis ethnographicaccount with
than is the view thatthe depositionof sperm meaningless general statementssuch as the
is adequate to cause it. Maybe we should ask following: 'I shall try to show how Luri
not why did the Kiriwinans ignore their society at present works as an integrated
neighbours' theories, but why did their system in which social inequality between
neighboursignore theirs? individual tribesmen,extended families,and
Susan P. Montague lineages, constitutes... a necessary pre-
University ofChicago condition for the survival of the whole.'
Black's one explicitreferenceto a minor social
Spiro, Melford E. I968. Virgin birth, par- stratificationtheorist (Buckley), and that
thenogenesis and physiological pater- merely to argue from authority a very
nity: an essay in culturalinterpretation. trivialpoint (thatsocial mobilityis compatible
Man (N.S.) 3, 243-6I. with social stratification),suggeststhat he is
unfamiliarwith the complex nature of the
'hierarchyversusequality' debate in modern
Equality and inequalityin Islam sociology. His gratuitous observation that
SIR, 'Luristanpresentsa perfectmarxistparadigm
I enjoyed reading Mr Black's interesting of capitalistexploitation'indicatesan elemen-
account of social inequalityamong the Lurs, tary misunderstandingof Marx (for whom
but would like to correcta few minor mis- not all class exploitationis capitalistexploita-
conceptions. Black believes that there is a tion) as well as a misconceptionconcerning
tendency among anthropologiststo ignore the nature of the capitalistmode of produc-
the presence of inequality in Islamic tribal tion (nothingin Black's briefaccount of the
societies,and thatthisbias derivespartlyfrom Lurs suggestsits presencehere).
the work of scholarswhose 'predominantly A minor point: given Black's view about
literaryapproach to urban manifestations of the importance of 'quantitative data [re-
Islam' leads to a view of the Islamic com- lating to] ecology and economics' (which I
munity 'as a monolithic undifferentiated share) would it not have improved his
collectivity'. The literature on structured articleif he had provided us with any of the
inequalitywithinIslamic societyis enormous, following basic data: total population of
as a rapid perusal of the writings of von Luristan,land/animal/human ratios, propor-
Grunebaum, Levy, Berger, van Nieuwen- tionofpopulationdependenton agricultureas
huijze, Rodinson, Warrenerand Lambton, to againstpastoralism,average ratesof accumu-
name only a few of the betterknown, will lation for the different modes of production,
reveal. In factI cannot offhandthinkof any etc., etc.?
reputable writer on Middle Eastern society I was gratifiedto read thatBlack approved
who understressesthe phenomenon of in- of my recent discussionof Barth's book on
equalityin Islamic society.It is perhapsunfair Swat, but fear that he has essentiallymissed
to expect that Black, who is after all an the point of that analysis. If he had under-
anthropologist,should be familiarwith the stood what that articlewas about he would
general literatureon Islam. But it is very not have demanded 'a similarreworking' of
surprisingof him to assertthat 'The anthro- my Kababish material.A similarreworking
 306 CORRESPONDENCE
is already contained in my book, but the
similarity is evident in the pursuit of a
theoreticalproblem and not in the repro-
duction of an identical socio-economic
picture. A major theme of my book (which
Black setsup as a straw-manin his article)is
that the dominance of the ruling elite is
based on the effectiveexclusionof the major-
ity by the latterfrom the means of admini-
stration(and the power and wealth thatsuch
control yields), as as well as on 'the indivi-
dualisticethos of the Kababish at large, their
tendencyto set up small independenthouse-
hold groups as the ultimateunits of contin-
uous commitment',etc.The sharpdichotomy
between rulers and ruled is, of course, an
analyticalone (i.e. relatedto my basic concern
with the problem of political domination);
I provide ample detailon differences based on
wealth, honour, economic security, and
influencefoundwithinboththeelite and their
subject population. But I also raised another
point which has quite escaped Black, al-
though it is quite familiar to the marxist
traditionof thoughtto which he sometimes
seems to allude in his article. This is that
political domination and exploitation, as a
collectively experienced structureof social
life, is conceived and legitimated in dif-
ferentways by differentgroups, that such
ideologies(in the special marxist sense) con-
stitutea major historicalreason for the very
perpetuationof politicaland social inequality.
Black's clumsydiscussionof' freedom'among
the Lur is an indication that he is groping
towards a more sophisticatedunderstanding
of the characterof inequality in Luristan. I
am sure that when this attemptsucceeds,he
will recognisethatto say as he does at the end
of his article 'Men consent to the structures
which areforcedupon them,and no more' is
not only wrong,but simple-mindedlywrong.
Talal Asad
University ofHull
Research in Sussex
SIR,
In Man ((N.S.) 7, 493-4) reviewing F. G.
Bailey's Giftsand poison I wrote: '. . . these
studentsare scattered;the progenitorof this
book has left,and Sussex Universityseems
now to value undergraduateteaching above
all else. The book may be unique, and that
would be a pity.'
Friendsstillat Sussexhave chidedme, com-
plaining I give the impression they have
given up interestin post-graduatework; also
thattheyare no longer involved in European
anthropology. Such is my regard for them
that,even thoughI thinktheirreadingof the
review is mistaken,I am anxious you should
publish this disclaimerfrom me: it was not
my intention to suggest either point; and
indeed I hope thatanotherbook on theBailey
formulais forthcoming.
J.Davis
ofKent
University
Instituteprehistory
SIR,
I find myselfin agreementwith Professor
Stockingover thefactthatRobert Owen was
not involved in the production of the
questionnaireof the British Association for
the Advancement of Science (Queries...
I84I). His suggestion, however, that the
source of Penniman's quotation which men-
tions an Owen was froma 'Freudian slip' of
Sir ArthurKeith, I find extremelytenuous
and of a form of historical speculation in
which I did not thinkStockingindulged.
The most likely source of Penniman's
comment is Howarth (I93I: I99) who states
that the booklet was produced by Hodgkin,
Owen, Grey and Babington, and it is clear
from the index referencethat he did indeed
mean Richard Owen (i 804-I892), thefamous
comparativeanatomist.The names Stocking
actually quotes were in fact only members
of the proposed committee (BAAS Rep.:
I839: xxvi), and the actual persons who
finallyconstructedthe questions may easily
have included Richard Owen who was at
that time on the Council of the Association
and involved with the same section. Owen
also contributedpapers to theJournalof the
laterEthnologicalSocietyprovingthathe had
close contactswith the subject.
Of greater interestis the history of the
developmentof the questionnaireitself(Urry
in press). Although the actual impetus to
produce such a questionnairewas a paper on
the extinctionof certainhuman races read by
Pritchardat the I839 meeting of the BAAS
(Queries ... I84I: 3; BAAS Rep., I839: 89),
and it was eventuallymodelled on a similar
publication of the Paris Ethnological Society
(Urry I973), the idea for such a venturewas
in fact older. In I835, Thomas Hodgkin had
suggestedtheneed and usefulnessof such a set
of queries in a paper on languages (I835).
Thomas Hodgkin was an active Quaker
(Friends, Society of... i888), and at this
period the Society of Friends issued sets of
questions known as 'Queries' to elicit infor-
mation on their membership(Isichei I970:
73-4). It is very probable that the original
idea ofHodgkin's and thetitlewas inspiredby
thisconnexion.
Many Quakers were involved in the later
foundation of the Ethnological Society and
some may indeed have had contacts with
Robert Owen. Hodgkin had visitedsome of
the colonies (Kass & Bartlett I969: I73).