- Assiya Jabbār (written elsewhere as Assia Djebber, 1936 – 2015, Algeria) – Baʿīdan ʿan al-Madīnah (1991, English trans. Far from Medina, 1994). This novel is set in the Arabian Peninsula during the first decades of Islam. Aiming for a historically correct representation, Jabbār portrays what is said to be seldom shown: the female perspective, although not everybody agrees with this statement (reference). She gives voice to many different women, Muslim and non-Muslim, including those close to the prophet Muḥammad, especially ʿĀʾishah and Fāṭimah.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Faryāl Jabūrī Ghazūl. 1997. “al-riwāyah al-ṣūfiyyah fī al-adab al-maghāribī.” AJCP 17: 28-53, p. 39.
- See also Hanan Elsayed’s 2013 article “‘Silence’ and Historical Tradition in Assia Djebar’s ‘Loin de Médine’” in Research in African Literatures 44(1): 91-105, which argues that women have indeed historically voiced their perspective, and that the image of women in Islam projected in the novel ‘meets the Western reader’s expectations while contrasting with historical realities’ (p. 91).