An Examination of the Evolution of Orientalists’ Opinions About Lady Fāṭima(s)

The life of Lady Fāṭima(s) is one of the topics taken into account by some orientalists. Some orientalists such as Laura Veccia Vaglieri in the Encyclopedia of Islam and Jane Dammen McAuliffe in the Encyclopedia of the Qur’ān have directly written articles about her. Some others such as Alyssa Gabbay (in her chapter in the book Female Religious Authority in Shī’ī Islam, edited by Mirjam Künkler and Devin Stewart) have adopted a special view to the Shī’a books and have addressed this sublime character. Some other orientalists such as Fatima Mernissi in the book The Veil and the Male Elite have provided some points about this important figure as part of their discussions about women in Islam. Despite their reference to various sources, orientalists have made some mistakes due to their reference to Sunnī sources and incomplete exploration of Shī’a exegetic, narrative, and historical works; confusion of denominational discussions; non-recognition of sound and rare narrations; and lack of specialty in intra-religious discussions. However, the noteworthy point in the orientalists’ works is that the exploration of the evolution of their ideas from past to present reveals that wherever they have had sufficient access to Shī’a resources and have made a complete study free from negative presuppositions and prejudices, they have been able to present more details of the existential aspects of this sublime figure. This issue is clear in their recent works, especially in the book chapter by Alyssa Gabbay. The article at hand, which is written using a descriptive-analytical method, aims at explaining and analyzing the foregoing orientalists’ discussions.