Egypt as a Woman: Nationalism, Gender, and Politics

8. The Path of an Islamic Activist

chapter eight The Path of an Islamic Activist The politics of Labiba Ahmad (1870s–1951) diverged from those of many of her female contemporaries. Most endorsed the secularism of the Wafd, the Liberal Constitutionalists, and other like-minded parties, although the attempts of these parties to divorce religion from politics was never complete, and their support for women’s participation in the public domain was often more rhetorical than real. Labiba, by contrast, favored the Islamic bent of the Watani Party, with its stress on Muslim brotherhood and gender segregation. She spearheaded a movement that conceptualized women’s rights in Islamic terms and pushed for a fusion of Islam and nationalism, helping to strengthen an Egyptian Islamic nationalism.1 Islamist currents such as the one Labiba espoused have generally been ignored in the historiography of Egypt. This is partially a result of theorizing about nationalism based on western European models that characterize nationalism as a secular phenomenon. In the building of nation-states in the modern period, civil religion, secular rituals, and territorial ties were meant to replace older religious traditions and loyalties . Yet nationalisms often borrowed, built upon, or incorporated religious practices and symbols in the Middle East and elsewhere, giving rise to religious-nationalist fusions. This chapter examines the political activism of Labiba Ahmad, following the trajectory of her family and party ties, social welfare and journalistic endeavors, and religious travels and affiliations. It argues that she helped to create an alternative to secular nationalism by celebrating 189 Watani Party leaders, nurturing the revival movement, and paving the way for a new cadre of Islamic activists. In this way, she bridged generations , linking the Salafis (Islamic reformers who looked to the first generation of Muslims as a model) and later Islamic radicals. Although she used conservative language and urged a return to traditions, her perspective and practices were embedded in modernity and contemporary women’s political culture. She founded an association—the Society of Egyptian Ladies’ Awakening (Jam‘iyyat Nahdat al-Sayyidat al-Misriyyat )—and started a journal—al-Nahda al-Nisa’iyya (The Women’s Awakening)—to propagate her views. She used social welfare to enact local change and win adherents. And she sought to introduce the image of the “new Islamic woman” as a credible alternative to the “new (secular ) woman” as a cultural ideal. looking for labiba ahmad Until recently Labiba Ahmad had been nearly forgotten, displaced from nationalist, feminist, and Islamist narratives. Retrieving her life story presents certain challenges, partly because she was more interested in promoting her cause than herself and maintained a modest public demeanor. Like the secular women nationalists discussed earlier who left memoirs, Labiba wrote a memoir, or rather, assembled her correspondence for publication , but the work did not seem to circulate widely.2 One daughter, interviewed in the 1960s, gave oral testimony on some of her mother’s activities.3 And Labiba’s name occasionally surfaces in state archives, specifically in clippings on Egyptian nationalism and files on the Muslim Brothers. The contemporary illustrated press, particularly al-Lata’if al-Musawwara, provides some further clues. The best historical record of Labiba’s life in the interwar period is her own monthly, al-Nahda al-Nisa’iyya, which was shaped by multiple hands and contains a trove of material from over two decades. From the start, al-Nahda al-Nisa’iyya was a cooperative venture. A staff helped the founder, and younger colleagues eventually took over directing, editing , and producing the periodical. Letters from readers, advertisements, photographs, announcements, and news stories, as well as Labiba’s own essays, reveal pieces of the puzzle of her life. The journal presents a sympathetic portrait, but, as with any source, can be probed for biases and silences, and can be read critically.4 Labiba also left a photographic trail. Like other women nationalists who sought to disseminate their images in the press but at the same time 190 The Politics of Women Nationalists Figure 29. Portrait of Labiba Ahmad on the occasion of her making the hajj on the cover of al-Nahda al-Nisa’iyya, March 1933. control them, Labiba used her own publication to regularly publish her picture. She sat for portraits on at least five occasions in the interwar years. These were featured repeatedly on the cover or prominently inside al-Nahda al-Nisa’iyya or in such papers as al-Lata’if al-Musawwara, particularly on the...