Hadith reflection and connections to Ha Jin’s “Flame”

When studying the Ḥadith, I think it is interesting, as we discussed in class on Thursday, that there were likely various stories about Muhammad that were passed on and as a result, legends developed as people would begin to debate these stories and things found in the Quran. Because of this, it makes sense that there were often contradicting statements and arguments regarding what Muhammad had to say. I also had never considered this in the context of Christian tradition and post-New Testament literature texts that proclaim a certain author to gain credibility. In Hadith 30, which states “It is sufficient that she remains silent,” I think it is important to continue to address concepts of consent, especially as we are in an era when we are addressing these topics more directly than in the past. Also thinking about the fact that In many patriarchal cultures during this time, a woman did not necessarily have a say in who she married and the question of how much they feel they can go against their parents is also raised. For example, even if a woman gave consent verbally, this might not actually be true. This idea of women not having a say in who they marry reminded me in a way of Ha Jin’s short story “Flame” as, even though Nimei was in love with Hsu, her mother does not approve of him and ultimately, this forces Nimei is to give in to her mother’s wishes and give up her own ability to choose who she wanted to marry. This particular Hadith is also a good example of how something might be progressive in its own time (greater autonomy to women, etc.) but in hindsight, it is not enough and there is still progress to be made.