Women’s Marginalization and Motherhood Critique in Abu al-ʿAlaʾ al-Maʿarri’s Poetic Vision

Abstract

In an era dominated by patriarchal norms where motherhood was glorified as a woman's highest calling, Abu al-Ala' al-Ma'arri emerged as a radical and defiant voice. Unlike traditional poets who idealized or mourned women, al-Ma'arri approached the subject from a deeply philosophical and nihilistic stance. His poetry challenges not only the social marginalization of women but also the institution of motherhood itself, viewing it as a coercive mechanism that perpetuates suffering through birth. This study explores how al-Ma'arri’s poetry marginalized women—not out of misogyny, but as a consequence of his rejection of existence and the structures that sustain it. We analyze selections from his major poetic works in light of existentialist and feminist criticism, unveiling how he critiques motherhood as a systemic role rather than personal devotion. Ultimately, al-Ma'arri positions the mother as an unwilling agent of life’s cruelty, exposing a profound skepticism toward inherited gender roles and biological destiny. In classical Arab-Islamic culture, motherhood is exalted as sacred, and womanhood is framed within rigid paradigms of moral guardianship, domesticity, and reproductive duty. Yet, within the haunting, cerebral poetry of Abu al-Ala' al-Ma'arri, these constructs unravel. His vision is not merely dismissive of women as individuals, but deeply critical of the metaphysical structure in which woman—and particularly the mother—is bound as an agent of biological inevitability and existential despair. This paper offers a philosophical and literary excavation of al-Ma'arri’s poetry, focusing on his marginalization of women and his radical critique of motherhood. Al-Ma'arri’s disdain is not rooted in misogyny, but in a cosmic pessimism: life itself, to him, is an unending cycle of pain, and motherhood becomes the gateway to that suffering. In his famous line, “This is my father’s crime against me, and I committed none against anyone,” the poet indicts not only patriarchy but the very act of birth. Through a close reading of Luzūmiyyāt and Saqṭ al-Zand, this study positions al-Ma'arri as a proto-existentialist, interrogating the sanctity of maternal roles and exposing the ideological apparatus that romanticizes motherhood while concealing its function as a vehicle for imposed life.