Cahiliye Şiirinde Kadın İmgesi

Abstract

Arapların arşivi (dîvânü’l-ʻarab) olarak kabul edilen, sahipolduğu güçlü anlatım ve İslâm öncesi döneme ait barındırdığı sosyal ve kültürelmalumat sebebiyle tarih boyunca istişhâd kaynağı olarak önemini muhafaza edenCahiliye şiiri, o dönem kadını hakkında da aydınlatıcı bilgiler sunmaktadır. Cahiliyekadınının toplum içerisindeki konumuna dair çok sayıda çalışma olmasına rağmenkonuyu şiirler üzerinden ele alarak ahlaki vasıfları ve güzellik algısıbağlamında Cahiliye kadını imajını işleyen çalışmalar yok denecek kadarazdır. Bu yazıda Cahiliye şairlerinin şiirlerinden hareketle o dönemdeki kadın imajı,kadının ahlaki vasıfları, güzel bir kadında aranan nitelikler ve Araplar nezdindeideal kadın modeli gibi hususlarda tespitler yapılmaya çalışılacak, ortayaçıkan sonucun Kur’an mesajındaki yansıması araştırılacaktır.

Jahiliyyah poetry is regarded as the archive of Arabs (diwan al-‘Arab) andhas maintained its importance as a source of linguistic attestation throughouthistory due to its effective way of expression, exclusive wordings and meaningsas well as social and cultural knowledge related to the pre-Islamic period byproviding enlightening information about the women of that period. Aside from those notables who enjoyed exceptional status, it is widelyaccepted that women were not commonly respected and were by and large voicelessin substantial issues such as political affairs in the Jahiliyyah society,even though they significantly lessened the burden of both their families andsociety by engaging in various works and activities such as wet-nursing,medicine, spinning, weaving, ordnance manufacturing, sheep herding as well ashousehold chores and childbearing. This perspective on women could be a consequentof the facts that nobody would eat, drink and even share the same house withwomen during their menstruation period; they had no right of succession; theywould not be accepted as a family member unless they were capable of conceiving;along with female children being buried alive. Although manystudies have been conducted on the respective roles of women in society during Jahiliyyahperiod, the studies that treat theimage of Jahiliyyah woman within the scope of moral qualities and perception ofbeauty through poetry are few and far between. Based on Jahiliyyahpoetry, this paper deals with the image of woman in the pre-Islamic period, itwill focus on the moral qualities of woman, the qualifications of a beautifulwoman and the ideal woman model for Arab people. The results of this study arefurther examined in terms of their likeness to the Qur’an’s message.