House of Obedience

The Bait-al-taa or House of Obedience is a provision in Islam law which gives husbands the right to demand obedience from their wives. If a woman leaves her husband’s home without his permission he has the right to force her to come back. The husband can claim “nushaz” or disobedience and order her to come back with a qadi (judgement.) Once the woman returns she stays either at her husband’s home or in another living area (House of Obedience) which provides the woman with essential necessities. Divorce is not allowed unless the husband decides that is what he wants. In her short story “House of Obedience” Ihsan Assal rejects the idea of Bait-al-taa for it only hinders the progression of women in Islam. The short story “House of Obedience” by Assal follows the life of a young Egyptian girl named Nabila. Nabila is married off to a man at the age of fifteen and is very unhappy, she therefore runs away only to find herself living in the House of Obedience. The story opens in a court room where Nabila’s father gets exonerated for marrying Nabila off at such a young age. Nabila returns home to her parents but soon after learns that her court case has been reopened by her husband. She is taken away by a police officer, a soldier and a woman and is brought to the House of Obedience where her husband awaits her. The House of Obedience had a “sofa that was more like a swing. On either side was a cane chair, and in front was a small table” 12 other furnitures included “a wooden bed, large cupboard, a clothes peg.”13 Nabila is upset and saddened right away and cannot believe that she is being forced to live in the legal house. Her husband, Adil tries to reaquaint himself with Nabila but Nabila does not stand for it. She tells him that she will never like him and pushes away his advances. She refuses to eat the food he gives her and ignores him to the best of her abilities, “You think that the obedience verdict means that I have to give myself to you against my will? Adil,

Bibliography: Assal, Ishan. Opening the Gates. A Century of Arab Feminist Writing. “The House of Obedience. Bloomington, In. Indiana University Press, 1990. Badran, Margot. Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1995. Print. Guenena, Nemat, and Nadia Wassef. "Unfulfilled Promises. Women 's Rights in Egypt." Population Council. Web. 1 Oct. 2010. .