Representation of women in the novel Ayat-Ayat Cinta: A feminist literary criticism study
Keywords:
Feminist literary criticism, Gender representation, Islamic popular literature, Ayat-Ayat CintaAbstract
This study examines the representation of women in the novel Ayat-Ayat Cinta by Habiburrahman El Shirazy, one of the most influential works in Indonesia's popular Islamic literary tradition. While prior studies have largely focused on its film adaptation through critical discourse analysis, the original novel text remains underexplored from the standpoint of feminist literary criticism, despite the persistent tension between idealized images of Muslim women in popular fiction and the social realities of gender inequality such narratives may reinforce. This study aims to describe the pattern of idealized women's representation constructed through the characters Aisha, Maria, and Nurul, and to reveal the gap between that idealized image and the social reality of gender they experience. A qualitative descriptive method was employed, using textual analysis grounded in feminist literary criticism, with the novel as the primary data source. Data were collected through close reading, categorized by theme, and analyzed using reduction, display, and conclusion drawing, with validity established through triangulation. Findings show idealized representation is constructed through three dimensions, personal piety, domestic role, and self-sacrifice, echoing archetypal figures from early Islamic history, yet reveals a clear gap with social reality, particularly regarding polygamy and household power relations dominated by the male protagonist.protagonist, even as female characters exhibit limited agency.
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