Navigating Consent: On Women’s Sexual Agency in the Premodern Islamic West

Abstract: Recent debates have commented on Islamic law’s lack of an explicit concept of consent to sexual relations within a marriage. The current research explores the complex dynamics of consent within marriage by mapping the modern category of consent onto the premodern context, while at the same time considering the ways in which the utilization of this category obscures aspects of women’s agency and the power dynamics of sexual relationships. Through analysis of legal sources (fatwas) that document marital disputes in premodern North Africa and al-Andalus, this article argues that instances of women refusing sex scattered throughout the sources add nuance to narratives of consent to consider women as sexual agents and active partners in negotiating practices recognizable in modern discussions of consent within marriage.