Seeking the Mother-God: Divine Maternity in Islamic and Christian Contemplative Texts
Nottingham Medieval Studies January 1, 2025 Ayoush Lazikani
Divine maternity serves as a central metaphor in both Christian and Sufi texts from the late 12th to mid-13th centuries, shaping how devotees conceive of and relate to the Divine. This article examines the anonymous Christian works Ancrene Wisse and the Wooing Group (c. 1230) alongside writings by the Sufis Ibn ʿArabī (1165–1240), ʿAṭṭār (c. 1145–1220), and Ibn al-Fāriḍ (1181–1235). Across these chronologically close bodies of literature, maternity emerges as a crucial configuration of the relationship between devotee and Divine.