Temporalities of destiny: Agency, relationality and divorce among women in Istanbul1

Abstract

Abstract This article draws on the life stories of divorcing or divorced women living in Istanbul. By attending to my interlocutors’ transformations over time, in relation to others and divine power, it examines the complex workings of destiny and the idea of imtihan (test from God) in the construction and moral revaluation of women’s life narratives, as well as in their responses to episodes of marital crisis. The concept of imtihan is embedded in a religious imagination that understands both fortune and misfortune as coming from God and demands a response accordingly. It works as a multitemporal narrative practice - retrospective, relational, and anticipatory at the same time- and reveal a nuanced understanding of destiny that foregrounds human responsibility and multiple modalities of agency. By reinterpreting past and present struggles and calling for responses grounded in Islamic ethical values such as forbearance, gratitude, and trust in God, the imagination of imtihan rebuilds one’s relationship with God and others. It also anchors believers in the present and encourages them to dwell in the world while simultaneously orienting them toward the future, not only because imtihan promises future reward, but more importantly because it anticipates the future as an open horizon of possibilities shaped by divine presence.