Books like The Islamic view of women and the family by Muhammad Abdul-Rauf

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s "Nomad" is a stark memoir that follows her life after leaving her Somali homeland, detailing her exile, the scrutiny from Islamist circles, and her personal battle with identity and freedom.

Shattering stereotypes, Schimmel reconstructs an important but little-known chapter of Islamic spirituality. With copious examples, she shows the clear equality of women and men in the conception of the Prophet Muhammad, the Quran, the feminine language of the mystical tradition, and in the role of holy mothers and unmarried women as manifestations of God.

"This second edition of John L. Esposito's landmark book expands and updates coverage of family law reforms (in marriage, divorce, and inheritance) throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and South and Southeast Asia, and analyzes the diverse interpretation of Muslim family law, identifying shifts, key problems, and challenges in the twenty-first century."--BOOK JACKET.

"Islamic feminism" would seem a contradiction in terms to most Americans. We are taught to think of Islam as a culture wherein social code and religious law alike force women to accept male authority and surrender to the veil. How could feminism emerge under such a code, let alone flourish? Now, traveling throughout Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as Islamic communities in the United States, acclaimed Arab Studies scholar and bestselling author Elizabeth Fernea sets out to answer that question. Fernea's dialogue with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances prompts a range of diverse and unpredictable responses, but in every country she visits, women demonstrate they are anything but passive. In Iraq, we see an 85 percent literacy rate among women; in Egypt, we see women owning their own farms; and in Jerusalem, we see women at the very forefront of peacemaking efforts. Poor or rich, educated or illiterate, these women define their own needs, solve their own problems, and determine the boundaries of their own very real, very viable feminisms.

Commemorating the Battle of Karbala, in which the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Hosayn and seventy-two of his family members and supporters were martyred in 680 CE, is the central religious observance of Shi'i Islam. Though much has been written about the rituals that reenact and venerate Karbala, until now no one has studied women's participation in these observances. This collection of original essays by a multidisciplinary team of scholars analyzes the diverse roles that women have played in the Karbala rituals, as well as the varied ways in which gender-coded symbols have been used within religious and political discourses. The contributors to this volume consider women as participants in and observers of the Karbala rituals in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, and the United States. They find that women's experiences in the Shi'i rituals vary considerably from one community to another, based on regional customs, personal preferences, religious interpretations, popular culture, and socioeconomic background. The authors also examine the gender symbolism within the rituals, showing how it reinforces distinctions between the genders while it also highlights the centrality of women to the symbolic repertory of Shi'ism. Overall, the authors conclude that while Shi'i rituals and symbols have in some ways been used to restrict women's social roles, in other ways they have served to provide women with a sense of independence and empowerment.