Top 5 - Women in Islam Resources
Daughters of Islam: Building Bridges with Muslim Women by Miriam Adeney
In Daughters of Islam Miriam Adeney introduces you to women like Ladan, Khadija and Fatma. You’ll learn about their lives, questions and hopes. You’ll learn how they are both representative of and unique among their Arab, Iranian, Southeast Asian and African sisters. And you’ll discover what has drawn them to Jesus.
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks
Geraldine Brooks spent two years as a Middle East news correspondent, covering the death of Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini and the like. She also learned a lot about what it’s like for Islamic women today. Brooks’ book is exceedingly well-done—she knows her Islamic lore and traces the origins of today’s practices back to Mohammed’s time. Personable and very readable, this book takes us through the women’s back door into the Middle East for an unusual and provocative view.
Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
A delightful, well-written, and vastly informative ethnographic study, this is an account of Fernea’s two-year stay in a tiny rural village in Iraq, where she assumed the dress and sheltered life of a harem. (Also by Fernea: A Street in Marrekech and The Arab World: Personal Encounters)
Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World by Jan Goodwin
This revealing account based on interviews with female Muslim professionals, servants, royalty, and rebels considers the disturbing effects of the fundamentalist movement and oppressive politics that govern their lives.
Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretation by Barbara F. Stowasser
Islamic ideas about women and their role in society spark considerable debate both in the Western world and in the Islamic world itself. Despite the popular attention surrounding Middle Eastern attitudes toward women, there has been little systematic study of the statements regarding women in the Qur’an. Stowasser fills the void with this study on the women of Islamic sacred history. By telling their stories from the Qur’an and its interpretation, she introduces Islamic doctrine and its past and present socio-economic and political applications. Stowasser establishes the link between the female figure as cultural symbol and Islamic self-perceptions from the beginning to the present time.