A History of Islam in 21 Women

December 13, 2019

Kamaly (Islamic studies, Hartford Seminary; God and Man in Tehran) takes on the difficult task of covering the history of Islam through the lives of 21 women, starting with the prophet Muhammad's first wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (555-619) and others who observed the formative years of Islam, and ending with Maryam Mirzakhani. The women featured include religious figures, political leaders, academics, and artists. They hail from around the world, including the Middle and Far East, Western Europe, North and West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Russia. Each chapter explores the tenor of Islam during a given subject's lifetime and geographic location. Given the biographical focus, however, the broader coverage on Islam is somewhat disjointed. For some of the women mentioned, religion figures only tangentially into their recognized achievements. VERDICT Overall, a solid starting reference for those interested in women and Islamic studies, accessible and well-suited for both high school and college-level readers--Muhammed Hassanali, Shaker Heights, OH

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2020
Life histories of famed Muslim women across the centuries. Kamaly (Islamic Studies/Hartford Seminary; God and Man in Tehran: Contending Visions of the Divine From the Qajars to the Islamic Republic, 2018) sets out to prove that "in the past and today women have shaped many aspects of Islam and deserve a more central place in the historical narrative." To that end, the author introduces 21 Muslim women from the sixth century to the present age. With a few exceptions, however, his choices are not the most convincing as comprising a "history of Islam." The author begins with three women who were indeed tightly connected to the beginnings of Islam: Khadija, the famed wife of the Prophet Muhammad; his daughter, Fatima; and his later child-bride, Aisha. After these three minibiographies, Kamaly focuses on a string of women rulers, in chronological order, from places as diverse as modern-day Iran, Morocco, and Indonesia. Though some of the stories are intriguing, and most make for worthwhile reading, only one or two of the women have had a significant impact on Islam. Most are female rulers who happened to be Muslim. Readers must wait until the text reaches the 19th century before encountering a woman who was not a ruler or of the ruling class, leaving a void regarding what it meant to be an average Muslim woman through most of history. Even most of the modern women Kamaly profiles tell little about the story of Islam but instead just happen to be Muslim--e.g., architect Zaha Hadid and mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani. The author also tends to understate misogyny in modern Islam: "The situation of women in most contemporary Muslim-majority countries today...remains far from ideal." Since Kamaly concentrates on early Muslim political figures, many readers will be disappointed that such groundbreaking figures as Benazir Bhutto are left off the list. A well-intentioned but unsuccessful attempt to frame Islam through the lives of women practitioners.

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November 15, 2019
In the same format as author Jenni Murray's similarly titled books on women in British and world history, Islamic studies scholar Kamaly presents capsule biographies of his choices of 21 women significant in the world of Islam. Starting with Khadija, the first believer and first wife of the prophet Muhammad, he portrays women who made contributions over the courses of their lives either through their faith or, as in the cases of more recent figures, such as Fields Medal-winning mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, through their intelligence and determination. The author presents prominent early religious figures from the Arabian Peninsula and then moves outward to include women from India, Spain, North Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Indonesia, and beyond. Each profile is clearly written with a stated conscious effort to avoid controversies as much as possible. The result is a straightforward history-in-portraits, one man's list of prominent women in one of largest religions in human history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)