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Women in the Mosque: A History of Legal Thought and Social Practice
Juxtaposing Muslim scholars' debates over women's attendance in mosques with historical descriptions of women's activities within Middle Eastern and North African mosques, Marion Holmes Katz shows how over the centuries legal scholars' arguments have often reacted to rather than dictated Muslim women's behavior.
Tracing Sunni legal positions on women in mosques from the second century of the Islamic calendar to the modern period, Katz connects shifts in scholarly terminology and argumentation to changing constructions of gender. Over time, assumptions about women's changing behavior through the lifecycle gave way to a global preoccupation with sexual temptation, which then became the central rationale for limits on women's mosque access. At the same time, travel narratives, biographical dictionaries, and religious polemics suggest that women's usage of mosque space often diverged in both timing and content from the ritual models constructed by scholars. Katz demonstrates both the concrete social and political implications of Islamic legal discourse and the autonomy of women's mosque-based activities. She also examines women's mosque access as a trope in Western travelers' narratives and the evolving significance of women's mosque attendance among different Islamic currents in the twentieth century.
Tracing Sunni legal positions on women in mosques from the second century of the Islamic calendar to the modern period, Katz connects shifts in scholarly terminology and argumentation to changing constructions of gender. Over time, assumptions about women's changing behavior through the lifecycle gave way to a global preoccupation with sexual temptation, which then became the central rationale for limits on women's mosque access. At the same time, travel narratives, biographical dictionaries, and religious polemics suggest that women's usage of mosque space often diverged in both timing and content from the ritual models constructed by scholars. Katz demonstrates both the concrete social and political implications of Islamic legal discourse and the autonomy of women's mosque-based activities. She also examines women's mosque access as a trope in Western travelers' narratives and the evolving significance of women's mosque attendance among different Islamic currents in the twentieth century.
- GenresIslamReligionNonfiction
432 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 14, 2022
A fascinating read, though one must keep in mind throughout that this is written from an academic, less-than-orthodox-conservative perspective, which means that there will always be bits and pieces and certain sentiments that one might twinge over (for example, the insinuation that Umar radhiAllahu 'anhu was a misogynist in some way).
Katz covers various medieval scholarly discourses on the presence of women in the masjid, both for and against; she traces the differences in opinions and the ways that they were upheld in different parts of the then-Muslim world - however, her scope is narrowed primarily to the Arab world, and does not cover the issue of women in the masjid as it existed in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, or even India/ the South Asian subcontinent.
This book is definitely a valuable read for those invested in discussions of Islam and gender, esp from a historical context, but obviously not to be taken as an authority in the classical sense of the term. For interest's sake, I'd pair this with Sh Akram Nadwi's translation of Ibn Hazm's treatise of women attending prayers in the masjid.
Katz covers various medieval scholarly discourses on the presence of women in the masjid, both for and against; she traces the differences in opinions and the ways that they were upheld in different parts of the then-Muslim world - however, her scope is narrowed primarily to the Arab world, and does not cover the issue of women in the masjid as it existed in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, or even India/ the South Asian subcontinent.
This book is definitely a valuable read for those invested in discussions of Islam and gender, esp from a historical context, but obviously not to be taken as an authority in the classical sense of the term. For interest's sake, I'd pair this with Sh Akram Nadwi's translation of Ibn Hazm's treatise of women attending prayers in the masjid.
March 29, 2019
Read for class. A really interesting book, I love the detail! Katz does an excellent job of analyzing and explaining legal jurisprudence on the topic, as well as attempting to reconstruct actual practice from meager historical sources.
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March 8, 2022Can't give a star review for it as I couldn't get in to in and have decided not to continue with it. The premise of the book looks good. I personally prefer a paper copy of a book. This was an ebook, which probably didn't motivate me to persevere with it. I may return to it again to give it another shot some day.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews