Overview

This collection of case studies, covering the period from classical Islam to the present, and taken from across the Shii Islamic world, reflects on the roles that women have played in exercising religious authority across time and space. Comparative reflection on the case studies allows for the formulation of hypotheses regarding the conditions and developments whether theological, jurisprudential, social, economic or political that enhanced or stifled the flourishing of female religious authority in Shii Islam.

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9781474426602

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Female Religious Authorities in Shi'i Islam, Past and Present is the first study (not only in English but also in Middle Eastern languages) on the role of female religious authority in the Shi'i tradition from Fatima and Umm Salama to contemporary female authorities such as Amina Bint al-Huda and Nuṣrat Amīn, as well as the Twelver Shi'i legal tradition on women. Mirjam Künkler and Devin J. Stewart's book presents the forgotten history of female religious authority in Islam. It provides essential first-hand materials for researchers of Islamic religious authority, Shiʿism, and especially the role of women in the Islamic tradition. --Mohsen Kadivar, Research Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Duke University This masterfully edited volume brings together twelve original contributions that not only enhance our understanding of female religious authority in Shiʿi Islam across time and space but also address wider conceptual debates in Islamic Studies. It is a brilliant complement to recent growth in scholarship on female religious authority in Sunni Islam; by providing opportunity for comparative analysis, it is of equal interest to scholars and students working on Shiʿi and non-Shiʿi contexts. --Masooda Bano, Professor of Development Studies, University of Oxford This volume is a substantial and welcome contribution to a growing body of literature on female religious authority in Islam. The introduction and individual chapters, covering a wide temporal and geographical range, address some of major unanswered questions, such as how particular contexts affect women's religious authority. This volume is of importance not just to scholars of gender or Shi'ism, but of religious authority broadly construed. --Karen Bauer, Senior Research Associate, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

Author Information

Mirjam Kunkler, Senior Research Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study. Devin J. Stewart, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Emory University.

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