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WOMEN AND ISLAM
Fatima Mernissi
Rs 275 Pb 2004
81-88965-12-X
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In this book the author, who is both a feminist and a Muslim, aims to shed light on the status of women in Islam by examining and reassessing the literary sources as far back as seventh-century Islam. She portrays how, far from being the oppressor of women that his detractors have claimed, the Prophet upheld the equality of all true believers. Sifting through the mass of literature surrounding the life, works and teachings of Muhammad, some surprising facts emerge such as descriptions of how the wives of the Prophet discussed politics with him, and even went to war. Later restrictions and impositions on women such as the veil were never, she finds, the intention of the Prophet.
The author believes that Muslims will eventually feel that pressing need to root their lives in a more liberating memory. Here is a bold reconciliation of feminism with the Prophet’s thoughts and beliefs, for all
who are concerned with the history and future of the Islamic world.
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FATIMA MERNISSI
is Professor of Sociology at the University of Rabat, Morocco, and the author of Beyond the Veil and Women in Muslim Paradise. She is a strong campaigner for a reinterpretation of the Islamic texts vis-à-vis the position of women. |
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