Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Prologue Introduction PART ONE: THE PAST Chapter 1: Prayer leadership, imams and women: defining the contexts and setting the issues Prayer and women: purity and leadership The imam as prayer leader Chapter 2: Women leading women Setting the narrative context (Umm Salama) The Hadiths on female prayer leadership in Sunni jurisprudence Shi‘i positions on female imama of women: identity, shared issues and esoteric interpretations. Chapter 3: Women leading men Women as leaders of men (Umm Waraqa and Ghazala) Legal arguments on women leading men Ibn al-‘Arabi and female imama PART TWO: THE PRESENT Chapter 4: Present debates and Practices Some current cases of women imams of women and of men Contemporary arguments and debates on female imams of men Uses of the past in contemporary debates Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Index

Promotional Information

Critically analyses the variety of views on female prayer leadership from theologians and jurists since the foundational period of Islam to understand how this is interpreted today

About the Author

Simonetta Calderini is Reader in Islamic Studies at the University of Roehampton, London, U.K. She has also been a post-doctoral research fellow at the Oriental Institute, University of Naples, Italy and she received her PhD in Islamic Studies from The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK. She is the co-author of a ground-breaking book on women in pre-modern Islam, Women and the Fatimids in the world of Islam (2006). Her numerous and acclaimed publications on female ritual authority in Islam have made her a prominent voice in scholarly and public debates on issues relevant to women and Islam worldwide. Over the years she has been the recipient of several research awards and grants (AHRC, British Academy, SMT) which have supported her in the writing of this book.

Reviews

With expert attention and great expository clarity, Simonetta Calderini leads us into the articulations of one of the most debated and interesting themes of the current global discourse on the relationship between Islam and women's rights: that of female religious leadership and in particular of the imama of women.
*Studi Magrebini (trans. by Bloomsbury Academic)*

This book is a very interesting book indeed and the topics discussed in it are very relevant to contemporary Muslims.
*The Muslim World Book Review*

[Calderini] does what she set out to do in the introduction: take a sober look at the history of the uses of scripture, hadith, and the past that inform legal rulings and socio-political stances on the issue of women leading women and/or men in prayer.
*Journal of Contemporary Religion*

Scholars of Islam ... will find many significant insights in this book, which will be important not only to read but to discuss and extend in further publications.
*HAWWA: Journal of Women of the Middle East*

This book gives a rich and varied introduction to women’s religious authority in the context of Islamic history. It offers a thorough examination of all aspects of consideration to modern debates: legal, cultural and doctrinal. It spans the full historical range from the Classical period of Islamic thought all the way to modernity. By doing so, it once again confirms that Islam has always been contested and diverse. This is a must read book for anyone interested in the matter of women as Imams today, whether practitioners and/or academics.
*amina wadud, Visiting Researcher Starr King School for the Ministry, California, USA*

Important and timely – this in-depth study makes a crucial contribution to our understanding of both the classical discussions of women acting as leaders in the Muslim community – and the modern debates. This book will hopefully have impact not only in the academic world, but in wider discussions around Islam, gender and law.
*Professor Robert Gleave, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK*

A masterful intellectual history of Islamic scholarly opinions on when, how, and whom women may lead in prayer.
*Mirjam Künkler, Research Professor, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, The Netherlands*

This is an invaluable study that with methodical precision surveys the thicket of legal and historical material in Islam to provide necessary context for contemporary arguments about female religious authority and leadership of ritual prayer
*S. Hamdani, Associate Professor, History and Art History, George Mason University, USA*