Women as Imams: Classical Islamic Sources and Modern Debates on Leading Prayer
Ebook
There is a long and rich history of opinion centred on female prayer leadership in Islam that has occupied the minds of theologians and jurists alike. It includes outright prohibition, dislike, permissibility under certain conditions and, although rarely, unrestricted sanction, or even endorsement.
This book discusses debates drawn from scholars of the formative period of Islam who engaged with the issue of female prayer leadership. Simonetta Calderini critically analyses their arguments, puts them into their historical context, and, for the first time, tracks down how they have informed current views on female imama (prayer leadership). In presenting the variety of opinions discussed in the past by Sunni and Shi'i scholars, and some of the Sufis among them, the book uncovers how they are, at present, being used selectively, depending on modern agendas and biases. It also reviews the roles and types of authority of current women imams in diverse contexts spanning from Asia, Africa and Europe to America. The research offers readers the opportunity to gain nuanced
answers to the question of female imama today that may lead to informed discussions and to change, if not necessarily in practices then at the very least in attitudes.
This ground-breaking book interrogates the cases of women who are reported to have led prayer in the past. It then analyses the voices of current women imams, many of whom engage with those women of the past to validate their own roles in the present and so pave the way for the future.
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
First book to critically analyse the vast number of theological and legal arguments on female prayer leadership formulated from the 8th to 14th centuries
Uncovers and re-inscribes voices from the past that were previously unknown, neglected or even deliberately overlooked
Uses a mix of contemporary and scriptural sources
Intervenes in modern debates on female leadership in Islam
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
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.
This book is a very interesting book indeed and the topics discussed in it are very relevant to contemporary Muslims.
[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.
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.
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.
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.
A masterful intellectual history of Islamic scholarly opinions on when, how, and whom women may lead in prayer.
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
- Title: Women as Imams: Classical Islamic Sources and Modern Debates on Leading Prayer
- Author: Simonetta Calderini
- Publisher: I.B. Tauris
- Print Publication Date: 2020
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9780755618026, 9780755637140, 0755637143, 0755618025
- Resource ID: LLS:9780755618026
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-04T07:46:45Z
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.