An Interview with Saba Mahmood on the Women’s Piety Movement in the Middle East
Anthropologist and Author of ”The Politics of Piety”
All over the Middle East and other places from Malaysia, to Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh women and girls are studying Islam. They are memorizing Qur’an, and reciting with Tajweed—a set of rules for reciting the Qur’an—, and learning Hadith, or the sayings of the Prophet Mohammed. In many places they are doing this within the mosque… Read more
An Interview with Josh Landis on Syria and the Arab Spring
Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and author of the blog Syria Comment
Anybody who’s been to Syria, most political analysts in Syria over the last 25 years have written something about the growing piety and Islamic character to Syrian society… And that’s a major element of what’s been happening culturally in Syria for the last 25-30 years. So that voice is going to come out… Read more
Women’s Roles as Teachers, Leaders, and Contributors to the Waqf in Damascus
A very informative research report written by Sarah Grey for The Light in Her Eyes detailing the largely overlooked topic of women as religious scholars, especially within the context of Islam.
Other useful sites on Syria, Women and/or Islam:
Syria Comment (Joshua Landis’s blog)
Jadailyya
AltMuslima
Muslimah Media Watch
Qantara.de
Azizah Magazine (Muslim American Women)
Safiyyah Surtee
Islawmix
Order Saba Mahmood’s Book, The Politics of Piety
For more scholarly writing on the mosque movement and women’s leadership, please see the work of Hilary Kalmbach, PhD.