Women in the Mosque

What does it say about the academic study of women and Islam when the discrepancy between rules restricting women's access to mosques and historical evidence of women's unceasing presence in mosques has not been investigated until 2014? At least, that is the question raised by Marion Holmes Katz's book, Women in the Mosque: A History of Legal Thought and Social Practice . There has, until now, been a gap in our knowledge of the actual impact of restrictive norms on women's religious behaviors as those restrictions have evolved over time. This book endeavors to change that situation. Using mosque-going as a point of entry to study women's mobility and visibility outside the home, Katz provides a historical survey not only of jurists' and hadith specialists' discussion of women's access to mosques, but also how this discussion reflects fundamental ideas about women's roles as wives, community members, and ritual actors. This well-organized book provides multiple perspectives from which to approach the question of women's presence (or absence) in mosques, across differences of era, geography, and legal doctrine. Discrepancies and continuity are given a nuanced treatment as Katz balances her discussion of intellectual discourse with reports of women's presence in mosques.

Doctrine · Islam · Legal doctrine · Political science · Politics · Social thought · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender