By George Warner

Publisher: ‎ I.B. Tauris

Publication Date: June 29, 2023

ISBN: 9780755645572

Ibn Babawayh – also known as al-Shaykh al-Saduq – was a prominent Twelver Shi’i scholar of hadith. Writing within the first century after the vanishing of the twelfth imam, al-Saduq represents a pivotal moment in Twelver hadith literature, as this Shi’i community adjusted to a world without a visible imam and guide, a world wherein the imams could only be accessed through the text of their remembered words and deeds. George Warner’s study of al-Saduq’s work examines the formation of Shi’i hadith literature in light of these unique dynamics, as well as giving a portrait of an important but little-studied early Twelver thinker. Though almost all of al-Saduq’s writings are collections of hadith, Warner’s approach pays careful attention to how these texts are selected and presented to explore what they can reveal about their compiler, offering insight into al-Saduq’s ideas and suggesting new possibilities for the wider study of hadith.

About the Author

George Warner is Research Associate in the study of West Asian Religions at the Center for Religious Studies at Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Germany. Previously he was a Senior Teaching Fellow at the Department of History, Religions and Philosophies at SOAS, U.K.

Source: Bloomsbury.com

By Suad Joseph

Publisher: I.B. Tauris

Publication Date: January 26, 2023

ISBN: 9780755647835

Reporting Islam examines the coverage of Muslim women in the New York Times from 1979-2011. The analysis addresses the nature of the coverage; whether there are parallels in the depiction of Muslim women from the Middle East and South Asia and with the US government policies toward these countries; and the relationship between feminism in the US and the representation of Muslim women in the US.

At a time when women often become the iconic representatives of their nations, their cultures and their religions, this book offers unique insight into how a dramatic period of contemporary history for the Middle East and South Asia was depicted by the leading print newspaper in the world. The coverage captures the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the rise of Islamist movements across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, the first Gulf War, the 9/11 events, the second Gulf War, the War on Terror, and the Arab uprisings. The book asks critical questions about the wider implications of the misrepresentation of Muslim women in the media, and the links between print news, US foreign policy and women.

Table of Contents

– Acknowledgements

– Preface

– Introduction Suad Joseph, University of California, Davis, USA

1. Maturing Islam: Turkey as the Site of Islamic Liberalization in the New York Times, 1980–2011, Caroline McKusick, University of California, Davis, USA

2. The Material life of Representation: “Veiled Muslim Women” in the New York Times, 1980–2011, Lena Meari, Birzeit University, Palestine

3. Specters of Islam: Anti-Islamist (Re)Presentations in Secular Media and Feminism in the New York Times, 1979–2011, Tanzeen Rashed Doha, University of California, Davis, USA

4. Friends and Foes: The Pragmatic Liberal Biases in Representation of Saudi Women vs. Iranian Women in the New York Times, 1980–2011, Hakeem Naim, University of California, Berkeley, USA

5. The Islamic World Is Flat(tened): Contesting Islam in South Asia in the New York Times, 1980–2011, Rajbir Judge, California State University, USA

About the Editor

Suad Joseph is Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Davis, USA. She founded the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies and co-founded its internationally recognized Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies. She has edited or co-edited eight books, published over 100 articles, and is General Editor of the highly esteemed Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures.

Source: Bloomsbury.com

By Simonetta Calderini

Publisher: I.B. Tauris (December 24, 2020)

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.

Source: Bloomsbury Publishing