Islam Women

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This is a multi-disciplinary course examining the diverse aspects of the status and roles of Muslim women. We will begin by introducing the themes of the course: the nature of patriarchy and its reflection in various traditions, the impact of cultures on articulating and implementing religious ideals, and the impact of economic and political developments such as colonialism on the roles of women. We will then briefly introduce the Islamic tradition. The bulk of the coursework will focus on: the status of women in classical Islamic teaching (the Qur'an and hadith); the institutionalization of Islamic teachings about women (in law); the views of modern reformers and the historic circumstances that affected their views; and the views of Muslim women as narrated in memoirs. Our goal is to understand the range of experiences and views of and about Muslim women, including variations that occurred with historic changes and variations in a given era based on cultural, economic, social, and political differences.