In the eyes of many Westerners, Muslim women are hidden behind a veil of negative stereotypes that portray them as either oppressed, subservient wives and daughters or, more recently, as potential terrorists. Yet many Muslim women defy these stereotypes by taking active roles in their families and communities and working to create a more just society. This book introduces eighteen Muslim women activists from the United States and Canada who have worked in fields from social services, to marital counseling, to political advocacy in order to further social justice within the Muslim community and in the greater North American society. Each of the activists has written an autobiographical narrative in which she discusses such issues as her personal motivation for doing activism work, her views on the relationship between Islam and women's activism, and the challenges she has faced and overcome, such as patriarchal cultural barriers within the Muslim community or racism and discrimination within the larger society. The women activists are a heterogeneous group, including North American converts to Islam, Muslim immigrants to the United States and Canada, and the daughters of immigrants. Young women at the beginning of their activist lives as well as older women who have achieved regional or national prominence are included. Katherine Bullock's introduction highlights the contributions to society that Muslim women have made since the time of the Prophet Muhammad and sounds a call for contemporary Muslim women to become equal partners in creating and maintaining a just society within and beyond the Muslim community.

This collection of essays brings together voices from the most recent development in Muslim women's studies, namely, the burgeoning network of Muslim women working on issues of women's human rights through engaged revisionist scholarship in such areas as theology, law and jurisprudence, and women's literature. The essayists are leading Islamic women scholars in North America who affirm their religious self-identity in their acknowledgment of, and striving toward solving, serious problems women have faced in Muslim societies and communities around the world. Their approach is designated as "scholarship-activism" because it comes from the common conviction that to look at women's issues from within the Islamic perspective must unite issues of theory and practice. Any theory or analysis of women's nature, role, rights, or problems must include attention to the practical, "on-the-ground" issues involved in actualizing the Qur'anic mandate of social justice. Concomitantly, any considerations of practical solutions to problems and injustices faced by women must have a solid theological grounding in the Qur'anic world view. Contributors include representatives from the variety of constituents of Islam in America" immigrant" and "indigenous"—whose works are in the forefront of Islamic discussion and reform today: Amina Wadud, Nimat Hafez Barazangi, Maysam J. al-Faruqi, Azizah Y. al-Hibri, Asifa Quraishi, Riffat Hassan, Aminah Beverly McCloud, Mohja Kahf, Rabia Terri Harris, and Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons.

Hammer looks at the work of significant female American Muslim writers, scholars, and activists since 1990, using their writings as a lens for a larger discussion of Muslim intellectual production in America and beyond. Centered on the controversial women-led Friday prayer in March 2005, Hammer uses this event and its aftermath to address themes of faith, community, and public opinion. While gender is the catalyst for Hammer's study, her examination of these women's intellectual output touches on themes central to contemporary Islam: authority, tradition, Islamic law, justice, and authenticity.

Muslim women living in America continue to be marginalized and misunderstood since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, yet their contributions are changing the face of Islam as it is seen both within Muslim communities in the West and by non-Muslims.

“Proud, defiant, brave, these are the Muslim women of America. Hear them roar!” —Asma Gull Hasan, author of Why I Am a Muslim For years, the image of the Muslim woman in America has been as mysterious as the face behind the veil. Is she garbed in the traditional hijab and chador? Is she subservient to a male-dominated culture and religion? Does she grocery shop, do her nails, go to the gym? “A superb attempt at helping us to discover the emerging identity of American Muslim women.” —Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, Islamic Society of North America In this moving book, journalist Donna Gehrke-White provides a rare, revealing look into the hearts, minds, and everyday lives of Muslim women in America. Here, in their own words, are the many different voices of doctors, soccer moms, rebels, reformers, former political prisoners, survivors, and activists—women of faith, courage, hope, and change—all Muslims, all Americans. “Enlightening. . . . In their diversity, forthrightness, and honesty, the voices of these women ultimately sound more American than anything else—and therein lies the strength of this book.” —Library Journal

When Muslim women from diverse national and cultural contexts meet one another through transnational dialogue and networking, what happens to their sense of identity and social agency? Addressing this question, Meena Sharify-Funk encountered women activists and intellectuals in North America, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia - women whose lives and visions have become linked by 'the transnational' despite their differing circumstances and intellectual backgrounds. The resultant work provides a rich and cliché-bursting account of women's reflections on a wide range of topics including: the status of women in Islam, the role of women as interpreters of religious norms, the relationship between secular and religious forms of self-identification, perceptions of Islamic-Western relations, experiences of marginalization, and opportunities for empowerment. Giving careful attention both to common threads in Muslim women's experiences and to the unique voices of remarkable women, this is a compelling account of conversations that are bringing new energy and dynamism into women's activism in a world of collapsing distances.

This authoritative “go-to” publication aims to educate women on how to express their rights within Islam. Perfect for enabling activists to integrate an egalitarian Islamic belief system into their movements. The most effective means of improving Muslim women's lives is connecting them to their deeply held beliefs that affirm human dignity and gender equality at the core of the Islamic faith. But Muslim women lack this information that enlightens and vouches for their sacred rights, and they have no accessible tools that encourage faith-based activism consistent with the Islamic faith. To protect them from being misrepresented by or outside their communities, there is a need to provide pre-packaged, easy-to-understand literacy tools to women so they can lead lives of choice, dignity, and opportunity. 30 Rights of Muslim Women aims to fill this gap.