A History of Islam in 21 Women

<img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1682472838i/34182102._SX540_.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>حسین کمالی، نویسنده‌ای اسلام‌گرا با سابقه‌ی خمینیستی، تازگی کتابی منتشر کرده درباره‌ی زندگی 21 زن در تاریخ اسلام. در حالت عادی نوشته‌ی چنین آدمی ارزش اعتنا نداشت، منتها وقتی فهمیدم فصلی از کتاب به مریم میرزاخانی (!!) اختصاص دارد، رفتم سراغش. هدف نویسنده از سر هم کردن چنین کشکولی، به گفته‌ی خودش، این بوده تا به خواننده‌ی شکاکی که تصور می‌کند اسلام زنان را برای مادری و خانه‌داری در نظر گرفته، حالی کند که اشتباه می‌کرده؛ که زنان در تاریخ اسلام از بچه‌داری و پرده‌نشینی بسیار فراتر رفته‌اند. و خب برای یک اسلام‌گرای دغلباز چه نمونه‌ای بهتر از مریم میرزاخانی تا دستاوردهای درخشانش را به پای تاریخ زنان مسلمان بنویسد (همان‌طور که پیشتر هم با سلام، فیزیکدان هندی-پاکستانی، کرده بودند)، بدون این که ذره‌ای به خودش زحمت توضیح به خواننده بدهد که زندگی و دستاوردهای او چه ارتباطی به تاریخ زنان مسلمان و تاریخ اسلام (!) دارد. بگذریم از این که از قضا موفقیت مریم میرزاخانی مرهون رها شدن از زمینه‌ای‌ است که نویسنده تلاش کرده دوباره و به زور در آن جایش دهد. توصیف نویسنده از وقایع و زمینه‌های تاریخی در این فصل پر است از دروغ و دلنگ و اشتباه و اتفاقا در نقل زندگی علمی مریم میرزاخانی هم مهم‌ترین نکته‌ها را مغفول گذاشته. سوءاستفاده‌ی کمالی از اسم مریم میرزاخانی و قلب واقعیت زندگی‌اش مرزهای نادانی و نفهمی را رد کرده و به مرحله‌ی شیادی رسیده<br><br>تصویر: مریم میرزاخانی در کودکی<br><br>پی‌نوشت: با نگاهی به یکی دیگر از فصل‌های کتاب ابعاد بیشتری از شارلاتانی نویسنده برایم روشن شد. کمالی در یکی از فصل‌ها به طاهره قرة‌العین، از رهبران بابیت، پرداخته و با کمپین تحریفش زندگی و دستاوردهای او را هم به نام تاریخ زنان مسلمان زده! همان قلب واقعیتی که در فصل مربوط به مریم میرزاخانی مرتکب شده بود، اینجا هم عینا تکرار کرده<br><br><br>پی‌نوشت 2: اخیرا متوجه شدم که انتشارات وان‌ورلد، ناشر این کتاب، متعلق به یک زوج بهایی است. این که چنین انتشاراتی کتابی را چاپ کرده که به دروغ‌پردازی شیادانه علیه طاهره قرةالعین دست زده، فقط جای تاسف دارد. مسلمانان آزادند هر نسبت دروغی که می‌خواهند به دیگران ببندند. باید آزادی بیانشان را محترم شمرد. ولی کافی است کسی، نسبت دروغ که هیچ، تنها انتقادی از اسلام یا مسلمانان بکند. آن وقت است که رسانه‌های غربی، آکادمیسین-اکتیویست‌ها، اسلاموفمینیست‌ها و جیره‌خواران ریز و درشت ایدئولوژی چپ از سراسر جهان بسیج می‌شوند و زیر عَلم اسلاموفبیا تا مدت‌ها سینه می‌زنند و دست آخر هم اسلام‌گرایان یکی دو حرکت انتحاری صادر می‌کنند

History of Islam in 21 Women by Hossein Kamaly recounts the lives of influential Muslim women who have played a pivotal role in Islamic history. I enjoyed reading about these powerful women, especially the ones who I previously knew nothing about and enjoyed reuniting with the ones that I already familiar with (e.g Khadija and Aisha).<br /><br />However, this book fell short due to several reasons. I am not a fan of Hossein Kamaly’s style of writing. It suffers from dry prose and read like a Wikipedia. He basically told us about the women without offering any analysis with actual depth on the lives of these women and the impact they made to women everywhere. I couldn’t help but think that the absence of nuances stems from the fact that this book is written by a male author. There was also a lack of cohesion as the author tries to make connection between the historical narratives and the stories of the women. I would also appreciate if there was room for a bit more information on the women from the 8th to 13th century rather than focusing on the historical and political surrounding at that time.<br /><br />That said, this is an accessible book that serves as an invitation to learn more about the lesser known Muslim women in the history of Islam. It showcases how resilient and powerful women can be in the face of cultural and societal restraints imposed upon them. While it makes me ponder and appreciate the fundamental progress that women have made so far, I also can’t deny that we still have got a long way to go. Highly recommended. Thank you Times Reads for the review copy in exchange for an honest review ?

So I had this book recommended to me by a friend. Based on the title alone I was super interested in learning more about the women in Islam and how we would travel through them to Islam in present day but. for only the second time in my reading existence I have DNF a book. I got to page 85.<br /><br />I am adding this to my ‘read’ purely because I did read a good portion of it even if I didn’t finish it. I don’t think I could in good conscious finish this book. <br /><br />The first couple of chapters were okay, but as I kept reading something seemed off to me. In all honesty when I was asked what I thought of it so far I mentioned that it was giving off 3 star vibes.<br /><br />I thought it was mainly because although it’s marketed as a book of Islam through 21 Muslim women, the prism in which their stories are told is strongly through the men in their lives. They are mothers, and wives, and we learn about their husbands and their fathers etc., and rather than focusing on them it seemed as though we followed the story of each through the male perspective, as if ghosting into the book in the fathers perspective, the brothers, the uncles etc, but never wholly and utterly a story of them and their life to learn more about them individually.<br /><br />It just felt like the ‘plot of each woman’ was driven by what the men did.<br /><br />It was also brought to my attention that this book was written by a different sect than I am, author is Shia, and that was something that was pointedly evident on page 60.<br /><br />And that’s when I realized my problem with the book and why it was giving three star vibes. It propped up Shia Muslims and accomplishments differently than how it discussed Sunni Muslims and their stories and accomplishments. Like their accomplishments was through the periphery of look at what Shia Muslims accomplished??? A lot better huh??<br /><br />namely on page 60 the comparison of women on Sunni side being caregivers, women and mothers while Shia women were queens in their own right and had power.<br /><br />That was the second thing though, the first thing was in the story of Aisha (ra) after the battle between Aisha (ra) and Ali(ra - i think ra after his name too) and the aftermath of that battle what Abu Bakra said the <b>Prophet (pbuh)</b> said: Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler. <br /><br />And that being referenced repeatedly of well women in Sunni can’t rule because look what happened the last time that happened in the chapters that came after that. And it is mentioned in the book how un-credible it was as a Hadith per one writer within, Fatima Mernissi. I also took the time to look it up too: <br /><br />per Wikipedia:<br /><br /><em> it is also within the context of this battle that a famous hadith is ascribed to Muhammad where he says, "Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler." However, contemporary scholars have cast doubt on the authenticity of this Hadith, citing the odd timing of the Hadith's first release, its contradiction with the verses of the Quran, and the most likely use of the Hadith for a specific person at the time (Queen of Persia) rather than as a general rule or advice. </em><br /><br />After learning of the authors sect I kept coming back to those sections where it was compared Shia vs Sunni with one being the clear winner.<br /><br />Throwing in a Hadith that scholars casted doubt of its actual authenticity and using it to toss in here and there of how great Shia is compared to Sunni + even so if actually authentic was an indication of a specific person vs a rule as a whole when it comes to women rulers. <br /><br />In all honesty I think of Khadijah(ra) looking at her empire of trade, and what we know of the Prophet (pbuh), and his favoritism to their daughter Fatima(ra), it’s just no. Obviously I’m not a scholar but I’m just suspect of this unreliable hadith being added in and representing Sunnis viewpoint on women as a whole.<br /><br />And I just, can’t go past this.<br /><br />so DNF.

I'm always on the hunt for books about Muslim women throughout history, and this fairly new title caught my eye. (Yes, I'm aware of the irony of a man writing such a book instead of a Muslim woman.)<br /><br />I will admit that I was initially skeptical - the author is Shi'i - but I was, by and large, both surprised and impressed by the range of women included. Many were names I had never heard of before (Fatima of Nishapur, Terken Khatun, Safiye Sultana, Safiatuddin Syah, Mukhlisa Bubi and others); others I was vaguely familiar with, but didn't know well.<br /><br />The book opens with the stories of Khadijah, Fatimah, and A'ishah (radhiAllahu anhunna); predictably, there was a definite Shi'i slant to them, but not as bad as it could have been.<br /><br />Many of the other stories were actually pretty amazing. I was stunned to learn about the female rulers of Aceh, and of the Russian qadhi Mukhlisa Bubi and her extensive da'wah and activism (I legit feel betrayed that I never knew she existed!!!).<br /><br />Towards the end, he includes stories of women who - while accomplished (Noor Inayat Khan, the spy; Zaha Hadid, an architect, and Maryam Mirzakhani, mathemetician) - did not really exhibit or embody an overtly Muslim identity, other than their ethnic backgrounds. While interesting nonetheless, I do feel that other women should have been included instead.<br /><br />Altogether, I very much enjoyed this book and learned a great deal from it. It is an excellent resource (other than the telling of Fatimah's story), and I would recommend it for a personal or school library.<br /><br />The author's introduction and conclusion contain some powerful statements as well; my favourite was the simple but poignant "Women's history is human history."<br />

This book was filled with many kickass ladies! Take this for an eg. A queen that was captured into slavery as a child, from a non muslim lineage going on to rule a state that remained prosperous despite the aftermath of the brutal attack of Mongols in the Arab world in the 13th century. ??<br /><br />A history of Islam in 21 women is a collection of short biographies of 21 Muslim women who have/had managed to make it big in this world through their work &amp; contribution towards the society as a whole. The book started with Khadija r.a., the first believer and the wife of Muhammed s.a.w and went ahead to talk about Queens, Princess, Teachers, Architects &amp; Mathematicians. Safe to say that it covered a variety of fields of work. The chronology of the women mentioned is such that side by side you also get a brief knowledge of the changes and the overall history of how Islam ...or rather Muslims have changed or developed over time.<br /><br />Often at times the text focused more on the political surrounding of the main protagonist. I wish it had more of personal experiences of the person in talk. However even though I didn't like the excessive description of the same as the chapters proceed you realize that it helps understand the struggle of the personality better especially when the concerned person served as some kind of leader(which most of them in the book did). <br /><br />I can't help but point out the bias-ness when it talked about the Shia-Sunni conflict in the chapter of Fatima r.a. I understand that there was a need to mention the conflict in order to understand some later consequences but the details were totally uncalled for especially if you're taking a side in such matter. The narrative mentions a couple of incidents that shades the image of certain sahabas in a very bad way (and THOSE incidents may I mention are not accepted as the truth by the majority) so if someone with no good knowledge of this issue get into reading this book I am afraid they'll be pulled into believing something that is so controversial and will retain them to do their own research on it instead.<br /><br />Overall Rating: 3.5/5

This enlightening and well-researched collection highlighted an eclectic group of vitally important Muslim women. While not “unputdownable,” this book was nevertheless intriguing and extremely educational. I think it would be a wonderful starting point for further study on both Muslim women and Islamic history.

3.5 stars. This book was a very interesting look on 21 Muslim women through history and the powerful thing they did. I sadly know very little about women in different cultures outside my own and found this to be an interesting start to learn more. However I feelt like I wanted a bit more, more facts about them and so on.

The first three chapters were alright, but I found myself not being able to take more than one chapter at a time.<br />I did not enjoy chapters four to 14 so much. There was a period that I couldn’t even pick the book up. I guess it’s mainly due to my expectations. <br />I read Al-Muhaddithat a few years ago, and I found the ladies inspiring as they were known as teachers during their time. Sheikh Akram Nadwi told us about how their parents, especially fathers, made sure that the ladies had good education, even accompanying them to cities hundreds of miles away from home to study from other teachers (male and female alike). <br />He told us about the number of students each female scholar had, how they came from all backgrounds, male and female, about their compassion, their generosity, and their drive to deliver the best to their students. <br />However, the middle chapters of the History of Islam mainly talks about family feuds and dramas, about politics and power, which I’m really not interested with. Maybe I read them wrongly.<br />There are many aspects of the middle chapters that I could not comment on because I don’t have much knowledge of the era. I’m thinking perhaps it was my ignorance, and the angle of the history that I was not interested with, that I almost gave the book up until I reached chapter 15. <br />Here onwards is the best part of the book. <br />We learn about Nana Asmau who helped her people by educating the ladies around her (and I really respect her father who made sure she was well educated), and then Mukhlisa Bubi from Russia who was a well-educated and one of the very very very few people that I would describe as a true feminist, Helide Edib who fought for women through her writing, Umm Kulthum raising the spirit of the Arabs after the six-day war in 1967 through her voice, Zaha Hadid, the highly educated, extremely creative lady who fought her way through a male-dominated field of architecture, and Maryam Mirzakhani, a mathematic genius of our time. <br />One very prominent thing that I do not understand is that he said Malaysia does not uphold women’s rights until the year 2010. I don’t know on what aspect of women’s rights is he talking about. In terms of education, I’m very sure that he’s completely wrong. Even our ex-deputy prime minister, Dr Wan Azizah was educated overseas in the 1970s with Malaysian government scholarship. I just witnessed an online conference in which almost 80% of the speakers were female aged more than 35, who are experts in their own fields. I can tell you about a government health centre that is totally run by women who were educated way before the year 2010. We know many successful businesswomen who started their businesses way before 2010. There are many university courses that has more than 80% female attendance.<br />Divorce have recently made easier so that the women would not need to wait years to have the process concluded.<br />Of course, there are fields that still need much improvement in terms of women’s rights, like how domestic abuse is handled by the law enforcement officers in this country. There is always something to improve in terms of women’s rights, in any countries, but to say that Malaysian women only had their rights recently is totally unfair.

Studying Islam and its history is inseparable from its women, right from its founding days. And why should it be any different? The first person to accept the shahadah from the Prophet (saw) was a woman, thus driving home the inextricable relationship between Islam and the role of women in it. This book is a useful reference guide for those who might want to learn more about women who have left a mark in the world and who identify as Muslim. I did find it ironic that a book about women was written by a man, and for sure, I was initially disappointed. <br /><br />The first three chapters on the Mothers of our faith - Khadija (ra), Fatima (ra), and A'isha (ra) all seem evident that they were written by a man as their importance is emphasized according to their relationships with the men around them. I felt that Khadija's (ra) chapter deserved much more love and felt like Kamaly left out some crucial aspects of her life and character. I would have personally loved to read more of her acumen as a businesswoman. However, I was thoroughly impressed by the way he handled the chapters of Fatima (ra) and A'isha (ra). Reading the chapter on the former, I was afraid Kamaly's Shia sensibilities would colour the portrayal of all the women. Thankfully, I noted that this wasn't the case as A'isha's (ra) chapter was dealt with as much love and care as Fatima's (ra). A part that really left an impression on me is how adept and capable A'isha (ra) was in matters of the state as a politician, as well as a strategist, and how it was only her defeat in the final Battle of the Camel that impacted the treatment of women in the Muslim community through time. There is one quote in her chapter that seems to direct the trajectory of the lives of women in the rest of this book and, by extension, of Muslim women in our history: "Those who entrust power [mulk] to a woman will never know prosperity." This quote was allegedly attributed to the Prophet (saw) by a Companion Abu Bakra and seems to go against the way the Prophet (saw) treated women according to A'isha's (ra) narrations of his life. But with her defeat at a crucial battle for power and succession and this quote from one of the Companions, the damage was done. Patriarchy gripped it with its power-hungry hands and used it to subjugate women down the ages. <br /><br />After this, we are met with chapter after chapter of famous women, queens, heads of state, and sovereigns, who ruled their lands and subjects with intelligence, tenacity, and wisdom, but who were ultimately taken down or whose legacies were erased with the help of this quote (Arwa of Yemen, Shajara'-al-Durr, Sayyida Al-Hurra, Pari Khanum, among others). We have women who impacted Islamic studies as scholars of great renown on an equal footing with established intellectuals of their period (Fatima of Nishapur, Nana Asmau), spiritual Sufi saints to rival the most devoted (Rabia al-Adawiyya), rebels, jurists, educators and visionaries. Who hasn't heard of Umm-Kulthum's voice lighting up the events of twentieth-century MENA geopolitics? And why wouldn't anyone root for Nur Jahan and Safiye Sultana's keen insight into politics that steered the destinies of two of the world's biggest Islamic empires? One of my favorites was definitely the chapter on Nana Asmau that offered me a glimpse into an oft-neglected part of Islam's history, that of West African legacy. <br /><br />While much of the book is about women who identified as Muslims in the past, the chapters on the current influential women fell short. The last few chapters focussed more on women with Muslim names than on women who identify as practising Muslims, and anyone can tell you that the two are very different. As the book was published in 2019, it would have been better to include people like Malala or Tawakkol Karma, to name a couple alternatives. All in all, this book is great as an introduction to the lives of these women. It does not delve into great detail and it left me wanting for more depth and nuance in these incredible lives. In any case, it definitely has me looking harder in the history of Islam for the contributions by women that are often glossed over by the patriarchal pen of scholarship. Read it to be awed and inspired.<br /><br />If you liked my review, do feel free to stop by my Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/giltedged_reads/?hl=en" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>!

<i> 'today more than ever, it is important to highlight that the first person to receive the Prophet's message was a woman' </i>