In this interview, I speak with Marion Holmes Katz about her latest book Wives and Work: Islamic Law and Ethics Before Modernity (Columbia UP, 2022). This fascinating book explores the question of wives’ domestic responsibilities from a Sunni Islamic legal perspective, covering scholarship from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries. The book addresses questi ... Show More
Aug 20
David Commins, "Saudi Arabia: A Modern History" (Yale UP, 2025)
A major new history of Saudi Arabia, from its eighteenth-century origins to the present day Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, a major player on the international stage and the site of Islam’s two holiest cities. It is also one of the world’s only absol ... Show More
29m 8s
Aug 16
Adriana Carranca, "Soul by Soul: The Evangelical Mission to Spread the Gospel to Muslims" (Columbia UP, 2024)
US-born Protestant evangelicalism has gone global to an extent of which many of us might be unaware. Soul by Soul: The Evangelical Mission to Spread the Gospel to Muslims (Columbia Global Reports, 2024) tells the story of Americans’ colossal mobilization to proclaim Christianity ... Show More
55m 37s
Mar 2021
Nevin Reda and Yasmin Amin, "Islamic Interpretive Tradition and Gender Justice: Processes of Canonization Subversion and Change" (McGill Queens UP, 2020)
In their groundbreaking new book, Islamic Interpretive Tradition and Gender Justice: Processes of Canonization, Subversion, and Change (McGill, 2020), Nevin Reda and Yasmin Amin raise excellent questions about the existence and formation of a canon in the Islamic tradition. This ... Show More
1h 5m
Mar 2023
"Not Like the Other: Women in the Quran" - Ramadan Reflections 2023 - Episode 1
On the first day of Ramadan 2023/1444, we introduce the theme of "Not Like the Other: Women in the Quran.
In the Quran, when speaking about the lead-up to the birth of Maryam binte Imran we are told that her parents had made an oath to dedicate their child, whom they were expecti ... Show More
7m 17s
Apr 2014
Sa’diyya Shaikh, “Sufi Narratives of Intimacy: Ibn Arabi, Gender and Sexuality” (University of North Carolina Press, 2012)
Many Muslim debates regarding women are solely situated in legal or political frameworks. For example, we often find this tendency in conversations about women’s leadership in the mosque or the politics of veiling. Sa’diyya Shaikh, Professor of Religious Studies at the University ... Show More
55m 26s
Jun 2021
"How Important was Aisha (ra)?" with Ust. Nuriddeen Knight | Season 1 Episode 10
Aisha (ra), the wife of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, was known for her level of scholarship, her love for the Messenger ﷺ, and her love for Islam. Yet these days, many conversations about her life center on the age when she got married. How can we understand this incident considering how ... Show More
34m 46s
Aug 2021
Simonetta Calderini, "Women as Imams: Classical Islamic Sources and Modern Debates on Leading Prayer" (Bloomsbury, 2020)
What does Islam say about women’s leadership of prayer? What sources have Muslim scholars used historically to answer this question, and what do those sources say exactly? What are the conditions under which women can lead prayers, and which types of prayers can they lead, if at ... Show More
47m 3s