Women, Leadership, and Mosques: Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority

It is often thought that Muslim women have only been able to exercise their religious authority over the last century, and that even that is confined to Sufi and non-traditional circles of authority. Bano and Kalmbach however present a volume that explores women’s authority from within mosques and madrasahs, a seat of authority traditionally associated with men. The volume is the result of conference proceedings at Oxford in 2009 and both Bano and Kalmbach are passionate about the role of women and religious authority as demonstrated by academic pursuits. They move beyond their own areas of expertise however as the volume brings together experts in the field who not only present different trajectories in the discussion but also cover a globally diverse geographic area of study, further enhanced by different research methods and theories. Women, Leadership and Mosques is based on the premise that women’s activities in preaching and teaching represents a shift in the structures of Islamic authority. On the one hand Kalmbach claims that authority is still gendered and women are restricted, yet on the other hand she suggests that the growth in female leadership reflects wider social and political changes taking place on the Muslim landscape. This supposed dichotomous view becomes clear with each chapter, for they reveal through particular case studies how women lead prayers, interpret religious texts, but in the light of the male and state’s role in the spaces where this activity takes place.