Laury Silvers | University of Toronto (original) (raw)

Books by Laury Silvers

Back cover text Amina Wadud, scholar and activist, is a vital figure in Islamic studies, Qur’ani... more Back cover text

Amina Wadud, scholar and activist, is a vital figure in Islamic studies, Qur’anic hermeneutics, and gender studies, fields to which she has made a lasting contribution. Her book Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective (1992,1999) not only introduced a hermeneutical approach to the Qur’an that attempted to overcome male-centered readings of the sacred text, it also opened the door for other Muslim women scholars to embark on similar journeys. In 2006, she published Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam, in which she grapples with three interwoven issues: her personal and activist struggles, her engagement with Muslim scripture and tradition, and the place of Muslim women's studies in the Western academy. Since her retirement, in more recent lectures, blogs and writings she has foregrounded even further the category of experience as central to exegetical projects in the struggle for justice.

It is traditional to honor scholars who retire from academia with a Festschrift. This volume is a Festschrift. However, it differs from the traditional format in that it is available online, as an e-book, rather than as a book printed and distributed by an academic or commercial publisher. This choice of the editors reflects both the reach of Amina Wadud’s work and honors her commitment to a rethinking of the closed circle of knowledge production and access to scholarship in academia. The volume thus expands and transcends the boundaries that separate scholarship from activism, ideas from politics, and women’s experiences and perspectives from male normativity.

In this volume, 33 contributors -- colleagues, students, fellow activists, and others inspired by her work -- share their reflections and thoughts on her work, both activist and scholarly, and the many ways in which she has left an imprint on their own endeavors. The volume includes academic essays, personal reflections, letters, poems and one piece of visual art, all written for and dedicated to Amina Wadud with respect, admiration, and love.

Sufi scholar Abu Bakr al-Wasiti (d. ca. 320 AH/932 CE) was called a “soaring minaret” for his cut... more Sufi scholar Abu Bakr al-Wasiti (d. ca. 320 AH/932 CE) was called a “soaring minaret” for his cutting comments and keen theological insights. Wasiti’s life is little known today, but elements of his lost Quran commentary have come down to us through the glosses of his students, and his career offers a window into the development of Islamic mysticism and metaphysics. Wasiti’s legacy includes a number of firsts: he was one of the first students of the great Baghdadi Sufis, the first to migrate east and establish the Baghdadi Sufi tradition in Khurasan, among the first to compose a Quran commentary, and among the first to articulate a complete metaphysics in keeping with early Sunni theology. Presenting Wasiti’s life and work within the context of the development and spread of Sufism, author Laury Silvers goes on to provide an analysis of his theological perspective on the divine reality.

I hope the book will be of use in the classroom. The first half is a history of the rise of Baghdadi Sufism that hits majors historical figures, movements, and issues such as Sufi modes of discourse. The second half is a discussion of Wasiti's theology with reference to its theological-historical context that hits all the big questions such as the nature of the divine, free will, judgment, and suffering.

Papers by Laury Silvers

Islamic Thought through the Art of Translation: Texts and Studies in Honor of William C. Chittick and Sachiko Murata, ed. Mohammed Rustom, Brill, 2022

Islamic Thought through the Art of Translation: Texts and Studies in Honor of William C. Chittick and Sachiko Murata, ed. Mohammed Rustom, Brill, 2022

First Paragraph: When I started my life as an academic in the study of Sufism, I believed in “ob... more First Paragraph:

When I started my life as an academic in the study of Sufism, I believed in “objective scholarship” as if it were a pure being that lived in an ivory tower away from the world.1 I gave my best historical takes on the material before me whether or not the analysis supported my Muslim faith, my Sufi path, and my experiences as a woman, and without a care for its effects beyond the scope of the field and my promotion file. When I diverged from that narrow path, I said so.2 It was only as I was working on gender in Sufism that I understood my academic writing arose out of my position in the world and objectivity was a fairy tale.3 I admitted I was telling stories about the past—however critically analyzed—and my writing had an impact beyond my professional life. Muslims, especially Muslim women, were reading my work on early pious, mystic, and Sufi women. It mattered to them and sometimes it disturbed them. I realized I was little different from the transmitters, editors, and authors of the works I studied. All of us were weaving narratives that might serve as credible resources of thought for our audiences. I just never grasped the breadth of my audience and, to the degree I was able, I needed to take responsibility for the impact of my work on the communities around me. I began to engage with non-academic readers and translate my findings in conversation with them.4 When I left the academy and turned to writing fiction, the responsibility to critically examine what I wanted to do with history in my stories was even more plain. I write detective novels set in the early 4th/10th-century Sufi communities in Baghdad that not only ask “whodunit,” but also how Muslim tradition arises from the social worlds and intentions of its authors, depicts the impact of the authors’ work then, and, by analogy, now, and considers the nature of historical writing in and out of the academy.5

Hear our song, and when the words become familiar, sing along, for ours has too often been the si... more Hear our song, and when the words become familiar, sing along, for ours has too often been the silence that sustained and nurtured the background. Amina Wadud It all started wi October 2010, the three of us, Kecia Ali, Laury Silvers and Juliane Hammer, along with Fatima Seedat, invited a group of Muslim women scholars to George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, to discuss our shared and longstanding interests both. We invited Hina Azam, Aysha Hidayatullah, and Saadia Yacoob. Amina Wadud was our guest of honor. Our conversations were honest, wide-ranging, and productive. And it was at the end of the workshop that the idea for this volume was born. gender studies, and the academic study of Islam. But hers was a contribution that advanced and nuanced gender conscious approaches to the Text, and provided a model for women scholar activists in and far beyond our fields of study. It was (German) Festschrift, historically, and occasionally still published, a collection of academic essays by students of a significant scholar upon his (more often than her) retirement from the academy. Ours would not only invite a much broader range of friends, students, colleagues and fellow activists to contribute text or art, but it would also transcend the traditionally narrow and well-guarded boundaries of knowledge production and access to publications still common in academia. The volume at the end of the collecting and editing process, this volume, would and the accessibility of the volume set it apart from the traditional Festschrift. This ecommitment to expanding and transcending the boundaries that separate perspectives from male normativity.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

The Cambridge Companion to Sufism, 2014

Ruffle, and others for answering any number of questions, sharing sources, helping to identify fi... more Ruffle, and others for answering any number of questions, sharing sources, helping to identify figures, and reading drafts (especially Geissinger); and thanks to Basit Iqbal for his meticulous editing work. All errors are mine. Death dates and locations are only given, when known, to help situate the women in their place and time. Due to the word limit, primary source citations are not exhaustive and I have cited only secondary sources specific to the issue at hand and which provide relevant bibliographies. References to Ibn al-Jawzī's S. ifāt al-s. afwa are cited by entry number as "IJ, #000"; except where noted, these translations are by Silvers and Ahmed Elewa or Silvers and Yasmin Amin. References to Abū qAbd al-Rah. mān al-Sulamī's Dhikr al-niswa are cited by the pagination of R. Cornell's translation (Early Sufi Women: Dhikr an-niswa al-mutaqabbidāt as. s. ūfiyyāt by Abū qAbd ar-Rah. mān ās-Sulamī [Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 1999]) as "AARS, 000-000." 2 Abū Nuqaym al-Is. fahānī's (d. 430/1038) H. ilyat al-awliyā' [28 women/649 men]; Nūr al-Din qAbd al-Rah. mān Jāmī's (d. 897/1492) Nafahāt al-uns [35w/564m]; qAbd al-Wahhāb b. Ah. mad al-Shaqrānī's (d. 973/1565) T. abaqāt al-kubrā [16w/412m]. But the majority of the women named in these works, and those mentioned below, are members of the Prophet's family, companions, or Qur' ānic figures. Likewise, see the women named in al-Qushayrī's al-Risāla fī qilm al-tas. awwuf [biographical section: 0w/83m], Abū al-H. assan qAlī b. qUsman al-Jullabī al-Hujwīrī's Kashf al-mah. jub [12w/109m], Farīd al-Dīn al-qA _ t _ tar's (d. 628/1230) Tadhikirat al-awliyāp [1w/72m], Khargūshī's Tahdhīb al-asrār [7 women] (see C. Melchert, "Khargūshī, Tahdhīb al-asrār", Bulletin of the SOAS, 73/1 [2010], 32 [corrected from 7% to 7 women]), Abū l-H. asan al-Sīrjānī's (d. ca. 470/1077) Kitāb al-bayād. wa-l-sawād [8w/478m] (see B. Orfali and N. Saab [eds], Sufism, Black and White: A Critical Edition of Kitāb al-Bayād. wa-l-Sawād by Abū l-H. asan al-Sīrjānī [d. ca. 470/1077] [Leiden: Brill, 2012]) [thanks to the editors for sharing this volume with me]; finally, see R. Roded, Women in Islamic Biographical Collections: From Ibn Saqd to Who's Who (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1994). 3 Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī, S. ifāt al-s. afwa (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-qIlmiyya, 1999); Cornell, Early Sufi Women; Muh. ammad b. Saqd, al-T. abaqāt al-kubrā (Lebanon: Dar Ih. yāp al-Turāth al-qArabiyya, 1996). See Nana Asmapu's "Sufi Women" for the rare, possibly unique, biographical collection (in the form of a poem) by a woman about women (in Beverly Mack and Jean Boyd (eds), Collected works of Nana Asmapu (East Lansing, MI, 2012); also see Mack's chapter on Asmapu in this volume (Chapter 8). 4 Cornell, Early Sufi Women, 15-20; also see A. Afsaruddin, "Gender and the poetics of narrative", The Muslim World 92 (2002), 461-480; V. Hoffman, "Oral Traditions as a Source for the study of Muslim women: Women in the Sufi orders", in A. El-Azhary Sonbol (ed.), Beyond the Exotic: Women's Histories in Islamic Societies (Cairo: American University of Cairo Press, 2006), 365-380. On "restraint" in naming women other than family members (and then as supporting players) in one source, see Marín, "Saints, women, and family relationships", and using family genealogies as sources, see F. Chiabotti, "qAbd al-Karīm al-Qushayrī: Family ties and transmission in Nishapur's Sufi milieu", both in C. Mayeur-Jaoun and A. Papas (eds), Family Portraits with Saints: Hagiography, Sanctity, and Family in the Muslim World (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 2013) [thanks to the editors for sharing this volume with me pre-publication]. On the sources available to authors, see A. K. Alikberov, "Genre tabakāt in early Sufi tradition", ACTAS XVI Congreso UEAI (1995), 23-30. 5 Notably reports attributed to Dhū al-Nūn (d. 244/859) and Ah. mad b. Abū al-H. awārī (d. 230/845 or 246/860).

International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2013

Janāb’ be read as ‘Sharāh. ı̄l min Janāb’” (p. 41). The emendation is plausible, but it is not tr... more Janāb’ be read as ‘Sharāh. ı̄l min Janāb’” (p. 41). The emendation is plausible, but it is not true that classical Arabic omits to write the was. l for “the son of” between names because there the bā picks up a vowel. Rather, by orthographic convention, the was. l is not written because there the previous name supplies a vowel, mainly its case ending (e.g., Sharāh. ı̄lu bnu Janāb). (By another orthographic convention, likewise unrelated to pronunciation, the was. l reappears at the beginning of a line.) Bin is unexceptionable when the referent is from the KSA, for example, but inappropriate for quoting from classical sources. Annoyingly, Ahmed also sticks to minuscule a for transcribing the definite article, even at the beginning of a paragraph. This can hardly be said to respect the Arabic, which has no minuscule. It is inconsistent with the conventional treatment of European names (e.g., “d’Artagnan” in the middle of a sentence but “D’Artagnan” at the beginning). It is likewise inconsistent with Ahmed’s own treatment of ibn, which he fearlessly writes as “Ibn” at the beginning of a sentence, even though the capital letter represents the same was. l in the Arabic as the a of the definite article. Ahmed’s prosopographical method is new, at least as applied to early Islamic history. His results are fairly modest: the apparent priority given family fortune over ideology; the equal importance of relationships through women and men (cognate and agnate, respectively, in Ahmed’s terminology); the unwillingness of the Umayyads after Abd al-Malik to involve themselves with the old Hijazi elite, contrasted with the carefully limited patronage of the Abbasids after them. His interpretations commonly depend on the traditional narrative sources (which he does read shrewdly). He expressly warns at the end not to expect prosopography to yield the same results for Islamic history as it has yielded for (among others) republican Roman or early modern British history, given the peculiar emphases of the available sources: for example, patchy information about administrative posts, especially outside the main centers, and almost nothing on property holdings. It is much to Ahmed’s credit that he does not try to force greater results from his method than it will yield. As he recognizes, we (alas) cannot expect spectacular new understanding from the application of his method to other places and periods in premodern Islamic history. That said, Ahmed will provoke historians to continually look for marital connections when investigating how coalitions were formed and dynasties founded.

Comparative Islamic Studies, 2007

Kecia Ali writes in her book Sexual Ethics and Islam that studies on the history and forms of gen... more Kecia Ali writes in her book Sexual Ethics and Islam that studies on the history and forms of gender injustice in Islam have yet to adequately address concomitant theological challenges concerning the nature of the divine justice and will. In response to this need, I would like to explore the problem posed by the mere existence of verse 4:34, otherwise known as “the beating verse,” in the Qur’an. This article is intended to be a primary theological and ethical response to the problem, rather than a secular academic analysis of historical approaches to the verse. My approach is grounded in the thought of Ibn al-`Arabi (d. 1240), arguably the most influential, systematically comprehensive, and prolific mystic and thinker of medieval Islam. Ibn al-`Arabi’s ontology, ethics, and hermeneutics of the Qur’an provide a useful frame and a possible resolution to the problem.

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2010

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany ©2010 State University of New York All ri... more Published by State University of New York Press, Albany ©2010 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book ...

Studia Islamica, 2004

The treatises and manuals that are the most visible face of early Sufism and the early institutio... more The treatises and manuals that are the most visible face of early Sufism and the early institutional period tend focus on the basics of the spiritual path and less so on theoretical questions. Kitab al luma of Ab? Nasr' Abd Allah al-Sarr?j (d. 378/988), ... Kal?b?dhi (d 380/990 or ...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

For Muslims, prayer leadership is necessary to fulfill the confirmed sunnah of congregational pra... more For Muslims, prayer leadership is necessary to fulfill the confirmed sunnah of congregational prayer, as well as the obligatory Friday sermon and prayer. The majority of jurists consider the role of imam to be better than any other duty associated with the prayer including that of the muezzin? In New York City on March 18, 2005 Dr. Amina Wadud shocked the Muslim world when she led a mixed-gender congregation in the Friday prayer. The Friday congregational prayer is at the center of Muslim religiosity. On Friday midday , Muslims come together as a community and turn collectively toward God. The form of the prayer affirms the community's identity; Muslims pray as brothers and sisters equal before God. They stand in straight lines, shoulder to shoulder. No one has a reserved spot. The rich stand next to the poor. While the form of the prayer affirms the equality of all men and women before God, it also reinforces the social inequality of women and their corresponding lack of religious authority. Only men have the unrestricted right to lead the prayer, give the sermon, or even ask the community to serve God through the call to prayer. Women most often stand behind men or sometimes in another room altogether. In mosques that are sensitive to their female congregants, women sometimes give a 141

Journal of Middle East Women S Studies, 2008

Back cover text Amina Wadud, scholar and activist, is a vital figure in Islamic studies, Qur’ani... more Back cover text

Amina Wadud, scholar and activist, is a vital figure in Islamic studies, Qur’anic hermeneutics, and gender studies, fields to which she has made a lasting contribution. Her book Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective (1992,1999) not only introduced a hermeneutical approach to the Qur’an that attempted to overcome male-centered readings of the sacred text, it also opened the door for other Muslim women scholars to embark on similar journeys. In 2006, she published Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam, in which she grapples with three interwoven issues: her personal and activist struggles, her engagement with Muslim scripture and tradition, and the place of Muslim women's studies in the Western academy. Since her retirement, in more recent lectures, blogs and writings she has foregrounded even further the category of experience as central to exegetical projects in the struggle for justice.

It is traditional to honor scholars who retire from academia with a Festschrift. This volume is a Festschrift. However, it differs from the traditional format in that it is available online, as an e-book, rather than as a book printed and distributed by an academic or commercial publisher. This choice of the editors reflects both the reach of Amina Wadud’s work and honors her commitment to a rethinking of the closed circle of knowledge production and access to scholarship in academia. The volume thus expands and transcends the boundaries that separate scholarship from activism, ideas from politics, and women’s experiences and perspectives from male normativity.

In this volume, 33 contributors -- colleagues, students, fellow activists, and others inspired by her work -- share their reflections and thoughts on her work, both activist and scholarly, and the many ways in which she has left an imprint on their own endeavors. The volume includes academic essays, personal reflections, letters, poems and one piece of visual art, all written for and dedicated to Amina Wadud with respect, admiration, and love.

Sufi scholar Abu Bakr al-Wasiti (d. ca. 320 AH/932 CE) was called a “soaring minaret” for his cut... more Sufi scholar Abu Bakr al-Wasiti (d. ca. 320 AH/932 CE) was called a “soaring minaret” for his cutting comments and keen theological insights. Wasiti’s life is little known today, but elements of his lost Quran commentary have come down to us through the glosses of his students, and his career offers a window into the development of Islamic mysticism and metaphysics. Wasiti’s legacy includes a number of firsts: he was one of the first students of the great Baghdadi Sufis, the first to migrate east and establish the Baghdadi Sufi tradition in Khurasan, among the first to compose a Quran commentary, and among the first to articulate a complete metaphysics in keeping with early Sunni theology. Presenting Wasiti’s life and work within the context of the development and spread of Sufism, author Laury Silvers goes on to provide an analysis of his theological perspective on the divine reality.

I hope the book will be of use in the classroom. The first half is a history of the rise of Baghdadi Sufism that hits majors historical figures, movements, and issues such as Sufi modes of discourse. The second half is a discussion of Wasiti's theology with reference to its theological-historical context that hits all the big questions such as the nature of the divine, free will, judgment, and suffering.

Islamic Thought through the Art of Translation: Texts and Studies in Honor of William C. Chittick and Sachiko Murata, ed. Mohammed Rustom, Brill, 2022

Islamic Thought through the Art of Translation: Texts and Studies in Honor of William C. Chittick and Sachiko Murata, ed. Mohammed Rustom, Brill, 2022

First Paragraph: When I started my life as an academic in the study of Sufism, I believed in “ob... more First Paragraph:

When I started my life as an academic in the study of Sufism, I believed in “objective scholarship” as if it were a pure being that lived in an ivory tower away from the world.1 I gave my best historical takes on the material before me whether or not the analysis supported my Muslim faith, my Sufi path, and my experiences as a woman, and without a care for its effects beyond the scope of the field and my promotion file. When I diverged from that narrow path, I said so.2 It was only as I was working on gender in Sufism that I understood my academic writing arose out of my position in the world and objectivity was a fairy tale.3 I admitted I was telling stories about the past—however critically analyzed—and my writing had an impact beyond my professional life. Muslims, especially Muslim women, were reading my work on early pious, mystic, and Sufi women. It mattered to them and sometimes it disturbed them. I realized I was little different from the transmitters, editors, and authors of the works I studied. All of us were weaving narratives that might serve as credible resources of thought for our audiences. I just never grasped the breadth of my audience and, to the degree I was able, I needed to take responsibility for the impact of my work on the communities around me. I began to engage with non-academic readers and translate my findings in conversation with them.4 When I left the academy and turned to writing fiction, the responsibility to critically examine what I wanted to do with history in my stories was even more plain. I write detective novels set in the early 4th/10th-century Sufi communities in Baghdad that not only ask “whodunit,” but also how Muslim tradition arises from the social worlds and intentions of its authors, depicts the impact of the authors’ work then, and, by analogy, now, and considers the nature of historical writing in and out of the academy.5

Hear our song, and when the words become familiar, sing along, for ours has too often been the si... more Hear our song, and when the words become familiar, sing along, for ours has too often been the silence that sustained and nurtured the background. Amina Wadud It all started wi October 2010, the three of us, Kecia Ali, Laury Silvers and Juliane Hammer, along with Fatima Seedat, invited a group of Muslim women scholars to George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, to discuss our shared and longstanding interests both. We invited Hina Azam, Aysha Hidayatullah, and Saadia Yacoob. Amina Wadud was our guest of honor. Our conversations were honest, wide-ranging, and productive. And it was at the end of the workshop that the idea for this volume was born. gender studies, and the academic study of Islam. But hers was a contribution that advanced and nuanced gender conscious approaches to the Text, and provided a model for women scholar activists in and far beyond our fields of study. It was (German) Festschrift, historically, and occasionally still published, a collection of academic essays by students of a significant scholar upon his (more often than her) retirement from the academy. Ours would not only invite a much broader range of friends, students, colleagues and fellow activists to contribute text or art, but it would also transcend the traditionally narrow and well-guarded boundaries of knowledge production and access to publications still common in academia. The volume at the end of the collecting and editing process, this volume, would and the accessibility of the volume set it apart from the traditional Festschrift. This ecommitment to expanding and transcending the boundaries that separate perspectives from male normativity.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

The Cambridge Companion to Sufism, 2014

Ruffle, and others for answering any number of questions, sharing sources, helping to identify fi... more Ruffle, and others for answering any number of questions, sharing sources, helping to identify figures, and reading drafts (especially Geissinger); and thanks to Basit Iqbal for his meticulous editing work. All errors are mine. Death dates and locations are only given, when known, to help situate the women in their place and time. Due to the word limit, primary source citations are not exhaustive and I have cited only secondary sources specific to the issue at hand and which provide relevant bibliographies. References to Ibn al-Jawzī's S. ifāt al-s. afwa are cited by entry number as "IJ, #000"; except where noted, these translations are by Silvers and Ahmed Elewa or Silvers and Yasmin Amin. References to Abū qAbd al-Rah. mān al-Sulamī's Dhikr al-niswa are cited by the pagination of R. Cornell's translation (Early Sufi Women: Dhikr an-niswa al-mutaqabbidāt as. s. ūfiyyāt by Abū qAbd ar-Rah. mān ās-Sulamī [Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 1999]) as "AARS, 000-000." 2 Abū Nuqaym al-Is. fahānī's (d. 430/1038) H. ilyat al-awliyā' [28 women/649 men]; Nūr al-Din qAbd al-Rah. mān Jāmī's (d. 897/1492) Nafahāt al-uns [35w/564m]; qAbd al-Wahhāb b. Ah. mad al-Shaqrānī's (d. 973/1565) T. abaqāt al-kubrā [16w/412m]. But the majority of the women named in these works, and those mentioned below, are members of the Prophet's family, companions, or Qur' ānic figures. Likewise, see the women named in al-Qushayrī's al-Risāla fī qilm al-tas. awwuf [biographical section: 0w/83m], Abū al-H. assan qAlī b. qUsman al-Jullabī al-Hujwīrī's Kashf al-mah. jub [12w/109m], Farīd al-Dīn al-qA _ t _ tar's (d. 628/1230) Tadhikirat al-awliyāp [1w/72m], Khargūshī's Tahdhīb al-asrār [7 women] (see C. Melchert, "Khargūshī, Tahdhīb al-asrār", Bulletin of the SOAS, 73/1 [2010], 32 [corrected from 7% to 7 women]), Abū l-H. asan al-Sīrjānī's (d. ca. 470/1077) Kitāb al-bayād. wa-l-sawād [8w/478m] (see B. Orfali and N. Saab [eds], Sufism, Black and White: A Critical Edition of Kitāb al-Bayād. wa-l-Sawād by Abū l-H. asan al-Sīrjānī [d. ca. 470/1077] [Leiden: Brill, 2012]) [thanks to the editors for sharing this volume with me]; finally, see R. Roded, Women in Islamic Biographical Collections: From Ibn Saqd to Who's Who (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1994). 3 Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī, S. ifāt al-s. afwa (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-qIlmiyya, 1999); Cornell, Early Sufi Women; Muh. ammad b. Saqd, al-T. abaqāt al-kubrā (Lebanon: Dar Ih. yāp al-Turāth al-qArabiyya, 1996). See Nana Asmapu's "Sufi Women" for the rare, possibly unique, biographical collection (in the form of a poem) by a woman about women (in Beverly Mack and Jean Boyd (eds), Collected works of Nana Asmapu (East Lansing, MI, 2012); also see Mack's chapter on Asmapu in this volume (Chapter 8). 4 Cornell, Early Sufi Women, 15-20; also see A. Afsaruddin, "Gender and the poetics of narrative", The Muslim World 92 (2002), 461-480; V. Hoffman, "Oral Traditions as a Source for the study of Muslim women: Women in the Sufi orders", in A. El-Azhary Sonbol (ed.), Beyond the Exotic: Women's Histories in Islamic Societies (Cairo: American University of Cairo Press, 2006), 365-380. On "restraint" in naming women other than family members (and then as supporting players) in one source, see Marín, "Saints, women, and family relationships", and using family genealogies as sources, see F. Chiabotti, "qAbd al-Karīm al-Qushayrī: Family ties and transmission in Nishapur's Sufi milieu", both in C. Mayeur-Jaoun and A. Papas (eds), Family Portraits with Saints: Hagiography, Sanctity, and Family in the Muslim World (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 2013) [thanks to the editors for sharing this volume with me pre-publication]. On the sources available to authors, see A. K. Alikberov, "Genre tabakāt in early Sufi tradition", ACTAS XVI Congreso UEAI (1995), 23-30. 5 Notably reports attributed to Dhū al-Nūn (d. 244/859) and Ah. mad b. Abū al-H. awārī (d. 230/845 or 246/860).

International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2013

Janāb’ be read as ‘Sharāh. ı̄l min Janāb’” (p. 41). The emendation is plausible, but it is not tr... more Janāb’ be read as ‘Sharāh. ı̄l min Janāb’” (p. 41). The emendation is plausible, but it is not true that classical Arabic omits to write the was. l for “the son of” between names because there the bā picks up a vowel. Rather, by orthographic convention, the was. l is not written because there the previous name supplies a vowel, mainly its case ending (e.g., Sharāh. ı̄lu bnu Janāb). (By another orthographic convention, likewise unrelated to pronunciation, the was. l reappears at the beginning of a line.) Bin is unexceptionable when the referent is from the KSA, for example, but inappropriate for quoting from classical sources. Annoyingly, Ahmed also sticks to minuscule a for transcribing the definite article, even at the beginning of a paragraph. This can hardly be said to respect the Arabic, which has no minuscule. It is inconsistent with the conventional treatment of European names (e.g., “d’Artagnan” in the middle of a sentence but “D’Artagnan” at the beginning). It is likewise inconsistent with Ahmed’s own treatment of ibn, which he fearlessly writes as “Ibn” at the beginning of a sentence, even though the capital letter represents the same was. l in the Arabic as the a of the definite article. Ahmed’s prosopographical method is new, at least as applied to early Islamic history. His results are fairly modest: the apparent priority given family fortune over ideology; the equal importance of relationships through women and men (cognate and agnate, respectively, in Ahmed’s terminology); the unwillingness of the Umayyads after Abd al-Malik to involve themselves with the old Hijazi elite, contrasted with the carefully limited patronage of the Abbasids after them. His interpretations commonly depend on the traditional narrative sources (which he does read shrewdly). He expressly warns at the end not to expect prosopography to yield the same results for Islamic history as it has yielded for (among others) republican Roman or early modern British history, given the peculiar emphases of the available sources: for example, patchy information about administrative posts, especially outside the main centers, and almost nothing on property holdings. It is much to Ahmed’s credit that he does not try to force greater results from his method than it will yield. As he recognizes, we (alas) cannot expect spectacular new understanding from the application of his method to other places and periods in premodern Islamic history. That said, Ahmed will provoke historians to continually look for marital connections when investigating how coalitions were formed and dynasties founded.

Comparative Islamic Studies, 2007

Kecia Ali writes in her book Sexual Ethics and Islam that studies on the history and forms of gen... more Kecia Ali writes in her book Sexual Ethics and Islam that studies on the history and forms of gender injustice in Islam have yet to adequately address concomitant theological challenges concerning the nature of the divine justice and will. In response to this need, I would like to explore the problem posed by the mere existence of verse 4:34, otherwise known as “the beating verse,” in the Qur’an. This article is intended to be a primary theological and ethical response to the problem, rather than a secular academic analysis of historical approaches to the verse. My approach is grounded in the thought of Ibn al-`Arabi (d. 1240), arguably the most influential, systematically comprehensive, and prolific mystic and thinker of medieval Islam. Ibn al-`Arabi’s ontology, ethics, and hermeneutics of the Qur’an provide a useful frame and a possible resolution to the problem.

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2010

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany ©2010 State University of New York All ri... more Published by State University of New York Press, Albany ©2010 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book ...

Studia Islamica, 2004

The treatises and manuals that are the most visible face of early Sufism and the early institutio... more The treatises and manuals that are the most visible face of early Sufism and the early institutional period tend focus on the basics of the spiritual path and less so on theoretical questions. Kitab al luma of Ab? Nasr' Abd Allah al-Sarr?j (d. 378/988), ... Kal?b?dhi (d 380/990 or ...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

For Muslims, prayer leadership is necessary to fulfill the confirmed sunnah of congregational pra... more For Muslims, prayer leadership is necessary to fulfill the confirmed sunnah of congregational prayer, as well as the obligatory Friday sermon and prayer. The majority of jurists consider the role of imam to be better than any other duty associated with the prayer including that of the muezzin? In New York City on March 18, 2005 Dr. Amina Wadud shocked the Muslim world when she led a mixed-gender congregation in the Friday prayer. The Friday congregational prayer is at the center of Muslim religiosity. On Friday midday , Muslims come together as a community and turn collectively toward God. The form of the prayer affirms the community's identity; Muslims pray as brothers and sisters equal before God. They stand in straight lines, shoulder to shoulder. No one has a reserved spot. The rich stand next to the poor. While the form of the prayer affirms the equality of all men and women before God, it also reinforces the social inequality of women and their corresponding lack of religious authority. Only men have the unrestricted right to lead the prayer, give the sermon, or even ask the community to serve God through the call to prayer. Women most often stand behind men or sometimes in another room altogether. In mosques that are sensitive to their female congregants, women sometimes give a 141

Journal of Middle East Women S Studies, 2008

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

... Imam Zaid Shal<ir&... more ... Imam Zaid Shal<ir's response was organized as a rebuttal to Dr. Nevin Reda's essay supporting the prayer entitled, “What Would the Prophet Do?” published in the Progressive Muslim webzine, /l/lush.'/n Wa/ce Up.” Much more than a rebuttal, Imam Zai.d's piece is a . I5. ...

My chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Sufism, ed. Lloyd Ridgeon (Cambridge University Press, 2... more My chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Sufism, ed. Lloyd Ridgeon (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

A survey of primary and secondary literature on the lives, thoughts, practices, and the gendered social contexts of early pious and Sufi women (pre-4th/11th century).

Maria Dakake argues in her article, ‘Guest of the Inmost Heart’ that Sufi women imagined God in d... more Maria Dakake argues in her article, ‘Guest of the Inmost Heart’ that Sufi women imagined God in domestic terms as the ideal faithful lover, provider, and protector. Based on my research of pious and Sufi women from the 7th to 10th century, I support Dakake’s important observation; but I also suggest it needs to be opened up to more complicated notions of “domesticity” that take into account the connections made between patriarchal social norms and the divine personality as well as the historico-theological context of the women’s sayings on divine love which touch on the problem of anthropomorphism and the push and pull of popular and elite theologies.

This article contains selections from my book in progress on early Pious and Sufi women.