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Summary: Excellent and learned, but really for muslims
Review: Fatima Mernissi's book is a fascinating excursion through her own journey of discovery. She takes us from a man's put-down of her with the Hadith "those who entrust their affairs to a woman will never know prosperity", to an enlightened understanding of the historical context in which the oppressive traditions of Islam arose. After explaining her background in the introduction she deals with the above hadith and how it came about, she analyzes the role of women in early Islam and especially the prophet's apparent view of women and a very in-depth and detailed discussion of how the veil, or hijab, came into being for Muslim women. She shows that the denial of women's rights was not the intention of Allah, as the source of Holy Law, nor of Mohammed, but arose in the context of the pre-existing social values of the Arab world of the time, and of the vested political interests and power struggles of the period following Mohammed's death. The study is very detailed and quite arcane, and although Ms Mernissi takes a lot of care to explain terminology and context, it really requires some background knowledge of Islam and Arabs. The book's main target audience is Moslem women, to show they do have rights within Islam, and possibly Moslem men. I believe westerners can learn from it, but are probably better served by reading more general books on Islamic history and culture. In particular non-Moslems need to understand that Islam is not a single culture, but in reality many traditions under one umbrella, in much the same way that Christendom encompasses many religious and cultural traditions.
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Summary: Marvelous inquiry into the sources of Islamic traditions
Review: Fatima Mernissi's careful research is fascinating and challenging. Here is a brilliant Muslim woman on a quest to separate the wheat from the chaff in her tradition. Like the great scholar Al-Bukhari, she exposes cases of fraudulence, where self-interested parties tried to impose their own prejudices as articles of faith. But at the same time Mernissi reveals an inspiring earlier version of Islam, where devotion to real partnership and equality prevails. I think Mernissi's work is at least as important as any recent writing by Christian scholars toward uncovering the historical Jesus and the original face of Christianity.
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Summary: An important work
Review: I find it interesting that another reader found, within the pages of this book, justification for a Muslim woman wearing a piece of cloth to cover her head. My perception of Ms. Mernissi's views is quite the opposite. What she was trying to say throughout the whole book can be summed up in one of the final questions she asks in her conclusion: "How did the tradition succeed in transforming the Muslim woman into that submissive, marginal creature who buries herself and only goes out into the world timidly and huddled in her veils?" Mernissi then questions why a Muslim man needs such a "mutilated companion." These ideas are what make this book so important. Mernissi clearly reveals the reasons why the tradition of hiding under a veil came about. Many Muslim women feel honored to wear a hijab (head covering) because, for one reason, they feel it earns them greater respect. Mernissi's view is that when the tradition first started, most (if not all) women were considered slaves. The covering of the head signified a woman was not to be considered a slave, but someone who had converted to Islam.I highly recommend this book to every woman, Muslim and non-Muslim, (and man, for that matter) who questions the present treatment of women in the Islamic religion.
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Summary: Promising but unsuccessful
Review: I had to read this book for an anthropology class taught by an intelligent but uberfeminist professor. There's an important point in this book that sheds light on its angle: when a Muslim woman wearing a hijab and full coverings was asked how she can walk around in the heat dressed in such a manner she responds something to the effect of "it's not as hot as the fires of hell." Mernissi is not about to challenge behaviors that are dictated by Islamic scriptures. Her argument is that the veil and woman's place in the Muslim society are a result of misinterpretation of the scriptures and the hadith. This is sort of akin to Christians trying to reinterpret creation as an instructive myth after Darwin shattered the fundamentalist vision of creation. I think Mernissi's approach is generally doomed because, if tradition has failed to maintain the original spirit of a religion, a new analysis almost 1500 years after the fact is almost certainly doomed. There are too many epistemological problems with diving the original intentions behind a text that is so old. Mernissi may convince some readers that her radically new interpretation is correct but only at the cost of introducing uncertainty and mistrust in the traditions themselves. Fatally wounding relgious traditions is nearly a fatal wound to the religion itself, and will only cause apathy or fundamentalist overreaction to a challenge of the status quo.
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Summary: Liked it
Review: I liked it. Mernissi gives you an understanind of how hadiths work, shows you proof that Hadith may have been well contaminated with personal bias as well as cultural bias. Good overall.
Rating:
Summary: Liked it
Review: I liked it. Mernissi gives you an understanind of how hadiths work, shows you proof that Hadith may have been well contaminated with personal bias as well as cultural bias. Good overall.
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Summary: could not put it down!
Review: I originally bought this book for my thesis. I read it from cover to cover and could not put it down. It offers a variety of points of view on Islamic history that one will not find when reading the traditional history books. It gave me a whole new insight on how Islam really works. I think one should have background information on Islam before reading this book.
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Summary: Badly needed reading in this time of fear and ignorance
Review: I used this book 6 years ago for my thesis on Islam and feminism. It cleared up many preconceptions I had about Muslim women and the religion of Islam itself. I never revisited my research about Islam until September 11, 2001. This books shows the historical reasons behind oppressive interpretations and explain Muhammad's egalitarian vision. I use this book to educate people and show that the violent, woman-oppressing Islam is a product of hisotry and culture and not religion. This is not a time for merciless overreaction; it is a time to learn about those things few understand.
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Summary: Badly needed reading in this time of fear and ignorance
Review: salaam alaykum, to all my muslim sisters, I think this is an excellent book. There are so many differences of opinion in terms of hadith and practice of the religion, i.e. acceptability of this vs that in practicing islam, that one can get truly lost in delving into specifics. (A point which the author makes early on in the book) Mernissi takes us along on her journey through knowledge to show us what she found and allow us to make our own decisions. Everything is documented (as it would have to be to stand up to criticism on such a touchy subject!) I would not suggest this book for non-muslims, just because it is so directed towards the muslim female. (I think a little background knowledge really helps when reading this book.) As a muslim convert, I thought this book was invaluable, if not just to show that there WERE differences of opinion on hadith. anyway, I do suggest you read it, and I DO think the other people who gave this book one star were a little too narrow minded. Allah is a god who values thought and introspection, even where religion is concerned.
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