Women's Islam: Religious Practice Among Women in Today's Iran [Hardcover]

Zahra Kamalkhani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0710305990 | ISBN-13: 978-0710305992 | Edition: 1st

After the 1979 revolution in Iran, the western media revealed pictures of full-veiled Iranian women demonstrating in the streets of Tehran to demand the death of the Shah and the downfall of his regime. Many asked what it was that made these women reject the nobility of the socio-economic modernity of the Shah's regime and instead embrace Islamic belief widely presumed to be "oppressive" and misogynistic--a religion in which women have no place and no identity. Zahra Kamalkhani's new book goes behind the veil to disprove this misconception and to look in detail at the complex lives of the majority contemporary Muslim women. She deals with Islamic beliefs and the religious tradition of women in the context of modern political turmoil and addresses the false assumption that a clear distinction can be made between the "official" Islam practiced by men and the "popular" Islam practiced by women. In this important study in Islamic anthropology, the author treats women as actors in the interconnected domains of family, religious, political and social contexts, all under the umbrella of Islam., in order to generate new models for understanding the Muslim women of today.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

In 1996 ZAHRA KAMALKHANI became the first Muslim immigrant woman in Norway to be awarded a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology, from the University of Bergen.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 201 pages
• Publisher: Kegan Paul International; 1st edition (January 7, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0710305990
• ISBN-13: 978-0710305992
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,314,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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