Book description
Does Islam as a religion oppress women? Is Islam against democracy?
In this classic study, internationally renowned sociologist Fatema
Mernissi argues that women's oppression is not due to Islam as this
religion in fact celebrates women's power. Women's oppression, she
maintains, is due to the political manipulation of religion by
powerseeking, archaic Muslim male elites. Mernissi explains in her
book that early Muslim scholars portrayed women as aggressive hunters
who forced men, reduced to weak hunted victims, to control women by
imposing requirements such as veiling, which confined women to the
private space. In her new introduction, she argues that women's
invasion of the 500-plus Arab satellite channels in the twenty-first
century, as show anchors and film and video stars, supports her theory
that Islam as a religion celebrates female power. A fascinating book'
Scotland on Sunday If a reader were to select only one book in order
to gain insight into women's status and prospects in Islamic society,
this study should be the one chosen for its clarity, honesty, depth of
knowledge and thought-provoking qualities.' Arab Book World
