Equal Before God? The Question of Women in Contemporary Islam—October 2011
In the past few years, mainstream Western societies have experienced
tensions with the burgeoning Muslims communities living within them.
The difficulties towards full integration, moreover, have been exacerbated
by terrorism and fundamentalism on one hand and ignorance and fear
on the other. This book argues that the main obstacle to successful
Muslim integration in the West is not the violent or extremist fringe, but
rather the attitudes and cultural practices of Muslim communities in relation
to women. The reason is simple: Muslim communities overwhelmingly
reject terrorism, whereas they continue to harbour views towards
women that are at odds with prevailing Western norms of gender equality.
Citing examples from North America, Europe, and elsewhere, the
author concludes that the solution to the conundrum is not the abandonment
of Islam, as some have proposed, but a reappraisal of its practice in
light of history and modernity.
For interview, review & media
requests: inquiries@tsarbooks.com |
Praise for Sheema Khan's Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman:
". . . provocative,
intelligent,
and—given
the thorny
nature of
the issues
explored—
surprisingly
accessible."
—Quill and Quire
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Sheema Khan writes a monthly column for the Globe and Mail on issues pertaining
to Islam and Muslims. She holds a PhD from Harvard University in chemical
physics, along with numerous patents on drug delivery technology. She has served
on the Board of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (2004–2008) and is the
founder of the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) and
its former chair (2000–2005). She testified as an expert witness on Muslims in
Canada before the O’Connor Inquiry and has appeared before a number of
parliamentary committees. In addition, she has spoken at numerous NGO
conferences and government agencies on issues of security, civil rights, and Muslim
cultural practice. She is currently a patent agent in Ottawa. |
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