Irene Schneider, University of Goettingen, is best known for her intelligent scholarly studies in the field of the law and literature of the Arabic and Iranian-Afghan worlds. Within these areas, she brings us nuanced studies of the roles of family, youth, and gender from a historical and contemporary perspective.

This book is clearly structured and the main topics are carefully selected. Her lively presentations illustrate the multi-layered facets of the book’s theme. The author defends Islam in all its diversity in the areas in which it has been misinterpreted and misunderstood, yet does not hesitate to weigh in with critical remarks that validate feminist points of view”--Anthropos

This book describes and analyzes the different roles women have played in the Islamic world, past and present. Starting with Sharia regulations and their ap- plications in societies throughout history, Schneider observes and pinpoints the obstacles and opportunities women have faced, and still face, in various Islamic societies. The last chapter addresses women’s participation in the Arab Spring and their hopes and disappointments. The result is a vivid portrait of the different worlds of women in Islam, encompassing religion and law, sexuality and love, literature and the arts, law and professional life, and olitics and power.