
Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East book by Isobel Coleman
By Isobel ColemanParadise Beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East book by Isobel Coleman
Over the centuries and throughout the world, women have struggled for equality and basic rights. Their challenge in the Middle East has been intensified by the rise of a political Islam that too often condemns women’s empowerment as Western cultural imperialism or, worse, anti-Islamic. In Paradise Beneath Her Feet , Isobel Coleman shows how Muslim women and men are fighting back with progressive interpretations of Islam to support women’s rights in a growing movement of Islamic feminism.
In this timely book, Coleman journeys through the strategic crescent of the greater Middle East—Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan—to reveal how activists are working within the tenets of Islam to create economic, political, and educational opportunities for women. Coleman argues that these efforts are critical to bridging the conflict between those championing reform and those seeking to oppress women in the name of religious tradition. Success will bring greater stability and prosperity to the Middle East and stands to transform the region.
Coleman highlights a number of Muslim men and women who are among the most influential Islamic feminist thinkers, and brilliantly illuminates the on-the-ground experiences of women who are driving Sakena Yacoobi, an Afghan educator, runs more than forty women’s centers across Afghanistan, providing hundreds of thousands of women with literacy and health classes and teaching them about their rights within Islam. Madawi al-Hassoon, a successful businesswoman, is challenging conservative conventions to break new ground for Saudi professional women. Salama al-Khafaji, a devout dentist-turned-politician, relies on moderate interpretations of Islam to promote opportunities for women in Iraq’s religiously charged environment. These quiet revolutionaries are using Islamic feminism to change the terms of religious debate, to fight for women’s rights within Islam instead of against it.
There is no mistaking that women and women’s issues are very much on the front lines of a war that is taking place between advocates of innovation, tolerance, and plurality and those who use violence to reject modernity in Muslim communities around the world. Ultimately, Paradise Beneath Her Feet offers a message of Change is happening—and more often than not, it is being led by women.
Book details
- Paperback
- 352 pages
- English
- 1400066956
- 9781400066957
About Isobel Coleman
isobel coleman was Read More about Isobel Coleman
More Books By Isobel Coleman
People who bought this also bought
The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization book by Jon R. Katzenbach
New Book
Bridging Separate Gender Worlds: Why Men and Women Clash and How Therapists Can Bring Them Together
Used Book
Business Strategy: A Guide to Effective Decision-Making gook by Jeremy Kourdi
New Book
Unf*ck Yourself: Get out of your head and into your life book by Gary John Bishop
New Book
The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity book by Douglas Murray
New Book
The Holy Bible : the Old Testament. Vol. 2, Esther-Malachi : Revised Standard Version
Please Don't Drink from the Finger Bowl: An Executive Guide for Business Protocol
Used Book
What Would Judy Say?: A Grown-Up Guide to Living Together with Benefits
Used Book
10,000 Days: A Call To Arms For The Baby Boom Generation
Used Book
A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa book by Bill Branch
New Book
California Rich: The lives, the times, the scandals and the fortunes of the men and women who made and kept California?s wealth
Used Book
We Were Eight Years in Power book by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Large print)
New Book
The Mindful Mother: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Enjoying Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond with Mindfulness book by Naomi Chunilal
New Book
Watch Your Junk and Other Advice for Expectant Fathers by Benjamin Wallace
Used Book
Profit from the Core: A Return to Growth in Turbulent Times book by Chris Zook, James Allen
New Book