Elizabeth Bowyer (St Mary's Menston) reviews Hossein Kamaly's 'A History of Islam in 21 Women'

In this book, Hossein Kamaly tells the stories of these incredible and courageous women, who definitely weren’t quiet, and they helped to transform Islam into what we know it as today. Women have had particularly important roles in Islam that can be perceived as very vocal. The first woman in the book, Khadija, was the first person to hear the prophet Muhammad’s message. Not only that but she was a powerful and confident woman herself, asking Muhammad for his hand in marriage. She helped Muhammad every step of the way, listening and caring. This book helps bring to light that women do have voices and they have used them in the past.

I found this book was moving and insightful; it has taught me so much about Islam’s history and the politics that also comes to play with this religion. It has demonstrated that many different cultures have helped to develop and transform Islam, developing different lifestyles and traditions. One thing that I enjoyed throughout the book is that some of the husbands of these women used their social status to help support their wives. For instance, how Muhammad reacted when Aisha was accused of adultery, instead of killing her he listened to her and even created a new way of dealing with these accusations - 4 witnesses had to be produced otherwise you would be punished. I found that sometimes the book was very direct with the way of feeding facts at points, to an extend where it felt like reading a Wikipedia page. I would have liked a bit more interpretation of the facts at certain points. However, I found the book overall very engaging.

 

Something I agreed with in this book was...

In the chapter of Rabia al-Adawiyya, as she said that people should not worship God for fear of punishment or for paradise, only worship God for God. I thought that it was the essence of all religions as that is really the best reason to worship.               

 

Something I disagreed with in this book was...

When Muhammad spoke about polygamy and said that men should not take more than one wife. I disagreed with him then when he died to have had 9 wives as I find that the prophet should be held to a higher standard as he is the person people will look up to.

 

Something I learnt from reading this book that I didn't know about this subject before was...

That throughout the beginning of Islam they dealt with a constant threat of face-offs with non-believers. I have not had many circumstances where I have had the opportunity to get to know the threats and hardships that people went through at the beginning of a religion. That even the prophet was not sure of the meanings of his visions or even if they were real or just delusions.