Convinced that the veil is a symbol of unjust male authority over women, in The Veil and the Male Elite, Moroccan feminist Fatima Mernissi aims to investigate the origins of the practice in the first Islamic community.

The Veil And The Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation Of Women's Rightsin Islam

Politics & Social Sciences

Mernissi, Fatima

Social Sciences

Basic Books

Explores Islam's place in the modern world, discussing the conflicts between democracy and Islamic fundamentalism and how proponents of both sides must use the same sacred texts to support their views

Islam And Democracy: Fear Of The Modern World

History

Middle East

Is Islam compatible with democracy? Must fundamentalists win out in the Middle East? The groundbreaking Islam and Democracy serves as a guide to the players—from feminists to fundamentalists—moving the pieces on the rather grim Muslim chessboard, and raises provocative questions about the possibilities for democracy and human rights in the Islamic world.

Religion & Spirituality

An exotic and magical narrative tells the story of a woman born in a harem in Morocco, growing up with wise, funny, individualistic women, and creating a fantasy world from sheer imagination because the outside world was inaccessible.

Dreams Of Trespass: Tales Of A Harem Girlhood

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

"Required reading... " ―Elizabeth Fernea, The University of Texas at Austin
"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
In this expanded and updated edition, with a new introduction on Muslim women and fundamentalism, Mernissi argues that Islamic fundamentalism is in part a defense against recent changes in sex roles and perceptions of sexual identity.

Beyond the Veil, Revised Edition: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Indiana University Press

As a little girl, Fatima Mernissi was often puzzled by the idea of the harem: even if you accepted that men and women had to be kept apart, she asked, why could n't it be the women who walked freely in the streets, while the men stayed locked behind the harem gate? In this book she weaves an evocative tale of her childhood in a Fez harem in the 1940s, a period of social transition in Morocco. Yasmina, Fatima's grandmother, was one of nine co-wives. She had the freedom to ride horses out and about on her husband's farm and in the surrounding countryside, but she carried around within her the hudud, or sacred frontier, that separates women from men. Fatima's mother was an only wife, but she lived with the other women of her extended family inside an enclosed courtyard in the city, guarded by a gatekeeper whose sole duty it was to keep the women from going out in the street. Forced into seclusion, they re-created an imaginary world of their own, where enchanted princesses and adventurous winged women appeared on the terrace, in Aunt Habiba's tales and in Cousin Chama's improvised theatre. But Fatima was allowed out to cross the tiny street between the harem and the girl's school built by the nationalists fighting French colonization; and she grew to confuse living with trespassing, and freedom with communicating. In this book, the author casts an eye on the roles assigned to women and men by traditional Muslim society. She also shows the intimacy and riotous sense of fun that can unite women in an enclosed community in her memoir. Other work by the author includes "Islam and Democracy", "The Veil and the Male Elite" and "Beyond the Veil".

The Harem Within: Tales of a Moroccan Girlhood

Community & Culture

DOUBLEDAY

Women's status and prospects in Islamic society

Beyond the veil: Male-female dynamics in a modern Muslim society

distributed solely by Halsted Press

A study of sexual inequality in Muslim society. It argues that the Islamic view of women as active sexual beings resulted in a stricter regulation and control of women's sexuality, which Muslim theorists classically regarded as a threat to civilized society.

Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in a Modern Muslim Society

World

John Wiley&Sons, Inc.

Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Enquiry

Blackwell Pub.

"Those who entrust their affairs to a woman will never know prosperity." This saying is attributed to the Prophet Mohammed. However, as Mernissi tries to show, the position of women in Islamic societies is far from unambiguous. She argues that the Prophet Mohammed, far from being the oppressor of women which many assume him to have been, upheld the equality of all true believers. She finds among the literary evidence pertaining to the Prophet instances of his wives discussing politics with him and even going into battle. The book aims to reconcile the teachings of Islam with feminism.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Mernissi, Fatima. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Mernissi, Fatima

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Mernissi, Fatima. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Veil And The Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation Of Women's Rightsin Islam

Islam And Democracy: Fear Of The Modern World

Islam And Democracy: Fear Of The Modern World

Dreams Of Trespass: Tales Of A Harem Girlhood

Beyond the Veil, Revised Edition: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society

The Harem Within: Tales of a Moroccan Girlhood

Beyond the veil: Male-female dynamics in a modern Muslim society

Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in a Modern Muslim Society

Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Enquiry

Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Enquiry