New Books in Islamic Studies :: American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism

American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism

By Juliane Hammer

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The New Book Network's New Books in Islamic Studies interviews Juliane Hammer, author of American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism.

"In 2005, Amina Wadud led a mixed-gender congregation of Muslims in prayer. This event became the focal point of substantial media attention and highlighted some of the tensions within the Muslim community. However, this prayer gathering was the culmination of a series of events and embodied several ongoing intra-Muslim debates. In American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism: More Than a Prayer (University of Texas Press, 2012), Juliane Hammer, Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, outlines the circumstances leading up to the prayer event and employs it as point of convergence to explore the multiple discourses surrounding Muslim gender issues. The debates following the prayer fell into two discursive frameworks, legal and symbolic. Hammer explores these themes through a broader body of sources written by American Muslim women both in relation to exegetical projects or legalistic frameworks leading towards gender equality or human rights. While gender remains central to the arguments of the book Hammer uses this subject to examine various issues related to contemporary Islam, including participation, leadership, law, media, and self-representation. In our conversation, we discuss the disintegration of traditional modes of authority, “progressive” Muslims, embodied tafsir, feminism, the permissibility and validity of women lead prayer, the hijab, book covers, mosques, networks, Asra Nomani, and Amina Wadud, but are only able to scratch the surface of this wonderful book."

Click here to listen to the interview with the author on newbooksinislamicstudies.com>>  

Patheos :: American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism

American Muslim Women,
Religious Authority, and Activism

by Juliane Hammer

Buy It Now

Book Review: More Than a Prayer 

The title of Juliane Hammer’s new book American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism: More Than a Prayer, refers to the much-publicised Friday prayer led by Amina Wadud in March 2005. As Hammer explains in the introduction to her book, “The 2005 prayer, itself part of a larger trajectory of events, debates, and developments, focused and changed existing intra-Muslim discussions and reflections on issues ranging from women’s interpretation of the Qur’an, leadership, mosque space, and religious authority to gender activism and media representations.” (p. 1)


The book focuses on a body of texts that Hammer identifies as “books, journal articles, newspapers, websites, and documentaries produced by and about American Muslim women since the early 1980s” (p. 8). She acknowledges a “progressive” bent to many of the texts she examines, while recognising the complexities of such labels. The women whose works are discussed in the book include Amina Wadud, Asra Nomani, Riffat Hassan, Aysha Hidayatullah, Kecia Ali, Asma Barlas, Laury Silvers, Azizah al-Hibri, Nimat Barazangi, Ingrid Mattson, Mohja Kahf, Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, Asma Gull Hasan, and Sumbul Ali-Karamali, among many others. 


Hammer uses the woman-led prayer from 2005 as a jumping-off point for mapping some of the debates and discussions in which American Muslim women writers and activists are engaged. The result is an intriguing, informative, and thoughtful look at some of the ways that gender roles and religious authority are being discussed and manifested within American Muslim communities. Although there were occasions where the descriptions of the 2005 prayer and its major players felt somewhat repetitive, Hammer’s focus on it is overall a unique and effective way of pinpointing and illustrating some of the issues that she raises. 

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