Offering writings in Middle East studies by renowned scholars and by the new generation of scholars of Islam and gender, this collection includes a wide variety of cases from Middle Eastern and Islamic societies. By including case-based articles, the collection highlights the clear links between concepts and theories and actual practices.

This three-volume interdisciplinary collection will be of use not only in Middle East studies but also in various other disciplines, including women's studies, political science, religion, cultural studies, sociology of gender and anthropology. The collection offers the most influential writings in the field by both renowned scholars as well as those by the new generation of scholars of Islam and gender and includes a wide variety of cases from Middle Eastern and Islamic societies. By including case-based articles, the collection highlights the clear links between concepts and theories and actual practices. Each volume begins with a new introduction by the editor, placing the articles in their historical and intellectual context. A full index will guide the reader through this multidisciplinary collection.

Volume I: Images and Realities Part One: Imagining Muslim Women. i) Historical and Theoretical Perspectives 1. Fatima Mernissi 'Women in Muslim History: Traditional Perspectives and New Strategies' in S. Jay Kleinberg (ed.) Retrieving Women's History: Changing Perceptions of the Role of Women in Politics and Society, (Oxford: Berg, 1988), pp. 338-355. 2. Nikki R. Keddie, 'The Past and the Present of Women in the Muslim World', Journal of World History, 1990, 1, 1, spring, pp. 77-108. 3. Judith E. Tucker, 'Women in the Middle East and North Africa: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries' in Guity Nashat and Judith Tucker (eds.) Women in the Middle East and North Africa, (Indiana University Press, 1999), pp. 101-31. ii) Muslim Women and Colonial Imagination 4. Judy Mabro, excerpt from the introduction to Veiled Half-Truths: Western Travellers' Perseptions of Middle Eastern Women. (I.B. Tauris &
Co. Ltd, 1991), pp1-27. 5. Nabil I. Matar 'The Representation of Muslim Women in Renaissance England', The Muslim World, Volume LXXXVI No. 1, pp. 50-61. 6. Neil Macmaster and Toni Lewis 'Orientalism: From Unveiling to hyperveiling', European Studies, xxviii, 1998, pp. 121-35. Part Two: Muslim Laws and Traditions i) Women, the Quran and patriarchal interpretations 7. Ghada Karmi, 'Women, Islam and Patriarchalism' in Mai Yamani (ed.) Feminism and Islam:Legal and Literary Perspectives, (New York University Press, 1996), pp. 69-83. 8. Riffat Hassan, 'Feminist Theology: The Challenges for Muslim Women', Critique, No. 9, Fall 1996, pp. 53-65. 9. Bouthaina Shaaban, 'The Muted Voices of Women Interpreters' in Mahnaz Afkhami (ed.), Faith &
Freedom: Women's Human Rights in The Muslim World, (Syracuse Unviersity Press, 1995), pp. 61-77. 10. Barbara Freyer Stowasser ' Women and Citizenship in the Qur'an' in Amira El Azhary Sonbol (ed.), Women, the Family, and Divorce Laws in Islamic History, (Syracus University Press, 1996), pp. 23-38. ii) Legal Perspectives on Women's Status in Muslim Societies 11. Fareeda Shaheed, 'The Cultural Articulation of Patriarchy: Legal Systems, Islam and Women', South Asia Bulletin, 1986, 6(1), pp. 38-44 12. Hafidha Chekir 'Women, the Law, and the Family in Tunisia', Gender and Development, 1996, V. 4, No. 2, June, pp. 43-46. 13. Amira El Azhary Sonbol 'Law and Gender Violence in Ottoman and Modern Egypt' in Amira El Azhary Sonbol (ed.) Women, the Family, and Divorce Laws in Islamic History, (Syracus University Press, 1996), pp. 277-89. Part Three: Law of God and Law of State: New Policies, Old Realities. /i) Post-colonial Modernizing States and Sexual Politics 14. Mervan F. Hatem, 'Secularist and Islamist Discourses on Modernity in Egyp