Muslim women of all ages, economic status, educational backgrounds, sexual orientations, and from different parts of historically Muslim countries suffer the kinds of atrocities that violate common understandings of human rights and are normally denounced as criminal or pathological, yet these actions are sustained because they uphold some religious doctrine or some custom blessed by local traditions. Ironically, while instances of abuse meted out to women and even female children are routine, scholarship about Muslim women in the post 9/11 era has rarely focused attention on them, preferring to speak of women's agency and resistance. Too few scholars are willing to tell the complicated, and at times harrowing, stories of Muslim women's lives. Women and Islam: Myths, Apologies, and the Limits of Feminist Critique radically rethinks the celebratory discourse constructed around Muslim women's resistance. It shows instead the limits of such resistance and the restricted agency given women within Islamic societies. The book does not center on a single historical period. Rather, it is organized as a response to five questions that have been central to upholding the 'resistance discourse': What is the impact of the myth of al-Andalus on a feminist critique? What is the feminist utility of Edward Said's theory of Orientalism? Is Islam compatible with a feminist agenda? To what extent can Islamic institutions, such as the veil, be liberating for women? Will the current Arab uprisings yield significant change for Muslim women? Through examination of these core questions, Bouachrine calls for a shift in the paradigm of discourse about feminism in the Muslim world. Cover images provided by Tachfine Bouachrine.

Anthem of Misogyny: The War on Women in North Africa and the Middle East argues that misogyny-which operates through an interconnected network of ideologies, institutions, beliefs, aesthetics, and cultural trends-is too complex and too deep rooted to eradicate with superficial changes. Like a national anthem, misogyny in North Africa and the Middle East has acquired a sacred status. It is accepted uncritically and woven effortlessly into daily practices, creating a community of men of different ages, educational levels, and socioeconomic backgrounds who are united in their sense of entitlement to evaluate, scrutinize, deter, question, and expose women. For women, it is as if they are in a state of perpetual war, forever on the verge of being accused of deviating from the norms and being punished. These norms, however, are neither clear nor predictable. This study of misogyny is written against a dominant orthodoxy in Western feminism. Critics are accused of gendered orientalism, savior complexes, and even Islamophobia if they dare to bring up misogyny and gender-based violence in North Africa and the Middle East in contexts other than blaming the West. Rather than exaggerate Western agency, this book is invested in making Muslim agency visible. There are narratives of violence and injustice that produce discomfort, anger, and even despair. These stories deserve to be told, and those behind the injustices are entitled to an unapologetic portrayal because the non-West, too, is deserving of feminist critique.

Muslim women of all ages, economic status, educational backgrounds, sexual orientations, and from different parts of historically Muslim countries suffer the kinds of atrocities that violate common understandings of human rights and are normally denounced as criminal or pathological, yet these actions are sustained because they uphold some religious doctrine or some custom blessed by local traditions. Ironically, while instances of abuse meted out to women and even female children are routine, scholarship about Muslim women in the post 9/11 era has rarely focused attention on them, preferring to speak of women's agency and resistance. Too few scholars are willing to tell the complicated, and at times harrowing, stories of Muslim women's lives. Women and Islam: Myths, Apologies, and the Limits of Feminist Critique radically rethinks the celebratory discourse constructed around Muslim women's resistance. It shows instead the limits of such resistance and the restricted agency given women within Islamic societies. The book does not center on a single historical period. Rather, it is organized as a response to five questions that have been central to upholding the 'resistance discourse': What is the impact of the myth of al-Andalus on a feminist critique? What is the feminist utility of Edward Said's theory of Orientalism? Is Islam compatible with a feminist agenda? To what extent can Islamic institutions, such as the veil, be liberating for women? Will the current Arab uprisings yield significant change for Muslim women? Through examination of these core questions, Bouachrine calls for a shift in the paradigm of discourse about feminism in the Muslim world.