This book describes and analyses the different roles women have played in the Islamic world, past and present. Starting with Sharia regulations and their applications in societies throughout history, it addresses the obstacles and opportunities women have faced, and still face, in various Islamic societies. The last chapter addresses women's participation in the Arab Spring and their hopes and disappointments. The result is a vivid portrait of the different worlds of women in Islam, encompassing religion and law, sexuality and love, literature and the arts, law and professional life, and politics and power.

Der Band enthalt die auf der Jahrestagung der "Gesellschaft fur Arabisches und Islamisches Recht" (GAIR) im Oktober 2015 an der Universitat Goettingen gehaltenen Vortrage. Thema der Tagung war "Genderforschung und Genderfragen im islamischen Recht". Die Vortrage werden erganzt um zwei weitere, themenrelevante Fachbeitrage. Die Autoren gehen in den Beitragen zum einen der Frage nach, welche Rolle und Bedeutung die Geschlechterforschung im Recht hat. Zum anderen wird anhand empirischer Beispiele die Geschlechterstellung im deutschen Recht und im islamischen Recht - in Deutschland und in der muslimischen Welt - definiert und diskutiert.

In Palestine, family law is a controversial topic publicly debated by representatives of the state, Sharia establishment, and civil society. Yet to date no such law exists. This book endeavors to determine why by focusing on the conceptualization of gender and analyzing "law in the making" and the shifts in debates (2012-2018). In 2012, a ruling on khul'-divorce was issued by the Sharia Court and was well received by civil society, but when the debate shifted in 2018 to how to "harmonize" international law with Islamic standards, the process came to a standstill. These developments and the various power relations cannot be properly understood without taking into consideration the terminology used and redefined in these debates.

This book describes and analyses the different roles women have played in the Islamic world, past and present. Starting with Sharia regulations and their applications in societies throughout history, it addresses the obstacles and opportunities women have faced, and still face, in various Islamic societies. The last chapter addresses women's participation in the Arab Spring and their hopes and disappointments. The result is a vivid portrait of the different worlds of women in Islam, encompassing religion and law, sexuality and love, literature and the arts, law and professional life, and politics and power.