The Scimitar and the Veil: Extraordinary Women of Islam

DESCRIPTION:

The Scimitar and the Veil portrays over thirty extraordinary Muslim women from the birth of Islam through the 19th century. From scholars to warriors to concubines and queens, The Scimitar and the Veil gathers scholarship about the women of Islam into one fascinating book presented for a general readership. Based on sources ranging from Swahili lore to Persian pageant plays to Muslim feminist writings to the explorations of Western scholars of Islam, The Scimitar and the Veil is written in a poetic, sometimes humorous, energetic and contemporary style that will appeal to a broad range of readers. Muhammad was born to a widowed mother, tended by a slave woman, and fostered by a Bedouin woman. His marriage to Khadija, a wealthy businesswoman from Mecca was long, fruitful, and faithful. She was the first to convert to Islam. From Barakah, Muhammad's surrogate mother, and Fatima, his cherished daughter, to the Sufi mystic Rabi'a, The Scimitar and the Veil is the first popular history and overview of Muslim women and their great accomplishments. While there are other books about women in Islam, The Scimitar and the Veil is the most comprehensive and written in a style meant to appeal to a general audience.

DETAILS:

ISBN: 9781587680205
AUTHOR: Jennifer Heath 
BINDING: Hardback
PAGES: 496 pages
DIMENSIONS: 16.15 x 3.58 x 23.77 cm
PUBLISHER: HiddenSpring

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jennifer Heath is the author of The Echoing Green: The Garden in Myth and Memory (Penguin, 2000), On The Edge of Dream: The Women of Celtic Myth and Legend (Penguin 1998), Black Velvet: The Art We Love to Hate (Pomegranate 1994) and A House White With Sorrow: A Ballad for Afghanistan, a novel published by Rodent Press in 1996 and reissued as an illustrated "novel in newspaper form" by Baksun Books in 2002. She is an activist for social justice and an award-winning arts journalist, who worked in newspapers and radio for more than two decades.

REVIEWS

Jennifer Heath smashes the stereotype that Muslim women only exist as second class citizens. -- Alex Kronemer, producer of the PBS documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet

The Scimitar & the Veil takes the reader, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, into mind-expanding territory. -- Michael Wolfe, author of Taking Back Islam: American Muslims Reclaim Their Faith

The Scimitar and the Veil is a delightful read! -- Daisy Khan, Executive Director, ASMA Society (American Sufi Muslim Association)