Book Discussion on Shehnaz Haqqani's Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam: Negotiating Islamic Law and Gender

This panel brings leading scholars of Islam, Islamic law, and Islam and Gender into conversation with Shehnaz Haqqani’s forthcoming book (Oneworld Academic, October 2024), Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam: Negotiating Islamic Law and Gender. The book investigates Muslims’ relationship with change, gender, and the Islamic tradition, asking what lay Muslim Americans understand to be the criteria for changing seemingly established Islamic practices and teachings. The diverse panel – which consists of scholars of various generations and ranks, racial backgrounds, expertise, and genders – will highlight the book’s contributions to the study of Islam specifically and Religion more broadly. Among the points they will discuss are Haqqani’s treatment of how contemporary American Muslims engage in ethical and theological reasoning, the relationship between textual Islam and lived reality, scholars’ and practitioners’ roles in re-evaluating Islamic teachings and practices in new contexts, and the book’s contributions to under-studied areas in Islamic studies.