In Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur’an: A Patronage of Piety, Karen Bauer and Feras Hamza ambitiously attempt “a comprehensive historical-critical study of women in the Quran” (1). Their work is certainly comprehensive and brave. For a first endeavor at such a work, I applaud their conscientious effort in highlighting women in the Quran through a lens that has not previously had due attention. The authors make their case with depth and breadth, and this is a valuable contribution to the literature on women in early Islam.
The initial approach is chronological. Bauer and Hamza have organized a wealth of material from the hadith collections, and they draw on extra historical and theological sources to find their way back to a story of how women’s roles developed from the beginning. This is no mean feat as any textual critic would know. Important to note, is that this work leans on the Qur’an for its historical-critical approach as the oldest source material over hadith. Their scope draws on the entire Qur’an with impressive depth of coverage, applying their case throughout.
Bauer and Hamza establish their framework by emphasizing piety and conceiving of life as a moral test leading to the afterlife. In their work they have attempted to place the story of women in early Islam into the overall context of the Quran’s salvific message. This is a contentious objective, and the reader will have to judge the authors’ success for themselves. But there is no doubt that their case is laudable. “When one considers that everything in the Qur’an is part of a salvific plot,” Bauer and Hamza contend, “it becomes clear that the Qur’an’s treatment of women, households, and patronage is a result of its salvific vision and cannot be understood outside of it” (4).
What impressed me most about the book was its skill in outlining the social, hierarchical structures of the Islamic world and framing the relationships within 7th-century society in a salvific context. Bauer and Hamza really bring this ancient world to life and explain clearly how and why it differs from the modern world. The equality issues we see in the Qur’an (in light of our modern perspective) are well explained in the context of Qur’anic salvation. The authors help us see women in their early Islamic context, showing Islam’s intent to bring all society to salvation. This argument is contrasted so strongly with our modern context that it can be difficult to perceive, but I think the authors do a strong job in breaking it down into easier parts.
Great emphasis is placed on “patronage” and “piety” throughout. Bauer and Hamza note the gap in the secondary literature on the topic (14) and seek to remedy this. Through patronage and piety, women are placed on equal footing with men and have the same road to the afterlife. Encompassing prayer, charity, self-discipline, and service in the family, the call to both sexes is the same. Women are called to protect the family as men are, and to ally themselves with the divine.
In my opinion, this contrast of the Qur’an’s approach compared to its context is most successfully accomplished in the heart of the book, which deals with pre-Islamic pagan approaches to women and the Qur’an’s address to the female infanticide committed by them. Highlighting the hypocrisy of worshipping the daughters of the gods whilst killing their own, Bauer and Hamza blend context, Islamic salvation, theology of women, and social structures in as fine a way as I have seen. Further distinctions between male and female characters in the Qur’an are skillfully explained, such as with Mary (141).
Bauer and Hamza’s strategy is to order the account of women in the Qur’an to argue for equal moral agency. The development through Meccan and Medinan verses is systematically addressed verse by verse, drawing on scholarship and tradition as well as Muslim sources. At the end of each section the development is summarized clearly for the reader (100). Due focus is given to the women mentioned in the Qur’an itself, such as Mary and the Queen of Sheba.
Despite the restricted scope of the authors to stay within Qur’anic verses, I was hoping for more focus on key Islamic women that are the focus of some Qur’anic passages, such as the wives of Muhammad. These women are later dealt with in more general terms (175) but not comprehensively. For example, Sawdah bint Zamʿah, the second wife of the prophet and an important “mother of the believers” is not mentioned in detail. Safiyya bint Huyayy, a favorite wife and key figure in Uthman’s caliphate, and Zaynab bint Jaḥsh are also not mentioned with depth. This is a minor critique as the authors’ state their framework clearly, but given that some Qur’anic passages address issues concerning these wives, one would enjoy an extending of the research. If anything, it is praiseworthy as the scholarship leads one to want more.
Bauer and Hamza’s arguments have contributed value to the overall discussion, and with impressive scope. I recommend this book to those interested in women in Islamic history and theology. This is also a timely contribution to current dialogues in Qur’anic studies and would interest academic and popular audiences.
Samuel McKee is associate tutor on the faculty of philosophy of religion, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Samuel McKee
Date Of Review:
August 12, 2024