A powerful new weapon for Islamic gender warriors

Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition is a scholarly text that is challenging gender discrimination and male authority from within Islamic legal tradition. 

This project was envisioned with the hope of forging a bond between scholarship and activism; bringing together the scholars who seek emancipatory and gender-just understandings of Islam and activists pushing for change on the ground.

Order Your Copy Now

Explore The Book

Chapter Summaries

Each chapter stands as a unique enquiry into the notions of qiwamah (commonly understood as male authority) and wilayah (male guardianship).

Reader’s Guide

This Feminist Reader’s Guide is an effort to make the book more accessible to more readers, and more approachable for study circles who want to discuss the topics.

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 - Muslim Legal Tradition and the Challenge of Gender Equality
In this chapter, Ziba Mir-Hosseini traces how the idea of gender equality emerged as a challenge to Muslim legal tradition in the 20th century. This happened amidst major social, political, geographical and religious changes such as the rise of nation states, expansion of literacy, rapid growth of mass media and the increased production and spread of knowledge. Pre-modern ideas that shaped Muslim legal tradition encountered modern ideals of universal human rights, equality and personal freedom. How did male authority over women, once considered natural and normal, come to be seen as unjust and discriminatory?
Chapter 2 - The Interpretive Legacy of Qiwamah as an Exegetical Construct
In this chapter, Omaima Abou-Bakr maps the way in which the first phrase of Qur’anic verse 4:34 – ‘men are qawwamun of women’ – was continually reinterpreted to evolve into a legal concept called qiwamah that legitimizes male authority within the family. How exactly was a single Qur’anic phrase, which is one small part of a larger verse and passage and structure, transformed into a core patriarchal element of our family laws?
Chapter 3 - An Egalitarian Reading of the Concepts of Khilafah, Wilayah and Qiwamah
In this chapter, Asma Lamrabet looks at three Qur’anic concepts that she feels embody the spiritual message of Islam but have been misinterpreted to sustain unegalitarian principles. She identifies these as istikhlaf, or equality in managing creation as representatives (khalifah) of God on earth; wilayah, the shared responsibility of humans to do good and prevent evil; and qiwamah, management of public and private spaces by all humans, regardless of gender. How does reading these concepts holistically within the entire Qur’an, instead of just as individual terms within isolated verses, open the way for gender equality?
Chapter 4 - Producing Gender-Egalitarian Islamic Law: A Case Study of Guardianship (Wilayah) in Prophetic Practice
Ayesha Chaudhry begins her chapter by highlighting that Muslim feminist scholarship has largely focused on the Qur’an, given its authority for Muslims as the literal word of God. However, she argues that any gender-egalitarian vision of Islam will be ineffective if it ignores prophetic practice, which is considered a foundational source of Islamic law and is often cited to counter gender-egalitarian interpretations of Qur’anic texts. How can we engage with the prophetic tradition to enrich our cause for establishing gender justice?
Chapter 5 - Islamic Law, Sufism and Gender: Rethinking the Terms of the Debate
In this chapter, Sa’diyya Shaikh suggests that Muslim feminist knowledge building can be enriched by Sufi perspectives on gender in Islamic law. Such a project considers what it means to be a human being, the God-human relationship, and the implications of both of these on social ethics and Islamic law. What can Sufism offer Muslim feminist efforts to establish a fair society?
Chapter 6 - Qiwamah and Wilayah as Legal Postulates in Muslim Family Laws
In this chapter, Lynn Welchman explores how the judicial concepts of qiwamah and wilayah inform and shape contemporary Muslim family laws and family relations, focusing on the Arab region. She analyses areas of family law most influenced by qiwamah: spousal maintenance, obedience, divorce, male guardianship and custody of children, and finally the idea of the ‘head of the family’. How are the concepts of qiwamah and wilayah formulated in family laws within the Arab region, and how are those formulations evolving?
Chapter 7 - Islamic Law Meets Human Rights: Reformulating Qiwamah and Wilayah for Personal Status Law Reform Advocacy in Egypt
In this chapter, Marwa Sharafeldin explores the complexities involved when non-governmental organization (NGO) activists attempt to advocate for new understandings of qiwamah and wilayah in contemporary Muslim family laws. She focuses on the case of reform of the Egyptian Personal Status Law (PSL). She investigates how the different notions of equality and complementarity found in human rights and Islamic jurisprudence coexist in NGO reform proposals related to qiwamah and wilayah. How are Egyptian women pushing for law reform? How do their own and others’ lived realities influence their challenges and demands?
Chapter 8 - ‘Men are the Protectors and Maintainers of Women...’: Three Fatwas on Spousal Roles and Rights
In this chapter, Lena Larsen explores how practising Muslims in Europe and religious actors, in this case muftis, make sense of and deal with the contradictions between the lived realities of Muslim families and fiqh-based gender norms. To do so, Larsen focuses on fatwas – legal statements made by muftis in answer to a question – related to spousal roles in marriage. How do Muslims living as minorities navigate these contradictions whilst trying to stay true to their faith?
Chapter 9 - Understanding Qiwamah and Wilayah through Life Stories
This chapter presents Musawah’s Global Life Stories Project, which documented the life stories of Muslim women to better understand how they experience the concepts of qiwamah and wilayah in their everyday lives. The life stories came from women aged 16–78 years living in ten countries (Bangladesh, Canada, Egypt, Gambia, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines and the United Kingdom). The project aimed to produce knowledge that would contribute to social change in the participating countries. How can activists, researchers and communities work together to understand qiwamah and wilayah and generate solutions?
Chapter 10 - The Ethics of Tawhid Over the Ethics of Qiwamah
In the final chapter of the book, amina wadud provides reflections on her personal and intellectual trajectory of grappling with the concept of male authority and gender inequality socially, textually and legally. How does the concept of tawhid (the oneness of God) relate to notions of qiwamah and wilayah?

Reviews

Dr. Khaled Abou El FadlOmar and Azmeralda Alfi Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
‘Bar none, this is the best treatment of women and Islamic law that I have read in the past twenty years ... profound, eye-opening and even exhilarating. It is difficult for me to take seriously any student or scholar dealing with the subject of guardianship of men over women in Islam unless, or until, they have read and digested this book.’
Time, Carla Power
‘A powerful new weapon for Islamic gender warriors: a book examining how a single verse in the Quran became the basis for laws across the Islamic world asserting Muslim men’s authority – and even superiority – over women.’
Kecia AliAssociate Professor of Religion, Boston University
‘Brimming with fact and insight, these critical and constructive essays by a global array of scholars and reformers focus our attention on how patriarchy functions in Muslim texts and contexts, and how it can be challenged. Their distinctive analyses converge and diverge, leading the reader to a new awareness of the range and power of Muslim feminist thought in the twenty-first century.’

A Feminist Reader’s Guide to ‘Men in Charge?’

‘A Feminist Reader’s Guide to Men in Charge’ provides a glimpse into the book to make it more accessible for readers, and more approachable for reading groups who want to discuss the topics. Through chapter summaries, ‘Pause for Thought’ questions, and tips for facilitators, readers can explore the book’s content, their reactions or opinions about ideas in the book, and how the concepts apply to their own lives and contexts. 

The reader’s guide is free for download (English and Arabic) in both printable and digital formats.

Download (AR)
Download (ENG)

Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition

Maybe a short description here?

Order Your Copy Now

Get Your Free Feminist Reader's Guide

Maybe a short description here about RG?

Download (AR)
Download (EN)
Join the movement

Subscribe to our mailing list for latest news, insights and updates.

Facebook Instagram X-twitter Youtube Linkedin

© 2025 All rights reserved

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy