Author Archives
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Reconstructions of the Past 8: Hafsa bint Sirin (My Story of Her Life 3) by Laury Silvers
As discussed in earlier blogs, the sources tend to paint pious women as recluses for any number of reasons. No matter the intention, the message transmitted over time–in so many ways–is that pious women should restrict their social lives, especially… Read More ›
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Reconstructions of the Past 7: Hafsa bint Sirin (My Story of Her Life 2) by Laury Silvers
Sirin’s efforts to raise his and his family’s social status ensured his spiritually and intellectually precocious children had the best opportunities for success. By his efforts, Hafsa, her two sisters Umm Sulaym and Karima, and her brothers Muhammad and Yahya–not… Read More ›
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Reconstructions of the Past 6: Hafsa bint Sirin (My Story of Her Life 1) by Laury Silvers
In this sixth reflection on the life of Hafsa bint Sirin and in blogs to follow, I will be emphasizing that her much praised great piety was not incompatible with social engagement, or even sometimes a good dose of family… Read More ›
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Reconstructions of the Past 5: Hafsa bint Sirin (“Women’s Withdrawal in the Literature”) by Laury Silvers
As I mentioned in the last entry, the textual idealization of women’s pious withdrawal extends to secluding women from public exposure in the texts themselves. Sufi and pious women were mentioned in very early sources, then dropped almost in their… Read More ›
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Reconstructions of the Past 4: Hafsa bint Sirin (“Women’s Withdrawal is Women’s Piety”) by Laury Silvers
Despite the public roles women most likely played in the first century, hadith, biographical, and legal literature of the following centuries positioned women’s ritual activity at home as a norm for pious behavior. The earlier blogs noted that women were… Read More ›
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Reconstructions of the Past 3: Hafsa bint Sirin (“Hafsa’s Hadith”) by Laury Silvers
If you’ve read Part 2, then you know we’ve been talking about how the literature demonstrates that there were attempts in the early period to bar women from mosque attendance and even attendance at the prayers for the two `eids…. Read More ›
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Reconstructions of the Past 2: Hafsa bint Sirin (“Women’s Mosque Attendance”) by Laury Silvers
There is significant historical scholarship demonstrating that women’s public lives were coming under increasing restriction during the first few hundred years of Islam. Despite the differing modes of analyses and conclusions of such scholarship, there seems to be agreement that… Read More ›
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Reconstructions of the Past: Hafsa bint Sirin (“Introduction”) by Laury Silvers
This blog and those to follow will be taken from an academic talk I gave on the life of the early pious worshipper, scholar of Qur’an, Hadith, and their legal meanings, Hafsa bint Sirin (d. ca. 100/800). I used some… Read More ›
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Reading “Women” by Laury Silvers
My friends make my life difficult. They make me see what I could not see before. Kecia Ali, Aisha Geissinger, Karen Ruffle and Kathleen Self taught me how to read for gender in the classical texts I use for my… Read More ›
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In Praise of Mouthy Women by Laury Silvers
I was reading the highly enjoyable piece on Mary Beard’s online sexist-troll slaying and couldn’t help but think how much I admire “mouthy” women. Most of my female friends and women I admire have not been the timid sort (beginning… Read More ›
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Pride: Honoring the Immigrants and the Helpers by Laury Silvers
It is World Pride in Toronto this year. The city is filled with people from everywhere celebrating the gorgeous spectrum of humanity and the right of all human beings to live with dignity. In honor of World Pride and happy… Read More ›
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Dr. Debbie Downer Discourses on the Lives of Early Pious and Sufi Women by Laury Silvers
I’ve been called a downer because I take what seems like a jaundiced perspective on the early history of pious and Sufi women. There is a tendency in some scholarship, and nearly all contemporary popular treatments of these women’s lives,… Read More ›
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Creating Space: Mosques Affirming All Bodies, Minds, and Hearts by Laury Silvers
In my first blog for Feminism and Religion, I discussed the cognitive and embodied dissonance that some Muslims experience as a result of historically (not eternally) gendered ritual forms. I ended with a promise to share with readers the ways… Read More ›
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Muslim Ritual Prayer, Social Submission, and Embodied Dissonance by Laury Silvers
Websites run by Muslim scholars typically offer advice columns for those seeking legal rulings and religious guidance on personal concerns. One young Muslim woman wrote to a site about her doubts that wearing hijab was connected to being a good… Read More ›
