Education
PhD, Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University (2005)
MA, History, Binghamton University (1994)
BA, Politics, Princeton University (1991)
Certificate, Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University (1991)
Research
- Islamic Educational History
- Muslim Social and Intellectual History
- Hadith Studies
- Muslim women’s history in early and classical Islam
Publications
Books
-
- Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam
- Cambridge University Press, 2013
-
- Law and Tradition in Classical Islamic Thought
- Studies in Honor of Professor Hossein Modarressi
- Palgrave, 2013
- “Women and the Ḥajj” chapter in The Hajj: Pilgrimage in Islam, ed. Eric Tagliacozzo and Shawkat Toorawa. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016, 65-84.
- Review of Female Personalities in the Qur’an and Sunna in Journal of Shiʿa Islamic Studies Vol 9 (1) 2016, 100-105.
- “Women in Imāmī Biographical Collections,” chapter in Law and Tradition in Classical Islamic Thought, ed. Michael Cook, Najam Haider, Intisar Rabb and Asma Sayeed. New York: Palgrave, 2013, 81-97.
- “Ḥadīth: Transmission, Study, and Interpretation,” Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women (Oxford University Press, 2013): 403-405.
- “al-Dimyāṭī, ʿAbd al-Muʾmin b. Khalaf” Encyclopedia of Islam 3rd edition (2013): 8-9.
- “Muslim Women’s Religious Education in Early and Classical Islam,” Religion Compass, 5.3 (2011): 94-103.
- “Gender and Legal Authority: An Examination of Early Juristic Opposition to Women’s Ḥadīth Transmission,” Islamic Law and Society, 16:2 (2009): 115-50.
- Review of Chosen Among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shiʿite Islam, Speculum, 84 (2009): 1115-17. 2
- “Mary,” in Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, Oxford, 2008.
- “Umm Habibah (Ramlah bint Abi Sufyan),” in Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Oxford, 2008.
- “Zaynab bint ʿAli,” in Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Oxford, 2008.
- “Battle of the Camel,” in Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, Oxford, 2008.
- “Space: Mosques (Arab States [Excepting the Gulf and North Africa]),” in Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, E.J. Brill, 2007, 4:549-50.
- “Education: Women’s Religious (Arab States [Excepting the Gulf and North Africa]),” in Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, E.J. Brill, 2007, 4:345-46.
- “Women and Ḥadīth Transmission: Two Case Studies from Mamluk Damascus.” Studia Islamica, 95 (2002): 71-94.
- “Early Sunnī Discourse on Women’s Mosque Attendance,” International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) Newsletter 7 (2001): 10.
- “Hostages,” co-authored with Khaled Abou el-Fadl in Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, Oxford, 1995.
Conference Papers and Invited Lectures
- “Women and Religious Learning in Islamic History,” Invited lecture for conference on “Women’s Religious Leadership in Islam: Between Text and Context” by the Rabita Muhammadiyya li’l Ulama in Rabat, Morocco, (2015).
- “Transmission vs. Authorship: Women’s Intellectual Engagement in Classical Islam,” Invited lecture for conference on “Women Leaders and Intellectuals of the Medieval World,” Notre Dame University, (2015).
- “Early Islamic Social History through Women’s Tradition Literature” Invited guest lecture at Claremont Graduate University, (2015).
- “Islamic Studies in the American Academy: Methodologies and Challenges,” Invited lecture for conference on “Research Methods in Islamic Sciences and Contemporary Realities,” Dar al-Ḥadīth al-Hassania Institute, Rabat, Morocco, (2014).
- “Mapping Muslim Women’s Education: Historical Framing for a Digital Humanities Project,” Invited presenter for Columbia University’s Center for Social Difference workshop on the “Power of Women’s Islamic Education,” (2013).
- “Muḥaddithas, Faqīhas and Mufassiras: Evolutions in the Domains of Women’s Religious Authority Across Islamic History,” Keynote Paper delivered at UCSB conference on “Reconstituting Female Authority: Women’s Participation in the Transmission and Production of Islamic Knowledge,” (2013).
- “Whither Sukyana and Nafīsa? An Examination of Shīʿī Women’s Ḥadīth Participation,” American Academy of Religion Conference (2010).
- “Gender and the Ḥadīth Canon in Classical Islam,” Invited Paper for Smith College Conference on “The Shaping of Many Islams” (2008).
- “Ḥadīth and the Construction of Gender Roles in Early Islamic History,” American Academy of Religion Conference (2007).
- “Interpreting the Silences: Women’s Religious Education in Ta’rīkh Baghdād,” Middle East Studies Association Conference (2006).
- “Feminist Scholarship in Islamic Studies,” Dartmouth Summer Institute on Gender Studies in Islamic and Judaic Studies (2005).
- “Ijāzāt and Samā‘āt: Archival Sources for Education in Medieval Islam,” Princeton University conference on “Education in the Middle Ages” (2003).
- “Contextualizing Islam in the United States: Scholar-Activism and Islamic Jurisprudence,” Columbia University Conference on “Muslims in New York City” (2002).
- “Early Sunni Debates on Women’s Presence in Mosques,” Middle East Studies Association conference (2000).
- “The Education of a Muḥaddithah: The Career of Shuhdah al-Kātibah,” Middle East Studies Association conference (1998).
Courses
Undergraduate
- The Quran (Islamic Studies M106)
- Islam in the West (Islamic Studies/Middle Eastern Studies/Religion M107)
- Introduction to Islam (Islamic Studies M110/Religion M109
Graduate
- Methodologies and Approaches of Islamic Studies (Islamic Studies 201)
- Themes in Islamic History 600-1250 (Arabic 220)
Professional Affiliations
- American Academy of Religion (Islam AAR section)-member
- Middle Eastern Studies Association-member
- American Historical Association-member
- Middle East Medievalists-member