A History of Islam in 21 Women

This encyclopedic collection of biographies explores the lives of 21 women who have “shaped many aspects of the history of Islam.” Included are women from the Arabian Peninsula, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and the US, starting with “The First Believer”—Khadija, whose husband was the Prophet Muhammad. Throughout Islamic history, we are reminded, women have achieved political power, such as Morocco’s Sayidda al-Hurra, the stubbornly independent 16th-century ruler of Tétouan who inspired fear and commanded respect among European colonizers whose aggressions she resisted. Then there are heroines, such as Indian American Noor Inayat Khan, a British spy during World War II who snuck radio communiques to London from Nazi-occupied France and was ultimately executed by the Gestapo. All the figures, whose life stories “seldom appear together in general histories of Islam,” are persons of courage whose Islamic faith shaped their character and often motivated their resolve. 

—Tom Verde