In Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam: Bilateral Descent and the Legacy of Fatima, Alyssa Gabbay examines episodes in pre-modern Islamic history in which individuals or societies recognized descent from both men and women. Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, features prominently in this study, for her example constituted a striking precedent for acknowledging bilateral descent in both Sunni and Shi‘i societies, with all of its ramifications for female inheritance, succession and identity.
Covering a broad geographical and chronological swath, Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam presents alternative perspectives to patriarchal narratives, and breaks new ground in its focus upon how people conceived of family structures and bloodlines. In so doing, it builds upon a tradition of studies seeking to dispel monolithic understandings of Islam and Gender.
Transliteration, Periodization, and Dates List of Figures Introduction Part I: Mothers 1. Umms and Wombs: How and (Maybe) Why Shi‘is Reckoned Descent Through Fatima 2. Other Mothers, Other Sons Part II: Heiresses 3. Heiress to the Prophet: Fatima, Fadak and Female Inheritance 4. Endowing Agency: Daughters, Waqfs, and Semi-Matrilineal Inheritance Part III: Successors 5. Speaking in Her Father’s Name: Fatima as Successor to the Prophet Muhammad 6. Fatima’s Royal Shadow: Muslim Female Rulers’ Quest for Legitimacy and Sovereignty Epilogue: Whither Fatima? Notes Bibliography
Alyssa Gabbay is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She received her PhD (for which she won the Foundation for Iranian Studies award for best dissertation) in 2007 from the University of Chicago. She is the author of many peer-reviewed articles and chapters and Islamic Tolerance, published by Routledge in 2010. She will shortly be publishing The New Moon of Perfection and Other Prefaces.
Reviews for Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam: Bilateral Descent and the Legacy of Fatima
... will be seen as a major contribution to the discussion of gendered inheritance in Islam, and the mechanisms whereby Muslim female authority was safeguarded and passed on to new generations. * Dominic Parviz Brookshaw, Associate Professor of Persian Literature, University of Oxford * Honorable Mention at the 2021 Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society Book Award
