BOOK REVIEW Women Under Islam: Gender, Justice and the Politics of Islamic Law by Christina Jones-Pauly and Abir Dajani Tuqan, I.B. Tauris, 2011, ISBN 978-1-845-11386-5 T. N. Shahid
Women Under Islam discusses personal status laws guided by Shariah as they pertain to women in four countries: Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan, and South Africa. The book incorporates a comprehensive discussion of Islamic jurisprudence and the ways in which it has been applied in cases relevant to women’s equality in these country cases. It seeks to challenge the view that women are inherently disadvantaged in countries applying laws guided by Shariah and points out that Islam was once “revolutionary in its gender relations for the time [of its founding].”1 Describing reforms in the personal status laws of these countries, Christina Jones-Pauly and Abir Dajani Tuqan try to show that laws guided by Shariah are not “stuck in a medieval frame of mind”2 and that the appropriate application of Shariah can lead to positive results for women.