Join the live book launch, Wednesday 1 May at 17.00 BST: https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/book-lau...

Read “Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qurʾan: a Patronage of Piety”: https://www.iis.ac.uk/publications-li...

Authors Karen Bauer and Feras Hamza introduce "Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur'an", which offers a fresh perspective on the highly contested topic of women's status in the Qur'an.

Using a historical-critical approach, Bauer and Hamza argue that women were integral to the early community of believers, and that households were a major locus of Qur’anic morality, piety, and law. Because there was no centralised state in seventh-century Arabia, households structured the society, and heads of household had a duty of patronage for, and care of, the vulnerable. Within these hierarchical social structures, the Qur’an takes a radically egalitarian approach to moral agency, and hence to salvation.

This compelling and original work proposes new paradigms for understanding the Qur’an’s social milieu and its salvific vision for that world.

Also check out “An Anthology of Qurʾanic Commentaries, Vol. 2: On Women” by Dr Bauer and Prof Hamza: https://www.iis.ac.uk/publications-li...

00:00 Introduction
01:09 Background
05:41 Salvation in social structures
11:41 “A Patronage of Piety”
15:50 Key takeaways
22:24 Qurʾanic interpretations