Kecia Ali

Kecia Ali (born 1972) is an American scholar of Islam who focuses on the study of Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh) and Women in Early and Modern Islam. She is currently an Associate Professor of Religion at Boston University.[1] She previously held a position at Brandeis University's Feminist Sexual Ethics Project, and was a research associate and postdoctoral fellow at Brandeis University (2001–2003) and Harvard Divinity School.

Education

Ali received her BA at Stanford University in History and Feminist Studies in 1993. Then, in 2000, she received her M.A. in Religion and in 2002 her Ph.D. in Religion both at Duke University. She converted to Islam while in college.[1]

Work

Ali has written a considerable amount relating to the topic of marriage, womanhood, and their connection with, and development alongside, Islam.[2] Her major works include Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence, Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam, Imam Shafi‘i: Scholar and Saint, and most recently, The Lives of Muhammad. Ali has also co-authored two books, including Women in Latin America and the Caribbean and Islam: The Key Concepts. As a scholar, she is sensitive to the way the Western World perceives women in Islam and says that in Islamic studies "Issues of gender are very much on everybody's minds."[3]

Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence was called a "challenging contribution" to Islamic history by Comparative Islamic Studies.[4] Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam was called a "meticulous, pellucid, authoritative and very focused survey of early Islamic marriage law" by the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.[5] The Journal of Law & Religion calls Marriage and Slavery a "valuable contribution to the fields of legal, historical and gender studies." [6]The Lives of Muhammad was reviewed favorably by Publishers Weekly.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Yarger, Lauren (2014). "In Search of the Real Muhammad". Publishers Weekly. 12. Retrieved 19 November 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  2. Hammer, Juliane (2012). American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism: More Than a Prayer (First ed.). Texas: University of Austin. pp. 86–88.
  3. Smith, Susan E. (4 October 2007). "Defeating Stereotypes". Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. 24 (17): 20–24. Retrieved 19 November 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  4. Hamid, Sadek (2008). "Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Quran, Hadith and Jurisprudence". Comparative Islamic Studies. 4: 237–238. Retrieved 19 November 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  5. Reinhart, Kevin A. (2014). "Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam by Kecia Ali". Journal of the American Academy of Relgion. 82 (3): 902–903. Retrieved 19 November 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  6. Rustomiji, Nerina (2012). "Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam". Journal of Law & Religion. 28 (1): 293–295. Retrieved 19 November 2015. (subscription required (help)).
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