Zainab Alwani

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Zainab Alwani
Born1962
Baghdad, Iraq
NationalityIraqi-American
Alma materInternational Islamic University Malaysia
OccupationIslamic scholar
Known forFirst woman to serve on Fiqh Council of North America
ParentTaha Jabir Alawani
RelativesRuqaia Al-Alwani

Zainab Alwani is an American activist and Islamic scholar. She is Founding Director and Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Howard University School of Divinity.[1]

Biography[edit]

Zainab Alwani was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1962.[2][3] She is the daughter of Taha Jabir Alalwani.[4] Alwani and her family were forced to flee Iraq when she was 7. The family went to Egypt and later Saudi Arabia.[3]

As a young woman, Alwani studied at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University.[5][3] She received her PhD in Islamic jurisprudence (Usul al-Fiqh) from the International Islamic University in Malaysia.[6][5] Alwani is also the first female jurist to sit on the board of the Fiqh Council of North America.[7][2][6][8]

Alwani is an activist for the rights of Muslim women and children.[2] She is active in continuing her father's thought and approach to minority fiqh.[9] She specializes in Islamic jurisprudence, Quranic studies, the relationship between Islamic and civil law, and women and the family in Islam.[1][3][9] Her sister is the Islamic scholar Ruqaia Al-Alwani.[10] Hadia Mubarak identifies Zainab and Ruqaia as part of a growing body of female Muslim Qur'anic commentators.[11]

Publications[edit]

Books[edit]

  • Alusra fi Maqasid al sharia: Qira’ fi Qadaya al zawaj waltalaq fi Amrika (The Objectives of Sharia and the family: Critical Reading in Marriage and Divorce in American Muslim Family). Herndon, Virginia: The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), 2013.
  • Muslim Women and Global Challenges: Seeking Change Through a Quranic Textual Approach and the Prophetic Model. Institute of Objective Studies, 2012.
  • What Islam Says about Domestic Violence: A Guide for Helping Muslim Families, 2008.[12]

Articles[edit]

  • "With Aisha in Mind: Reading Surat al-Nur through the Qur’an’s structural unity in Muslim Women and Gender Justice: Concepts, Sources, and Histories" edited by Dina El Omari, Juliane Hammer, and Mouhanad Khorchide. Routledge, 2020.
  • "Kafāla: The Qur'anic-Prophetic Model of Orphan Care" in Journal of Islamic Faith & Practice. 2020.
  • "Transformational Teaching: Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a Teacher and Murabbī" in Journal of Islamic Faith and Practice, 2019.
  • "Al-wahda al-binaʾiyya li-l-Qurʾan: A Methodology for Understanding the Qur'an in the Modern Day" in Journal of Islamic Faith and Practice, 2018.
  • "Muslim Women as Religious Scholars: A Historical Survey" in Muslima Theology: The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians edited by Ednan Aslan, Marcia Hermansen, and Elif Medeni. Peter Lang (Peter-Lang-Verlagsgruppe), 2013.
  • "The Qur'anic Model for Harmony in Family Relations" in Change From Within: Diverse Perspectives on Domestic Violence in Muslim Community edited by Maha Alkhateeb and Salma Elkadi Abugideirii. Peaceful Families, 2007.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "People Profile |". profiles.howard.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  2. ^ a b c Callahan, Sharon Henderson (2013-06-20). Religious Leadership. SAGE. ISBN 978-1-4129-9908-3.
  3. ^ a b c d Shahid, Omar (10 October 2014). "Scholar Spotlight: Dr. Zainab Alwani, Reclaiming Gender Equality in Islamic Scholarship: This prominent American scholar, academic and activist often finds herself to be the only Muslim female scholar on stage at conferences". Campus Watch. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  4. ^ Alwani, Zainab (2020). "From Baghdad to Leesburg". In Jones, Richard J. (ed.). From Baghdad to Leesburg: A Leader of al-Ta'āruf. The Al-Alwani Muslim-Christian Lectures 2010-2017. International Institute of Islamic Thought. pp. 1–9. doi:10.2307/j.ctv19prr4t.5. ISBN 978-1-56564-955-2. JSTOR j.ctv19prr4t.5. S2CID 229533034. Retrieved 2021-12-17. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b "Zainab Al-Alwani". About Islam. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  6. ^ a b Yakar, Emine Enise (2021-09-30). Islamic Law and Society: The Practice Of Iftā' And Religious Institutions. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-45637-0.
  7. ^ "Dr. Zainab Alwani | WISE Muslim Women Zainab Alwani". WISE Muslim Women. 2019-12-21. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  8. ^ Azid, Toseef; Ward-batts, Jennifer L. (2020-06-22). Economic Empowerment Of Women In The Islamic World: Theory And Practice. World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-12-1216-1.
  9. ^ a b Albrecht, Sarah (2018-04-24). Dār al-Islām Revisited: Territoriality in Contemporary Islamic Legal Discourse on Muslims in the West. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-36457-8.
  10. ^ "Dr. Ruqaia Al-Alwani | CILE - Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics". admin.cilecenter.org. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  11. ^ Mubarak, Hadia (2022-04-15). Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: Controversies in Modern Qur'anic Commentaries. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-755332-9.
  12. ^ Abugideiri, Salma; Alwani, Zainab (2008). What Islam Says about Domestic Violence: A Guide for Helping Muslim Families. Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help.
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