Perfecting Women - A Partial translation of Bihishti Zewar

Perfecting Women - A Partial translation of Bihishti Zewar

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Author: Maulana Ashraf Ali
Barbara Daly Metcalf/
Translator: Barbara Daly Metcalf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 436
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0195660633

Description

Bihishti Zewar (Heavenly ornaments) written in northern India in the early 1900s, has been one of this century's most influential books. A guide for respectable women, it sets out the core of a reformist version of Islam that has become increasingly prominent across Muslim societies in the past hundred years. As a text for the world's largest population of Muslims, that of the old British Indian Empire, it has influenced countless individuals.

Written by a revered Muslim scholar and spiritual guide, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (1864-1943), it seeks to instruct Muslim girls and women in religious teachings, proper behavior, and prudent conduct of their everyday lives. In so doing, the books sets out the core of a reformist version of Islam that has become increasingly prominent across Muslim societies during the past hundred years.

This instructional guidebook, used by the world's largest population of Muslims, is a vital source for those interested in modern Indian social and intellectual history, in Islamic reform, and in conceptions of gender and women's roles.

Barbara Metcalf has carefully selected those sections that best illustrate the themes of reformist thought about God, the person, society, and gender.

COMMENTS:

The author has taken great pains to provide a substantive introduction to the text in each section, as well as detailed annotations.
- Indian Journal of Social Work

The teachings of Islam come alive with the ability of the translator to maintain authenticity and to hold on to the spirit of the message.
- Sociological Bulletin

It seeks to clarify a number of misinterpretations and misconception about the status of women in Islam through a comprehensive and insightful introduction to the socio-historical background of the original text. It gives a detailed introduction to the socio-historical context of the Deoband reform movement, its aims and concerns, to the writing of Bihishti Zewar and to the life of Maulana Ashraf Thanawi.
- Contributions to Indian Sociology.

Contents

Preface
A Note on Translation
An Introduction to the Bihishti Zewar

Book One of the Bihishti Zewar
Translator's Introduction to Book One
The First Book of the Bihishti Zewar

Book Six of the Bhishti Zewar
A Discussion of Custom by category

Book Seven of the Bihishti Zewar
On Comportment and Character, Reward and Punishment

Book Eight of the Bihishti Zewar
Stories of Good Women

Book Ten of the Bihishti Zewar
Translator's introduction to Book Ten

Notes
Glossary
Index