Muslims who explore sources of morality other than Islam are threatened with death, and Muslim women who escape the virgins' cage are branded whores. So asserts Hirsi Ali's meditation on Islam and the role of women, the rights of the individual, the roots of fanaticism, and Western policies toward Islamic countries and immigrant communities. This controversial book is a call to arms for the emancipation of women from religious and cultural oppression...

Honor killings are acts of vengeance committed by male relatives against female relatives who have brought dishonor upon the family. This dishonor can include refusal to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of sexual assault, seeking a divorce, or having social or professional interactions outside the community. These crimes often go unpunished or lightly punished in cultures in which the practice is enshrined and are often reported as...

Argues that the Western impression of Islam as a backward-looking faith is false, introducing influential reformers committed to democracy and human rights and the Islamic Newthinking movement.

A comparative examination of gender politics of three culturally interconnected Muslim majority states (Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran) whose findings reveal remarkably similar outcomes across borders. Utilizing a historical context, this work underscores the continued struggle within these societies between the hardliners who wish to relegate females to the status of slaves and those who strive for gender equality within a conservative cultural...

"Shariah law is a subject that is misunderstood and misrepresented by many in the West. More than simply a system of law, it is concerned with a set of values and rules that are essential to the understanding and practice of Islam. In this volume, Mohammad Hashim Kamali, a world-renowned expert on Shariah, adopts a question-and-answer format to provide a clear introduction to its most salient aspects. Extending from the sources of Shariah in the Qur'an,...