Women Interpreting Islamic Law

The Moynihan’s Middle Eastern Studies Program is proud to host Mirjam Künkler for a virtual talk commemorating International Women’s Day. 

Although numerous historical examples attest to women serving as muftīyāt (interpreters of Islamic law), faqīhāt (jurists of Islamic law), muḥaddithāt (transmitters of hadith), and scholars of Islam across the centuries, women are rarely accepted as authoritative interpreters of Islamic law today. The 20th century in particular has seen various legal and educational barriers for women who seek to acquire Islamic religious authority on par with men. Notably, the contemporary situation is often more restrictive for women than injunctions of the schools of Islamic law (madhhāhib) allow for.

The talk provides examples of authoritative female interpreters of Islamic law in the history of Islamic civilizations and highlights important initiatives to allow for the training and certification of women as muftis and judges of Islamic law today.

Research Professor, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study.

Künkler (Ph.D. Columbia University) is president-elect of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (ASPS). Recent books include “Female Religious Authority in Shiʿi Islam: Past and Present” (Edinburgh University Press, 2021), “A Secular Age beyond the West” (Cambridge University Press, 2018), and “The Rule of Law in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Power, Institutions, and the Limits of Reform” (Cambridge University Press, 2024).

She is a founder and principal investigator of the Iran Data Portal and co-editor of the Brill Research Perspectives in Religion and Politics as well as the Cambridge Journal of Law and Religion. Some of her books have been translated into Persian and Arabic.