Sufi Women and Mystics: Models of Sanctity, Erudition, and Political Leadership [Paperback]

Introduction  1. F
tima of Nish
pkr and Umm Ali al-Balkhi: Two Forerunner Sufi Women of the Ninth-Century Greater Khur
s
n  2. Aisha al-Mannkbiyya (d. 1267) Enthralled in Divine love: la sainte parfaitement ravie en Dieu (majdhkba)  3. Aisha al-B
kn+yya: Living in the Love of God and Veneration to his Messenger, Muhammad  4. Jahan Ara Bengum: A Powerful Princess and a Sufi Devotee of the Mughal Empire  5. Nana Asmau bint Usman dan Fodio (d. 1865): The Erudite Mystic and Poet of the Sokoto Caliphate  Conclusion

This book focuses on womens important contribution to Sufism by analysing the lives and seminal contributions of six mystic Sufi women to Islamic spirituality.

Minlib Dalh is to be congratulated on bringing to our attention six female Sufis who deserve to be much better known and who each made a major contribution in the history of Sufism. His work fills a lacuna and brings to the fore the dynamic agency of each of the mystics whom he discusses. This is a scholarly, highly readable and insightful work in which the author splendidly accomplishes his 'primary goal to help reverse the sidelining of Sufi women in the recorded academic literature.'

Ian Richard Netton, University of Exeter, UK

In an astonishing panorama, the author unfolds for us the experience of six women Sufi scholars and mystics in six periods of time and different places, from the ninth to the nineteenth centuries. His account shows an erudition which is thorough but lightly-worn, a sensitivity to matters of controversy about womens writing and spirituality in Islam, an acute awareness of historical and political context, and above all a passion to recover neglected womens voices. This book should be essential reading, not only for scholars of Islam, but for all those interested in mystical elãy