Women and peace in the Islamic world : gender, agency and influence / edited by Yasmin Saikia and Chad Haines.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 389-407) and index.

Ungendering peace talk / Miriam Cooke -- Dialogical din and everyday acts of peace: an Islamic perspective / Chad Haines -- Negotiating Islamic feminism: echoes of medieval theological disputes in modern Islam / Richard C. Martin -- Women, Islam, transnationalism: 'politics of location' and other contentions in women's organizing in Bangladesh / Elora Halim Chowdhury -- Agents of peace: an exploration of three Acehnese women leaders / Asma Husun -- The role of Muslim women in engendering peace: Bilad al-Sudan (Sudan and Nigeria) / Souad T. Ali -- In pursuit of peace: Muslim women's peace initiatives in the Islamic republic of Iran / Arzoo Osanloo -- Religion, women and peaceful revolutions: perspectives from the Arab Middle East / Azza Karam -- Strangers, friends and peace: the women's world of Abdullah Hall, Aligarh Muslim University / Yasmin Saikia -- The living monuments of mourning: struggles for memory and peace in post-revolutinary Iran / Shahla Talebi -- Merhametli peace is women's peace: religious and culural practices of compassion and neighbourliness in Bosnia and Herzegovina / Zilka Spahic-Siljak -- Conclusion: gender, peace and war / Sally L. Kitch.

How realistic is the prospect of peace in the Middle East? This question is the predominant focus for global analysis in the area, but its debate frequently ignores the cultural and social complexity of the Muslim world, reducing the region to a system of states and major figures. This book addresses such a failing by exploring how the everyday interactions of women, in accordance with Islamic personal ethics, can offer the world a new interpretation of peace. Drawing upon original research from different parts of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, including Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt and Sudan, the authors offer a refreshing new look at Muslim women as peacemakers, challenging any assumptions of Islam as an inherently violent religion. Such a timely work provides a new and important perspective on the role of Muslim women in forging new pathways of peace in the contemporary world. --Provided by publisher.